June's pregnancy progresses. In the colonies, Janine arranges for a couple to marry hours before one dies. Commander Waterford gets news that makes him unhappy and plots his revenge. June and Serena attend the Prayvaganza.
This episode provides examples of:
- Arranged Marriage: Nick and Eden are married in a sort of Forced Marriage—neither can say no—with many other Guardians and their assigned child brides.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Serena wanted June broken and subservient. And then when she gets exactly that, she can barely stand Offred's quiet and submissive demeanor.
- Broken Bird: June is utterly broken and severely depressed throughout most of the episode, until she reawakens at the hospital.
- Bury Your Gays: Literally, as Kit dies after her marriage and is buried by Janine and Emily.
- Driven to Suicide: June appears to attempt suicide by falling out of her window. She survives and is now even more determined to escape with her baby.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Emily is still protecting Janine, who is trying to find what happiness she can.
- Despair Event Horizon: June reached it in the previous episode after her failed escape attempt. This episode is sort of her Darkest Hour; she's given up hope. When she sees that she's bleeding vaginally, she just lets herself bleed and eventually attempts suicide. She snaps out of it at the end of the episode. Inspired by her baby surviving the bleeding, she decides that getting the baby out of Gilead is Worth Living For.
- Dramatic Irony: Aunt Lydia to Commander Waterford "I have a feeling it will be a fine boy, just like his father."
- Heroic Second Wind: June survives her attempted suicide and the copious vaginal bleeding that preceded it, and astonishingly enough, so did her unborn baby. She snaps back to herself, promising said baby that Gilead doesn't own them and that she'll get them both out.
- Hypocrite: "It's really a burden more than anything." Aunts are women and are the only women who are free to read and write.
- It's All About Me: It's not enough that they broke June, Serena complains that she isn't happy and friendly enough.
- Last Wish Marriage: Kit and Fiona get married before Kit dies.
- Metaphorical Marriage: Kit and Fiona are two women sent to work themselves to death to the Colonies and they are in a relationship. Kit is very weak, on the brink of death, and Janine organizes a wedding for them. The ceremony is presided over by another prisoner, Sally who is a rabbi. It is their last moment of happiness before Kit dies. The next morning Kit’s body is buried in the graveyard. Gilead ruled all gay marriages void and the authorities certainly don't recognise such unions as legal, but the wedding ceremony was very meaningful to all who witnessed it.
- The Reveal: An innocent comment by Nick makes its way to Commander Waterford, making him suspicious and prompting him to put him into an Arranged Marriage.
- Wham Shot: As Emily and Janine are burying Kit, the camera pans out to reveal a great number of crosses, representing all the women who died while working in the Colonies.
