'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 1 Episode 9: Offred to Go Back to Jezebels?
With only two episodes left in its first season, series protagonist June, also known as Offred (Elisabeth Moss), is about to find herself in more danger than she's ever been on the next episode of "The Handmaid's Tale."
No official synopsis for the episode has been released yet. However, a trailer for the upcoming episode titled "The Bridge" shows a fellow handmaid telling Offred that she needs to go back to Jezebels to get a package out of that place. Offred has no idea how she's even going to do something so risky, but she's left on her own to figure it out.
And since she has vowed not to be boxed in like that ballerina in the music box that Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) gave her in the previous episode, it seems that Offred will comply and devise a plan of her own. In yet another scene, she is seen telling the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) how she can't stop thinking of the night they went out. The Commander seems pleased at the eagerness that she's showing, and it seems like the pair will be heading back to Jezebels soon.
Jezebels is a lounge/gentlemen's club where senior officials and foreign visitors gather to dine, chat, and eventually lay with women who are neither their wives nor their handmaids. To put it simply, Jezebels is a government-sanctioned whorehouse that provides work for women who "couldn't assimilate" into Gilead.
The previous episode also saw Offred's emotional reunion with Moira (Samira Wiley), whom she previously thought was dead. But Moira had already lost hope for a better future for herself. Instead of agreeing to Offred's suggestion to try and escape again, she just told her friend that they were on their own now and the best thing they could do at this point was to keep their heads down while taking care of themselves.
But now that Offred seems to be heading back to Jezebels, will her next conversation with Moira finally be convincing enough to reignite her friend's rebellious spirit? What package is Offred supposed to smuggle out of that place? Will she succeed in doing this without getting caught and possibly enduring consequent punishments for her brazen act?
"The Handmaid's Tale" season 1 episode 9 debuts on Wednesday, June 7, on Hulu.