Happy Season 1 Finale Day! As we finish up this first season, don’t be sad that it’s over! Celebrate that we now have confirmation that there will be a SEASON 2!!! PRAISE FREAKIN’ BE!!!
Episode 110: Secateurs
While Becka faces the consequences of her actions, Agnes and Daisy must decide how far they’re willing to go to protect her.
Writer: Maya Goldsmith, Bruce Miller & Gianna Sobol
Director: Mike Barker
The season one finale opens with Agnes laying awake in bed the morning after Becka left, as she sees the remains of the blood left on the floor. She heads downstairs for breakfast like every other morning, and Paula gives her a loaded look. Agnes arrives at school where Shu, Hulda, and Daisy are talking. Shu knows that something is going on but no one will tell her what’s going on. Aunt Estee calls the Plums to the dining hall to gather immediately.
Becka is locked in a jail cell singing “Rise and Shine”, and we FINALLY get Ms. Margaret Atwood’s cameo!!! She’s playing a prison matron of some kind who escorts Aunt Lydia to Becka’s cell and tells her not to agitate her.
Lydia knocks on her window and tries to talk to her, but Becka just doesn’t seem to hear her as she continues singing.
Commander Judd arrives at the jail to talk to Aunt Lydia. She tries to advocate for Becka because Dr. Grove was going to be executed anyway and he was “not a man of God”. Judd is only concerned with minimizing fallout from the situation. He even suggests that Becka might become a Handmaid, since it would be more merciful than The Wall, but that it will be up to the court. Judd makes it clear that he and Aunt Lydia are no longer a team, and he partially blames her for what Becka did.
In the dining hall at school, Aunt Vidala tells the girls that Becka won’t be attending school for the foreseeable future due to the passing of her father. This is the first that most of these girls are hearing about his death. As they pray for Becka, Agnes storms out.
She finds Garth and begs him to tell her where Becka is. As she yells and begins to cry, Garth hugs her to comfort her. Aunt Estee comes out and demands she come inside and that he stops touching her, but he tells her to give her some grace. Agnes apologizes and goes back inside with Aunt Estee.
Back inside, Hulda, Shu, and Daisy check on Agnes. They run to the bathroom and make sure it’s empty before talking freely. Agnes tells them that Becka was taken by the Eyes and showed up to her house cove red in blood. The girls don’t know exactly what she did, but they know that if the Eyes took her, they’ll never see her again. Daisy steps up and says they need to do something to help her. Agnes agrees and runs out to ask Aunt Vidala what she’s doing to help Becka. Vidala takes Agnes with her to an office upstairs.
Agnes exclaims to her “You are the instrument of God! You have to do something!” but Aunt Vidala insists she can’t do anything about it. Vidala tries to place the blame on Becka, but Agnes rightfully comes back with, “She thought she was doing God’s will! As you taught us! Blessed are those who thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. By His hand! If she was led astray, you did it.” BOOM. There it is! Vidala just says they’re going to call Agnes’s mother and pray for Becka.
Daisy heads outside to grab some flowers from the Pearl Girls to look like she’s helping but sneaks off to talk to Garth in the woods. She demands that Mayday needs to help Becka. Garth urges her to chill and just do what Mayday said to, but she insists she’s quitting Mayday and will be the one to do something.
At home, Commander Weston is visiting Agnes and Paula to check on Agnes and offer comfort. He cleverly gets Paula to leave the room and asks Agnes how she’s doing. She sees an opportunity and very carefully asks her fiancé to help Becka. She reveals to Commander Weston that she was one of the girls that Dr. Grove hurt. Weston is troubled by this, and thanks her for her honesty. He vows to do whatever he can for Becka. What in the world could that be?? He is in charge of the Eyes.
Garth finds a moment to listen to the radio for Mayday instructions and hears June telling him that she got his message and says they should take care of Daisy tonight. UH OH. June, what are you up to now?! Using the honey jarring operation, Mayday gets Daisy a message that she needs to be back at the truck at 10PM that night.
Back at the Grove home, Commander Weston opens a car door to let Becka out to her mother. Is he actually helping like he promised Agnes he would? He says that she is only home temporarily for a few days and then she’ll be questioned and remanded to the state, and they will be under 24-hour surveillance. Mrs. Grove rushes Becka inside while she apologizes.
Daisy manages to sneak outside and gets to the truck like she was told. The driver tells her they’re going on a drive for a few hours and has her hide in one of the barrels to get through the Gilead checkpoints.
Eventually, they end up at a dock where they are met by June. She tells Daisy that they are taking her out of Gilead because she has become a liability. Daisy defends her actions, although June reminds her that she and Rita both warned her that sometimes you have to stand by to be safe.
But Daisy has her rebellious teenage mindset and can’t stand by while the girls are being abused. She accuses June of giving up on the girls, but she has no idea that one of the girls she is trying to help is Hannah, June’s daughter. June tries to explain that sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war but Daisy keeps pushing her. When she says Agnes’s name, June stops and just stares. She interrupts and asks if Agnes is Daisy’s age and when she says yes, confirms that her name is Agnes MacKenzie. Daisy then realizes who Agnes is. June takes this all in and asks what Agnes is like and if she’s happy.
June still wants to get Daisy out of there, but Daisy drops, “You need to learn to believe in someone other than yourself, June.” ANOTHER MIC DROP. Knowing that this may be her one chance to get as close as possible to Hannah, June lets her go back.
Back at the school, Aunt Vidala comes in to find Aunt Lydia stressing about her newest predicament. Aunt Vidala finally gets to confront Aunt Lydia about what she did in the stadium all those years ago. She then goes on to offer to help her and encourages her to help Becka, citing Agnes’s words to her earlier.
When the honey driver gets Daisy back to the school, Garth tells her that they know she’s been missing and helps create a fake scenario that looks like Daisy was just out sneaking a cigarette. Aunt Lydia admonishes her inside and sends her to Aunt Estee for “corrections”. But first, Daisy tells Aunt Lydia that she is worried about Becka and feels partially responsible. She also asks Aunt Lydia what she’s doing to save Becka.
Aunt Lydia and Aunt Vidala pay a visit to Mrs. Grove and Becka. They give Becka a false story to report that she discovered her mother with the pruning shears. Becka pushes back, but her mother says that “it’s what should have happened.” Mrs. Grove appears to be sacrificing herself to save her daughter, at the suggestion from Aunt Lydia, inspired by Daisy’s earlier words about mothers and daughters.
At home, Agnes is resting in the living room, when Commander MacKenzie arrives. He announces that Commander Weston has decided to call off the engagement due to Agnes’s proximity to the Grove family’s scandal. Agnes tries not to look slightly relieved. Commander MacKenzie says he will do what he can to keep this from hurting Agnes and says that Becka will be okay because of her mother’s “confession”. What will this mean for Agnes now that her fiancé has called off the engagement?
Agnes wakes in the middle of the night to find Paula scrubbing the remaining blood off of the bathroom floor. She asks Agnes if she’s happy now. The end of the engagement will have social and political implications for the entire family. Paula is afraid of looking like a failure, and asks Agnes what she did to scare Commander Weston off. She says she should have known this would happen and alludes to June again.
Agnes flees to a house that appears to be where the Guardians live together when they’re not on duty. Agnes gets Garth’s attention and gets him outside. She urges Garth to not let Becka be a fallen woman and to just marry her despite the circumstances. He resists but Agnes says that she ruined her whole life to help Becka and now it’s his turn to do the same. She continues to urge him to do the right thing, despite her own feelings for Garth.
Aunt Estee helps Becka get ready to get married and prepares an injection of some sort of sedative to help her. Agnes arrives with her bouquet to help her friend. Caught up in the kind gesture, Becka kisses Agnes, just once. Agnes seems to view it as a friendly gesture, not knowing Becka’s true feelings.
In one ceremony, Commander Weston swears Garth in as a Commander before Becka is brought in and Judd officiates their wedding.
All while this is happening, Mrs. Grove is brought to the noose to be hung.
Aunt Vidala walks a sedated Becka to Garth for their ceremony as Agnes, Daisy, Aunt Estee, and Aunt Lydia watch from the balcony.
After the ceremony, Garth takes his new wife Becka away. Daisy gets to talk with Agnes for a moment, and Agnes says that ruining her life for Becka was worth it. Daisy takes the opportunity to tell her that she’s just like her mother and even says June’s full name to Agnes. Upon hearing her name, Agnes exclaims, “The terrorist?! Why would you say that?! Why would you say something like that?!” Clearly, she has been brainwashed by the Gilead propaganda machine. Daisy defends June and says that she thinks Agnes’s name is Hannah. Agnes stops and takes this in and starts to cry.
At what appears to be the dentist’s office, Garth carries a sleeping Becka upstairs and into a bedroom. He tucks her into bed and as she stirs, she sees him close and lock the door. Oh no. I fear we have another Eleanor Lawrence situation on our hands.
Back in her bedroom, Agnes opens her drawer and removes her bag of trinkets she’s been hiding. She pulls out a piece of paper and begins to unfold it and it’s exactly what I think it is! The drawing we saw a young Hannah write her name on. Agnes starts to have flashbacks to that moment and knows that what Daisy said must be true.
Back in Canada, June leaves her house to find a jar of honey with a note on it from Daisy. Agnes returns to Aunt Lydia’s office as they discuss the challenges they must face as they work to redeem her reputation. Agnes reveals she knows who her birth mother is. In her letter to June, Daisy vows to stay in Gilead and destroy them by creating her own army.
We then get an incredible montage of Agnes joining hands with Shu and Daisy to take us out to the credits on the season one finale. WOW.
