One word: RITA.
Episode 107 – Commitment
As Daisy’s secret past threatens to surface, Agnes grapples with an unwanted match and a forbidden crush. Becka meets with potential matches and finds unexpected kindness in one of them.
Writer: Maya Goldsmith
Director: Jet Wilkinson
Daisy is laying in bed, secretly listening to Mayday’s radio broadcast as she flashes back to waiting at the diner after June left her. An older woman offers her coffee as Daisy waits until after closing. We then learn that the woman working at the diner is her Mayday contact and the one to take Daisy to her next stop. Back in the Pearl Girls’ sleeping quarters, Daisy realizes she fell asleep with her radio and puts it away just in time to sneak back into bed before Aunt Estee collects her and another Pearl Girl for their “treatment”. Hmm.
Agnes comes downstairs to her family’s kitchen to find Paula is excited about her three matches, which do not include Garth. She is visibly disappointed. Paula tells her that Commander Weston is the one to impress (Agnes danced with him at the Ball). Paula makes a snarky comment about how Agnes should be grateful.
At school, Daisy and the other Pearl Girl are getting their treatment which we learn is getting tattoo removal done (which Aunt Estee and Aunt Gabbana are apparently able to do). At lunch, the Greens discuss their matches. Well-informed by her Marthas, Shunammite says that Commander Weston runs the Eyes, and was previously married, but his wife died. We learn that Becka has been matched with Commander Maddox who got her drunk at the Ball, a Commander from the Colonies, and Garth. Agnes is devastated but keeps her composure and tells the group that Garth is her Guardian. Becka is upset and runs from the room, but Agnes follows her, assuring her that she isn’t upset with her. Becka says she never wanted any of this. Agnes begs her to just not marry Garth, but Becka reminds her that she has no choice in this. “I don’t want to marry anyone; I want to jump off a cliff”. My heart continues to break for Becka.
As Daisy and the Greens approach them, Commander Weston enters the school with some Guardians. He tells Aunt Vidala that they demand entry based on new intel out of Boston, and she reluctantly lets them pass. Daisy looks terrified. Shu says that she heard her father say that they’re investigating the Mayday attack.
Daisy flashes back to waking up in Rita’s house. RITA!!!!! I almost cried seeing her! Rita is getting her settled and says she’s working on getting her a fake passport so they can get her out of Canada and to Colombia. Daisy doesn’t want this, and Rita tries to calm her down and reiterates that Daisy is in danger. She tells Daisy that Neil and Melanie set aside some money for her. When asked if she knows anything about her real parents, Rita says, “just that they got you out of Gilead; they wanted a better life for you…They’re not alive anymore.”
Later, once the older woman drops off the fake passport, Daisy declares that she wants to join Mayday to fight back against Gilead. She demands to talk to June and refuses to get on the plane to Colombia. Rita and the older woman are talking about the logistics of some plan that June has had and has been waiting for a girl Daisy’s age. Rita asks her if she’s fruitful and if she’s gotten her period yet. Daisy says no, and that almost no one does anymore. In present day, Aun Vidala brings the Eyes up to the Pearl Girls’ sleeping quarters. Commander Weston asks to speak to a few of the girls.
In another flashback, we see Rita helping Daisy dye her hair, talking about a tattoo. They’re getting her ready to appear as a panhandler on Queen St. in Toronto. We also learn that her real first name is Marguerite, and that Daisy is just a nickname. That’s what they decide to put on her fake documents. Rita tells her to always mind her handler in Gilead, and to never underestimate the other young girls. We get another “Do you understand me?” from Rita this time. (Serena Joy really traumatized everyone in that household.)
Daisy enters the dining room to be questioned by Weston and sees that he already has the radio. He begins to ask her about what she noticed the day of the bus attack. He also asks her about her past and her family. She recites her fake backstory, and flashes back to her time prepping with Rita.
Rita says that she is not going to Gilead to be a spy, but to be a sponge; to learn whatever she can and pass it along to her handler. Daisy learns about June’s daughter in Gilead who is her age but receives no further context.
Back in the present, Daisy is wrapping up her story to Weston. He wishes her good luck and Gilead and then dismisses her. She somehow manages to calmly walk out of the room. Agnes catches up with her in a classroom where Daisy is having a panic attack. She forces herself to calm down and Agnes assures her that the Eyes are there to protect them. She invites Daisy over to her house after school because she hasn’t been spending much time with her. She expresses her admiration for Daisy’s strength. We flash back again to Daisy on the streets of Toronto where she sees two Pearl Girls.
They approach Daisy, who plays hard to get, just as she was instructed. The Pearl Girls offer to let her take a shower and feed her back at their hotel room, with no catch.
At the hotel, the Pearl Girls are trying to convince Daisy how well women are treated in Gilead. Once she’s dressed, she tries to leave but the Pearl Girls insist on praying for her first.
At Agnes’s house, she and Daisy are spending time talking about her upcoming wedding prep. They talk about Daisy’s life before Gilead. Agnes says that Daisy’s normal teenage Canadian life sounds horrible. Daisy tries to tell her how great dating can be, but Agnes says things are less confusing in Gilead. She removes a small bag hidden in her window seat full of things she found in the garden or at the beach. They’re all little trinkets from the time before Gilead. Daisy is trying to explain what the items are to Agnes, and gives her a very sugarcoated version, which Agnes can see through. She puts her treasures back in their hiding place and goes to try on her new green dress.
At each of the Greens’ houses, the girls and their parents meet with their prospective matches for some sort of interview. I will never not be creeped out and horrified by all of this for these young girls. One of the visits is by Garth to Becka’s home. He’s the only one that offers any sort of care for her happiness.
Commander Weston visits Agnes’s family and they all talk as though Agnes is not even there and she is expected to remain silent. However, she gets a great subtle dig in on Paula; HELL YEAH. She also intentionally throws her chances with him a bit by bringing up his deceased wife. He quickly makes an excuse to leave but first says that he lost his wife in childbirth and that it was the worst day of his life. Once he leaves, Paula is furious and tells Agnes to leave before she hits her. She calls her stupid and selfish.
Agnes runs outside and finds Garth smoking out in the yard. He drops his cigarette and walks away. She approaches it cautiously, picks it up, and starts to inhale when Garth returns and says smoking is not allowed.
She drops it and hesitates before asking him if he thinks she has a personality, referencing Daisy’s earlier comment. He eventually says yes, he sees it. She asks about his visit with Becka and he says she should go back inside, and she does.
Back in the Pearl Girls’ sleeping quarters before bed, Aunt Vidala forces the girls to kneel and says that one of them has been deceitful. Daisy is terrified. The Eyes walk in to pick someone up for punishment and they surprisingly grab the girl that sleeps nest to Daisy; the girl whose bed Daisy was hiding her radio in. Daisy breathes a sigh of relief but feels horrible. That night, Paula is looking for Agnes when Rosa suggests that Weston is not right for Agnes. Paula tells her it’s not her place. She heads upstairs to confront Agnes. Agnes apologizes and we learn that Paula was a therapist before Gilead which makes her behavior even more concerning. She says that Weston is somehow still interested in her.
Daisy says a genuine prayer for the Pearl Girl that was taken to be punished, and flashes back to leaving Toronto with the Pearl Girls. They meet a group of Guardians which includes Garth, who will take her over the border because they know someone in Border Patrol. Garth goes through her backpack, finds her radio, and takes it (which we know is for safe keeping).
Back in her room when she’s alone, Agnes removes her secret trinkets bag again to add the cigarette from Garth to the mix.
