The Handmaid's Tale - The Other Side - Advance Preview

The Handmaid’s Tale “The Other Side” was directed by Floria Sigismondi with a teleplay by Lynn Renee Maxcy, whose other credits include Covert Affairs. This is a wonderful episode that nonetheless breaks completely from the novel. It is once again a beautifully cinematic episode.

We learn that the Mexican delegate, Mr Fiores (Christian Barillas) was telling Offred (Elisabeth Moss) the truth. The episode takes us back to the very first scene. There is virtually no dialogue for the first 12 minutes. O-T Fagbenle (Luke) is fantastic, and this really is Luke’s episode.

The episode is largely flashback, with only two scenes really happening in the “present.” This episode really does a wonderful job of weaving the various parts of the story together and taking an interesting path through time. It really does mimic both memory and the utter confusion and disbelief of the characters over what is happening to their world.

We learn how they got to the ditch on that road, and then the narrative fills us in on what happened to Luke. Zoe (Rosa Gilmore) shows Luke something that make him re-think his plan. Luke also meets Erin (Erin Way), Christine (Kim Roberts), and Peter (Ben Lewis).

And here are some dialogue teasers:

What if she wakes up?
Welcome to your little slice of heaven.
You ever shot a gun?
Nothing’s going on.
Can you put the gun down?
Three weeks ago.
I took his sister to the prom back in the day. He owes me a favor.

This was another wonderful episode that helps to fill in some of the blanks. It’s going to be really interesting to see where we go from here. “The Other Side” airs May 24.