‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Episode Seven Recap: Will Luke Be Able To Save June And Hannah? [Spoilers]

Hulu’s original series The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel by the same name, is captivating to say the least, and leaves viewers wanting more each week. During Wednesday’s episode titled “The Other Side,” viewers finally get the answers to some of the many lingering questions about Offred’s life before Gilead, and what happened to her husband, Luke.

Warning: If you have not watched episode seven of The Handmaid’s Tale, STOP reading now. Major spoilers ahead.

Through earlier episodes, we saw that Luke, June (Offred) and their daughter Hannah were trying to flee to Canada to escape the new country, Gilead. On their way to the Canadian border, their car swerves off the road and gets stuck in a ditch. Luke tells his wife and daughter to run, while he stays behind. Not long after June and Hannah take off into the woods, they can hear gunshots, and are captured by the guards. We still don’t know where Hannah is, but we do know what happens to June- she is taken to Gilead to serve as a handmaid to The Commander and his barren wife, and is given the name Offred.

In episode six, the Mexican ambassador visits The Commander’s home to discuss trade. While there, she talks to Offred about her job as a handmaid, and asks her if she is happy. Offred lies and says she has found happiness, but later retracts her statements when she finds herself alone with the ambassador and her assistant. The ambassador tells Offred she cannot help her, and then leaves the room, leaving Offred alone with her assistant, who quickly tells Offred he can help her. He tells her that Luke is alive, and he can try to get a message to him.

The Handmaid’s Tale on TV: too disturbing even for Margaret Atwood https://t.co/59IoAqbAWw

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 25, 2017

Episode seven consists of a series of flashbacks that showed just exactly what happened prior to June and Hannah being captured. The family leaves their home in Boston to meet with a friend of June’s mother. He drives them to an isolated cabin in the woods, and tells them they will be safe there. They spend their days skipping rocks on the lake and making chocolate chip pancakes, and it appears as though they are going to make it to Canada. However, a hunter spots them by the lake, and comes back later to tell them that they are being hunted by the guards. That is when the three leave the cabin in hopes of making it to safe ground before it’s too late.

As they are driving, the car crashes. Luke was shot, but he wasn’t killed. Instead, he was captured and was being transported in an ambulance by the Gilead guards when it crashed and killed the other passengers. Luke was able to escape, and although he was badly injured, walk to a nearby town where he sought brief shelter. On the way there, he finds his wife’s belongings and his daughter’s bunny on the ground, and realizes they have been taken. He takes the bunny and continues his journey, arriving at an abandoned town. While sitting in one of the buildings, Luke is attacked by an unknown female because she believed he was a guard. He quickly explains that he just took the jacket to keep him warm, and that he had been shot. The woman, who we find out is named Zoey, has a bus, and has been taking in “strays” to take with her to Canada. Zoey, and the others who are traveling with her, help Luke onto the bus and give him antibiotics for his gunshot wound. Although Luke tries to leave the bus to find June and Hannah, Zoey convinces him that he will be killed if he goes back, and he should go to Canada to seek help from the Americans who are already there. Luke decides to travel with them, and makes it to Canada after a firing spree from the guards which kills Zoey.

Why the female villains on The Handmaid’s Tale are so terrifying: https://t.co/zw881RVWkO pic.twitter.com/uesaP3YUvK

— Slate (@Slate) May 25, 2017

Several years pass, and we see Luke and one of Zoey’s fellow passengers sitting outside in the American town in Canada. Shortly after, Luke receives a call from the American consulate, asking him to come in for a meeting. When he arrives, he walks through a hallway with hundreds of missing person signs lining the walls. He enters the office, and is asked if he knows June Osborne. He tells her she is his wife, and then receives the letter June had given the Mexican ambassador’s assistant weeks earlier. The note read “I love you so much. Save Hannah.” Luke realizes his wife is alive, and is overcome with emotion. The episode ends leaving viewers wondering if he will be able to find June, and figure out what has happened to their daughter.

Check out the trailer for episode eight below.

Do you think Luke will be able to save June and Hannah? What do you think about The Handmaid’s Tale so far? Leave your comments below.

[Featured Image by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images]