The Handmaid's Tale, Season 1

Offred:
A chair. A table. A lamp. There's a window with white curtains, and the glass is shatterproof. But it isn't running away they're afraid of. A Handmaid wouldn't get far. It's those other escapes. The ones you can open in yourself given a cutting edge. Or a twisted sheet and a chandelier. I try not to think about those escapes. It's harder on Ceremony days, but thinking can hurt your chances. My name is Offred. I had another name, but it's forbidden now. So many things are forbidden now.

Serena Joy Waterford:
He is my husband until death do us part. Don't get any ideas. If I get trouble, believe me, I will give trouble back.

Nick Blaine:
Going shopping?

Offred:
[in voiceover] No, Nick, I'm gonna knock back a few at the Oyster House Bar. You wanna come along?

Offred:
A bath is required before the Ceremony. I am to make myself clean. Washed and brushed like a prize pig. She comes to me so clearly in the bath. When do I come to her? Does she remember me? Please, God. Let her remember me.

Offred:
Someone is watching. Here, someone is always watching. Nothing can change. It all has to look the same. Because I intend to survive for her. Her name is Hannah. My husband was Luke. My name is June.

Ofglen:
I worked at the university. Lecturer in cellular biology.

Offred:
Wow. I thought all the college professors were sent to The Colonies or ...

Ofglen:
I have two good ovaries. So they were kind enough to overlook my sinful past. Lucky me.

Offred:
It seems imagined, like secrets in the fifth grade. People with mysterious histories and dark linkages. It doesn't seem as if it should be the true shape of the world. That's a hangover from an extinct reality. Now, the Guardians of the Faithful and American soldiers still fight with tanks in the remains of Chicago. Now, Anchorage is the capital of what's left of the United States and the flag that flies over that city has only two stars. Now, darkness and secrets are everywhere. Now, there has to be an "us." Because now, there is a "them."

Offred:
It's forbidden for us to be alone with the Commanders. We aren't concubines. We're two-legged wombs. Maybe he knows about Ofglen. Have I been invited to my own ending? No. 'Cause it isn't an invitation. I can't send my regrets.

Offred:
Beyond the Commander's door is a place where women do not go. Not even Serena Joy. What male totems are kept in there? I guess there may be something he wants from me. To want is to have a weakness. That gives me hope. But I can't stop thinking about the girl in the horror movie who goes down into the basement when the light is out. The girl who thinks her boyfriend with the perfect hair is just playing a sexy prank. "Justin, are you down there?" And then she descends, with a stupid smile, to her bloody end. That girl is a fucking moron.

Offred:
Has Ofglen been transferred to a new post so soon?

Ofglen #2:
I am Ofglen.

Offred:
[in voiceover] Fuck.

Offred:
Now I'm awake to the world. I was asleep before. That's how we let it happen. When they slaughtered Congress, we didn't wake up. When they blamed terrorists and suspended the Constitution, we didn't wake up then either. They said it would be temporary. Nothing changes instantaneously. In a gradually heating bathtub, you'd be boiled to death before you knew it.

Aunt Lydia:
Remember your scripture. Blessed are the meek.

Offred:
And blessed are those who suffer for the cause of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Doctor:
I can help you. It could be the only way for you. If Waterford can't get you pregnant, they won't blame him. It'll be your fault. It'll only take a few minutes, honey.

Offred:
I can't.

Offred:
There was an Offred before me. She helped me find my way out. She is dead. She is alive. She is me. We are Handmaids. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum, bitches.

Fred Waterford:
We only wanted to make the world better.

Offred:
Better?

Fred Waterford:
Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some.

Offred:
[after watching the Eyes arrest Ofglen] They didn't get everything. There was something inside of her that they couldn't take away. She looked invincible.

Mrs. Castillo:
I heard you speak once, at a rally before the war. You were very passionate.

Serena Joy Waterford:
Women were abandoning their families and we needed to make a change. We were running out of time.

Mrs. Castillo:
You were arrested for inciting to riot, if I recall?

Serena Joy Waterford:
I had a temper in those days.

Mrs. Castillo:
Back then, did you ever imagine a society like this?

Serena Joy Waterford:
A society that has reduced its carbon emissions by 78% in three years?

Mrs. Castillo:
A society in which women can no longer read your book. Or anything else.

Serena Joy Waterford:
No. I didn't. God asks for sacrifices, Mrs. Castillo. That has always been His way, but He gives the righteous blessings in return. And I think that it's safe to say Gilead has been blessed in so many ways.

Rachel Tapping:
Do you know a woman named June Osborne? She's 31, blonde hair, blue eyes, from Boston?

Luke Bankole:
Yes, my wife.

Rachel Tapping:
That's what we thought. [takes out a manilla envelope and hands it to Luke] This is for you.

[Luke takes the envelope, puts on his glasses, pulls a piece of notepaper out of the envelope, and reads as Rachel sits down]

Luke Bankole:
[after a beat] Where did you get this?

Rachel Tapping:
One of our contacts in the Mexican government. From one of their trade delegates. Sorry it's not more. I think they only had a few seconds.

Luke Bankole:
When?

Rachel Tapping:
Three weeks ago.

Luke Bankole:
So she's alive?

Rachel Tapping:
We believe so. Yes.

Offred:
Luke is alive. I stretch out my arms to him, but he slips away. Like a ghost at daybreak. And I am left here. I wish this story were different. I wish it showed me in a better light. In a different story, maybe I wouldn't be such a fucking weakling. So I've gone back to Nick. Time after time, on my own. I want to know him, memorize him, so I can live on the image later. I should have done that with Luke because he's fading. Day by day and night by night he recedes. And I become more faithless. I could say these are acts of rebellion, a "fuck you" to the patriarchy, but those are excuses. I'm here because it feels good and because I don't want to be alone.

Offred:
[after receiving a music box from Serena Joy] A perfect gift. A girl trapped in a box. She only dances when someone opens the lid, when someone else winds her up. If this is a story I'm telling, I must be telling it to someone. There's always someone, even when there's no one. I will not be that girl in the box.

Offred:
It's their fault. They should have never given us uniforms if they didn't want us to be an army.

Offred:
Whether this is my end or a new beginning, I have no way of knowing. I have given myself over into the hands of strangers. I have no choice. It can't be helped. And so I step up, into the darkness within ... or else the light.