Offred Isn't Backing Down On 'The Handmaid's Tale'

In Episode 9 of The Handmaid's Tale, "The Bridge," Offred got her first assignment from Mayday, the resistance group that she was eager to assist. But her assignment wasn't an easy one to arrange. After hearing that Commander Waterford had taken Offred to Jezebels — the government-sanctioned brothel where women were forced into unwilling sex work — Mayday decided Offred was the perfect person to go back there and retrieve a mysterious package. It would be waiting for her at the bar with a woman named Rachel. But what was in the package Offred received on The Handmaid's Tale?

The contents of the package are still unknown by the episode's end, in part because it took so long for the package to actually make its way to Offred (whose real name, for the record, is June). Though she was able to manipulate Waterford into bringing her back to Jezebels, June wasn't actually able to get down to the bar. Instead she had a fraught meeting with a disheartened Moira that left June feeling just as defeated. Moira was so beaten down by what had happened to her that she just wanted to follow the rules to avoid further punishment. June returned to the Waterfords' home without the package and it looked like she might have to disappoint Mayday. But that wasn't the end of the story.

It seemed like Moira was feeling too hopeless to get on board with June's attempt to fight the system and she initially refused to go down to the bar for June to get the package. But June reminded Moira of the past they shared, and how Moira was always the first one to try to rebel. That seemed to get through to her, because at the end of "The Bridge," Moira had found a way to get the package to June. It was slipped to her by a butcher who placed it alongside her other daily groceries, complete with a note from Moira: "Praised be, b*tch. Here's your damn package. XOXO, Moira."

Unfortunately, viewers only got to see the note before the episode concluded. Overwhelmed by her friend's gesture, June didn't unwrap the package right away. And Mayday gave no hints about what it was when they passed along the assignment to June, though she was instructed not to open it upon receiving it. The package could contain information that would be helpful to the resistance, some kind of message from the outside world. Or, as Moira suggested, it could be a bomb or anthrax. It might be some kind of smaller weapon or even a communication device.

Whatever it was, it provided the characters with a shred of hope: it showed that people were fighting back instead of giving in, and change might really be coming.