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Spoilers forward for Season 2 Episode 12 of The Tale of the Maid. A character from Handmaid's Tale met with an untimely end this week, and though she's not necessarily a big subject in history, her death could have repercussions lasting on other characters. Eden is found this week after she fled with her lover Isaac and a massive search expedition is sent after them. They are executed in a macabre manner to be "sinful" and betray Nick, the husband of Eden, and Serena's reaction to the death of Eden on The Handmaid's Tale could mean that she will not be as favorable to Gilead's leaders.
Eden definitely held a lower rank in society than the Waterfords, but she was still a staple of their home, and Serena was close to her, especially in this episode where the baby of June arrived. Eden holds the baby at the beginning of the episode while she talks about motherhood with Serena, and the fortune bond that they share is clear.
Eden is the perfect example of someone who should be Gilead's poster child. She tirelessly tries to be a good and devoted woman, and will not compromise her religion for anything. Even when Nick begs Eden to lie to the authorities, to say that Isaac has taken it against his will, or to say that she is sorry and that she regrets her supposed sins for that. She can be spared, she will not do it. Eden is a girl who has always striven to be as diligent and pious as she could be, and it continues even when she faces death. Nick tries to tell him that the truth does not matter, but she will not have it. "It counts for God," she says. "He knows what's in my heart."
George Kraychyk
"All I wanted was to create a real family," she continues. "Is not that what Galaad wants from God's servants?" Even though she faces her own demise, Eden still asks Nick for forgiveness after she told him that she does not want to have her baby, and recites a prayer to calm him and comfort him. It is clear that she is just a teenager who has a hard time accepting her relationship with God, and only wants to do what she thinks she is supposed to do. And yet, even it is not good enough under the strict rule of Galaad.
Like the others in the district – even Eden's own family – look with horror, Eden and Isaac are forced to jump into a pool with weights attached to them. Everyone is shocked and horrified, even if they know what is going to happen, and Serena in particular has a reaction that suggests it may not be the world she wants to live in anymore. She sobs and looks incredulously, her hands clasped to her face, and still has not recovered later in the night when June visits her in the baby's room.
George Kraychyk
If any one is as good and willing to bow to the rule of God as Eden can not prosper as a woman in Gilead, then really, who can? This must be a concern of Serena now more than ever. Although June's child does not really belong to her, Serena now considers herself as her mother, and probably considers her relationship with Eden as that of an adoptive parent. She welcomed Eden into her home, gave her motherly advice and did her best to guide her, but she still has to watch when she receives the ultimate punishment.
June's baby will probably have greater protection than Eden because she will be considered a Commander's daughter, but she is still a girl. Serena seems more troubled by Gilead's laws than ever before in this episode, and it's not hard to see why. Now she has a young girl directly in her care, and she will have to count on how much power she really has to protect her. It would be difficult – maybe even impossible – for Serena to redeem herself significantly after the atrocities of which she was an accomplice, but Eden's fate might be the spark that eventually convinces her. that no woman can really have a good life in Gilead.
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