Last week, The Testaments<\/em> dug deeper into Aunt Lydia\u2019s backstory, revisiting an agonizing moment in her past that illuminated\u2014sort of\u2014the decisions she\u2019s been making in the present. For this week\u2019s episode, \u201cCommitment,\u201d the show brought back another familiar character from The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> to give some fresh perspective on the events we\u2019ve been seeing in the show so far.<\/span><\/p>\n In Gilead, \u201ccommitment\u201d is a word with extra weight to it, and the events of episode seven brought that even more sharply into focus<\/span> \u201cCommitment\u201d fills in more blanks for Daisy (Lucy Halliday) and her emotionally fraught journey to becoming a Mayday operative. As June (Elisabeth Moss) has already revealed, Gilead ordered the murders of Daisy\u2019s adoptive parents and would dearly love to reclaim the teenager who escaped its borders as a young child.<\/p>\n In the tumultuous days after Daisy learns this information, she\u2019s brought to a safe house: the home of Rita (Amanda Brugel). In the first season of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>, we met Rita as the \u201cMartha\u201d\u2014the head cook and housekeeper\u2014at the home of Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), where June is serving as a Handmaid.<\/p>\n We learn a little about her past. Rita had a teenage son who was killed in the Gilead coup. She has a sister, who appeared in the final season of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>. Though she started out as a background presence, offering June quiet words of support, she eventually emerged as an important ally for the resistance.<\/p>\n She\u2019s a key operative in \u201cAngel\u2019s Flight,\u201d the season three event in which dozens of Gilead children were spirited to safety in Canada. This is when Rita herself leaves Gilead.<\/p>\n In season six, Rita turns up in \u201cNew Bethlehem,\u201d the Serena Joy-supported settlement designed to be a less cruel version of Gilead. Her motivation is to help her sister escape, but that plan falls through, and Rita then uses her position to help Mayday.<\/p>\n When she\u2019s enlisted to make the cake for Serena Joy\u2019s second wedding, Rita mixes in a strong sedative. Everyone who eats a slice passes out, allowing Mayday to slaughter dozens of powerful wedding guests. Then, Rita steps in to save June from certain execution before making her way back to Canada with most of the other Handmaid\u2019s<\/em> characters.<\/p>\n Which brings us to \u201cCommitment\u201d and Rita\u2019s surprise presence in The Testaments<\/em>. Rita\u2019s still a Mayday agent, doing what she can from Canada. The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> viewers have all this context for her, but Daisy, of course, has no<\/em> clue about what Rita has endured up to this point.<\/p>\n As \u201cCommitment\u201d begins, we return to Daisy, still at the diner where June told her to wait at the end of episode three. After several hours, she realizes the waitress is her Mayday contact. They head to Rita\u2019s place.<\/p>\n There\u2019s some relevent present-day Gilead business next. Agnes (Chase Infiniti) learns who her prospective husbands are, including Commander Westin (Reed Diamond). Not only is he much older\u2014and very much not<\/em> the Guardian she\u2019s got a crush on, Garth (Brad Alexander)\u2014he\u2019s the head of the Eyes, Gilead\u2019s secret police. Cut to Westin and the Eyes barging into the Aunt Lydia School, intent on finding the Mayday mole they suspect is based there.<\/p>\n Back in the past, in Rita\u2019s Toronto apartment, the former Martha is all business at first. She has a friend in immigration who\u2019s making Daisy a new passport; Daisy will need to leave Canada as soon as possible. Daisy doesn\u2019t think much of the plan that\u2019s thrust before her: take a freight plane to Colombia and start a whole new life in South American exile.<\/p>\n Rita agrees that it\u2019s unfair that Daisy has to go through this but points out their options are limited. Rita also has a few details to share about Daisy\u2019s past: her birth parents got her out of Gilead because they wanted her to have a better life. Unfortunately, they\u2014like her adoptive parents in Toronto\u2014are not alive anymore.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot to take in. \u201cFuck Gilead,\u201d Daisy says, and Rita tells her, \u201cI\u2019m trying my best.\u201d<\/p>\n In the next scene, the new passport arrives, but Daisy declares she\u2019s not going to run away. She\u2019s got nothing left to lose (except her life, as Rita reminds her), and she wants to be a part of Mayday and help fight back.<\/p>\n Rita doesn\u2019t go for it at first; after all, she says, there\u2019s a difference between feeling<\/em> brave and actually being<\/em> brave. But she clocks Daisy\u2019s determination and thinks there might be a way. June has a plan for everything, apparently, including smuggling a teenaged girl into Gilead as an undercover operative. It\u2019s an extremely dangerous undertaking; we see from the show\u2019s present-day timeline that anyone thought to be working with Mayday is subject to immediate public execution.<\/p>\n And we learn how extensive the process of sneaking into Gilead really is, especially if you want to assimilate into its rigid society. Daisy gets a tattoo to help bolster her cover story (later, as a Pearl Girl, she\u2019s shown having it removed), and Rita arranges for a fake police record to make things even more convincing. She also gives some very important advice.<\/p>\n \u201cYou protect yourself by following their rules. And don\u2019t trust anyone except your handler,\u201d she says. No matter how lonely Daisy gets in Gilead, Rita tells her, she can\u2019t risk making any friends. When Daisy jokes how she wouldn\u2019t want to buddy up with the girls in Gilead anyway, seeing as how they \u201cthink the Earth is flat and can\u2019t even do multiplication,\u201d Rita turns deadly serious.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t ever underestimate them. Ever<\/em>. They have spent their lives being vigilant in a way that you never have. So if you go in there thinking that you are smarter than them, you will die. Do you understand me<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, we understand. We see Rita grilling Daisy on the details of her fake backstory, and \u201cCommitment\u201d shows us how crucial this is when we hear Westin, who\u2019s questioning all the Pearl Girls, ask Daisy about where she came from. Somehow, she keeps her composure, but in the past we see she\u2019s still not quite taking things seriously enough, joking that her Gilead escapades will make for a killer essay for any future college applications.<\/p>\n Rita\u2014who sternly reminds Daisy that her main objective is to be a \u201csponge\u201d that soaks up information\u2014tells Daisy that June has a daughter in Gilead who\u2019s about Daisy\u2019s age. (The Testaments<\/em> is still pretending like her identity is some big secret to be revealed, so we won\u2019t spoil it here, but\u2026 you know who it is, right?)<\/p>\n Rita is also schooling Daisy on all the top Commanders. There\u2019s a dossier filled with photos and personal details. \u201cBefore Gilead, this guy worked in crypto, and now he\u2019s a Commander,\u201d Daisy snorts about one man in particular. \u201cOh, and he racked up a couple of restraining orders for domestic violence.\u201d Then we see who it is: our pal Commander Westin.<\/p>\n After parting ways with Rita, Daisy moves on to the next phase of their plan. She pretends to be a runaway, roaming the downtown streets until she catches the attention of the Pearl Girl recruitment squad. The ruse works perfectly.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one problem starting to emerge, though: once in Gilead, will Daisy be able to heed Rita\u2019s warning about not trusting anyone or making any friends? Observing Daisy\u2019s distress after being interrogated by Westin, Agnes invites her over, and the girls seem on the verge of actually bonding. Then Daisy makes a mistake when they start talking about dating and romance. Sure, the heartbreak she experienced in her old life sucks, but it\u2019s better than what\u2019s on offer in Gilead.<\/p>\n \u201cYour worth has already been decided for you,\u201d she tells Agnes. \u201cYou don\u2019t even need a personality.\u201d It\u2019s hurtful, not the least because\u2014after her initial shock at hearing such a blunt remark\u2014Agnes realizes Daisy is probably right. The moment of shared closeness, something both girls are in desperate need of, quickly passes.<\/p>\n We then get a montage of the girls meeting their suitors. Agnes is clearly still thinking about what Daisy said, not to mention her forbidden feelings for Garth. We learn that Westin\u2019s first wife died in childbirth, and he was more sad about losing his child than his spouse. It\u2019s unclear if this is the same woman involved in those domestic violence charges Daisy had spotted in his file. Either way, it doesn\u2019t bode well for Agnes\u2019 future.<\/p>\n The last scenes of \u201cCommitment\u201d see Daisy recalling her journey across the border. The Pearl Girl recruiters drop her off and drive back to the sinful streets of Toronto to continue their mission. There, Daisy meets Garth\u2014who we already knew to be her Mayday contact\u2014and that\u2019s how her undercover journey begins.<\/span><\/p>\n Will she follow Rita\u2019s advice? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but it\u2019s starting to feel like Daisy isn\u2019t going to be OK with merely being an information-gathering \u201csponge.\u201d That\u2019s way too passive for how pissed-off she is\u2014and now that she\u2019s fully embedded in Gilead and has seen firsthand how things work here, she\u2019s ready to take matters into her own hands.<\/p>\n \u201cThere comes a time when we have to take action,\u201d she says in voiceover. \u201cYou have to choose your own destiny. We were teenage girls, so fuck it. That time was now.\u201d<\/p>\n New episodes of The Testaments<\/em> arrive Wednesdays on Hulu and Disney+.<\/p>\n Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n![\"Io9](\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/io9-2025-spoiler.png\")
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