The women of Gilead are forced to a precipitous edge in The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 12. Here are a few hints for what to expect in “Postpartum.”

Biological warfare

For the season’s penultimate outing, The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 12 fixes its spotlight on the bonds dictated by our biology. June, naturally, is at the locus of this intimate study, as her own capacities as a mother are twisted against her to serve Gilead’s (and Serena’s) purposes. It turns out that having a baby is by no means the saving miracle that Aunt Lydia promised… for June, or for her mistress; instead, it allows for a kind of cruelty the likes of which we have rarely seen on this show.

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(Shocking, I know.)

And at the other end of the story’s spectrum, Serena herself struggles, a fascinating study of a dream realized in the worst possible way. “Be careful what you wish for” might be a bit reductive here, but “Postpartum” is certainly not shy about the often agonizing realities of parenthood — biological and adoptive alike.

A fork in the road of good and evil

The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 12 doesn’t restrict its study of transformation to mothers, however. The alchemizing demands of biology — the forces we translate as love, desire, sin, and salvation — become especially potent as Eden’s story reaches revelatory new heights.

Nick’s little wife has been a polarizing figure among fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, but in “Postpartum,” the show itself finally (and definitively) picks a side. All of Eden’s opportunities for good and evil — what she knows, what she has done, and what she wants to do —crescendo in this week’s episode. The fallout from her decisions is “watch-from-between-your-fingers” intense, and no matter how fans feel about Eden’s choices, this teen bride is set to change the very DNA of this story as we know it.

Woe, woe, woah

After several weeks on the sidelines, the embittered Emily finally returns to prominence in The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 12… but if you were hoping for an improvement in her circumstances, you may be disappointed.

In a stroke of what (for now) looks like extreme disaster, Emily is ushered to her new posting in this week’s episode. But what she finds there is a different brand of horrors than the sort to which the show has accustomed us. Emily (and the audience) are used to sterile rape and uncompromising dehumanization; we all think we know what to expect, that we understand the sick brutality in Gilead’s diseased context.

But in “Postpartum,” Emily enters a house that functions by its own untidy and unpredictable rules. No one — not Martha, not Wife, and not Commander — behave as they are supposed to. (Even the house defies expectations.) The political rapidly because dangerously personal, and Emily is left to read old cues in a new context, that seem to suggest ever more bewildering answers.

It seems late in the game for The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 to introduce us to this new genre of madness, but don’t expect many answers just yet. “Postpartum” is full of endings, but more than one new story may also be just about to start.

The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 12, “Postpartum,” will be available for streaming on Hulu on Wednesday.