June’s closest handmaid friend, Janine, is arguably the most tortured — and resilient — of all the handmaids viewers have met. In the first episode, Janine was poked with an electric cattle prod and had her right eye removed as punishment for her insubordination, which showed that Lydia and the other aunts meant business at the Red Center. She gave birth to a daughter, Angela, for Commander Putnam and his wife Naomi, and over time became increasingly distraught.
After being posted with another family, she kidnapped her daughter, stood on the edge of a bridge, and revealed that Putnam had promised that he’d leave his wife for her. June managed to coax Janine into giving her the baby before Janine leapt from the bridge into the icy water below. She survived but was nearly stoned to death and survived a mock execution at the command of Aunt Lydia.
In Season 2, she was sent to the brutal and toxic “Colonies,” where “unwomen” live in forced labor camps. She was eventually brought back to serve as a handmaid again and helped Angela recover from an illness. Aunt Lydia’s compassion for her grew after a violent incident in Season 3, and Janine also helped June and some fellow handmaids and Marthas smuggle a group of children out of Gilead.
In Season 4, Janine and June escaped by train to war-torn Chicago and met up with a band of resistance fighters. Janine had a tryst with one of them, but she was eventually captured and sent back to Gilead. She begged Aunt Lydia not to be made a handmaid again, and their bond strengthened.
In Season 5, a handmaid, Esther, tried to turn Janine against Lydia and then poisoned her, but Janine survived again. Lydia orchestrated a posting with Commander Lawrence and Naomi Putnam, now his new wife, so Janine could be closer to her child. But in a fit of pique in the Season 5 finale, Janine furiously told Naomi that she hated her guts and then got carted off by the Eyes.
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
