There are multiple ways to make a TV show sensational. The director can choose to include dazzling action sequences, or he/she can mix genres, or they could craft a storyline pivotal to the show as a whole. However, one of the most essential aspects to making a good TV show is creating a strong, superior backstory for it's main characters, or supporting characters.
'A Woman's Place' the sixth episode of The Handmaid's Tale presents a remarkably melancholy backstory for Serena Joy and Commander Waterford, while at the same time continuing June's/Offred's storyline to great effect. Even though these two characters can be ruthless at times, you also can't help but feel bad for them after this momentous, phenomenal episode.
Sometimes the thing that can make a standalone episode mediocre is when the director chooses to focus on one or two characters too much. While 'A Woman's Place' definitely tends to focus more on the Waterford's, we also get some great moments between Nick and June/Offred following the immensely important finale of the last episode, 'Faithful'.
Overall, 'A Woman's Place' succeeds in every area, more so than 'Faithful'. It gives us incredible backstories, a much faster paced episode, and a fantastic monlogue delivered by Elisabeth Moss at the end of the episode. Continue the magnificent work everybody!
Episode 6: 'A Woman's Place' =98%
-2 points taken off for being slow moving (much less though)