The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 has certainly been filled with potential rebellion attempts. However, just as one would get started, it would fail, and with the knowledge of The Testaments, it is clear that Gilead can’t be brought down. So, I did start to worry that we wouldn’t get to see the Handmaids take down the Commanders.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 9.
The takedown did start in the previous episode. Commander Bell was killed with a knife to the eye by June, while other Handmaids slipped into their Commanders’ rooms to kill them. However, the episode cut off before we could really see the revolution happen. The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 9 made up for that.
Yet another failed attempt in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 9
Of course, at first, it looked like there would be another failed attempt. While June and the Handmaids believed that they were getting into cars belonging to May Day, it turned out that the Eyes had them. Someone had turned them in, but it wasn’t all that clear who it was. My assumption is that it was the Eye who was at the Red Center.
June was forced out of the group because she could never put the lives of other Handmaids on the line just for her. It was the right thing to do, even if it didn’t quite work out. After all, the gallows were set up for a mass hanging, with June front and center.
I remember watching the hanging scene being filmed, and I saw a dummy pulled up on the crane as I walked toward it, and I just knew that was meant to be June. However, would The Handmaid’s Tale really hang June in the penultimate episode? Well, they did, but it didn’t kill her. May Day, with Luke and Rita, were in the crowd waiting to attack. As June was pulled up, Luke rushed out unable to hold back.
I think it was obvious how all the Handmaids were going to get out of this one. While I expected deaths in the penultimate episode, I didn’t expect June, Moira, and Janine to be killed. Either Moira or Janine, sure, but not all three of them. However, I was worried that we’d see the end of Aunt Phoebe — who is actually called Ava and is a skilled CIA agent. I wasn't worried as much about Aunt Lydia considering we have The Testaments.
In the end, everyone got out of that situation alive, and the Commanders were forced to regroup. That takes us to Bradley Walsh’s excellent performance throughout this episode.
Commander Lawrence gets Naomi and Angela to safety
With the attack on Gilead, Naomi and Angela had to be taken to safety. Commander Lawrence promised that he would get to them, but it was clear in Walsh’s acting that he knew that likely wasn’t going to happen. He encouraged Naomi to read to Angela and wanted to make sure Angela was able to draw pictures. As much as he didn’t really want Angela around at first, he had taken to her so beautifully.
I do honestly believe that Lawrence never wanted what Gilead was, and he has spent all of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 looking for redemption. Whether he quite got redemption or not, I’m not sure. There are still elements of his character I don’t like, but he did do the right thing at the very end.
Tuello tasked him with putting a bomb on the plane of Commanders heading to D.C., as they regroup to figure out what to do to protect Gilead. This is Tuello and May Day’s last chance to take out the Commanders, and it relies on Lawrence being able to get on the plane to drop the bomb off and then get out.
When Commander Wharton shows up, it looks like maybe Lawrence will save himself again. After all, he only started working with May Day because he didn’t want to end up on the wall. In the end, he chose to sacrifice himself for the sake of the women and children of Gilead. He needs a brighter future for Angela, and so, he gets on the plane with the bomb and stays on it, knowing that there is no way out of that.
Serena ends up on the side of the Revolution in The Handmaid’s Tale
At the start of the episode, Serena turns to Lawrence for safety. Remember at the end of the previous episode, she raced out of the house with Noah after learning that Wharton was going against everything he promised. Naomi shares that Serena needs to make up with her husband, but that’s not something Serena can do. Even when Wharton turns up and says all the right things, it’s clear that deep down, Serena believes the reality of the situation. Wharton is just another man looking for power.
When she learns that June orchestrated the attack, she can’t really believe it. I do think that she thought June was her friend after everything that she did. As she points out to Lawrence, she and Noah wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for June. How could she do something like that?
Well, in the end, she realizes why. Nothing about Gilead is going to change, and only May Day can bring that hope. It’s not fully what Serena wants, because she doesn’t want America to become America again, but she also doesn’t want Gilead. This is what makes it impossible for Serena to gain redemption, but there is a start, as she tells June about the plane going to D.C., giving May Day a chance to take the Commanders down.
I remain conflicted about Serena, though. I want her to realize that nothing about Gilead is right. She seems to get it, as she starts to understand why the Handmaids turned against their Commanders. She’s starting to see that this part of the entire setup is wrong, and something else needs to change, which is why she wants to form a fertility clinic. Yet, her opinions about the women and the way they lived their lives before Gilead hasn’t changed, and that prevents full redemption.
Nick makes his choice in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 9
While everything was happening, Nick was at the hospital. His wife had woken him up in the middle of the night with complications with her pregnancy. It turns out that the sedatives put in the cake may have caused the complications. Look, this woman has been brainwashed by Gilead, but she’s also old enough to remember the world before. She should know that everything that happened to the women in Gilead is wrong, but she doesn’t, and that makes her an enemy right now.
Nick is forced to make a choice. He either chooses Gilead or he chooses June. In the end, he realizes that there is only the one option, and it’s an option that we should have seen coming from the very beginning of the series. Nick was always on Gilead’s side, and he only waivered when it came to June. Without June there, he chooses Gilead, and he gets on the plane going to D.C.
You can tell there’s a moment when he does wonder if it is the right decision. He stops on the stairs to the plane as June secretly watches, knowing that she can’t give herself away otherwise May Day’s plan won’t work. For once, June does what is right for May Day and the rebellion rather than her heart.
Lawrence has never spoken truer words when Nick says that June asked for him to leave it all behind. He should have done. Instead, He, Wharton, and Lawrence are all on that plane as it explodes in the sky. The Handmaid’s Tale has seen its first major deaths of the final season, and it’s about time!
The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 finale airs on Tuesday, May 27 on Hulu.