After six wonderful seasons, The Handmaid's Tale comes full circle. The question was always whether Gilead would start to fall before The Testaments began.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid's Tale series finale.
There was a lot riding on The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 10. It needed to bring closure to June’s story, but it also couldn’t completely shut down the Gilead regime considering what we know of The Testaments. The writers had a lot to deliver, and arguably, it worked.
The episode opened off the back of the explosive penultimate episode. With the High Commanders gone, Boston fell to May Day. We didn’t get to see the fighting in the street, but we did learn that it took nine days for it to happen. Somewhere along the line, Janine was taken by Gilead, with June and Mark working tirelessly to find her.
It wasn’t just Boston that fell, either. There was focus on making New York, Kansas, and many other places fall, with June hoping that they would get to Colorado, where Hannah is currently being kept. Of course, we know that Hannah is part of The Testaments, so it’s not like June and Luke could save her by the end of The Handmaid’s Tale series finale.
Naomi gains a redemption arc in The Handmaid’s Tale series finale
After so long of trying to push for Gilead and keep Angela by her side, Naomi gained a surprise redemption arc. I guess the way Lawrence took Angela/Charlotte under his wing and encouraged her to read and draw touched Naomi in a way that nobody has done before.
Aunt Lydia had managed to find Janine in the new Gilead, so Mark took June to the new border. As Janine was dropped by a couple of Guardians, June rushed to her and hugged her tight. Then Lydia and Naomi came out of the fog with Charlotte, placing her with Janine. After all this time, Janine gets her daughter back — and it looks like she never will find out what happened to her son, who mysteriously hasn’t been mentioned — and they’ll be able to enjoy their time together in what is becoming America again.
My only concern is that Charlotte wouldn’t know who Janine is. However, I’m sure Lawrence would have helped a little bit with that. I have to wonder if she’ll grow up learning about what happened to herself and Janine when they were part of Gilead.
This opens a redemption arc for Naomi as she finally accepts that taking Janine’s daughter was wrong. Will this be continued in The Testaments? I certainly hope so!
Mark gets Serena out to a refugee camp in The Handmaid’s Tale
Meanwhile, Serena worries about what will come of her. Gilead has turned their back on her, and she’s not part of America. Canada, parts of Europe, nobody will give her a passport, so she is “nobody.” As June points out, she is Noah’s mom, and that’s the identity to hold onto for now. At least she is able to get out of Boston to a refugee camp, and it’s poetic how the tables have turned on Serena as she ends the series realizing that all she has is Noah, and he is enough.
June does manage to tell Serena she forgives her. Serena helping to get the bomb on the plane is the thing that secured Serena’s redemption for June, although not for me. Mark points out that it was big of June to give Serena the forgiveness she needed, but June shares, “You’ve got to start somewhere.”
As for Mark, he shares that June can get to where she needs to go, and I think we all knew where he meant at the time. All June has to do is use his name if she gets stopped at the American checkpoints — he’s Commander Tuello, though. I think I got shivers. At least he’s not one of those Commanders, pointing out that his ex-wife and son are in Hawaii, and he needs to take Gilead down so his son doesn’t have to do it. There’s no way this man is going to be one of those Commanders.
June and Luke are reunited with friends and family
There was a surprise return in The Handmaid’s Tale series finale, as June is looking at all the shops that have been emptied of Gilead items. Emily is there! Yes, Alexis Bledel returned for the series finale, sharing that she had been working as a Martha in a house with a good Commander as a way to pull the regime down from the inside. She had managed to facetime her wife and son, making it clear that she remained connected to the outside and she was working with May Day because she needed to do something to help.
The two walk along where the hanging wall was, with June pointing out that the Guardians have been hanged there. However, the hanging wall has changed, with graffiti all over the wall that says people’s names, words like “freedom,” and much more. This was the graffiti I got to see before filming, and I had so many theories about it. Now I get to see it in full on the screen, and I wish more time was spent on creating that.
June then follows up with a dream that she has, of a world if Gilead never existed. We get to see June, Moira, Emily, Janine, Alma, and Brianna all together in a club singing karaoke, and it’s such a bittersweet moment.
However, there is another reunion at the end. Now that Massachusetts is America again, we get to see a flag with three stars, and people in Alaska are able to make it back home. Yes, that means Holly and Baby Holly are on their way back to June and Luke, offering a much-needed moment for the family. However, June and Luke aren’t staying; they need to continue their fight to take down Gilead (but going their separate ways for now), meaning the two Hollys will continue to spend time together.
June’s mom isn’t happy with that idea, making it clear that she should be protecting her daughter. However, she comes to terms with it, setting up June’s thoughts on how The Handmaid’s Tale needs to end. June needs to write a book, one of survival and of what actually happened.
And so, we end The Handmaid’s Tale where it all began, back in the Waterford house, although it’s now clearly damaged by the war. June sits on the windowsill where we first met her in The Handmaid’s Tale series premiere, and she pulls out a Dictaphone, saying those opening lines. This has been June’s story all along, and soon we’ll get Hannah’s, Holly’s, and Lydia’s stories in The Testaments.
The Handmaid’s Tale is available to stream in full on Hulu.