The Handmaid's Tale Recap: June Witnesses A Crushing Betrayal In Real-Time

There was always going to be a moment when Nick's conflicting loyalties to June and Gilead could no longer exist in the same universe, and that moment arrives in this week's The Handmaid's Tale.

Did I think we'd get to see June's real-time reaction to the betrayal while Nick is sitting right next to her? No, I did not — but I love that we are privy to that deliciously awful moment as it unfolds, and I'm looking forward to how Nick does or doesn't try to defend himself in the aftermath next week.

Read on for the highlights of Episode 6, "Surprise." And afterwards, go here to see what series stars Elisabeth Moss and Max Minghella had to say about that closet scene and more.

NOW WHAT? | In the trunk of Commander Lawrence's car, June and Moira worry: In addition to their current predicament, the letters and the map that they got from Janine are still in a safe at Jezebel's. But before they can get too deep in conversation, the car stops and the trunk opens. They don't know where they are, and Lawrence threatens to leave them there and let them fend for themselves. June is still angry at him about the military plane strike, but he says he didn't have anything to do with it. When she counters that he could have stopped it, he spits back, "You could've stopped Eleanor!" When things cool a little, he shares what he heard earlier that night when he was snooping: The other commanders want a return to Gilead's original form, and they want him dead on the wall. June tempts him by teasing their plan: What if they all died, and Lawrence was the most powerful commander left in Boston?

This sways him a bit, and he agrees to get them across the border — but it has to happen right then. When Moira raises the issue of returning to Jezebel's, Lawrence says it's impossible: The place is in lockdown. So June calls Nick, who agrees to retrieve the documents. He also tells her to stay put — Lawrence can take Moira — because "I need to see you."

'I WASN'T ANYONE' | Nick brings the packet to June but is in no hurry to get her back to the United States. What he says: Rose and High Commander Wharton are in Washington, D.C., and a crossing at dawn will be safer. What he means: He is having FEELINGS and wants her nearby for a while. "Sometimes, I think you're the only good thing in my life," he says, hugging her tightly; his demeanor is such that June instantly looks concerned.

A flashback to when June was the Waterfords' handmaid and Nick their driver gives us some insight into what his life was like prior to the rise of Gilead. His mother left when he was 11 and he didn't go to college, he tells her as they cuddle in his bed after sex: "I didn't have much of a life before this. I wasn't anyone. You wouldn't have noticed me." She asserts that that wouldn't have been the case, because he still would have good, kind, brave "and very, very handsome," she says, pulling him near for a kiss. "I definitely would've noticed that."

Nick drives June to his house but freezes when he sees his father-in-law in the house, and not in D.C. as planned. He instructs June to wait in the car and, if he's not out in five minutes, to run to Serena's house instead.

READ THE ROOM, LYDIA | Let's take a break and check in on Janine. Aunt Lydia stops by Jezebel's — which apparently is no longer under lockdown? — with a plate of cookies and some news for her "special girl." She excitedly tells her about former handmaids' roles in the new fertility center Serena has proposed, and God love this delusional woman, she expects Janine to be excited, too. Janine harshly tells the older woman that if she really wants to do something for Janine, she can bring Charlotte (aka Angela) to her. And when Lydia says that's impossible, Janine grabs her and physically throws her out of the dressing room.

JUNE RESORTS TO PLAN B | Back to New Bethlehem. It's pouring outside, but the mood is even stormier inside once Nick is opposite Wharton. Though Rose is on her way to D.C., Wharton came back when he got a call about his son-in-law. He asks if Nick was at the brothel, and Nick confirms he was — but says the matter he was investigating was "confidential." Wharton doesn't buy it, and he insinuates that Nick killed the guardian he visited at the hospital. "Can't you see? These lies, they're going to land you on the wall. And your son will be left without a father. Is that what you want?" Wharton asks, adding that he can't help Nick unless he's 100 percent honest with him.

Meanwhile, when Nick doesn't return by the allotted time, June shows up on Serena's doorstop. It's the first time they've seen each other since June literally tossed Serena off the refugee train, and Serena is stymied by her former handmaid's sudden appearance. June tells a story about how she came to try to entice Nick to move to Alaska and be in her life, but he said no, and now she needs somewhere safe to plan her next move.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD | Interestingly, Serena is not mad about being flung into God-knows-where with an infant strapped to her chest. "You saved us, truly," she says. "You protected us from that mob." And I hope you enjoyed that moment of warmth, because they're back to their usual dynamic in 3... 2... "You know, Nick has responsibilities," Serena lectures, wondering what Luke thinks of June's "selfish" request. "You know our daughter and our whole relationship started because of you, right, because of what you wanted?" June counters. Serena is all, yeah, I went to prison for it. They get snippy with each other, June points out that she just needs a place to stay for the night, and "you owe me."

So Serena shows her to a guest room and remarks that, given how often they cross each other's paths, "it seems God has designs for us." June: "I really wish he'd do other things. (Ha!) Then Serena shares her engagement news, and off June's tepid response, she adds, "He's not like Fred." June's face doesn't change as she asks, "Was Fred like Fred in the beginning?" She points out that, despite Serena's insistence that she's changed and things are different, Serena is still subjugating herself to a powerful man in the service of Gilead. Their argument escalates, with Serena wondering why June refuses to forgive her. "I can't forgive you. You don't think I wish I could? If I could, then I'd FINALLY get rid of you!" And that's pretty much how they leave it until the next morning, when Serena knocks and says she's made June breakfast.

She's also invited Rita over. June is surprised to hear that Rita has permanently moved to New Bethlehem; when Serena goes to feed Noah, June hints that Mayday could use another contact there... but Rita demurs, saying that she's just trying to keep her family safe. June understands.

NICK, WHAT DID YOU DO?! | Later, after Rita's gone, Nick enters the house and breathlessly tells June "Come with me to Paris." He says he loves her, and that she loves him, and that her mom can bring Holly. "We can be a family, just like we talked about... You're it. It's always been you." The words are intoxicating, and June is certainly affected, but there's something about the manic way he's kissing her that signals imminent disaster.

And that disaster arrives with a knock on the door: Serena hustles the pair into a closet just before she lets Wharton inside. And though she tries to get him to go out for a walk with her and Noah, he lingers inside long enough — directly outside the closet in which Nick and June are hiding — to deliver the news that's got him so giddy: He shut down Jezebel's. "I found out the resistance was planning a massacre... but by His grace, their plan was exposed."

Inside the closet, Nick can't meet June's eyes. "God sees everything," Serena chirps. "God," Wharton agrees, "and my son-in-law," adding that Nick proved his loyalty by sharing all the details of Mayday's planned attack on the commanders. As the camera pulls back, the only light coming into the closet illuminates a shattered June. It's so dark on Nick's side, it's like he's no longer there at all.  

Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!