The Handmaid's Tale Brings Back [Spoiler] In Powerful Series Finale — How Did June's Story End?
How does The Handmaid's Tale finish June Osborne's story? By starting it all over again.
After last week's tumultuous episode, the Hulu drama spends its series finale letting us know that our favorite characters are going to be OK, albeit a little battered, as they head into the rest of their lives. A major figure from June's past returns. An MIA handmaid's fate is determined. A sequel series is set up. A mother is reunited with her child after years of suffering. And in the end, June becomes the author of her story.
Read on for the highlights of Episode 10, appropriately titled "The Handmaid's Tale." Then make sure to check out what Elisabeth Moss told me about directing the hour, including the ending that got "scrapped."
BURN, BABY, BURN | As symbols of Gilead iconography (flags, signs, etc.) burn in a bonfire, June's voiceover tells us what we've been waiting six seasons to hear: "Boston is free. The Gilead occupation is over. Here, at least, we fought, and we won. Boston is America again. Praise f—king be."
She goes on to tell us that Gilead pulled out of the area after the Marines arrived. The plan is for Mayday and the military to liberate the rest of the Northeast and then move west. "Someday Colorado," she says. "Then Hannah."
We learn that all of the Boston commanders were dead before the fighting started in earnest (yes!), and that no one knows what's become of Janine (noooooo!). When June sees Luke, he's wired despite not sleeping. He tells her he's heading with a crew to try to get the power grid working again, with the goal of having Logan Airport back online as soon as possible. That way, they can get Nichole and Holly there. New York is next on the liberation front, which June tries to be excited about. "Its not Colorado though, right?" she says, crying a little. He understands; he quietly reminds her that they're taking down Gilead "one place at a time," with the goal of reuniting with their daughter. Then he takes off for the power plant.
At United States headquarters, aka the old Boston Globe offices, Tuello has good news of a sort: The commander raising Hanah has been promoted and is moving to DC "with his wife and your daughter," he says. Hannah will be 2,000 miles closer to June, which is "a kind of progress," he adds. June absorbs this, then moves on to matters closer to hand: "What are you doing to find Janine?"
All Tuello knows is that the Eyes have her, though they released Aunt Lydia — and the older woman is working with the Americans. (June's WTF face here? Perfection.) They talk about how neither of them feel like they can sleep. "My son lives in Hawaii with my ex-wife, and when I close my eyes, I see them, and then I get back to work," he says, offering up more backstory in one sentence than we've had from him maybe... ever? "This is the best thing I can do for them: Bringing down Gilead so he doesn't have to do it." June nods, game respecting game. "May God speed the days so we can both get some rest," she says.
Then June flashes back to an evening when Hannah was 5 or 6 and June temporarily lost her at a carnival. When a panicked June located her daughter, she hugged her as she cried. "Mommies always come back, remember?" June said through her tears. "Mommies always come back."
SERENA EXITS THE STORY | Serena is at the Globe, looking through donation piles for some new clothes for Noah, when she runs into June. She congratulates her on "your victory," and June reminds her that it wouldn't have happened without her help. "I guess I've helped Boston fall twice now," Serena says, kinda proudly?, and good God Serena WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD.
She offers condolences on Nick's passing; June shrugs it off, saying that Nick "reaped what he sowed. He led a violent and dishonest life." Still, Serena knows this is a bit of a bluff, so she adds that if Nick ever truly had a choice "he would've chosen you." Then they talk about her prospects, which aren't great — and are about to get worse!
Tuello comes into the room with a sense of urgency: Serena and Noah have to get on a bus leaving right then for a United Nations refugee camp. And just like that, it's time for the former Mrs. Waterford to exit stage left.
June accompanies Serena and Noah down to their transport, and all of a sudden, Serena realizes that this may be the last time she sees June. "When I recall some of the things that were done to you, and the things that I did and that I forced you to do, I'm ashamed," she says, starting to cry. "YOU SHOULD BE," I yell at the TV a moment before June says it more calmly. But instead of getting defensive like she usually does, Serena takes it. "I'm sorry, and if words mean anything all, I am sorry," she continues, crying harder. After a moment, June says she forgives her — words that Serena has been longing to hear for a while now. Nearly overcome, she thanks and blesses June. "Go in grace, Serena," June says.
(What becomes of Serena, you wonder? By the end of the episode, she and Noah are temporarily housed at a shelter where they're not really welcome; all their earthly belongings fit in a plastic shopping bag — and not even a nice one. Still, she holds him close and gives thanks for what she does have: "Do you know how much I prayed for you? And now you're here, and you're perfect, and you're all I need. You're all I ever wanted. I'm so blessed." And, if the past is any indicator, she'll be running the place in a few weeks' time.)
After Serena's bus leaves, Tuello (who saw the exchange) calls June's forgiveness "generous." "You have to start somewhere, right?" she muses. He's also got news: Her old neighborhood has been reopened, and she can go back if she likes.
LOOK WHO'S BACK! | Back in her old 'hood, June pauses outside a shop window. A woman approaches and says, "This used to be an ice cream place. They had the most amazing salted caramel." June recognizes the voice, looks over incredulously and... it's Emily! "It'd be cool if they reopened, wouldn't it?" the long-lost, bespectacled former handmaid adds. "Blessed be the fruit." June hugs her, both of them teary over the reunion. (Side note: Anyone else remember Emily's opening line verbatim from the series premiere?)
During a walk along the river, Emily catches June up. She was a martha in Bridgeport, and her commander "was a friend." She is in touch with her wife, Sylvia, and their son, Oliver. "So you weren't just gone?" June wonders. "Gone from their lives?" Emily asks. "Of course not. They're the reason I'm fighting."
The pair walk under a bunch of guardians who have been strung up, dead, on the wall. June confesses that she's so angry and wants it all "back the way it was supposed to be," but some things are just impossible. "We are both alive to see this, together," Emily says, shrugging. "I'm thinking of adjusting my concept of the impossible."
Later, June dreams of what Boston would've been like if Gilead hadn't happened. Her fantasy takes place at a karaoke bar, with all of her friends — Janine, Alma, Emily, Moira, Rita — happily belting Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" as they laugh and cavort. Next thing we know, in reality, June is bringing her handmaid's robe to a bonfire in the street and throwing it on the flames. As she does so, a street light near her turns on: Looks like Luke and his team were successful.
PRAISE BE! | That evening, a soldier shakes June awake and tells her that it's urgent she come with him right now. She's brought to Tuello, who is waiting near the Gilead border on a road that runs through the woods. Some Eyes bring Janine (!) to the middle of the road and throw her down; June runs to her, cradling and kissing her friend as they both weep. But wait, there's more!
Naomi Lawrence and Charlotte (whom the Putnams called "Angela") are there, too, along with Aunt Lydia. Naomi — in perhaps the gentlest exchange we've ever seen her have with the little girl she stole — tells Charlotte she'll be safe, and "that's the most important thing." Then the girl is presented to her actual mother, Janine, who pulls her into an embrace. (Side note: While I'm happy that this reunion makes Charlotte happy, wouldn't most kids her age be super traumatized to be taken away from the parents they've known?)
June watches it all unfold and has a lot of feelings while doing so. She thanks Naomi, then faces Lydia. "Take good care of our Janine, please, and Charlotte," the older woman says. June thanks her, too. "Under His eye, dear," Lydia says, trying to be her usual starchy self but failing because she's close to crying. Then she nods and walks back into Gilead, ostensibly to get to Testaments-ing.
JUNE MAKES A CHOICE | Another happy reunion happens when Holly and Nichole fly in from Alaska, but it's not long before June kills the vibe by voicing to Nichole something she's realized: "I think I have to keep all the little girls in Gilead safe, too, if I can. And in order to do that, I'm going to have to leave you again, OK?" Holly overhears her daughter, who's fully sobbing, explaining to her toddler that "You don't have to be near Mommy in order to feel her love. It'll find you, no matter where you are."
June later finds her own mother in the long hallway where all of the vigil photos are. Holly wants to know how long June will be gone, and June admits she doesn't know. Holly's face falls as she starts crying, because she wants to keep June safe just like June wants to keep Nichole and Hannah safe. "But the thing is, Mom, I'm not safe. Neither are you," June says. "They are never going to stop coming for us. And even when we're gone, they're gonna come for our children and our grandchildren. Fighting might not get us everything, but we don't have a choice. Because not fighting is what got us Gilead in the first place. And Gilead doesn't need to be beaten, it needs to be broken." Then she reminds Holly that she grew up watching Holly go to demonstrations and raise her voice against injustice, and then the matter is pretty much settled.
Still, June cries a little harder when she admits she thinks she's biffing her job as a mom. But Holly bucks her up, saying that she'll tell Nichole June's story. "She should know that her mother is a warrior." Then, Holly has an idea: "June, you should write a book." June immediately says no, because there's too much violence and loss in her story. "No, sweetheart. It's about never giving up," Holly counters. Write it for Hannah and Nichole, she adds: "Tell them who their mother was." Which is great and all, but all of this talking about June in the past tense is making me incredibly sad/worried.
THIS IS WHERE YOUR BOOK BEGINS | Speaking of sad: Luke and June meet up and start talking about how they're so different now, after everything that's happened. He's planning on joining the Mayday group that's mobilizing to the New York border in a few days, and she's not. "Be careful, huh?" she says fondly. He agrees that he will be. Her plan is to work with Tuello, progressing state by state to demolish Gilead. "I'm going to go to her, Luke. I'm going to go to Hannah. What else is there?" He says he'll meet her there, and they part on loving, if beleaguered, terms. Before Luke goes, he, too, encourages her to write about her "escape story." Just like with Holly, she dismisses the idea. But he frames it as a way to memorialize everyone who loved her and whom she loved, including Nick, because "they're all worth remembering."
June has all of this in mind as she goes for a walk and winds up in front of the Waterfords' house, which is badly damaged. The gates are open and the door is unlocked, so she goes inside and climbs the stairs to her old room, a corner of which is now completely gone. She sits on the windowsill where we first saw her as a handmaid, and she imagines Hannah is there with her. Then she pulls a digital recorder out of her pocket.
"Chair. Table. A lamp," she narrates. "The window with white curtains. The glass is shatterproof, but it isn't running away they're afraid of." Longtime fans of the show will recognize this as some of June's voiceover from the very first episode.
Then, as she looks directly into the camera: "My name is Offred."
What did you think of the series finale? Grade it, and The Handmaid's Tale's final season, via the polls below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts!