Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s dystopian drama ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ returns for the sixth season to finish the story of June Osborne. The previous season saw her go through many ups and downs, but at the end of the day, her fight against Gilead continues as she tries to keep her loved ones safe. By the end of the fifth season, her family has broken up again as she is forced to flee yet again, this time with her daughter, Nichole. Meanwhile, her husband, Luke, is left behind, arrested for killing a man who drove over June with his car. Before she can process the situation, she finds a surprise waiting for her on the train in the form of Serena Waterford. SPOILERS AHEAD.
June and Serena’s Unexpected Reunion Turns Into a Drastic Situation
While June is the heroine of this story, there is another character who has gone through a significant character arc and has continuously remained in her orbit: Serena Waterford. In the previous season, she gave birth to a son but soon discovered that the laws of Gilead apply to her, too, and that’s when she truly started to understand the scope of her actions on the lives of the women she had helped enslave. Now, however, she finds herself in the same boat as June. She is running from the Wheelers, who were made her son’s foster parents. If she is caught, she will be taken back to Gilead and tried under their laws, while Noah will go to the Wheelers, and she will never see him again. To escape, she takes the train that is bound for the refugee camp for Americans in Alaska, which is also where June is headed.
When the women encounter each other, Serena is happier to see June, while the latter is hesitant to trust her enemy-turned-ally, at least for the moment. When Serena takes a bathroom break, June looks after Noah, whom she’d helped deliver. But when Serena offers the same to June, she refuses to leave her daughter under her care. However, her task is made difficult by the injury that hasn’t properly healed yet. It has been barely a day since she had her hand run over by a car, and the untreated wound is starting to weaken her. Even though she refuses any help, Serena finds a doctor on the train to help her, and it works.
While the doctor’s presence is great for June, it is not so good for Serena as he recognizes her. He calls the cops and tells June about it, and soon, the news of Serena’s true identity spreads in the coach that has women who escaped Gilead’s atrocities. June sees where the situation is heading, and she knows that the best thing for Serena right now is to get off the train. When the cop arrives, she tries everything she can to persuade him to take away Mrs. Waterford. However, the cop reveals that his family was taken by the Guardians, and his wife died in the Colonies. He blames people like Serena for it, so he refuses to arrest her, knowing full well what will happen when he leaves.
June Saves Serena From a Terrible Fate
The women descend on Serena while a horrified June tries to stop them. She is also concerned about baby Noah, who might have to face the consequences of his parents’ actions. In a desperate attempt to save the woman, June stops the train and pulls Serena away from the crowd and into another coach. When the train starts moving, she pushes Serena out when the latter doesn’t jump of her own accord. With a murder averted, June rests easily, and with Serena off the train, the rest of the women calm down. When the train stops, June finds herself in Alaska, and upon reaching the colony, she finds a familiar face in her mother, Holly. It seems that she was rescued from the Colonies by the American army, or whatever remained of it, about six months ago. She ended up at the refugee camp in Alaska and waited for her daughter to show up.
Meanwhile, Serena gets back on her feet and finds herself in the front of a Church. It seems that a group of women have turned the place into a haven for other women and children. Serena introduces herself as Rachel and lives as such for the next couple of months. While living a simple and safe life, she thinks back on her time with her father before she married Fred and Gilead was born. This was a time when she was still young and trying to inspire minds. Her father always supported her, and the most important thing for her was the fact that she knew she had been called to work with God to build greater things. Now, however, she seems to have lost that purpose. She only finds it when Gilead comes knocking on her door again.
June, too, spends the next couple of months in relative safety, catching up on the lost time with her mother. At the same time, Luke is bailed out by Mark, but he has to wait for his trial in Canada, and his hearing is four months later. During this time, he cannot go to Alaska, but he can still work to bring Hannah back. So, he offers to join Mayday, which seems to be the only thing that is fighting against Gilead now. Mark reveals that his department has been closed because the government is trying to find common ground with Gilead. Moreover, his daughter is only getting older each day, which means she is inching closer to a fate similar to what his wife had suffered. He cannot just sit and wait for her to be brought back and join the revolution, but it soon proves to be more difficult than previously imagined.
Joseph Lawrence Looks to Rebrand Gilead with New Bethlehem
It is one thing to take over a country and make it work according to one’s own rules. It is entirely another to have other countries accept the same thing. With all the chaos and scandals surrounding Gilead, especially since June’s escape and her testimony against the Waterfords, the country has struggled to form proper relations with other countries, and its leaders know they cannot sustain it. Joseph Lawrence comes up with a solution to fix that by offering a rebrand. While he was a major player in the creation of Gilead and was rightfully named its architect, he knew that they had messed things up pretty badly. He tried to fix things by collaborating with Mayday, but his relationship with the revolution remained on and off. Eventually, he turned back to Gilead, and instead of leaving it, he found a way to fix things, to start it from a new slate, which led to the birth of New Bethlehem.
At first, Joseph’s idea was laughed at and not taken seriously, but following Warren Putnam’s death, things moved pretty quickly. Nick, who was arrested after he punched Joseph in the face for trying to have June killed, is also brought back by his wife Rose’s father, Commander Wharton. He advises Nick to drop the thoughts of June and focus on what’s right in front of him. He also questions Joseph’s plans for New Bethlehem and asks him what he plans to do for Serena. Wharton believes that she could be the ideal brand ambassador for the place, but she hasn’t been heard from for a while. He directs Joseph to find her and have them there on the day they bring in foreign dignitaries to show them around and convince them to let American refugees come back home.
Joseph finds Serena, and to his delight, she decides to come back to Gilead so she can once again feel good, calling her to the purpose of building the place in a new, more liberal light. At least, that seems to be the idea. Her presence at the place helps Joseph and his cause immensely, especially after the foreign dignitaries see her son and Rose’s pregnant belly. Still, there is a long way to go. She seems to have impressed Wharton, who is open to hearing whatever she has to say next. At the same time, he also notices his missing son-in-law, who remains absent throughout the day.
Nick and June Reunite Once Again
A lot of bad things happened to June in Gilead, but there have been some things that helped her survive. Nick and their daughter, Nichole, are two of those things. Despite all the bad stuff, June finds an unexpected love with Nick, and while fate pushes them towards each other and pulls them apart, they continue to stay in each other’s orbit. Despite his loyalty to Gilead, he never hesitated to break the rules for June and Nichole. In the fifth season, they are the reason he decides to turn into a spy for Mark and the American government and feed them important information on Gilead. However, with all the developments in New Bethlehem and his turbulent relationship with Rose, who is currently pregnant, he has a lot on his plate, and he doesn’t respond to Mark.
The situation becomes desperate when Luke and Moira slip into Gilead for their mission, which is to find the most important leaders of Gilead and kill them, and they are not heard from again. When her repeated efforts to contact her husband fail, June leaves her daughters in her mother’s hands to look after her husband by herself. It is when she comes into the mix that Nick finally responds and shows up at the rendezvous site. June is happy to see him, and despite everything, he still shows up for her, which warms her heart. When she tells him about Moira and Luke’s current situation, he agrees to get them back, but she insists on coming with him. While they look for the duo, they catch up, and Nick expresses his love for her as well as his anguish over the fact that she chose Luke.
Still, he came when she called, and at the end of the day, when they part, June tells him that with their track record, this is most likely not goodbye. Luke and Moira are found hiding, barely hanging by a thread, but they are happy to see June there and surprised to see Nick, with both of them meeting him for the first time. The situation has an air of awkwardness, but everyone understands the equation. With her loved ones safe, June is set to head back to Alaska, while Nick, who killed two Guardians when they were all but caught, has to go back to his life, which is getting more dangerous by the day.
Aunt Lydia Meets the Reality of the World Around Her
One of the most interesting characters in the show has been Aunt Lydia. She started out as a cruel mother figure to the Handmaids, fiercely loyal to Gilead and what it stands for. But over the seasons, she sees all sorts of stuff, especially as she tries to save her girls, especially Janine, for whom she has harbored a soft spot since the beginning. All the times that Janine risked getting killed, Lydia intervened to save her, though saving was mostly defined by her own definition. Following the events of the previous season, Janine is taken away, and Lydia finally finds her working in Jezebel’s. She is horrified to see her there, along with several other Handmaids. When she asks Janine to come with her, she faces refusal.
Lydia tries to plead Janine’s case with the Lawrences, but Mrs. Lawrence is adamant about never bringing her back into her household. Joseph, too, tells her to leave the matter be, as it will only get worse if she continues to meddle. With all this, she starts to see the damage she has caused over the years and how the Gilead she believed in has been corrupted all this while. She feels dejected at this discovery, but it is also what serves as a turning point for her. Those who have read ‘The Testaments’ know how Lydia’s story ends and what role she plays in the downfall of Gilead. What she witnesses in this episode serves as a starting point for that.
Read More: Shows Like The Handmaid’s Tale
You must be logged in to post a comment.