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Warning: Spoilers ahead for the series finale of The Handmaid’s Tale
It’s hard to believe it, but one of television’s most eerily prescient and challenging series has come to an end. Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, stars Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne, a woman enslaved as a Handmaid in an alternative America taken over by Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy. The show’s themes around women’s rights and bodily autonomy became distressingly more timely with each passing season, and while anecdotally it felt so bleak as to become unwatchable for many, it continued to set viewership records throughout its eight-year run. But for those who found the show too painful to continue, rest assured that the sixth and final season was markedly less tragic—though not without some heart-shattering moments. The final season focuses largely on the rebellion movement, and June and company’s efforts in taking Gilead down for good.
Admittedly, the most explosive moments of The Handmaid’s Tale come in the two episodes before the finale. In Episode 8, “Exodus,” the Handmaids lead a massive rebellion during the wedding of Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and Commander Wharton (Josh Charles), killing dozens of Commanders and creating a massive vulnerability in Gilead. And Serena’s marriage ends as soon as it begins, when she gets home and discovers Wharton has enlisted the services of a Handmaid, despite Serena’s fertility.
In Episode 9, “Execution,” Gilead retaliates, capturing June and dozens of other Handmaids, attempting to hang them in the gallows in a public execution. But the rebellion emerges again, led by the rebel group Mayday, as they free the Handmaids and kill more commanders and many members of Gilead’s army in the process. After she’s freed, June works with Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) to kill the most powerful remaining commanders with a bomb that blows up their plane. June and the Handmaids have finally…
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