The Handmaid's Tale Just Fixed The Show's Biggest Problem

The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 7 spoilers follow.

"My name is June Osborne. I am a citizen of the United States and I seek asylum in the country of Canada." No, these words aren't just part of some dream or a torture-induced hallucination. The woman formerly known as Offred has actually done it. She's actually escaped Gilead.

Even when June stepped off the boat at the end of the previous episode, we half expected Aunt Lydia to rise from the depths like a sea monster of old and snatch back her most prized possession. But no, when June finally made it to freedom, she was instead greeted with hotel service and a painfully predictable rendition of 'At Last'.

But it's easy to see why the creators were tempted to choose that song. Across four harrowing seasons, The Handmaid's Tale has subjected June and viewers alike to a seemingly never-ending cycle of pain and despair. Even Madeline Brewer, who plays Janine, admitted to us that watching The Handmaid's Tale is "a big ask".

And at first, it looked like season four was set to follow an all-too-familiar path, picking at the same traumatic scabs over and over again. How many times can June almost escape? How many times should we be asked to watch what some might argue is an exploitative amount of suffering?

Thankfully, after June frustrated us all by refusing to escape at the end of season two, everyone's favourite handmaid has now finally escaped that cycle, thereby freeing the show itself from the repetition of what's come before.

Except, of course, June still isn't free. Not really. Even when she's reunited with Luke, her long-estranged husband, June still suffers. "I can't believe you're here," he says, and it looks like June can't quite believe it either.

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Unable to cope with Luke's concern and his overbearing desire to set things right, June hides out in the bathroom. But even the shower she takes is really just a callback to the hosing down she received after a particularly gruelling torture session in episode three. And when June does emerge from the bathroom, it's no coincidence that she does so wearing a bright red dressing gown...

There is some catharsis to be had though, particularly when June tells Luke about Hannah, but there's always trauma still lurking at the edge of each shot. We see it cut in briefly during this scene and then that turmoil manifests itself fully in a supermarket visit where PTSD hits like a Handmaid's Tale greatest hits. Except there's nothing great about each scene as each one hits June in quick succession with the force of a locomotive... Too soon?

And it's not just Gilead's trauma that June carries with her. It's also guilt. "Do you guys ever wonder if you deserve this, deserve to be here?" she asks at one point. June's fellow survivors are quick to shut this talk down, "It's an Aunt Lydia free-zone," but it's not a Gilead free-zone still, not by any means.

When June discovers that Serena is pregnant, it's like we're instantly back in Gilead with that familiar tension and all those extreme close-ups of her face. Because, for all intents and purposes, June is back in Gilead now. Until she learns to let go of her pain and all the righteous anger that comes with it, a part of June will always remain in Gilead.

Confronting Serena is a step in the right direction, both for June and for the show itself. After watching Mrs Waterford abuse and torment June all these years, it's only right that we're finally rewarded for sticking the past four seasons out. And what a reward we're given.

During a late night visit to Serena's cell — which is far too luxurious for our liking — June's wrath is finally unleashed, seven long years after Gilead first rose to power and stole her life away.

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"The only thing you deserve," says June, "is a life full of suffering and shame. You have destroyed my life, my family, my friends, my country and my child. There is no one less worthy of redemption than you."

In a surprise twist, Serena doesn't respond with malice. Instead, she falls to her knees and says the two words that perhaps no one could have ever expected to hear come out of her mouth. "I'm sorry." Of course, that doesn't just erase all of the cruelty she's inflicted on June, and that's precisely why her apology is thrown back in her face.

"Do you know why God made you pregnant?" June screams. "It's so when he kills that baby inside, your womb will feel a fraction of the pain that you caused when you tore our babies from our arms. Do you understand me? DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?"

As awful as it is to derive pleasure from the pain of others, watching Serena break down as June leaves her to rot in that cell is immensely satisfying, and could have perhaps even worked as a series finale. But June's story isn't over just yet.

In a desperate need to regain control over her own body, June initiates sex with Luke despite his objections, and she puts her hand over his mouth while she does it. The next scene opens with June describing Serena as a "monster", and she's right, but June too has clearly been changed by Gilead in some monstrous ways which the rest of this season will be forced to grapple with.

When a fifth season of The Handmaid's Tale was announced last year, some feared that the repetitive aspects of season three would permeate everything that followed as well. Keeping June in Gilead all this time would have made the show unbearable to watch in more ways than one, but now that season four has moved her story out of Gilead, The Handmaid's Tale can now grapple with the pain of patriarchal abuse without exploiting the female trauma that ensues. At last.

The Handmaid's Tale airs on Hulu in the US and Channel 4 in the UK.

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David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.

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