June is FREE! Moira made a decision and sacrificed her relationship to free June. But adjusting to normal life after 7 years may not be the homecoming that June and everyone else is expecting. June is forever changed and Hannah is still not home. The dynamics of all June’s relationships have changed permanently. The real world is extremely overwhelming. Normal things like the hustle and bustle of a normal city are something she will have to get used to. Even her relationship with Luke is strained. It’s not easy for Luke either. You can see he just wants to love her and hold his wife. But she is not the June he knew 7 years ago. That is made evident when she locks the bathroom door to take a shower.
The depth of Gilead’s punishments is evident across June’s blue and black back. I cannot tell whether she is afraid of Luke or if she is simply not used to him. He ordered room service for them to share but June closed the door and went to sleep. And proceeded to sleep for 17 hours. Much needed of course, but you can feel everything is different. And June is not the same person and will probably never be.
Now, Luke is apologizing for all that has happened to June and not being able to save her. Their relationship is full of regret and guilt at this time. Can they come back from that? Can June be her normal self again or will she forever be the June that Gilead made her to be. Or forced her to be. No one understands exactly what she went through, except the other handmaids that were with her. Moira doesn’t even know all that June suffered either. But the expectations are there though. Mainly the expectation that everything will go back to normal.
June is finally reunited with Emily and Nichole. The love between Emily and June is clear, she shows emotion towards Emily. The understanding and the happiness to see one another. June’s heart seems to be in Gilead despite her trials and tribulations.
Serena Joy is getting on with her pregnancy. We find her on her knees praying that her baby is healthy and asking for help raising her baby alone. Mark the double agent, meets with Serena to coax her to work with Fred so they can gain their freedom. But I think we know that there is something up with who exactly the father of Serena’s baby is. I think it is safe to say the Fred is sterile because both his women got pregnant after dealing with someone else.
June decides that she wants to go to the grocery store and invite some company over to their house later. The trip doesn’t go as planned, especially when June notices how in sysnc Luke and Moira have become raising Nichole. Then reality starts to hit her a little too hard and she has a meltdown in the middle of the store. She starts to hallucinate Gilead and then Gilead slaps her dead in the face. And every traumatic episode replays in her mind. Everyone who has died and all the abuse she suffered.
June is reunited with our beloved Rita. Rita brings a calming energy to the space and the girls remince about Gilead and supporting each other because of where they are today. And Serena comes up in the conversation. Rita tells the girls she went to see her and Serena is pregnant. June doesn’t take this information to well and I assume a meeting between the two women is inevitable.
June tries to get intimate with Luke but again things are extremly different and June is in love with Nick. June finally meets with Serena, who has the audacity to apologize and get on her knees to beg for forgiveness. But June ain’t interested in her apology, she wants revenge. And she wants Serena to feel the pain she felt from losing a child. She then goes home and basically rapes Luke. So, what does Serena do, she runs right to Fred that man she hates so much, for her stabiity and safety,
