The epic Episode 9 of Season 6 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” opened with an equally epic debut of Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version). The rebellion is here.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” S6: Episode 9
“The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 6. Episode 9 starts where Episode 8 left off. It opens with the Handmaids and Ava (D’Arcy Carden), the planted Aunt, running. They’re chased by Eyes and just make it to their truck. Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) is running through the night and hides as she witnesses a Handmaid killing a wife in front of a house. The Handmaids are intercepted, and June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) is taken into custody while Serena takes refuge in the home of Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford).
In the morning, Commander Wharton (Josh Charles) arrives at the home of Joseph, where Serena talks with him alone. He apologizes and says they’ll have a child of their own instead of using a Handmaid. He tells her about the sedative in the cake and how June led the assault by the Handmaids. She’s taken in and feels betrayed by June. It’s rather disappointing to see her convinced so easily.
Wharton interviews June, where she’s being held. He says Gilead is God’s Kingdom on Earth. June counters by saying, “It’s a horror show. Run by men twisting His words.” He seems very smug about having her in captivity, but looks more disturbed when she says, “This is the beginning of the end.” However, his bravado doesn’t end. He’s confident in the power he holds.
June pleads for him to choose love instead of brutality, but Wharton walks out of the room without a response.
As Naomi Lawrence (Ever Carradine) is preparing to leave, Joseph makes sure she has art supplies for their daughter (who is actually the daughter of Janine). Then he hands her a book. He says she likes to hear the story before bed. At first, it looks like Naomi will refuse, after all, reading is forbidden for women. But Joseph says the child wants to learn and, as her parents, they need to teach her. Naomi asks what chapter they are on. As they leave, it looks like Joseph is saying a final goodbye. He has tears in his eyes.
Joseph and Serena discuss what he’s going to do. She knows that June is going to die, and she’s conflicted because it was June who helped her and saved her and the baby. At Joseph’s request, Serena says a prayer for June. Thoughts and prayers, folks.
Under guard, June is walked to the gallows. She is going to be hanged. But there are a number of nooses prepared, not just one. Wharton stands in front of a crowd like a lord. He recites a prayer to the crowd as if he’s a priest. Then we see Ava standing in a noose as well. Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) is brought in, and she nods to June.
The rest of the Handmaids are brought out of a truck and placed in nooses as the crowd exclaims. Wharton blames Aunt Lydia for what the Handmaids did and asks her to atone. It isn’t the atonement he expected.
For they have been prisoners of wicked Godless men!
Wharton has her put in a noose. But Mayday is in the crowd, and they move forward. June asks to beg God for forgiveness, which doesn’t seem to surprise Wharton the way it should. He’s too confident, and he allows it. She prays aloud, a clear delaying tactic. Mayday prepares their weapons. The end of her prayer takes the oppressors by surprise.
Who have too long been oppressed by evil and those who have disgraced Your name. Rise up! Fight for your freedom! Don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Uprising
A noose is put around June’s neck, and, as she yells her last words to the crowd, they pull her up using a crane so she hangs high above. Luke and others begin throwing grenades, and the crowd surges forward against the guards.
Luke (O-T Fagbenle) fights like hell to get to June while Moira (Samira Wiley) and the Handmaids free themselves and get her down. Cries of “They’re here,” and “They’re American planes,” are heard as planes fly overhead and begin to attack distant buildings.
Serena is with her baby as gunfire and explosions are heard. Men in military gear enter the house, led by Mark, who asks where Joseph Lawrence is. She doesn’t know. He starts to lead her away, to “someplace safe.”
Nick (Max Minghella) sits at his wife’s bedside in the hospital. She has experienced a problem with her pregnancy. But she says she and the baby are fine. It is believed the sedatives in the cake may be responsible for the pregnancy complications. She asks him to kill June and prove his allegiance.
The Americans have a headquarters set up in a building. June strides through in a search for Mark (Sam Jaeger), despite Rita (Amanda Brugel) and Luke being concerned for her well-being. We find out that Ava is CIA!
They don’t know where the surviving commanders are, and Mark says Serena won’t tell him what she knows. June goes to talk to her and, at first, Serena says she doesn’t know. But June reasons with her, convinces her that the Commanders don’t have the best interests of their children at heart. Serena tearfully reveals that they’re going to fly to D.C. She knows her husband is going to die.
Joseph has been taken to the resistance headquarters, and Mark tells him they want him to carry a bomb onto the plane with the other commanders and leave it there, then get off the plane. June volunteers to be his driver. Joseph says no at first. He thinks she’s safe. But June speaks the truth, no one is safe while the commanders still live.
Commanders in Flight
Joseph arrives at the airport as the other commanders do. Some of them are not happy to see him and ridicule him. Wharton smooths things over, though. Joseph looks back at June with tears in his eyes. Then Nick arrives and gets on that doomed plane. June is conflicted, but she doesn’t do anything. Nick is the enemy now. He sits next to Joseph and, from everything, he isn’t getting off the plane alive.
Nick asks how “she” is and says she tried to convince him to give up that life. Joseph tells Nick that he should have listened to her. They’re certainly discussing June here.
Melodic, melancholy music plays as the plane takes off. It lends a feeling of deep sadness to the scene. June stands watching the plane lift off and rise into the sky before a bright light illuminates her face. The sky is lit up with the explosion before fiery debris rains down. June looks up with grief at the loss of two men who were important to her journey,
Thoughts and Feelings
This episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was heavy. Though there’s some triumph here, it’s colored by the tragedy of so much loss of life. During the fight at the gallows, we see members of the Eyes and civilians die from gunfire and knives. It’s brutal. And watching June being hung like that was difficult to watch. And the final scene was heartbreaking.
There’s one episode left of The Handmaid’s Tale to conclude this series that has kept our attention for so long. Will June and Luke be reunited with Hannah? Will Janine be reunited with Charlotte? What will become of Gilead? We’ll be waiting anxiously for the answers.
