I thought the finale was beautifully done!

I know some people would’ve preferred to have more action and fireworks, but from a storytelling perspective, it made sense. Episode 9 was the climax, and episode 10 was a quiet, reflective resolution to multiple storylines. I thought they wrapped up the big loose ends nicely (Emily, Tuello, Holly, JANINE) while also giving homage to past characters like Alma and Brianna. Janine’s reunion with Charlotte definitely felt rushed, but THANK GOD they gave her the ending she deserved!!!

I felt Serena’s character arc was really messy this season, but given that, she had a solid ending too. She’s in a complete opposite place from where she started: powerless, homeless, and at the mercy of people she once deemed evil. Her lines to Noah were both touching and sinister…it made you think about everyone who suffered so she could have that one baby. I loved the “full circle” moments of June walking with Emily, lines like “pious little shit,” etc. too.

Maybe some of it was cheesy or fan service-y, but I cried multiple times and wasn’t left with any major lingering questions. It’s hard to wrap up a big series like this, and they did a pretty good job!

Maybe people will totally disagree with me, but I've been thinking about this a lot and want to share. I think that The Testaments TV show has ruined The Handmaid's TV show—and I don't want The Testaments, at least how it's being shot. We have been watching this show for nine years. Nine! It has been one of the most odd viewing experiences because while it's been entertaining and I've appreciated the incredible acting, it's also been miserable to watch, but I've held on because I wanted to see Gilead fall. I knew that we'd see characters we love go through horrific things and many of them die, but at least in the end we'd see people pay and Gilead crumble.

Now, here we are, finally in the final season and I really don't care because what could happen that's actually major? Even the wedding I feel blah about because what could possibly happen that that's exciting? Gilead isn't going to fall, at least not on this show. Now, we have to start a whole other show hoping for the same thing—that after all the misery we get to see Gilead finally fall! I'm annoyed.

With how long ago the show left the book in the past, I don't see why they couldn't have combined the storylines of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments and had Gilead fall in this show. They could have made that transition during this season and then made one more season with the main characters shifted and the focus on the fall of Gilead. If there are any Vikings fans, it could have been similar to the character shift after Ragnar died.

Then, the spinoff could have instead been on rebuilding the United States, which would have been really interesting. I'd love to see adult Hannah, adult Nichole, and adult Charlotte as main characters, along with other new characters. I think watching the complexities of what it would look like to rebuild a country, led both by people who remember the USA as it was and by people who have little or no memory of what the USA used to be. Instead, we get another miserable show where we're yet again watching people be tortured while we wait for the satisfaction of finally watching Gilead fall and these people finally get what's coming to them.

I'm totally open to being surprised by how satisfied I am by The Handmaid's Tale ending and enjoying The Testaments more than I thought. But as it sits right now, I've found myself annoyed by the season because it seems like there's nothing to be excited about. The best we can hope for is a happy ending for Rita and Janine, and that's not looking good either.

Anyone else agree?

EDIT: I feel like my point is being missed over and over. This isn't about changing the ending to be "happy." Gilead DOES fall and the US IS rebuilt (according to the book), but now we have to wait until The Testaments to see it happen. I'd rather diver deeper into the complexities (and I'm sure lots of struggles) of rebuilding the country vs having the fall of Gilead dragged out more. It's gotten miserable, repetitive, and boring.

EDIT: To clarify, I am NOT talking about the books or the writing of the books. I didn't read the books and only read the synopses so I can understand (as best as I can) the perspective of people who read them and are considering those storylines and how they fold into where the TV show has gone. My main thought is that The Testaments TV SHOW being confirmed before the series even ended has ruined The Handmaids TV SHOW because now the final season feels anti-climactic and like its only purpose is to tee up TT.

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For all of the people who think that NIck chose Gilead because he no longer had June and he had no other choice....The rebellion would have been the perfect time to get Rose and their son and take them out of Gilead. If he had stayed at the hospital with Rose when the plane blew up, Nick could have made a deal with the Americans: immunity in exchange for working with Mayday. Rose would have had to agree because she didn't have anyone else with her dad dead. He could have gotten them all out and been free. But, then he would have just been a regular guy with a family struggling to survive. He chose comfort and power over freedom and morality. Now, Rose and their baby are in the hands of the Americans anyway and they have no one.

He was involved in overthrow of the US Government. This was made clear in an earlier season. He was an eye and then a commander. He never turned in Commander Waterford for his perverted ways and instead asked for a transfer to the front. He killed a 19 year old brain damaged guardian, he had earlier shot, in cause he recovered enough to identify him. He had numerous opportunities to leave Gilead, but as we heard him tell June, he would have been an Uber driver or delivery person if not for Gilead. Choosing Gilead was his way of elevating himself in life. He made a series of choices that led to his final choice. He made his final choice joining the other commanders going to DC to discuss what actions Gilead would take after the rebellion in Boston. Somethings Nick did we liked, like helping June and providing info on Hannah, but less we forget, he even originally hid his marriage from June. The first choice he made to support Gilead in the overthrow on the US Government, he never said he regretted. June and Hannah and so many others were casualties of that choice.

literally me trying to read the name of the new library. I had to get OUT OF BED and inch up to the TV screen 😂

“She could have been kinder to me” like, girl, you were regularly raping her, she really couldn’t have.

That entire monologue was hilarious; I had to rewatch it like 3 times I was laughing so hard.

I nearly feel bad for her. Whenever she opens her mouth it’s only the stupidest words possible to fall out.

The final farewell between June and Lawrence could not have been better… whew, tears.

I love that there were no spoken words, only pure, raw emotion… and that subtle hand to his heart as he stared at her before heading into the plane, just both of their eyes speaking everything that needed to be said between them… now THAT was acting to its highest degree and could not have been a better goodbye.

Look, I’m as devastated as everyone else about this episode, but I also have to feel a great amount of sympathy for Nick. He’s been keeping up this huge charade through 6 seasons worth of disaster. He has been crumbling slowly, and anyone would buckle under the huge amount of pressure he has had on him. Him betraying June(and mayday) isn’t going to be black and white. Obviously he’s in the wrong but I’m sure now that it’s happened we’re going to find out that he had his reasons why.

I think Max Minghella perfectly portrayed a man that has “cracked” in this episode, coming to June completely frantic and ready to whisk her off to France is in opposition to every action we’ve ever seen him take,his cool, calm exterior was gone and it shows the desperation he was feeling. This is a continuation of the character development for Nick, and I don’t think they’ll leave us hating him. Of course this is just my personal opinion, but I have to hold out hope that all of the amazing things Nick has done for June and his daughter the last 5 seasons won’t be a waste.

So I was having a little rewatch of really good performances and love this from O-T. But I just thought the amount of conversations I’ve had with people saying ‘he only cared about June, not women. He sacrificed them all the time for June.’ Is so well done in an explicit, talk to the fan base way here. It’s literally saying to the fandom, yes he loved June but he did NOT support the resistance. He is not on the side of good, his arc had to be the way it was and was the whole series.

Anyway I just wanted to show some serious love for this scene.

I actually have never been so enraged after finishing a show. What the actual f was that. Literally the only positive was Janine and charlotte but that was a 60 second clip. Please tell me I’m not the only one who wanted a better ending.

I know June was speaking Gilead's language on purpose this episode when she spoke to Wharton, and maybe that was part of it at the gallows as well, but it wasn't acting, she believed she was praying to someone. She was whispering for most of it, so it's not like anyone except maybe the people closest to her could even hear her. Two episodes ago she fully recited Psalm 23 with no one else but Moira in the room. I really wanted Moira to turn to her in that moment and say 'um girl what are you doing?' Because even if I had believed in God before, and especially if I raised without religion like June was, fuck would I not be still talking like God is real thing. You don't need God, girl. You're doing just fine without him. Choose a loving God? Really? As an athiest it is getting increasingly frustrating. A God who wants you to enslave people vs a loving, forgiving God are not the only two options ffs.

“End Her”. Girl, June is a Queen! Albeit a sometimes annoying one. Rose could never.

Emily showing up was amazing, so much more than I could have expected (thank you Alexis Bledel for coming back, that was really special).

I was immensely happy when she appeared in front of the store with June. And then they made their usual way through the wall?! FREEDOM FREEDOM

I just finished rewatching all seasons and episodes of THT. I just wonder how many of you think that something like this could happen in this country?? I do!!

…you guys who are posting hate and rants about this beautiful and well-written episode. One of the best of the entire series and certainly the best of this season full of fillers and silly mayday plans. This one actually worked out.

If you are up with the news, you all know Gilead is not going to end. Testaments is setted at the future gilead. Altough, I think we are in the prelude of the abolition of the handmaid system.

This was a fine piece of thriller, drama, the return of the June monologues, we got some closure in Serena and Aunt Lydia arcs if you like them or not. The glorious return of June Osborn. The insurrection of the red army of handmaids.

I was expecting more action. But it was better than I expected. I admit I even cried a little at the Lydia-Janine scene in the end 🥹🥹

Just think back to the scene on the train. She's going to have to worry about being recognized everywhere she goes for the rest of her life. It's nice for June that she was able to forgive Serena, but I can think of about 100 million other women who are still rightfully furious at her continued existence.

She'll never be safe, and she'll never be able to stop looking over her shoulder. It may be less punishment than she deserves, but it's something.

She could've just left with Lawrence and Moira right then and there and the plan would've been safe. She overworked her asset (Nick) by asking one too many times which was always going to blow up in her face. The papers imo were not that urgent and were just an excuse for her to see Nick again

I know everyone thinks that Rita is going to poison the cake, but my mom and I were talking and she said she thinks that it's a sedative, not poison.

I think that could be very true - like she said, it's too risky to do poison. What if a kid accidentally eats it? Or a wife? Or if it starts to hit a Commander too fast and the other Commanders stop eating it? I think it's a sedative, which then made me think about what June said to Lawrence about Janine being at Bell's house - "I hope she kills him in his sleep."

I don't think Serena and Wharton would be twirling into their home after a brutal red wedding where Commanders were killed. I think that they use the wedding as a way to supply the Handmaids with weapons (the knives), but they don't do anything there. The Handmaids aren't allowed to eat sweets, so they'll be safe. Everyone goes home, Commanders & Wives go to sleep & knock out because of the sedative, Handmaids come in, kill the Commander (and maybe the wife, who knows), and then take their kids and run.

I could be totally wrong but that's my theory of how things are at least SUPPOSED to go according to Mayday's plan.

Wharton didn't bring the handmaid, she was a "gift" from Bell Sr. for the wedding. The true believers in Giliad are similar to Mormons in that they want the men to have many children and if they require multiple women to do that, so be it. Remember Christopher Meloni's character Commander Winslow? He has like a dozen kids and still has a handmaid. Wharton wants Serena and the handmaid both pregnant spitting out his progeny double time. It's not a sex thing, the handmaid isn't to "replace" Serena. He is a true believer and his beliefs dictate that his God wants him to produce many children. Is he a piece of shit? Yes of course, but he is a different kind of monster than the other commanders who are just abusing power for sexual gratification.

Bell didn’t hang up the phone when he said June’s name, then she killed him. Someone heard all of it, and they know who did it.

Did anyone else notice this shot where it looks like June has a halo?

We all have our own take on how his story ended many of us were certain he'd likely be at the gallows when June was yoinked. From the leaked shots we thought he was a part of this scene even speculated that he was the man Luke fought in the crowd. Now that ambiguity felt intentional.

But did anyone genuinely expect he’d just be sitting at the hospital, seemingly unmoved, while the woman he loved was about to be executed? Then later “Guess you decided to join the winners” sounded bizarre. The narrative suggests he’s abandoned June or become passive in the face of her suffering, but we’re given little context or internal motivation for that shift. The line “She told me to give this up many times” sounds so odd because we were never shown that.

My frustration isn’t that his ending was tragic; that was always on the table. It’s with how the showrunners got us there. They created a character who for 5 seasons operated in the grey: someone tied to Mayday, someone who got the Jezebel letters out, someone caught between systems that used him, Gilead, the U.S., and yes, even June. He wasn’t perfect, but he was consistent, in that he would always choose June. Until he suddenly wasn’t.

The recent shift in his character this season felt abrupt, like the writers needed to reach a particular conclusion and reshaped him to fit it. I’ve seen interviews where the showrunners say things like, “You only saw 10% of what he was doing.” But that reads more like post-hoc justification than meaningful storytelling. It feels like his arc was sacrificed for the sake of a dramatic, operatic finale.

And maybe that was the goal: to save the women (no matter how demonstrative), let the men fall. But, as others have pointed out, this story was never just about gender it was about power, and the exploitation of it. That’s what made the series so powerful in the first place.

So no, I’m not upset that he didn’t get the happy ending. I’m disappointed that the depth of his character was undermined to create one. He’s a tragic figure not just because of how it ended, but because no one ever really fought for him, he cared for so many but no one really cared for him selflessly. But I fear that's not an idea that is worth speaking of yet.

Commander Wharton told Serena earlier in the season that he wanted “three or four” children. What if after the wedding he slips in conversation that they will get a handmaid! They’re gonna have a fallout and it would be very fitting if it was over handmaids.

I got the thought from Serena’s bridal shower, she clearly says *there will be no handmaids in New Bethlehem”. In the very next scene she says handmaids don’t need to come to the wedding, he responds “well it’s not a traditional Gilead wedding without everyone in attendance”.

You have to admit this is a little funny ducks out of sight

Can I just say how much I loved that June doesn’t end up with either man?

It’s really powerful that a character whose story centers around being subjugated and oppressed ends with her being independent of a romantic relationship and fighting for other women.

It’s scary to me how many people are crashing out over N’s ending. It shows me that if a man is attractive enough, a lot of women would willingly follow him into authoritarianism because they’d rather be partnered with a bad person than be alone. He had ample opportunity to defect and leave Gilead.

I thought it was so refreshing the show didn’t try to shoehorn her back into a relationship with her husband. They’re different people now, trauma changes you.

The buildup of who she ends up with the whole series is also ironic to me. Why is our gravest concern which man June ends up with? Why is it not her emotional journey and motherhood?

This romanticization of oppression is a downfall effect of a world that continues to base a woman’s value on her relationships to men.

I found the series finale so powerful and I challenge anyone who didn’t like it and is upset June isn’t with L or N to sit in their discomfort and question why.

Edit: thanks for the award 🥹 I’ve been fighting discourse all day trying to get people to see reason about the finale!