The Handmaid’s Taleseries finale brought June Osborne’s (Elizabeth Moss) tale to a close, but envisioned a happier tale of what could have been in a callback to an emotional season 1 moment. The Hulu series is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s pivotal 1985 dystopian novel, which imagines an America under the control of a terrifying theocratic regime that subjugates fertile women into becoming child-bearing slaves.The Handmaid’s Tale’s main characteris forced into the titular position when trying to flee the rising Gilead regime.
InThe Handmaid’s Tale’s final season,June is successful in removing Gilead from power in Boston, freeing many of her fellow Handmaidens and eliminating key figures in Gilead’s government. While her efforts resulted in a victory,June’s fight was far from over, as she looked back on her time in Gilead and the people she met. As she prepares to rejoin the fight to ensure no one else will suffer as she did, June decides to write about her experience in the Waterfords' empty home, now free to decide her own story.
The Karaoke Scene Was A Great Handmaid’s Tale Callback
June’s Dream Was Set Up In Season 1
As June reflected on her experiences duringThe Handmaid’s Tale’s finale, one moment saw her imagine a different life, where Gilead never rose and she and the friends she made through were never pushed into their harrowing roles. The sequence saw her, Moira (Samira Wiley), Emily (Alexis Bledel), Janine (Madeline Brewer), Rita (Amanda Brugel), Alma (Nina Kiri), and Brianna (Bahia Watson) enjoying an evening in a karaoke bar, singing to Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and free of any scars. While a surprising moment,it has deeper ties to a pivotal exchange between June and Emily from season 1.
In season 1, episode 9, “The Bridge”, Janine is broken as her biological daughter is set to be taken to a new family, leading to her standing on the edge of a bridge, prepared to take her own life and the baby’s if they were separated. In this moment, June is the only one who can reason with her, and she uses the hope of a better tomorrow free of Gilead to pull her back from the edge. Using the idea of her, Janine, and the others going to karaoke, June is able to convince Janine not to jump.
The Karaoke Scene Was One Of The Best Parts Of The Series Finale
The Scene Shows A Bittersweet Farewell And A Subtle Warning For Viewers
Ever since the show began in 2017, the all-too relevant horrors ofThe Handmaid’s Talehave tested not only June, but the audiences as well.While June managed to make several blows against her abusers and their regime across the series, she was also faced with several setbacks and losses, including Alma, Brianna, and at one point, presumably Emily, before her season 6 reunion. As such, seeing the group reunited, even in an imagined moment, is a powerful way to emphasise the costs of her journey.
A key aspect ofJune’s story inThe Handmaid’s Tale’s season finaleis remembering her experience, as many of her surviving allies and loved ones asked her to remember her ordeal. Even if certain viewers may not make the season 1 connection upon initial viewing, it is a powerful moment because it shows that June carried that dream with her, even as she faced even more horrors.The sequence shows the love and respect she held for her fellow Handmaids, especially as Janine herself is unaccounted for and assumed dead at this point in the episode.
Finally,The Handmaid’s Tale’s season finale karaoke sequence carried one more deeper meaning for viewers themselves. Seeing the Handmaid’s enjoying themselves at karaoke is not only a bittersweet reminder of what could have been, but is a warning for what could easily be taken away. June and her fellow Handmaids had lives and dreams that some viewers may take for granted before Gilead rose and stripped them away from them. As such, the sequence reminds viewers of how a threat like Gilead can make even the ordinary things feel like a distant dream, and why they should be fought for.
