Critic’s Score: 4.25 / 5.0
4.25
At the start of The Handmaid’s Story Season 6 Episode 6, June and Moira survived hiding within the trunk of Joseph’s automotive, however once they crawled out into the world once more, it was clear nothing was as secure because it appeared, not even with Joseph on the wheel.
Regardless of trusting him so many instances earlier than, June isn’t naïve sufficient to really feel cozy in his presence now. And he or she’s proper to hesitate. Joseph continues to be damaged by Eleanor’s loss of life, nonetheless shocked by the cruelty he overheard from the opposite Commanders, together with plans to hold him on the wall.
Now isn’t the time for both of them to be second-guessing alliances. If something, it’s the proper time to double down and imagine in one another’s causes.
Moira thinks June is reckless for sharing their plan with Joseph. However truthfully? It felt like a calculated threat. June is aware of Joseph’s guilt continues to be uncooked, and dangling the potential for destroying Gilead’s worst monsters was music to his battered soul.
There was only one drawback: the essential paperwork they’d left behind at Jezebel’s.
Nick to the Rescue… Or So It Appeared
With Joseph caught, who higher to name than Nick? The person who has all the time — all the time — had June’s again. The person who cleaned up his personal messes when needed, even when it meant placing a bullet in Toby.
Nick swiftly retrieves the paperwork, exchanging coded phrases with Janine within the hallway proper underneath Commander Bell’s nostril. It’s a silent, practiced dance between two survivors.
When Nick returns to June, he’s fraying on the edges.
Nonetheless stoic, nonetheless composed, however extra weak than we’ve seen in a very long time. He asks her to stick with him by means of the night time, promising he can smuggle her out at daybreak.
What follows is without doubt one of the most tender scenes in Handmaid’s Story historical past — a callback to how they fell in love. In Nick’s storage condo, at midnight, they think about a world with out Gilead, dreaming a few first date that by no means was.
Nick tells her that earlier than Gilead, he would have been invisible — simply the man bagging groceries. However June reassures him: she would have observed. He’s courageous. Sort. Good-looking. Unmissable.
It’s a quiet, aching second — the type you maintain onto, particularly in a world the place hope is so fleeting.
Aunt Lydia’s Empty Cookies and Janine’s Breaking Level
In the meantime, Aunt Lydia continues to chase redemption in her personal twisted approach, providing oatmeal raisin cookies and empty guarantees to Janine.
She shared her newest concept about Handmaids retiring as being pregnant attendants. Freedom in identify solely. Janine, who has nothing left however her anger and readability, calls it what it’s: a pipe dream.
If Lydia actually needed to assist, she’d reunite her with Charlotte. However Lydia can’t — or gained’t.
And no candy, home made deal with can erase the truth that Lydia helped rip Janine’s daughter away from her within the first place.
Janine’s fury is sharp and deserved. She’s trapped in a nightmare she by no means agreed to, and the one factor left inside her energy is refusing to let Gilead promote her a prettier cage.
Bother Knocking at Nick’s Door
Again at Nick’s home, Gabriel is ready and isn’t there for a pleasant chat.
Stress crackles instantly. Gabriel obtained a name about Nick, about his “go to” to Jezebel’s, and about Toby.
The implication is evident: Nick’s loyalty is underneath suspicion. And Gabriel, along with his anxious steepled fingers and false concern, calls for full honesty to “save” Nick from the wall.
Nick’s concern is palpable. He offers June a easy, chilling instruction: if I don’t come again in 5 minutes, run to Serena’s.
It’s the primary actual crack in Nick’s armor. And the primary warning shot that one thing horrible is about to occur.
June and Serena: Two Sides of a Damaged Mirror
Within the pouring rain, June seems at Serena’s doorstep — drenched, determined, and improvising.
She spins a narrative: she requested Nick to run away together with her to Alaska, however he refused. Serena was the one one she might belief.
Serena buys it, perhaps as a result of she desires to. Perhaps as a result of June as soon as saved her life.
Their dialog, like all the time, crackles with rigidity and peculiar affection. Serena reveals she’s marrying Gabriel. Not Fred 2.0, she insists. A greater man. A person who constructed her a library and guarantees to reform Gilead.
June can’t assist however problem her. Simply because ladies can learn doesn’t imply they’re free. It’s only a higher, shinier model of the identical outdated cage — one which works higher for Serena.
The 2 ladies circle one another like outdated foes, outdated pals. There’s remorse. Resentment. And that unavoidable reality: they’re trapped in the identical cycle, whether or not they prefer it or not.
Nick’s Shattering Betrayal
The following morning, the awkwardness deepens when Serena summons Rita for an intimate reunion with June, bringing the outdated dynamic between Handmaid, Martha, and Spouse painfully again into focus.
June asks Rita for assist, however Rita correctly refuses. She has a household now. She gained’t threat them for an additional rebel.
In the meantime, Joseph teaches Angela (Charlotte) chess, providing her a glimpse of a distinct future — one Naomi is determined to stomp out.
After which it occurs.
Nick arrives at Serena’s. He tells June they need to run away to Paris. He begs her. She is surprised, honored, surprised once more. Perhaps there’s hope.
Then there’s a knock on the door. It’s Gabriel.
Nick and June scramble into the pantry to cover. They hear Gabriel’s voice. He has excellent news: he shut down Jezebel’s.
And it’s due to Nick as a result of it was he who informed Gabriel all the things — Mayday’s plans, the names, the plot to kill the Commanders.
Nick betrayed them. He betrayed June.
June can barely breathe in that pantry, pressed towards the person she thought she might all the time belief. She’s not alone. I can scarcely breathe, both.
The place Do We Go From Right here?
It’s a devastating reveal — one which redefines all the things. The title of the episode nailed it. It’s a shock that no one needed.
Did Nick haven’t any different alternative? Was this the one approach to save June? Was he attempting to chop a deal that will allow them to escape collectively?
Or did concern win? Did survival win?
The results are staggering. The place does this depart Janine? Moira? The remainder of Mayday? How lengthy earlier than the partitions shut in round everybody June cares about?
Belief is a fragile foreign money in The Handmaid’s Story. And now, it has been shattered within the worst doable approach.
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