The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ending Explained: June and Luke Escape from Canada? Is Serena Escaping to the United States?
Ready to say goodbye to The Handmaid’s Tale? Of course, with the recent events in Gilead and Canada, what we want is to know what is going to happen: the end of season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale has left the main characters of the story at different and important points of inflexion, with their destinies hanging by a thread on both sides of the border. That is the price that must be paid for the revolution: if the stories of June, Luke, Nick, Janine, Serena and Aunt Lydia have something in common at the end of this season, it is, without a doubt, the need to rebel against the system or the circumstances around them. We review everything that has happened in the 5×10 episode of The Handmaid’s Tale.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ending Explained
The fifth season of The Handmaid’s Tale has just come to an end and the last episode, entitled “Safe” and directed by the same protagonist Elisabeth Moss has left its mark on the hearts of the fans of this dystopian series that tells what happens when women they are deprived of their rights. But what were the salient events of this last episode of the penultimate season of The Handmaid’s Tale? What happened to the tenth episode that paved the way for the final season of the series inspired by the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood? Let’s find out together.
Canada Revolts Against Refugees
At the end of the ninth episode of the season, it is clear to us that the situation of North American refugees on Canadian soil is unsustainable. The movements against his presence in the country are growing with more virulence (and violence), which explodes when, during a memorial for the fallen soldiers, a man starts shooting into the crowd. It is confirmed in the final episode that this man was merely a fanatic, and not an attempt by Gilead to get rid of June. Now, that does not mean that they will not try it sooner rather than later, since the protagonist is still a great threat to her survival.
In the episode, we will see how the tensions between Canadians and Americans reach a point of no return. In a great shot that rotates on its axis, Elisabeth Moss (who directs the episode) shows us how the neighborhood is in the process of decay: “For Sale” signs, trucks collecting moving boxes, a feeling of a ghost neighbourhood. And it is at that moment that we will experience one of the tensest and most decisive moments of the episode.
June Suffers a seizure That Changes Everything
After saying goodbye to Mark Tuello, who had visited them to update them on the incident at the memorial, June suffers a new attack, this time unmistakably directed at her person: a car hits her in front of her house, and she ends up spending the wheels over his arm. Luckily that’s all she manages to do because Luke comes to his wife’s defence. From the perspective of June, who is writhing in pain on the ground, we see that the man was armed, and Luke gives him a good beating. This, justified or not, will bring consequences.
We then see June in the ambulance, which takes her to the hospital. Other than the damage to her arm and general scratches on her, she’s fine. Luke has to go to the police station to state what happened. We also learn that the attacker is in the ICU, and later we will discover that he has died as a result of the injuries caused by Luke. Meanwhile, the news of this attack reaches Gilead, and more specifically Nick’s ears, who does not hesitate to take a car and cross the border to visit June in the hospital.
Nick, High Treason For Love
In fact, in case we hadn’t already noticed, Nick is still deeply in love with June and he’s not going to let anything bad happen to her. That passion, in this final episode, plays tricks on him and puts him in a very dangerous situation. As we pointed out, upon learning of the attack, Nick travels to Canada to visit June, who is unconscious in the hospital and will not know that the Commander has come to visit her. Now, to have that brief moment with her, Nick has had to sign a contract with Mark Tuello. What are the conditions of that contract? Will Nick become a spy for the US government, an insider inside Gilead’s power system? At the moment we do not know the details of that agreement.
And, although we don’t know if he’s part of the plan or not, Nick doesn’t seem like he’s going to be in much of a position to get information or climb the ranks in Gilead. When he returns from his Canadian visit, he heads straight to Commander Lawrence’s house, where celebrations are taking place for his wedding to the ex-Mrs. Putnam, Naomi. And he only needs a minute to storm into his office and punch him in front of all the other commanders. He blames her for the attack on June, but without saying her name. Lawrence replies that he had nothing to do with it, also in vague terms. Did Nick just dig his own grave? We later see him in a cell, where he receives a visit from his wife Rose. Disappointed, the woman (who, let’s remember, is pregnant) blames him for having faked her love for her (although Nick insists that he is true) and that he always comes to June’s call. It seems that their separation is a reality. But the question is: what will happen to Nick? Does this have something to do with his agreement with Tuello? Is he in danger of being punished by Gilead?
Janine Trades Submission for Rebellion
While June was able to escape at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Janine was forced to return to Gilead and once again don the red maid’s robes. However, this time her treatment of her has been quite different, as she has the protection (and love, by the way) of Aunt Lydia, who seems determined to change the maid system. Not to abolish it, which would be his thing, but to modify it so that attacks like the one suffered by Esther in previous episodes can be avoided. Janine seemed grateful for this protection, but a near-death experience and the possibility of being raped again every month changes one’s perspective.
In this last episode of season 5, Aunt Lydia tells Janine that she has found an ideal solution: she becomes the maid of the new Lawrence couple, something that will allow her to live under the same roof as her daughter Angela. The maid does not accept the news well at first, although she later accepts it. Well, that is until Martha walks up to him at the Lawrence house and tells him about the attack in June. “My June?” she replies, concerned. And concern turns to anger when a friendly Naomi tells him that she’s on probation to be her maid, not even to refer to Angela as her daughter, and to top it off, she calls her ‘Of joseph’. Janine blurts out that they are not friends of hers and that she is, in fact, one of the worst people she has ever met. As a result, she is sent back to the maid centre, from where she is seized by guards over Aunt Lydia’s protests. The last we see of her is when she is put on a truck together with Martha who told her about June, and she disappears from our sight, leaving Lydia between her sadness and her anger.
Luke is Arrested at the Station
When it is confirmed that June’s attacker has died in the hospital, a countdown begins for the protagonists. Given the social and political climate in Canada, the killing of a Canadian by an American refugee is not going to be without consequence, regardless of the circumstances of the incident. Luke brushes things off, but June is clear: “This country is changing… America wasn’t Gilead until she was, and by then it was too late. “The couple decides they have to run away.
Tuello informs them that the authorities are already waiting for them at the airport, and recommends that they take a train to Vancouver, as hundreds of other American refugees are doing at that very moment, and from there fly to Hawaii. The escalation of tension, of course, is affecting everyone. Nichole, June and Luke arrive at the station and crawl along with a crowd, but tickets and identity documents are being checked under a magnifying glass at the entrance of the train. At a certain point, they even walk Luke’s photo, asking those present if they have seen him. He will not be able to get on the train, but June will. And so she does. Thus, Luke is arrested by the police when he is noticed among the people. What will happen to him now? And where the hell is Moira?
June and Serena, Together Again… and Where To?
The final twist of the season comes aboard the train, in the last scene of the tenth episode. Leaving Luke in a sticky situation, a shaken June walks through the train cars with Nichole in the cart looking for a place to sit. Suddenly, she hears the cry of another baby. She looks ahead and at the back of the vehicle is neither more nor less than Serena Waterford and her baby Noah De Ella. If we remember, the last time we saw her was in the previous episode, fleeing from the control of the Wheeler couple.
Former mortal enemies, but who shared a rapprochement at Serena’s birth and subsequent arrest midway through this season, now find themselves on the same path and heading in the same direction for the first time. Is this the first step for a true friendship to grow between them? Will June be able to forgive everything Serena has done in the past, including beatings, harassment and rape? Can we?Has the redemption she has experienced this season been enough? Only the next season will tell. At the moment, both look intensely at each other in the last moments of season 5, Serena with a smile and June… with an unreadable expression.
As Elisabeth Moss, herself explains in The Hollywood Reporter: “The other thing I wanted to do that wasn’t necessarily in the script, but that I did as an actress and director, and that Yvonne fully embraced, was this idea that Serena is offering the peace pipe with the phrase “Do you have a diaper?” He’s almost kidding because his baby is obviously a different size than June’s baby, so he knows diapers won’t fit him. like this kind of peace offering, and what I wanted to do in response to that was to duplicate the smile that Serena gives June at the end of episode 2. When Serena looks at June from the screen and smiles, I wanted to do the same smile in June to come full circle“. With this smile, or rather grimace, season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale ends. The next one will be the last and we already count the minutes until its premiere.
