Even that late in the day, he was still so infused with Gilead’s patriarchy that he continued to labour under the misapprehension that June required his permission to act. Lawrence learning the lesson of his irrelevance was a particularly sweet moment. First came the early bird Martha, who jeopardised things twice by arriving in daylight and then by running away and getting arrested, leading to the roadblocks and door-to-door searches that gave Lawrence cold feet. Joseph Lawrence was one of several spanners thrown into the machinery of June’s plan this finale – spanners she ground up in the cogs through sheer force of will.

An escape route will surely be found for her and the others – perhaps via Mayday, perhaps via Nick (who didn’t return to save the day in this finale as some expected) or perhaps via Commander Lawrence who’s pledged to clean up his own mess. Many more seasons of swerving close calls and she won’t be a Handmaid anymore, she’ll be a Highlander – a battle-scarred immortal.Īs our eyes and ears on the ground, we know that June isn’t about to bleed to death or be strung up on the Wall anytime soon.

There’s only so much more that June – our window into this world – can survive in a place as hazardous as Gilead without her longevity becoming farcical. Showrunner Bruce Miller has said that he wants to see the Waterfords’ version of the Nuremberg trial, and we’re already on the doorstep of that. The main characters’ pre-Gilead flashbacks having mostly been ticked off and the Commanders dropping like misogynistic flies, The Handmaid’s Tale is moving towards the future.Īnd hopefully, it’s also moving towards an eventual end. With half of this show’s playing pieces now over the border, Canada is set to be as vital a location as Gilead next year, more even. Their escape presents a whole range of story possibilities for the already-commissioned next season. Instead, it was filled with kids – the children of Gilead.

The handmaid's tale season 3 finale