Elizabeth Moss in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.Credit : 

Steve Wilkie/Disney

The Handmaid’s Tale has finished its final chapter.

On Tuesday, May 27, Hulu’s hit dystopian drama concluded its sixth and final season with heartfelt reunions, return of pivotal characters and an open-ended mission for June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) to find her daughter Hannah.

The episode began in the aftermath of the American resistance’s plan to bomb a plane full of high commanders heading towards D.C. The emotional moment saw the deaths of both American ally Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and June’s love interest and the father of her daughter Nicole, Commander Nick Blaine (Max Minghella), as the jet exploded upon takeoff.

In a voiceover, June revealed that without the leadership of Gilead’s most powerful commanders, the city of Boston had been reclaimed by the rebels and freed of Gilead’s chains.

“We won here, at least. Boston is America again. Praise f—— be,” she said as scenes of rebels burning Gilead flags and regalia played on screen. “By the time the Marines landed in Southie, the fighting was almost over, Gilead had already started pulling out of the city. Then it only took 19 days.”

“But this is just the beginning,” June continued. “First, Massachusetts is liberated, then, New York, west across Ohio, Kansas, someday Colorado — and then Hannah. Gilead tried to fight, but they had no leaders. The Boston commanders were all dead before the fighting even started.”

Throughout the episode, fans learned the fates of their favorite characters and saw June wrap up loose ends as she prepared to find her daughter.

Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), June’s former mistress turned ally, found her “fate” completely in the hands of U.S. agent Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger). On her way to a refugee camp with her son Noah, she admitted she’s fearful as many people want her dead and her applications for foreign passports had been denied.

Before boarding a bus, she had one final confrontation with June where she apologized for her crimes in an emotional plea.

“June, when I recall some of the things that were done to you and the things that I did and that I forced you to do, I’m ashamed,” Serena cried. “I’m sorry. And if words mean anything at all, I am sorry.”

In an act of mercy, June replied, “I forgive you,” before telling Serena to “go in grace.”

While walking the streets of a newly liberated Boston, June stopped at a storefront and ran into Emily (Alexis Bledel), a friend and former handmaid she feared was dead after she announced she was returning to Gilead to fight from the inside.

Emily told June that she had a seven-month post as a Martha, and that the Commander she worked for “was a friend.” Though, at the time, it seemed like she abandoned her wife Sylvia (Clea DuVall) and their son, she was actually fighting for them and had kept in touch through secret phone calls.

Then, June reunited with Janine (Madeline Brewer) after she was captured by the eyes in the penultimate episode. In the middle of the night, she got a call from Tuello, and went to the woods where Gilead’s guardians dropped Janine. Then, Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) and Mrs. Lawrence, formerly Mrs. Putnam (Ever Carradine), reunited Janine with her daughter Angela.

Elsewhere in the episode, June and her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) greeted her mother and her daughter Holly as they landed in Boston from Alaska. Despite her mother’s fears, June revealed her plan to continue the fight to rescue Hannah from Gilead.

Both she and Luke had unfinished business with the rebellion and worked to free their daughter and other young girls from Gilead’s clutches.

In the final moments of the show, June wore teal as she returned to where it all began — the Waterford’s old home — which has since been burned to the ground.

As she walked up the stairs, she entered her old quarters and sat on a windowsill, paralleling the opening scene of the first episode. She smiled as she imagined her long-awaited reunion with Hannah before pulling out a voice recorder and reciting the same monologue that played in the series premiere.

“A chair, a table, a lamp, there’s a window with white curtains. The glass is shatterproof but it isn’t running away they’re afraid of. A handmaid wouldn’t get far,” she said slowly. “It’s those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself given a cutting edge or a twisted sheet and a chandelier.”

“I try not to think about those escapes. It’s harder on ceremony days, but thinking can hurt your chances,” she continued as the camera panned closer.

Then June smiled as she began her story, “My name is Offred.”