The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 premiere is upon us! June is a messy mix of anger-fueled ambition and trauma that clouds her judgment. But the new season sure is planning to be bigger than ever.
Although it’s only been a year since S4 debuted, you may want a little refresher on everything that has happened so far, so you can enjoy S5 in all its glory without feeling like you’re missing any links in the chain.
I’ve got you covered with a recap of all the major events that happened in Seasons 1 to 4, as well as some speculation about what S5 holds for us. Read on:
1. Season 1 Recap
Season 1 lays the groundwork for The Handmaid’s Tale universe. We’re taken to Gilead where women have no rights whatsoever and are forced to become womb factories bearing children for the rich and elite.
The protagonist is Elisabeth Moss’ June, who is currently called “Offred”—handmaids are given new names based on which commander they belong to. Since June is Commander Fred Waterford’s handmaid, she’s known as “Of Fred.”
Through flashbacks, we find out that June’s husband Luke was shot and presumed dead, while her daughter Hannah was taken away from her.
Throughout the season we see plenty of examples of how handmaids are punished and manipulated if they deviate from their duty (like Ofglen being mutilated for being a lesbian) or if they fail to bear children.
By the end of the season, there are a lot of things happening all at once. June meets a friend from her past, Moira, who reveals that Luke is still alive. Nick, Commander Fred’s snitch, develops feelings for June. June realizes she’s pregnant but finds herself being abducted in a mysterious van.
2. Season 2 Recap
Although Season 2 starts off hopeful with Nick aiding June’s escape (she was kidnapped as a punished for not condemning a fellow handmaid), they only hide for about two months before returning back to the abysmal Waterford home, where she is subjected to torture once again.
Next, a rebel handmaid bombs a Sons of Jacob meeting, killing 30 handmaids and injuring quite a few Commanders (including Fred) in the process. Although Ofwarren and Ofglen were sent mining in a radioactive field as punishment, they’re brought back after the loss of so many handmaids.
Nick, on the other hand, is rewarded for his work by the degree of having his own wife. Neither he nor his 14-year-old spouse has any interest in each other, and the latter elopes with her own lover… only to be caught and killed for it.
June’s been sowing the seeds for Waterford to show her some pity and arrange to meet her daughter. It finally works and she is reunited with Hannah.
Somewhere between this, Olgen stabs Aunt Lydia as well—but she unfortunately survives.
Once Hannah leaves, June finally gives birth and the Marthas arrange for her to escape with the baby. Here’s where we get a surprising twist of Ofglen’s commander helping her find June. She places the baby, called Nichole, in Ofglen’s care and returns to Gilead with revenge on her mind.
3. Season 3 Recap
Once June is back, she’s appointed as a handmaid at the Lawrence household. But neither the Commander nor his wife Eleanor is too keen on carrying on with the Gilead’s traditions of sleeping with the handmaid.
However, when Commander Fred learns about this, he forces the Lawrences to perform the bedding ceremony. The ordeal anguishes Eleanor to the end of killing herself, after which Commander Lawrence agrees to June’s idea of getting as many children out of Gilead as possible.
When she faces the threat of Commander Winslow (who tries to rape her), she fights back and ends up killing him. The Jezebels, who have assimilated to help her, deal with these consequences.
With regard to June’s kids’ storyline, we have Hannah being taken away once again when June tries to contact her. Then, Serena Waterford files a kidnapping/missing report for Nichole, which ultimately lands the Waterfords in Canada, where they are arrested for their Gilead crimes.
In the season finale, June aided by the Marthas and the handmaids, is able to rescue 86 children and sends them on a plane to Canada. It ends with her getting shot and being carried away from a few handmaids.
4. Season 4 Recap
Fortunately, June is saved and she is nursed back to health in 14-year-old Esther’s house, who’s the wife of a dementia-ridden Commander Keyes. Here she even helps the girl kill one of her rapists.
This further inspires June to create a safehouse of handmaids who want to run away. Although parts of her plan work, she’s caught by The Eyes. They use Hannah (who at this point, no longer remembers her mother) to torture information out of June. She and the handmaids are then sentenced to the Magdelene Colony.
On route, the handmaids try to escape when the truck stops at the train trucks. Only June and Janine survive the chase and find themselves in Chicago—a city that’s outside Gilead’s administration. They have to resort to another set of degrading activities to stay safe in the city, and at a breaking point, they both decide to leave. That’s when the city gets bombed!
Why? How? Well, Gilead has been planning to expand into other areas and Chicago is next on the list. In another fortunate play of fate, Moira, who is now a relief worker, finds June and they both go back to Canada. Janine’s luck isn’t all that great, since she and Esther are taken back to the Gilead as handmaids.
June finally reunites with Luke and Nichole, but it’s far from a happy ending. Her trauma and anger have completely changed her, to the point where she only sees red now.
So when Gilead and the ICC strike a deal for Fred’s exchange, June intervenes, thanks to Lawrence’s help. In a historic moment, we witness June and the handmaids chase Fred and stab him to death.
June ends up sending Fred’s severed finger and ring to Serena, who is currently pregnant. Then she implies to Luke that she is irredeemable and so, must leave him and Nichole for her mission.
5. Season 5 Speculation
As per the official S5 synopsis, June will have to deal with the consequences of killing Fred. Her actions were in no way aligned with the ICC, so this may jeopardize her safety in Canada.
In any case, it seems like June is going to be on the move, organizing more efforts towards taking the Gilead down and hopefully rescuing Hannah and her other handmaid friends.
To that end, we have Aunt Lydia returning to the spotlight and swaying the morally gray Commander Lawrence to reform the Gilead and return it to its glory days. For a guy who has been helping the handmaids so far, this seems quite a departure from his actions. But we shall see where this finally leads.
We also have Serena Waterford to deal with, who is now pregnant and overly ambitious about it. There have been murmurs about a pro-Gilead movement brewing in Canada, and Serena would throw herself at the chance of heading it. The Handmaid’s Tale S5, premiering on September 14, will shed more light on this.
6. About The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller for Hulu. It is based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name.
Set in the fictional dystopian state of Gilead, where fertile women are kept as “handmaids” and are subjected to child-bearing slavery, the series Offred (June Osbourne) and her fight for her freedom from Gilead, along with all the oppressed.
The series has covered four seasons worth of runtime, and the fifth season will premiere on Hulu on 14 September 2022.
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