After years of being separated, June Osbourne and her husband Luke finally managed to reunite in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, and they have been adjusting to life in Canada with the cloud of Gilead hanging over them ever since. Their story has continued to play out throughout Season 5, a season that culminated in Wednesday’s The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 finale, a tragic ending that saw history repeating itself. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 finale, “Safe.”
Picking up several days after the events of “Allegiance,” which concluded with a gunman opening fire into a crowd of refugees gathered for a vigil, “Safe” proved to be a taxing one for June and Luke. While they both survived the shooting, it was made clear that June has a target on her back, and just minutes into the episode, June was run down by someone in a truck right outside of her own home. Seemingly a targeted attack from Gilead, the driver ran over her again, and he was only stopped from doing it a third time by Luke, who ran out of the house and pulled the driver from the vehicle, punching him, pulling his gun away, and throwing him to the ground unconscious before running to his wife.
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June may have survived the attack with scratches, bruises, and broken bones, but the attack proved to have dire consequences in other regards: Mr. Thorp, the driver of the truck, died, meaning Luke, a refugee, killed a Canadian on Canadian soil. As Rita warned that Canadian authorities could get a warrant to arrest Luke, June told him that they “have to run.”
“We waited last time, and we waited too long, and we didn’t see how much they hated us. I lost you, and then we lost Hannah…we will never, ever forget about her. But we cannot help her if we are dead,” she told Luke. “It’s changing, Luke. This country is changing…America wasn’t Gilead until it was, and then it was too f-ing late. Luke, we have to go. We have to run. Now.”
As June and Luke flee their home with Nicole and only a few bags and plane tickets to Hawaii, they are intercepted by Mark Tuello, who warns them that they can’t go to the airport, because police will be waiting there to arrest Luke, and if they run, June could also be charged. While the airport isn’t an option, Tuello tells them “there might be another way out.” According to Tuello, they’re putting refugees on trains to go west, and if June and Luke can make it to Vancouver, they can get back to the United States.
Just as their attempted flight from Gilead had proven terrible, their flight from Canada ends just as tragically. When they arrive at the station, and as they are just feet away from boarding a train, agents are there looking for Luke to arrest them. Determined to get June to safety, Luke tells her to board the train without him, promising that he’ll follow behind her. As June passes the security checkpoint, her phone rings. It’s Luke. He tells her, “you gotta get on the train,” meeting her reluctance with, “June, if I’m with you, you’re not going to be safe. So get on the train,” and, “June, you cannot stay here. You know you and Nicole are not safe if I’m with you. So do this for Nicole, and get on the f-ing train, okay?” At the realization that Luke never planned to get on the train, June speaks final words to her husband: “Luke, come find me. Come find me. I love you. I love you.”
The moment heartbreakingly mirrored moments depicted throughout the series of June and Luke’s attempt to flee Gilead with their daughter Hannah, an attempt that resulted in Luke finding freedom as June and Hannah were captured. Only this time, it is June and Nicole who escape to freedom and Luke who is captured. This time, however, June is not alone. She is with her daughter, and as she made her way through the train car, she found a familiar face: Serena Joy Waterford and her son Noah, their unlikely reunion closing out the season. The Handmaid’s Tale has already been renewed for Season 6.
