(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Final seasons are the time to make those big swings, like killing off beloved characters. The Handmaid’s Tale did this in the penultimate episode when Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) sacrificed himself for the Mayday rebellion, setting off a bomb that killed Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) and every other influential Boston commander.
Instead of more bloodshed, the series finale takes a turn for the hopeful, including the unexpected return of Alexis Bledel as Emily Malek. Blessed be the fruit!
“My f—ing God,” is not the usual response to the traditional handmaid greeting. However, I echoed June Osborne’s (Elisabeth Moss) reply when I saw who was on my TV screen. Yes, TV shows love to bring back fan favorites, but Bledel’s unplanned exit before Season 5 made it seem like she’d closed this chapter for good.
It is always a thrill to be genuinely surprised by a TV show you have been watching for nearly a decade, and The Handmaid’s Tale managed this feat. Given that I am still not over the direction of Nick’s betrayal, this reunion helps soften that blow. Happy endings are rare in the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 bestseller, but bringing these two characters back together delivers closure I hadn’t foreseen.
Some storylines, such as Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd), are left purposefully open because production of Atwood’s 2019 sequel, The Testaments, has already begun. Dowd will lead the follow-up set four years after the events of this finale. Gilead has only been beaten in Boston, meaning the totalitarian regime still controls a vast swath of America. June hasn’t been reunited with her daughter; the fight continues.
The Testaments dictate how some threads remain dangling because this story is ongoing. However, it wasn’t the script but behind-the-scenes events that led Bledel to announce her departure in 2022. Bledel’s short statement didn’t explain why she had decided to step away, and she hasn’t appeared in any projects since The Handmaid’s Tale (her only other recent credit on IMDb is Ponderosa, which is in post-production).
When Season 5 premiered, The Handmaid’s Tale creator Bruce Miller addressed Bledel’s exit. “[Alexis] made that decision completely on her own; it was a complicated time and she let me know,” Miller told The Hollywood Reporter. News of Bledel’s divorce from Vincent Kartheiser that same year suggested that one led to the other (again, this is pure conjecture). Regardless of why Bledel left a hit show that led to four Emmy nominations (and one win), Miller made it clear the door had been left open for Bledel.
Considering how much Bledel has retreated from public appearances and other roles, I wasn’t confident that Emily would feature in this final season. Miller and The Handmaid’s Tale writers had to make changes to Season 5 after Bledel’s announcement. Rather than kill her off-screen, they sent Emily back to Gilead to continue the fight to bring down this regime from within.
Emily escapes Gilead in Season 3 but struggles to return to regular life in Canada with her wife Sylvia (Clea DuVall) and their son Oliver. No handmaid had it easy, but Emily experienced extreme torture (genital mutilation after she was caught with another woman). No wonder she couldn’t shake the rage that ran through her veins.
With zero updates about Emily, I was worried the writers had forgotten this character. How wrong I was. Bledel only appears in a few scenes, but she makes those moments count. The emotional reunion is full of Easter eggs and callbacks to the pilot when the pair knew each other as Offred (June) and Ofglenn (Emily). “This used to be an ice cream place” was the first real thing Emily told June in the pilot as she shed her fear that June would report her for speaking of the past. In the present, June’s face when she hears Emily make the same comment about the amazing salted caramel is like she’s seen a ghost.
It is snowing, so beanies have replaced the white bonnets they were forced to wear when they left their commanders’ homes. June jokingly calls her a “pious little s—,” as this is how June described Emily before she knew they were on the same side. It isn’t all references to the past. Emily updates June about where she has been (Bridgeport, Connecticut) and has been in contact with her wife and son. Despite Emily’s difficulties with her family in Canada, she still loves and continues to fight because of them.
Moss directed the finale and drew on imagery Reed Morano established in the pilot. June and Emily’s walk by the wall is one such moment. Defiant graffiti is the new messaging alongside the hanging bodies of Gilead Guardians instead of a priest, a doctor, and a gay man, like in that first episode. “Rage is a gift from God. It is meant to be shared with the most deserving,” says Emily.
Handmaids had to walk in twos, which is how this pair met. At first, they were suspicious of each other before becoming close allies in this war. Their paths and moods have overlapped and diverged since the pilot. June thinks that rage might be pointless, as this hasn’t helped get her daughter back. It all feels impossible.
Despite it all, Emily thinks they are proof that they must adjust their concept of the impossible. There is a bit of a meta quality to that line because it did seem like Bledel was gone for good, and here she is again.
June does allow herself to dream of the world that could have been if Gilead hadn’t existed. In this fantasy, she is with Emily, Moira (Samira Wiley), Rita (Amanda Brugel), Janine (Madeline Brewer), Alma (Nina Kiri), and Brianna (Bahia Watson). The latter two were handmaids who died in Season 4; everyone in this bar scene was in the pilot episode. “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac plays, and the group sings along with Stevie Nicks’ vocals. Even if this particular song didn’t already make me emotional, I would be crying. It isn’t the final Handmaid’s Tale scene, but it is the end for this group.
Not everyone gets a happy ending. However, Bledel’s return is a Handmaid’s Tale victory in more ways than one.
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