Spoilers ahead for the series finale of The Handmaid's Tale.
Every streaming service has its own huge hits, and for those with a Hulu subscription The Handmaid's Tale is definitely on that list. The book to screen adaptation has been an Emmy-winning hit, and finally came to its conclusion with the Season 6 finale. I had one request for the final season: to give us an update about Alexis Bledel's Emily. The last episode did that, and brought back more beloved characters.
While some folks figure out how to watch The Handmaid's Tale Season 6, I'm an OG fan who eagerly awaited each new episode. Bledel's departure from the show was a bummer since Emily was a fan favorite, and I was worried we'd never get any answers about her fate. I would have been happy with a few lines revealing what happened to the former Handmaid, but she actually showed up during the finale and got lovely scene mirroring her Season 1 work with Elisabeth Moss.
Emily's appearance was a huge surprise, considering it has been almost two full seasons without her on The Handmaid's Tale. But the latter half of the series finale had June reflecting on her long and violent journey, and Emily aka Ofglen was her first ally and member of Mayday that she met.
It turns out that Emily worked with Mayday as an Aunt for months, and has maintained a relationship with her wife Sylvia and son Oliver. When she left offscreen prior to Season 5, it seemed like perhaps she was fueled entirely by violent rage to hunt down and make Aunt Lydia suffer. It was a tragic fate, especially after finally reuniting with her family in Canada.
I was over the moon when Bledel's character appeared in the final episode of The Handmaid's Tale, but the show's creatives delivered even more than that. Because in June's fantasy of Boston we saw all of her friends from Gilead singing karaoke... including Alma and Brianna who died back in Season 4 during that horrifying train sequence.
Seeing the group together, and seeing Janine without having her eye taken out by Aunt Lydia, was a touching happy ending for the Handmaids... even if it was fictional. In her fantasy June sees the women in a world where Gilead never existed, allowing them to appear happy and carefree in a way that we never got to witness throughout the show's six seasons on Hulu. Alma was one of my favorite characters in the show, so it as a lovely surprise to see her back alongside Brianna.
With the flagship series ended, fans are looking forward to the upcoming spinoff The Testaments to continue the story. And those who read the books are expecting both Aunt Lydia and June's daughter Hannah to appear.
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