The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Epiosde 6: June’s New Backstory Makes Her Gilead Fate Even Worse

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Updates: June’s backstory is revealed in Season 4, Episode 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale, and this new information makes her Gilead fate even worse. This season has pushed the series’ tenacious main character (Elisabeth Moss) to her limits, as is customary for the series.

Even though she’s been through a lot, she’s made some significant progress against Gilead. Mrs. Keyes assisted her in poisoning a group of debaucherous Commanders, and she was the driving force behind the mission that got 86 children out of the country.

June’s future time as a handmaid is foreshadowed by a piece of her life revealed in episode 6. The show flashes back to when she and Luke were planning to marry and were moving in together.

Moira was concerned for June, saying she feared he would repeat his history of marital infidelity by leaving his wife with her best friend “when she can’t reproduce.” The circumstances of Luke’s previous marriage, however, were most likely more complicated. Nonetheless, a fearful seed was planted in June’s mind.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 June’s Backstory

This knowledge only adds to her tragic fate as a handmaid in Gilead (which makes her feel like “a womb on legs,” as she says early in the series).

June felt pressure to “give” a man a child even before The Handmaid’s Tale’s main timeline, when she still had autonomy, freedom, and sexuality on her own terms. Sure, she adored–and still adores–Luke, and it appears she had previously wished for a child. And he appears to love her in return.

“This episode also illustrates how much she meant symbolically, especially to their relationship,” the actress said. June has to face Luke, finally unable to bring him a child–their child–because she’s stuck back in Gilead.

June’s situation was bad enough to begin with, but episode 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale, like the rest of season 4, paints an even grimmer picture. In her previous life, June felt obligated to give a man a child.

June’s daughter was taken from her while she was forced into years of sexual servitude and used as a vessel to give children to other couples. June’s fate appears to be bleaker by the week, which only adds to her incredible resilience and perseverance.