It felt good to watch June feel good as she walked in slow-mo down that hospital corridor, having taken the proffered hand of her old enemy. Elisabeth Moss’ face showed a similar dreamy satisfaction to when she’d torn Fred to pieces, but this time it was less unhinged, more in control and much more at peace. It showed how June has changed since the beginning of this season. This time around, she didn’t revel in seeing the blood of a Waterford on her hands, the sight of it lurched her conscience into action and forced her from that car back into the barn. 

Of course, it made all the difference that the blood came from labor. Like June told Serena, she wasn’t saving her, she was saving baby Noah. But unlike Gilead in those flashbacks to Ofclarence’s death, June wasn’t about to treat a newly delivered mother as if she were disposable. To June, Noah and Serena belong together like all babies and mothers belong together. Taking the kid and leaving the mother to die is Gilead’s style, not hers. 

That was the climax of June’s catharsis, comparable to her courtroom speech in last season’s ‘Testimony’. Prompted by Serena’s ravings about God’s will and vessels, and remembering Aunt Lydia’s babbling about the same, June confronted her with Gilead’s dehumanization of Handmaids. “We mattered, we were people, we are people, we have lives.” Serena’s apology was irrelevant – this was about reclaiming the selfhood Gilead had stripped from Handmaids, as summed up by Ofclarence’s body being wheeled out of that grotesque delivery suite like trash while the Wives cooed over their new toy.

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It was an intense episode, driven by two performances we now just expect to be extraordinary and are never disappointed. Writer Rachel Shukert found useful places to bring the tone down off the ceiling every so often. June’s “Maybe they’ll have a manger,” gag was one, while Serena’s ‘yeah right’ face at the mention of evolution, and June’s eye roll at Serena’s antibiotics protest were others. They’re quite the double-act.

It was a kick to see these two interact in a scenario where June had all of the power, and then used it not to punish but to be better. All of it was leading up to that final hand-clasping in the hospital bed – a single gesture that signified closure on years of pain. Until… Luke. 

Serena was right about Luke Bankole being a good man, but good doesn’t equal saint. The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 has taken care to bring Luke’s experience more into this story, presumably for exactly this moment – one in which his rightful anger would unwittingly sabotage June’s transcendence.