The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Finale Review: Mayday (Season 3 Episode 13)

On The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Episode 13, “Mayday,” things end on an uncharacteristically hopeful note even though June’s story appears to reach its end.

Mistress. Wife and mother. Handmaid.  We’ve followed June’s journey throughout the series, but the “Mayday” flashback is the origin of June’s evolution. There’s an unmistakable similarity to the concentration camps during WWII as well as the chaos and callousness occurring today along the U.S. borders.

Viewers don’t really need the reminder that Gilead is a horrible place, but the opening sequence foreshadows that June is going to have to do some despicable things to get those kids on a plane.

June’s behavior has become increasingly cruel and even violent, and her reaction to Eleanor’s overdose has made her a less sympathetic character than she’s been on previous seasons, but she is a product of her environment. Janine finds faith, Serena is more cruel and cunning, and June is more unapologetically aggressive.

June’s transformation into the female Dirty Harry may not be what viewers have envisioned for the character, so moments when she’s stripped of every basic right and stuck in a cage like an animal, or the reemergence of her maternal instincts when she’s with Kiki are so important. We need reassurance what sets her apart from her captors remains somewhat intact.

When June falters; when she shows mercy by not shooting Maggie in the back, or by saving Serena, or by falling in love with Nick, she’s forced to regret her actions. June does mourn the loss of her softer side. She’s not impervious to what she’s become, but when Commander Lawrence tries to … manage her, her resolve returns.

“Mayday” is our pay off for June’s Season 3 erraticism. Martyrdom is where she’s been headed: go big or go home. She was always going to lay down her life for the cause — a cause. Aunt Lydia looks at June’s influence as “popularity” and speaks of it like a guidance counselor would to the head cheerleader. 

But June has been assembling her army since The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1. During her search for the resistance, she becomes its leader — she is Mayday. 

But what happens next?

An act of rebellion of this magnitude is going to create massive fallout. Every Martha and Handmaid in every household missing a child is at risk. June no longer benefits from being under the protection of powerful Commanders who need her to keep their own secrets safe. 

Does she go completely underground, and if so, where and how? There is no plausible way June won’t be held accountable. She cannot lead the way and then step into the shadows.

Will Season 4 pick up months or even years in the future with the factions within Gilead openly at war? Will Gilead finally implode?

Viewers know June refuses to leave without Hannah, and where June goes, so goes the story. The Handmaid’s Tale abandoned its source material some time ago, but still central to everything is its protagonist whose fate Atwood purposely left a mystery. 

Speculating about June’s outcome doesn’t diminish the emotional impact of the children arriving in Canada, or Moira’s face when she sees them. To coincidentally have Kiki’s father greeting the plane is a huge stretch, but their happy reunion makes us feel Luke’s pain more deeply when his own hopes are dashed. 

Hannah’s future remains a question mark, but at least Nichole is finally completely free from Serena’s grasp. 

After a beleaguering season, we can take comfort from the images of Luke, Hannah, and June playing together on a warm, sunny day, completely unaware of what awaits them.

What did you think of this episode of The Handmaid’s Tale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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