The Handmaid’s Tale S04E10 is the finale of the fourth season of a dystopian alternate reality drama TV series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name. In this alternate history, the USA has been taken over by hardcore fundamental religious fanatics and renamed as Gilead. In Gilead, women have become the property of men once more as the nation is ruled by theocratic patriarchy. 

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Entitled “The Wilderness”, The Handmaid’s Tale S04E10 is a shocking episode that brings June (Elisabeth Moss) Osborn’s story full circle in many ways. The season finale is framed by June’s voice over scenes from Season 1 where June is dancing with Commander Waterford at a Jezebel’s club. 

READ OUR REVIEWS OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE SEASON 4

By and large, The Handmaid’s Tale S04E10 picks up from where the previous episode left off with June’s discovery that Waterford would be set free for co-operating with the US government in exile, and providing intel concerning Gilead. This naturally displeases June – to put it mildly – and she spends two-thirds of the episode plotting her revenge on Waterford. 

June is able to achieve this thanks to her strong contacts with Commanders Lawrence and Blaine in Gilead and the adherence to the old adage that the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ as she conspires with them to pay Waterford back for his crimes. 

READ OUR REVIEW OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE SEASON 1

Thus, we get that shocking unexpected third act in which June Osborn with the aid of her fellow Gilead victims turn the tables on Waterford instead. It is brutal and visceral but morbidly satisfying for an audience which has witnessed the multitude of Waterford’s crimes in three harrowing seasons. Suffice to say that it is a sequence that will be burned in the memory of many fans of the series for a long time to come. 

But what do the events of The Handmaid’s Tale S04E10 portend for Season 5 – surely June will now bring the fight to Gilead as she seeks to recover and rescue her daughter Hannah once and for all. Without a doubt, Season 4 has been the best one yet! 

Now streaming on Hulu.

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