Making a deal with Gilead, Fred was traded back to the Republic in exchange for 22 women they had held there, but that wasn't going to cut it for June. Instead, she arranged for Fred to be taken to No Man's Land, where she and many other former
Then, at the end of season four, she managed a more shocking reversal. Through a combination of fierce determination and knowing the right people, she got Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) out in the woods at night unprotected, where she and a group of other former handmaids beat him to death.
Fred was a key part of that, but only one piece of the puzzle; Serena Joy is another. Taking the finger as a warning, then it means June still wants to bring down Serena Joy and is not about to let her walk free despite Fred's death.
Emily's partner informs her that she's fled to Gilead to hunt down the evil-doing aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd). Feeling guilt over Emily's rash decision, and with the high of Fred's murder wearing off, June scrubs off the blood and turns herself into the Toronto police.
Inside the package were Fred's finger and his wedding ring. The finger served as something of a taunt. It was very evident who it came from, so June was telling Serena she murdered her husband,...
Whether the decree is official or unofficial makes no difference. June does have remorse. Maybe not that Fred is dead, but certainly that she involved others, and the brutality of it haunts her. Her trauma keeps her prisoner even if a nation does not, and that prison is harder to escape than a brick and mortar one.
That last one is the cost Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) pays in the season two finale of The Handmaid's Tale, as Gilead's leadership orders the severing of one of her fingers for the simple act of reading a Bible verse aloud.
The childbirth scene is primal and intimate and prompts the women to confess their secrets: June tells Serena that she didn't kill her when she had the chance because she simply didn't want to, and Serena realizes she has been forced into essentially being a handmaid in the Wheelers house and begs June to take her baby ...
“What happened to her?” June asked the Commander. “She killed herself,” said Fred. “Hung herself from the ceiling, I don't know. I suppose she found her life… unbearable.” “And you want my life to be bearable?” June asked, to which Fred answered “I would prefer it.”
At the end of season 4, Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) has been lynched and his body hangs over a phrase written across the wall. It says "nolite te bastardes carborundorum." In reality, and also in the series, it's explained that it is a made-up phrase in mock Latin.
Fred tells them that he knows that Serena forged his signature so that the Martha could see the baby. He asks Offred if that's her handwriting on one of the papers and she says yes. As punishment, Fred whips Serena with his belt and forces Offred to watch as he does.
Their sex life wasn't particularly active, so the child was presumably conceived in The Handmaid's Tale season 3, episode 11, "Liars," when Serena and Fred had intercourse while staying at a bed and breakfast.
Following Fred's death, Serena initially believed she could become an international flag-bearer for Gilead values. That's not how things have worked out. Once she was forced to move in with the Wheelers, it became apparent pretty quickly that her only currency was her child.
Abandoned by Gilead, Fred cut a deal with the US government. He evaded punishment by offering to turn informant against Gilead in exchange for immunity and extradition to Geneva. When the US government took Fred up on his offer, June was left utterly betrayed and forced to seek out her own form of vigilante justice.
She is fiercely jealous of June, for whom Fred has repressed romantic feelings; she often punishes June unjustly simply to vent her jealous rage. She also feels inadequate because she cannot get pregnant, again taking it out on June.
Fred had failed to get both June and a previous handmaid pregnant, despite many attempts even outside Gilead's "ceremony".
It is hinted that, besides finding her oppressive life unbearable, this Offred also feared what Serena would do to her in revenge for the affair, and so she committed suicide to spare herself from the very real possibility of either a slow and humiliating public execution, being mercilessly tortured by the Eyes, or ...
If, after the third time, they are not able to produce a living, healthy baby, they will be sent off to the Colonies to face certain death. Handmaids that become infertile or reach a certain age without having ever conceived are also sent to the Colonies, as are women who refuse to become Handmaids.
June Osborne
Luke and June first began seeing each other when Luke was still married to Annie (Kelly Jenrette), whom he later divorced. Due to their marriage being Luke's second, June is considered an "adulteress" in Gilead, and because of her fertility, is forced to be a handmaid as reparation for her sin.
How did Serena get pregnant on Handmaids Tale? Their sex life hasn't been particularly active, so the child was presumably conceived in The Handmaid's Tale season 3, episode 11, "Liars," when Serena and Fred had intercourse while staying at a bed and breakfast.
Noah Waterford is a character in The Handmaid's Tale. He is the son of Serena Waterford and Fred Waterford.
Given Lydia's incredibly cruel behavior towards the handmaids, she clearly couldn't be further removed from the name that she was born with. However, she does begin to show a change of heart as time goes on.
Wives are dressed in modest dresses of varying shades of teal/blue, indicative of their supposed 'purity' as non-sinners (compared to the violent, but fertile, shade of red the handmaids wear).
Serena is Blinded By Her Goal of Motherhood
Her treatment of June can be seen as an extension of her jealousy, with her bitterness leading her to her most violent self.
This article contains spoilers.
There's a new Serena Joy Waterford in the fifth season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Not only has she been edged out of her protected position as the Wife of a powerful Commander, but as a single pregnant woman, she soon became a Handmaid.