The finale of The Handmaid’s Tale is arguably one of the worst ever to hit television history. While the earlier seasons of the show ended with a lot of thrill and drama, this one was a total disappointment. So much so that the episode received a 5.7 rating on IMDb, making it the only episode that fell below 6.0.
Fans were expecting a lot more from the season finale, and it just didn’t deliver. Instead of the gratifying climax the fans were looking forward to, all they got was a confusing scene of June picking up a pen. It was open to interpretation and ambiguous, which didn’t go down well with the audience.
What happened in the season 6 finale of The Handmaid’s Tale?
The long-running series is known to deliver thought-provoking content over the course of time. In a surprising turn of events, the finale episode for season 6 was rather slow-burning and contemplative. Boston is freed after the bomb assassination, and then the story falls flat, with June quietly returning to the Waterford home and beginning to write her story.
Still from The Handmaid’s Tale (Credit: Hulu)
Alexandria Bledel returns as Emily, offering some sense of closure. The rushed reconciliation of the main characters, like Serena, Janine, Aunt Lydia, Moira, and Luke, was extremely dissatisfying to watch.
The narrative didn’t seem to have a carefully crafted pay-off for viewers who had invested throughout the season. While it is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, some things seem more poetic in print than on screen. The execution of these scenes should have been more gripping to help people connect better.
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Hannah was still trapped, and June was still in anguish, making the plot feel padded and incomplete. Fans were expecting more closure and defined character arcs at the end of the season, and they felt robbed of the cinematic brilliance they had come to expect from the show. Imagine investing your interests and energy into the story for 8 years, only to meet this end, it is almost as bad as the last few episodes of Game of Thrones, and God, does that still hurt!
The ratings war on The Handmaid’s Tale season finale
While the entire season six had earned ratings of 92 to 93% on Rotten Tomatoes by critics, the last episode completely bombed. Tomatometer reached 83% in ratings for the finale. However, the IMDb rating is 5.7 out of 10, making it the worst in series history.
Still from The Handmaid’s Tale (Credit: Hulu)
To give you an example for contrast, Episode nine, “Promotion,” had scored a solid 9.2 on IMDb, which made the drastic drop in the finale even more gruesome. The long and short of it, critics and fans were not on the same page for this one. Makers seem to have chosen reflection over resolution in the finale episode, leaving the audience feeling empty and ungratified.
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June’s fate was left unresolved, and Hannah was still missing, making one wonder whether there will be a sequel. While the ending seals its place as one of the worst episodes, it wasn’t through bad writing. It was by betraying the emotional investment and momentum that viewers had carried into the final moments of the show.
The Handmaid’s Tale is available for streaming on Hulu (USA)
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