The original post: /r/television by /u/Professional-Box1389 on 2025-05-29 03:59:06.

Well, we made it. Barely. I stuck with this final season out of pure commitment — I’ve come this far, I had to see it through. But honestly? It was such a letdown. Even during the finale, I was tempted to DNF or watch it on 2x speed just to get it over with. It was that underwhelming.

  1. June Osborne has to be one of the most unlikable, undeserving, selfish, and just plain annoying FMC’s ever. Yes, I get it, she’s the lead and the lens of which we’re seeing this story, BUT the way the show bends over backwards to put her at the center and forefront of EVERY major rebellion decision, every mission, every emotional scene was a bit much. Especially since it was extremely illogical at times, because yes, she has suffered greatly and clearly has complex PTSD, but also because of that is why she’s a huge liability. She’s not level-headed under pressure (at least in the later and last seasons imo) and because of everything, she routinely made impulsive, reckless, and overly emotional choices that drastically impacted the rebellion, whatever they were working towards, and usually ended up with those around her getting hurt, captured, or killed, or herself captured and put in a position where MORE people put themselves in danger to rescue her (FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME). At least Moira started to call her out on it and say like girl, you aint the only one suffering or impacted or hurt by this, but then June’s insufferable ass was a bitch to her and was super defensive like how bout we just call it a draw instead of comparing suffering (bc we all know I’d win).
  2. If I never see another close up of Elisabeth Moss’s face, it will be too soon. Again, yes, she is a good actress. I loved her in Mad Men and for the majority of this series, but, the extreme constant close ups were way too overused. It became a substitute for storytelling and every time we were supposed to feel something or there was a really intense or emotional moment that we were supposed to “feel”, we got a close up of her “watching” it with this intense expression and twitching random parts of her face for an obscenely long time.
  3. The music and writing overall were both just incredibly lazy. They leaned so heavily on dramatic, ominous music that it felt like a crutch. Instead of building tension through actual plot or character dynamics, they just slapped some intense tones behind static scenes and hoped it would trick us into caring. We’ve seen shows (Succession, GOT, White Lotus) use music brilliantly. This was not that. Repeated over-use of “thank you” and the OG Gilead phrases through this ep were insane. If you made a drinking game out of those, you’d be black out in no time. The only scene/dialogue that I thought was really compelling was Serena’s bit before she got on the bus, but I still think there was SO much more that could’ve been said
  4. So much still feels unfinished, but here’s my rapid fire list of the ones that pmo the most:
    1. Hannah - still in Gilead, but now 2k miles closer, but nothing actually happens. We don’t see her at all and the last time she saw June, she didn’t recognize her so would’ve been interesting to see how they navigated that reunion since that likely will be happening to alot of kids who were taken at birth or young and are equally as scared going back to their “families” they don’t know or remember.
    2. Luke and June’s relationship - this was already on rocky grounds so seeing Hannah come back into their lives which was the driving force for them staying and fighting felt necessary. You also never see him interacting, caring for, or even considering Holly, which makes you wonder does he really think of her as his daughter or see that as Nick’s kid. But with Nick out of the picture permanently, does this improve their relationship.
    3. Nick needed somewhat of a redemption arc and Serena needed less of one - yes, he made horrible decisions and ultimately choose himself over others, but that is quite literally what every single character is doing on this show. And very important to note, that while his motives for helping the resistance may not have been fully about morals and more about his feelings for June, he was still helping, and both times he got caught and screwed big time this season were bc of June and him putting his entire life on the line to help her and doing drastic things to cover their tracks (i.e. shooting those guardians at the water park, finishing the job later at the hospital, going to Jezebel’s to get the letters, etc.). He even shared that Gilead gave him a “life” bc of his mom situation and Rita confirmed he was a “good guy”, so why isn’t he given any grace for also doing what he needed to survive? And then on the flip side, the Serena redemption arc was shoved so hard down our throats it was unbelievable. She can feel immense shame, guilt, etc., but also she repeatedly went back to the same system in a state of insanity thinking the outcome would somehow be different and the fact that she still continued to protect Wharton despite the entire wedding night ordeal was (unsurprisingly) infuriating.
    4. Those remaining in Gilead, what happens to them? Aunt Lydia was just about to be hung as a traitor and now seems to be in a position of power at the border scene, how? Why did Naomi give up Angela/Charlotte finally? If she felt if was bc Gilead isn’t safe, then why not ask Mark for asylum then especially as she’s now w/o a husband again? Why did they just hand Jeanine over? Why didn’t Rita get captured or killed if they knew she put the sedative in the cake? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.
    5. The actual takedown of Gilead felt totally implausible. Again, only two people who can get into the Red Center and kick this off are arguably the two most notorious and recognizable people… please. Why did June never dye her hair to be less recognizable!!! Just being seen almost ruined or did ruin the plan a bazillion times. OK, onto the cake, why not poison, why just a sedative? That barely even worked. Zero chance no one in the room noticed none of the handmaids were eating the cake and stuffing under the benches? they are watched like literal hawks. the bombs were a joke. june getting captured in that weird cage for like 5 seconds, stupid, and the convo between her and wharton felt totally flat because they had no connection or overlap, would’ve been more impactful if he had brought Serena with him and saw her struggle between who to side or empathize with. the Red center scene where Aunt Lydia catches them and Peter, that guardian is there with a gun pulled, but yet walks away and doesn’t do or say anything despite these known rebels convincing the aunts to let them leave to go commit treason and anarchy? what.
    6. And does Gilead even now it was their own people who took them down? Between Serena’s confession and Lawerence’s sacrifice, that is entirely what made it possible and there’s almost no acknowledgement within those who knew or the broader audience to either of those. The focus on Boston only throughout the show had me totally not even realizing that Gilead was much more widespread and the complete collapse of it was a HUGE effort. Also strange how little we saw of the “high council” in DC.

I honestly feel like I could go on and on, but I’ll end my rant here. In summary, I really felt like the finale just didn’t hit and instead left us with a bunch of abandoned storylines wrapped in June’s over-inflated self-importance. It was empty, directionless, and somehow both rushed and painfully slow.