Exodus is the 8th episode of the sixth season of The Handmaid's Tale. It aired on May 13, 2025.
Synopsis[]
June and Moira execute their dangerous plan. Serena makes a big commitment.
Plot[]
The episode opens showing Marthas dyeing and sewing new red robes for the Handmaids, then Moira and June sewing knives into the finished garments, which are then distributed among the Handmaids living at the Red Center. The scenes are voice-overed by June telling the audience that while these robes were meant to dehumanize the women, this night they will be weapons.
June and Moira get dressed up and step into formation with the Handmaids at the Red Center, with their faces covered and their heads bowed. Lead by Aunt Phoebe, they walk to the church and file into the pews for Serena’s wedding to High Commander Wharton.
When Nick opens the wedding ceremony, the Handmaids from the center begin distributing the hidden knives among the posted Handmaids. As the blades are systematically circulated, one is accidentally fumbled. A Guardian hears the thud and approaches, but one of the women is able to hide the weapon beneath her foot.
Following the ceremony, the Handmaids and the other guests arrive at the reception. While bride and groom enjoy their first dance, the veiled Handmaids continue to surreptitiously pass out their concealed blades.
After dinner, Serena changes a few words with a still nervous looking Joseph. She assures him that she's still committed to reforming Gilead. She then turns to the Handmaids, referring to them as "most important guests" and promising them change is coming. With June hiding in the back, Serena then talks to them about her complex relationship with her former handmaid, and that she believes they're now good friends, and that her handmaid has forgiven her. When Serena suggests that she'd love to see all the women's faces, Rita quickly calls her away to cut the wedding cake.
As the enormous cake is wheeled out, a brief exchange between June and Moira confirms the mysterious vials smuggled to Rita contained a drug that's been baked into it. According to June, its effects will send everyone into a peaceful sleep within two hours. We then see Rita politely refuse a slice, while Joseph encourages Naomi to eat more.
Aunt Phoebe informs the handmaids that it's time to leave. Before getting up, they sneakily wrap their cake slices in napkins and hide them under their chairs. On their march back to the Red Center, June leaves the group along with other posted Handmaids.
Aunt Lydia, who just returned from DC, shows up at the dinner and gets a glimpse of June who quickly turns and disappears into a larger group of Handmaids. As Lydia tells Lawrence about her encounter, he and Aunt Phoebe convince her she's just had a very long day, offering her a glass of wine and a big slice of cake.
When Gabriel Wharton carries his bride into their home, the Guardian quietly communicates to him that a gift was delivered for him, which is revealed to be Gilead's most fertile Handmaid. While Gabriel is honored by the gift, a shocked Serena argues that they don't need help conceiving children, as she, too, is fertile. As Gabriel is adamant that it's God's plan for them to conceive as many children as possible, using all available "vessels", Serena retorts the Handmaid - named Christina - is a human being. She then prompts the woman to leave the house. Gabriel intervenes, claiming though having bent to Serena's "liberal attitudes", he would not not turn his back on God. Serena replies this "abomination of marriage" can't be God's will. Noah starts crying, so Serena takes him and heads for the exit. Gabriel orders the Guardian to block her, pointing out Serena is his wife now, and he believes he's a good man and a good husband, who is just following God's plan. Serena replies as a Commander he can't be a good person. Gabriel backs down and lets her pass.
Aunt Lydia is the last guest at the dinner, enjoying her meal and eyeing the slice of cake she hasn't touched yet, as she spies a napkin sticking out under a tablecloth where the Handmaids were seated. She sneaks under the table and discovers their hidden, uneaten desserts. Lydia runs off to the Red Center, where she finds a guardian fast asleep at his post. Aunt Phoebe is unsuccessful in stopping her from checking on the Handmaids in their beds; when Lydia rips the covers off one woman she finds her fully dressed.
June creeps into the house of Commander Bell and finds him asleep in the living room. He rouses when the phone next to him rings, only to be stabbed by June into his right eyeball. He is dead moments later, and Janine and June enjoy their reunion.
Back at the Red Center, Aunt Lydia is screaming at the Handmaids, whom she has kneeling on the floor in the center of the room. She singles out Aunt Phoebe and has a Guardian hold his gun on her. Moira stands and tells her to stop. Reminded to the events in the Red Center in the early days of Gilead, Lydia threatens to shoot anyone who won’t tell her where June is. Right at this moment, June and Janine show up. June calls out Lydia for beating the Handmaids and looking the other way when they were abused, mutilated, and raped, and that she must know in her heart that the Handmaids don't deserve to suffer or have their children stolen from them. Janine reports on Bell's abuse, blaming Lydia for willingly giving her and the other girls over to rapists. As Lydia emotionally insists she only ever meant to save the Handmaids, Janine begs her to let the Handmaids free if she truly wants to save them. Lydia approaches the Guardian and lowers his gun, then hugs Janine and apologizes to her.
The Handmaids leave the center with Aunt Phoebe, followed by Janine with June the last to leave. Lydia stays behind, begging God to help her. The last scene shows assigned Handmaids with blades in their hands, slowly approaching their sleeping Commanders.
Quotes[]
“They wanted us to look like we'd been dipped in blood. Some fairytale figure in a red cloak. It seems ridiculous now to contemplate how important clothes were to us before. We had closets full of them. We took jobs we hated so we could buy more of them. So we could be fashionable. So we could be on trend. We couldn't figure out how to get rid of them. So we threw them in landfills. We poisoned the water. We brought on ecological collapse. All because we believed that these garments that we put on our bodies told the world who we were. It was a lie. A lie Gilead believed too. So they assigned us colors. They dictated what we wore. Who we could be. They used our clothes to divide us. To dehumanize us. But tonight, those clothes will be our weapons. Tonight, we will use these clothes to start a war. They put us in red, the color of blood, to mark us. They forgot that it's also the color of rage.” — June
“We took the clothes they used to enslave us to liberate us. Who were we under those clothes? Who could we be? Who had they prevented us from being? Mothers and daughters. Readers and writers. Professionals. Friends. We were angry. We were exhilarated. We were ready for a new beginning. The dress became our uniform. We became an army. An army to free ourselves from the prison of the dress. To free ourselves to become who we were meant to be. Who we deserved to be. We would take our freedom and use every last ounce of it to fight. And so we fled... away from the darkness... within and without... and into the light.” — June
Trivia[]
Notes[]
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne
- Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford
- Madeline Brewer as Janine Lindo
- Amanda Brugel as Rita Blue
- Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia
- Max Minghella as Nick Blaine
- Samira Wiley as Moira Strand
- Bradley Whitford as Joseph Lawrence
Guest Starring[]
- Ever Carradine as Naomi Lawrence
- Josh Charles as Commander Gabriel Wharton
- Timothy Simons as Commander Bell
- D'Arcy Carden as Aunt Phoebe
- Carey Cox as Rose Blaine
- Jonathan Watton as Matthew Calhoun
- Tim Campbell as Commander Reynolds
- Angela Vint as Leah
- Zachary Smithers as Church Guardian
- Vanessa Burns as Mrs. Calhoun
- Diana Bentley as Mrs. Bell
- Ashleigh Gillan as Ashleigh - Posted Handmaid
- Jacob Moro as Waiter
- Ryan Ali as Guardian Harry
- Allana Reoch as Ofgabriel
- Patricia Vanstone as Helen
- Dylan Hawco as Guardian Peter
- Rosali Annikie as Handmaid
- Pooja Bhandari as Handmaid
- Chloe Coyle as Handmaid
- Ellen Denny as Handmaid
- Keren Edelist as Handmaid
- Annika Ferronato as Handmaid
- Madison Hayes-Crook as Handmaid
- Sabrina Jade as Handmaid
- Udita Khanna as Handmaid
- Maggie May as Handmaid
- Rojan Molanian as Handmaid
- Lily-Fay Mowbray as Handmaid
- Kyla Musselman as Handmaid
- Lisa Malanie Pryce as Handmaid
- Nayo Sasaki-Picou as Handmaid
- Lauren Saunders as Handmaid
- Rachel Sybblis as Handmaid
- Shantel Vailloo as Handmaid
- Jazlyn Wong-lee as Handmaid
Gallery[]
Music[]
- The National Anthem - Radiohead
- It Is A Sin - Al Hazan[1]
References[]
| Season 1 | Offred | Birth Day | Late | Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum | Faithful | A Woman's Place The Other Side | Jezebels | The Bridge | Night | |
| June | Unwomen | Baggage | Other Women | Seeds | First Blood | After | Women's Work Smart Power | The Last Ceremony | Holly | Postpartum | The Word | ||
| Night | Mary and Martha | Useful | God Bless the Child | Unknown Caller Household | Under His Eye | Unfit | Heroic | Witness | Liars | Sacrifice | Mayday | ||
| Pigs | Nightshade | The Crossing | Milk | Chicago | Vows | Home | Testimony Progress | The Wilderness | ||
| Morning | Ballet | Border | Dear Offred | Fairytale | Together | No Man's Land | Motherland | Allegiance | Safe | ||
| Train | Exile | Devotion | Promotion | Janine | Surprise | Shattered | Exodus | Execution | The Handmaid's Tale | ||