The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 finale hides a shocking secret — one quiet scene, barely noticed, calls back to Season 1 in a way that could flip the entire story on its head. Fans missed it, but a leaked script detail just surfaced, and what it reveals is now dividing the fandom like never before. Was this a subtle Easter egg, or a deliberate rewrite of Gilead’s history? Behind-the-scenes sources say it was planned all along — a breadcrumb hidden in plain sight. Now the internet’s ablaze, debates are raging, and the question hangs heavy: did we ever really understand the story at all? Watch the moment before they try to bury it again.

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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Finale’s Most Confusing Scene is Actually a Subtle Callback to Season 1 (& Most Fans Missed It)

Women gathered together at a karaoke bar, singing happily

The Handmaid’s Tale series finale was all about wrapping up the main storyline and setting things up for the upcoming sequel series, The Testaments, which takes place five years into the future. While the Season 6 series finale, Episode 10, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was more subdued than fans might have hoped, it achieved its goal.

Throughout the episode, characters made amends, moved on, and figured out what was next. As she explored the city and the remnants of what was once Gilead, June observed and thought about the past, present, and future. One particular dream sequence left fans confused. But it actually cuts deeper than just a vision of what could have been, or maybe what could still one day be.

The Karaoke Scene Had Fans Confused

In the early part of the episode, after meeting with Mark Tuello, June visits a room with various relics from Gilead in Boston. There, she finds a stuffed bunny with a note that reads “mommy loves you, little bunny,” and she instantly thinks of her time with Hannah. As she continues her journey, she arrives at a storefront in her old neighborhood where she stares inside. Just then, Emily approaches in a surprise character return in The Handmaid’s Tale. It mirrors a scene from early in the series as well, when the two ladies stood outside of a storefront together, talking. They share an embrace and catch up, as Emily reveals where she has been and what she has been doing all this time.

This lovely, heartwarming meeting reminds June of both the old times and the hardships, as well as what could have been. As she stares at a wall filled with graffiti with messages of revolt and freedom, June’s narration declares that she has been dreaming of Boston. “Not Boston now, then. Boston from before. It’s another Boston. It’s the way things would be if there was never a Gilead.”

She imagines her and her fellow handmaids from Gilead, including Janine and Rita, in a bar singing karaoke. They are drinking, laughing, and having a good time as they enjoy one another’s company in a way they were never able to do while in Gilead. The song they are belting out together is “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac. Noticeably, Janine has both her eyes, no eyepatch. Handmaids who have since passed are there, too. It’s a basic girl’s night out with no worries, no strife. Everyone is happy, and most importantly, free. But this isn’t the first time this scene was put into June’s head.

The Scene Is a Callback With Deeper Meaning

Fans will recall that way back in season one, Episode 9, “The Bridge,” Janine had just given up her baby to another family, and she is devastated. She loves her biological daughter and understandably does not want to see her taken away. It’s one of the many disturbing portrayals of oppressing women in The Handmaid’s Tale and one of the most awful things that Gilead does to Handmaids.

The following morning, Offred is called outside to help. Janine has taken her baby, and she is standing over a bridge, threatening to jump with the child if she is not given custody of her daughter. Janine is beside herself, and Offred seems to be the only person who can get through to her.

Show Premiere DateShow End DateNumber of SeasonsWhere to Stream
April 26, 2017May 27, 20256Hulu

June calmly tries to literally talk Janine off the ledge, convincing her that this isn’t the right thing to do. “Change is coming,” she tells her friend. “There’s hope. All of this, it’s all going to be over one day. And everything is going to go back to normal.”

Janine seems to be listening, and June’s words are working, so June continues to paint a picture. “We are going to go out drinking, you and me,” June continues. “And Moira?” Janine asks, tears welling up in her eyes. “And Alma?” she continues as the two girls start to laugh together. “Can we do karaoke?” Janine asks, to which June replies “sure. Whatever you want.” She declares that they’re all going to “get hammered,” go dancing, and watch the sun come up.

The conversation works, as it calms Janine down. She comes down from the ledge and hands her baby over, accepting that this is the way things are but hopeful that it isn’t the way things will always be.

In the Season 6 finale episode, when June is imagining this moment, she’s recalling this conversation with Janine when her friend was at her lowest point. She sees it coming to life because it’s a moment that still hasn’t yet happened, but maybe one day it could. The vision cuts deeper as well, however, because at this point in the plot, Janine is still missing. She is one of the people from Gilead who has not yet been retrieved. June doesn’t know whether Janine is alive, dead, or captured and taken away from Boston.

What Happens to Janine in the Finale?

While June lost many handmaid friends along the way, like Alma, she was likely able to finally make good on that promise of a girl’s night out. That’s because not only was Gilead in Boston taken down, even if Gilead across the U.S. wasn’t, both June and Janine were liberated. While asleep one night, June is awakened by a guard who tells her to come with him, stating it’s urgent. It mirrors the same way Serena woke June that fateful morning, so many years ago, to get Janine to come down from the ledge.

Janine ActorOther Notable RolesAwards
Madeline BrewerOrange is the New Black, YouEmmy Nominated in 2021 for The Handmaid’s Tale

But this time, Tuello takes June to a dark road in the middle of the night to meet a “familiar face.” They’re at the border with Gilead, and a car pulls up. Janine is escorted from the vehicle alongside Aunt Lydia and Naomi.

Tearful and in pain, June embraces Janine as Tuello calls for medical. Up walks Aunt Lydia and Naomi. Most surprising is that Naomi hands over the now toddler girl, who she named Angela but Janine named Charlotte. “I want you to be safe,” Naomi tells the little girl. “That’s the most important thing.” Janine is not only free, but she now has her daughter back in her arms. As she cries, little Charlotte giggles, somehow knowing, feeling, that this is her mother. While Madeline Brewer teased a darker storyline for Janine in Season 6, it all came up positive in the end.

As June gets up to leave, she thanks Naomi and Aunt Lydia for what she has clearly orchestrated. “Take good care of our Janine, please,” Aunt Lydia says. “And Charlotte.” “I will,” replies June, who delivers the first heartfelt “thank you” to her former aunt. “Blessed is the woman who does not walk in stride with the wicked,” she adds, referencing Aunt Lydia’s previous outcries about the “wicked, ungodly men” of Gilead. “Under his eye, dear,” Lydia replies tearfully.

This decision by Aunt Lydia, her tormented and hurt expression, and the exchange between Lydia and June beautifully set up the story in The Testaments. As has been revealed about the plot of The Testaments, which is based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 follow-up novel, Aunt Lydia is now secretly working for the resistance. She’s a mole in Gilead who is working with others, including June’s daughter Hannah, to take down the religious group.

The Scene Is Evidence of the Realness of the Ladies’ Friendship

Whether this wonderful night of karaoke actually happens in the future with June, Janine, Emily, Rita, and the other surviving handmaids remains to be seen. However, the full-circle moment is a sweet way to wrap up the story for the two women. June and Janine came from very different worlds, but they struck up an immediate bond at the start of their journeys in Gilead, having been captured at the same time.

The Testaments Premiere DateSettingWhere to Stream
TBA (currently filming)5 Years LaterHulu

Both were instant rebels and fought back; Janine sadly lost an eye due to her behavior. While June became Aunt Lydia’s number one adversary, the proverbial problem child, Janine became meeker and more submissive, but also reactionary and unpredictable. June took it upon herself to protect the young woman, doing her best to ensure that Janine was never harmed that way again.

In a way, June accepted a big sister-like role with Janine, looking out for her right to the end. In fact, it wasn’t so much Nick’s decision to reveal the Mayday plan to Commander Gabriel Wharton that upset June as it was the fact that Janine was in Jezebel’s at the time, and he might very well have just sealed her fate.

Thankfully, Janine was spared, and the impression she made on both Aunt Lydia and June through her time as a handmaid made her someone both women wanted to see succeed outside of its grip. Now, having her daughter and likely finally accepting that her son from before is gone, Janine might be able to start putting the pieces of her life back together.

Thus, the lyrics of the song they sing at karaoke are fitting. “Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?” Something tells fans that Janine will be just fine.

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