By Zachary Santarcangelo – Staff Reporter

The Season 5 finale of “The Handmaid’s Tale” ended with a cliffhanger that left viewers of the show shocked. 

Based on the book of the same title, by Margaret Attwood, the show is about June Osborne (Elizabeth Moss), a handmaid in the theocratic Republic of Gilead, a regime that takes over the US and treats women as second-class citizens, forcing women, including June, to be impregnated in response to a fertility crisis. 

The season followed June’s journey and her new life in Canada after being saved by humanitarian workers from Canada in Season 4. The finale follows June’s journey from Canada, toward Hawaii with her husband and daughter. She leaves as an escape from the people of Canada who are starting to support Gilead. The episode includes the struggles she faced and the familiar faces she sees on her journey to more freedom. The show writers and guest-director/star of the show Elizabeth Moss both worked together to create an absolutely heart-racing finale for the second to last season. The writers created a great script and Moss helped capture the fear in the main characters’ as they escaped from something they thought they had gotten rid of. 

Elizabeth Moss’ directing is just one small part of her help on set. She and co-star O-T Fagbenle who plays her spouse Luke, do an amazing job of portraying the character’s fear as they continue their escape from their armed, gilead supporting, pursuers. 

What is seen of June’s journey ends with her bleak realization that anywhere can become Gilead and no one is safe. However, there is some hope to be found in the sacrifices of three men so that June could escape with her baby. 

Some viewers of the episode may think that it was a bit slow moving in some parts of the episode, and well they may be right, this adds suspense to the show. By making the choice to use slow camera movements, the camera crew adds suspense for the viewer and makes them feel like they are there, with June experiencing her harrowing escape to what she hopes will be freedom.

The Season 5 finale of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was extremely well written and even better directed. The combination of suspenseful writing from the team of writers, the direction from star Elizabeth Moss, and the work of the camera crew, all come together to create this masterpiece of an episode that any fan of the show is sure to enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars