The Handmaid's Tale season 4 spoilers follow.
Season four of The Handmaid's Tale sees June strike back against Gilead as a fierce rebel leader, bringing with it some new challenges.
There's a lot that goes on this season, so we're here to break it all down for you.
The Handmaid's season 4 recap
After smuggling a group of children out of Gilead on what would later be dubbed as ‘Angel’s Flight’, an injured June and the other fugitive handmaid’s are on the run. They find refuge at a farm, where 14-year-old wife Esther Keyes nurses June back to health.
The handmaids learn that Esther’s husband had allowed her to be gang raped by the local men, so when one of her rapists (Guardian Pogue) shows up at the farm, an enraged June encourages Esther to take her revenge and kill him.
June also learns that Esther had been gradually poisoning her husband with nightshade, inspiring her to use the concoction in order to poison and kill a nearby brothel full of commanders.
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Unfortunately, Guardian Pogue’s disappearance attracts the Eyes who, led by Nick, raid the farm. While the other handmaids escape, June faces the vengeful Aunt Lydia and endures a torturous interrogation to give up their whereabouts.
Naturally, she refuses, even when two Marthas who had helped with Angel’s Flight are pushed off a roof. It isn’t until her daughter Hannah is threatened that she gives in.
The handmaids are all captured and, along with June, transported to the Magdalene Colony. When they arrive at a train track, the women exchange some knowing glances and grapple with Aunt Lydia in order to make a break for it. The driver manages to shoot two of them while June and Janine clear the tracks, but Alma and Brianna are hit by the oncoming train.
Now (sort of) free, June and Janine take a harrowing journey in a milk train to a war-torn Chicago, where they meet a resistance group living as armed survivalists. The leader allows them to take refuge in their bunker, but only if one of them has sex with him. Janine agrees — despite June’s horror.
June convinces Janine to leave with her when she realises their current circumstance is no better than it was in Gilead, but they're split up when the city is struck by an air raid carried out by Gilead's forces.
June is picked up by Moira (who’s in Chicago working with a Canadian aid group) and is taken back to Canada to seek asylum and reunite with her husband Luke and baby Nichole, though she struggles to come to terms with her traumatic past and newfound freedom.
On the other hand, Janine is picked up by some Guardians and is taken back to Gilead.
In Gilead, Commander Lawrence stands trial for supposedly assisting June with Angel's Flight (he did). He’s later acquitted of the crime, though he’s removed from the Sons of Jacob Council.
On suspicion that she also helped with the escape, Aunt Lydia is tortured and forced to resign from her auntly position. It’s not long before she strikes up a deal with Commander Lawrence, though. She promises to dish out some dirt on the other Commanders (which he can use to get back on the Council) if he agrees to reinstate her as an Aunt.
The plan works and Lydia regains her status at the Red Centre, where a recaptured Janine is kept under her cautious eye. Meanwhile, Esther has been stripped of her wifely status and is being forced to train as a handmaid under Janine's supervision.
In Canada, Serena and Fred are at odds with each other after she betrayed him in the season three finale in exchange for visitation rights with Nichole. However, they’re both detained and Fred stands trial for his war crimes, while June delivers a powerful testimony against him.
When Serena later learns she’s pregnant with Fred’s child, the couple reconcile and agree to make a deal with the ICC: Fred will provide valuable inside information on Gilead in exchange for their extradition to Geneva.
June has been hellbent on revenge all season, so when she discovers Fred will be pardoned for his crimes, she takes it upon herself to ensure he goes down once and for all.
With some assistance from Nick and Commander Lawrence, June approaches the Canadian government to request that Fred be returned to Gilead in exchange for 22 women who are being held prisoner under its regime. But Fred doesn’t make it to Gilead intact.
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Instead, Lawrence arranges for Fred to be dropped off in no-man’s land. Remnant of the Salvagings they were all forced to participate in during their time in Gilead, June and the other handmaid’s chase Fred through the woods before brutally tearing him apart.
In a nice full circle moment, they hang Fred's body on The Wall and write the words 'Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundum' (a mock-Latin version of 'Don't let the bastards grind you down') beneath it.
With that, June sends a package to Serena containing Fred’s finger and, still on a high, returns home with literal blood on her hands.
As we've come to learn, it's not like Serena to let things go lightly. So with Fred's death, the scene is set for a June/Serena showdown in season five.
The Handmaid's Tale is available for streaming on Hulu in the US. The show airs on Channel 4 and Prime Video in the UK.
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