June's Decision In The Season 5 Premiere Of The Handmaid's Tale Has An Even Bigger Twist

Praise be, "The Handmaid's Tale" is back on Hulu. In a two-episode midnight release, we were able to escape for a few hours from our own post-Roe dystopian nightmare into one created by Margaret Atwood and Bruce Miller.

If it's been a while, we suggest reading our recap of what you need to know before going into Season 5 because "Morning" picks up right where the Season 4 finale left off.

Directed by Elisabeth Moss and written by Miller, we start to see the ripple effect Fred's death has had on the entire cast of characters. June (Elizabeth Moss) is still basking in the thrill of the kill when the episode opens, "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers playing as she toys with the idea of washing blood off of her hands. She keeps getting distracted by memories of Fred's salvaging, more wolf than woman.

Serena, played by Yvonne Strahovski, is forced out of her ICC detention center to a "more secure location." She's given no information about why she's being moved at first before she's told her husband has been murdered. It's not until she's at her new safe house that she learns the details of Fred's death and about the present June had sent her.

"You don't know what she is," Serena warns Tuello — a warning that echoes across both sides of the war he's caught between.

One person who does know who June really is might be Nick, who makes an appearance during Season 5, Episode 1 of "The Handmaid's Tale" with his new wife. We don't know much about her yet other than she knows Nick was helping June.

When June is able to finally tell someone what she did to Fred, it's Moira she turns to first. Forehead to forehead, June tells Moira about Fred's death like she's making a promise: a promise things will be better now, she will be better now. "By her hand," June whispers to Moira.

But then she, still covered in the commander's blood, gets in Luke's car and drives off without telling Luke or Moira where she's going. Hardly the most reassuring move to pull after telling your best friend and your husband you murdered your former captive/rapist. Moira tells Luke that June "salvaged" Fred — a word choice that for Moira, who has made a clear separation from her old life in Gilead, tells us exactly how shaken by June's actions she is.

When June finally tells Luke what happens, she admits not only that she killed Fred, but she enjoyed doing it. As more cracks of humanity start to show in June, she also admits that she feels like she shouldn't be around her daughter, Nichole. Moira agrees. What used to be normal for Moira still is for June, the animalistic way of life Gilead forced them to live.

When Moira confronts June on "The Handmaid's Tale" about her fears for Nichole's safety, we see even more of June's humanity start to resurface. "I was supposed to be in jail," she tells Moira. Which is true: She did try to go to jail. No longer riding high off the thrill of her kill, June's able to at least see the horror of what she's done and know that it's not normal, not right.

When June tells Luke what happened, it's in the waiting area of a police station in Toronto. "I'm not waiting for the boots on the stairs," June says to Luke as a way of explanation before confessing that she killed Fred. "I followed Commander Waterford into the forest by myself," June tells someone in a dark room of the police station. "I hit him, I kicked him. I bit him. When he was dead, I left him in the forest."

The woman she's confessing to dead pans, "I take it you meant to inflict harm on this man," to which June responds, "Yes ma'am. As much as possible."

Despite such a clear confession, despite knowing what she did was against the rules, and despite knowing she deserved punishment, June's jolted into this new reality when she's told she's free to go. After leaving the police station — quirky, otherworldly music playing in the background — she tells Luke that all she has to do is pay an $88 fine, something she's able to do online.

At the end of Season 5, Episode 1, Tuello visits June. While she's expecting some punishment — at the very least to be arrested — Tuello tells her he's not there for that. When it's clear this is a social visit only, June relaxes. When she asks how Serena took the news — if Serena was afraid of her — June's eyes grow wide and wild, her body language returning to animalistic once more. When it comes to Serena, June is very much a junkie in need of a fix.

"She was scared," Tuello admits, before adding: "Scary can be very dangerous, Ms. Osborne."

With June's tunnel vision focus on bringing down the Waterford's and getting Hannah back, she's blind to the bigger effect her actions have. Tuello tells June he believes she scared Gilead as well. "A handmaid killing her commander — I don't think they'll be able to let that stand," he warns as June's new understanding of the situation unfolds across her face. All she can say in response is: "Yeah."

Before he leaves, Tuello turns to June and says "well done." When she asks for what, he explains that she "did something terrible that needed to be done" and that he knew the cost in our first hint that we may learn more about who Tuello is and what he's done. "May he rot in hell," Tuello said as June responded, "Praise be."

Despite the fact we've spent the past four seasons trying to get out of Gilead, there won't be any shortage of Gilead scenes in Season 5 of "The Handmaid's Tale."

While we knew Emily, played by Alexis Bledel, wouldn't be returning in Season 5 of "The Handmaid's Tale," we didn't learn how she'd be written out until Season 5, Episode 1. In the Season 5 premiere, June finds out Emily has returned to Gilead. "To find Aunt Lydia," Sylvia (Clea Duvall), Emily's wife, hypothesizes to June before telling June not to come back asking about Emily. We consider this a close on Emily's story, but hopefully, we'll at least learn how she dies.

Serena, too, will be returning to Gilead. We know from the trailer she at least will attend Fred's funeral in Gilead, but it's unclear how long she'll be staying. What is evident is her supporters in Canada are growing, made evident by the candlelight vigil being held for her outside of the morgue holding Fred's body. "We're with you, Serena," one supporter calls out, while another says: "God be with you, Serena." Others are heard whispering, "Praise Be" — a Gilead phrase now becoming commonplace in Canada.

The crowd inspires Serena to tell Tuello she is "taking [her] husband home to bury him," back to "the nation that he founded." Whether or not it's true, Serena believes the "Waterford name has power." We're not convinced it does — in Gilead, anyway.