The Handmaid’s Tale: Will June Get Revenge On Mark & Fred?

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid’s Tale season 4, episode 9, “Progress.” 

June Osborne may finally have been pushed too far in The Handmaid’s Tale season 4, but just how will she get revenge on Mark Tuello and Fred Waterford? The Handmaid’s Tale season 4, episode 9, “Progress,” delivers yet another shocking twist, as Fred turns against Gilead and agrees to work with the United States and Canada, in exchange for his and Serena Joy’s freedom. It’s a move that comes on the back of Gilead abandoning Fred, leaving him nowhere else to go, but June reacts furiously to the news, and understandably so.

When she discovers that Mark has essentially traded-up, leaving behind her testimony in order to secure the evidence of Fred – someone who can give much more information about Gilead – she flips. June launches at Mark, screaming that she’ll kill him, and while he gets away safely enough there are question marks over what June will do next. Both Mark and Fred have incurred her wrath, and The Handmaid’s Tale has shown that’s not necessarily a place you want to be, nor should she be underestimated in any way.

June’s anger has been simmering throughout The Handmaid’s Tale season 4. Even though she made it to Canada and reunited with Luke and Nichole, she has endured so much trauma and wrongdoing that there is a lot of rage built up inside of her. Some of that spilled out against Serena, but it is seemingly nothing to how much she has left, which is now going to be turned against Fred and Mark. June was already looking for payback against Gilead and the Waterfords in particular, and now Mark is in her sights as well. And if she can’t secure that through official, legal means, then instead of justice it will have to be revenge.

What form that will take is another matter entirely. June would seemingly have little political advantage left: she’s not only played her cards, but handed them to Mark, so it’s hard to imagine how she might gain the upper-hand in that sense. June could deal more with the Canadians, pressing them further, which could cause some divisions or changes in strategy – the episode suggests that the United States have little power (as Commander Lawrence puts it, they “don’t have a pot to p**s in”) – and so if June can use the Canadians’ influence against Mark and Fred, backed up by the fact she did rescue 86 children from Gilead, then that might help her cause and diminish what Fred can do or just how much freedom he can be offered.

Another possibility is that June uncovers the truth about why the Waterfords turned against Gilead. Mark clearly believes that June’s testimony was enough to spook them, when the truth is they were first rejected by Gilead, not the other way around. It may not matter too much – the end result is the same in terms of Fred giving information – but it could make Fred’s own testimony easier to discredit. Mark has shown he’s willing to do whatever it takes, with no loyalty to June but none to the Waterfords either, and if Fred isn’t as useful as he seems, he’d have no issues with throwing him aside once again.

Even that, though, seems unlikely to be enough. June is at risk of being consumed by her rage, and may well end up in a situation where she could feasibly make good on her promise to kill Mark, or more likely, Fred. She certainly has enough anger within her to do so, and after everything she’s done and been through, it wouldn’t be beyond her. If Fred is free in Canada, then it would also mean he’d be an easier target than when he’s locked away, so it’s certainly possible June and her fellow former Handmaids, whom she previously whipped up into a frenzy of revenge fantasies, will seek him out and look to murder him. On the flip side, though, is that The Handmaid’s Talemight opt for something a little more hopeful for June’s future, where she doesn’t give in to the anger, but instead begins to move past her trauma and on from the Waterfords. That would be incredibly tough, but either ending would seem fitting for June’s story in season 4.

About The Author

James Hunt
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James is Screen Rant’s Movies Lead Editor, having started out as a writer for the site back in 2019. A Sports Journalism graduate, James quickly realized that supporting Sunderland AFC was painful enough without writing about it, and so decided to talk a load of rubbish about movies and TV instead. Formerly the TV editor at WhatCulture, he has a particular love of Star Wars (The Last Jedi was great), Game of Thrones (season 8 was good), and Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling…never mind) – y’know, all that really niche, nerdy stuff. Spending most of his days editing articles about or writing on movies and shows, James likes to really get away from work and unwind by, er, watching movies and shows. He’s fuelled by pint-sized cups of tea, peanut butter, more tea, and a quiet, constant anger (like the Hulk, only not green, or strong, or big).

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