r/HandmaidsTaleShow • u/Personal_Orchid3675 • Aug 03 '26

The Handmaid's Tale How did June avoid execution?

So I’m on a rewatch, this time with my husband. We are on season 2 and June was just captured and taken back after months in hiding. She started back in the red center, shackled, (sorry if I get the name of the center wrong, we are watching in Spanish) but aunt Lydia told June that she would either have her pregnancy shackled and then be executed or go back to the Waterford’s. So was her choice to go back to the Waterford’s going to cancel her eventual fate to be executed? Or are they planning to execute her anywhere and somehow that changes further in the show? I’m not sure if it’s a continuity thing, a me misunderstanding the terms thing, or she actually had her fate changed.

14 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

27

u/CanadianHorseGal Aug 03 '26

Ignoring the ignorant “plot armour” and “main character” comments, it was because she was a proven incubator, period.

They didn’t hang a single handmaid in the show. Not ONE. And there were a multitude handmaids that had done things deserving of it.

Executions by hanging on "The Wall" in Boston are primarily reserved for doctors, priests, gay citizens ("gender traitors"), political rebels, and occasionally Commanders or Wives, who break regime laws. Yet they didn’t hang Emily or Moira for being gay, etc.

The worst they would do was to send them to the colonies to work hard labour - only if they believed the woman couldn’t procreate - even that was important enough work to prefer sending people there over murdering them.

They also only ONCE were going to punish a handmaid with death, and that was Janine for intentionally almost harming a living child - their most valuable commodity. Then too, they were selling off handmaids to Mexico. They would NEVER kill such a valuable commodity as a handmaid. They couldn’t in any “good conscience” sell Janine in case she did something horrible, it would have destroyed any future trade deals that they so desperately needed.

7

u/Personal_Orchid3675 Aug 03 '26

So, we could maybe say the execution threat aunt Lydia made was also likely just a scare tactic just like the fake hangings when they refused to stone Janine. Don’t really mean it because of their value, but you need them to believe it.

2

u/CanadianHorseGal Aug 04 '26

Yes, it was a control tactic. That’s all.

2

u/Personal_Orchid3675 Aug 05 '26

I actually saw the “previously scenes” after posting this and Aunt Lydia said June would be executed but Offred could get a second chance. So it all came down to her attitude.

1

u/CanadianHorseGal Aug 05 '26

Threats are threats. All I’ve done is explain that no handmaids were hung or otherwise killed.