Everyone Remembers What You Did To June, Serena Joy

by Megan Walsh

Updated: Feb. 20, 2024

Originally Published: June 13, 2019

June has spent Season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale attempting to take down Gilead from the inside, which meant making some uncomfortable alliances. She needed people with power to work with her. Since she already had a relationship with the Waterfords, she decided to try to get Serena and Fred on her side. But these 11 tweets about June and Serena on The Handmaid's Tale indicate that audiences are more than a little conflicted about that relationship.

Serena has put June through hell. She abused her, screamed at her, attacked her physically, manipulated her. In addition to taking part in the ritualized rape referred to as "the Ceremony" every month, she planned for June to be raped to induce labor — but really, to punish her. Serena was also integral in the creation of Gilead. But once she started to suffer under the new regime too (fancy that, Serena Joy!), she started to have doubts about everything. June is taking advantage of that in an effort to gain allies. But some viewers are finding it difficult to get on board with Serena the cigarette-smoking revolutionary.

At the end of "God Bless the Child," June and Serena sat side by side smoking, a visual representation of both their rebellion and their new partnership. But is it possible to accept Serena switching sides after everything she's done? Responses are mixed, to say the least.

Unimpressed

A few Twitter users just didn't have the time of day for June and Serena's poolside heart-to-heart in Episode 4. Serena has betrayed June personally several times (and pretty much betrayed all women across the board, politically), so it's not easy to see June playing nice with her.

Tentacles

However, June's smoky power move couldn't help but call to mind another Elisabeth Moss character. Despite the differences in decade, circumstance, and story, June triumphantly taking a drag was immediately reminiscent of Mad Men's Peggy Olson doing the same.

Lemonade

Serena has finally had enough, it seems. All it took was her being personally affected! Who care about all those other women, am I right?

Burn

It seems there have been a couple of accidental Peggy callbacks in Season 3. After being sexually harassed by a group of men in a meeting, Joan Holloway was as ready to light a match as Serena is now.

Shortsighted

This tweet gets to the crux of the Serena problem. She only started getting upset with the trouble came to her own backyard. If she'd gotten the child she wanted so badly, would she ever have felt the need to challenge the status quo?

Plotting

June's feelings towards the Waterfords are undeniably mixed (she couldn't even find a word for how she felt about Fred in Episode 4), but there's definitely an edge of manipulation to all her dealings with them. I don't think June has forgotten what they did to her, even if she's putting it to one side right now so she can accomplish her goals.

Incomprehensible

Still, that doesn't make it any easier to watch it unfold.

Boss

So while we all mull over the complicated dynamics that drive The Handmaid's Tale, let's just take a moment to remember how great it was when Peggy strolled into her new office like the boss she was.

Exhausted

Now that you've had that breather, back to our regularly scheduled (and really very sad!) programming. The Waterfords are ridiculous, cruel, self-absorbed people — and that's impossible to forget.

Complex

June makes a great spy because she has a real ability to play both sides. No one would blame her if she, say, stabbed Serena and threw her over a stair rail à la Aunt Lydia. But June's playing the long game.

Rise

While many fans don't seem to be on board with Serena's sort of redemption, others would just be happy to see Gilead fall, however it happened.

Past patterns would indicate that the Waterfords can't be counted on, but maybe things will change now that June is trying to lure Serena to her side. Viewers will have to wait and find out next Wednesday on Hulu.

This article was originally published on June 13, 2019