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The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 followed the show's convention of coupling cliffhanger moments with powerful music. This week, the show used Lana Del Rey's The Blackest Day. As Hulu's dystopian drama hurtles towards its sixth and last season, the stakes escalate, as does the emotional price for its characters.
The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 is a pivotal turning point, not only for the resistance movement in Gilead, but for the broken romance between June and Nick.
Throughout the years, The Handmaid's Tale has employed its soundtrack as a storytelling device, sometimes mirroring the mood of its characters or marking the end of an episode. The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 is no different. By featuring Lana Del Rey's despondent ballad in a critical scene, the episode conveys June's heartache and loneliness, even as political anxiety over the Mayday mission intensifies.
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The show's emotional subtext is heightened by the lyrics and tempo of The Blackest Day, reflecting multiple characters' experience of falling apart.
Exploring in detail the Lana Del Rey song played in The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6
The show's highlighted track for The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 is The Blackest Day, a deep cut from Lana Del Rey's 2015 Honeymoon album. Characterized by its textured construction and melodic sadness, the song is a six-minute ballad that combines jazz, rock, and minimalist trap features.
It progresses slowly with muted guitar riffs and swelling synths before blasting into a melodramatic and emotionally charged chorus.
Lyrically, The Blackest Day captures the despair of being abandoned by a lover, with Lana Del Rey singing, “Ever since my baby went away, it's been the blackest day.” The song closes with her repeating the line “I’m on my own again,” a sentiment that directly mirrors June's emotional state at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 episode 6.
The track is not just background music, it becomes a reflection of the heartbreak and loneliness that define the episode’s climax.
What happened in The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6?
The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 centers on a perilous Mayday mission aimed at destroying Gilead commanders at Jezebel's. June and Moira travel to Gilead to alert the women there of the looming attack. But their secret mission goes awry when they have to assassinate a guard and go on the run.
Commander Lawrence comes to the rescue and calls in Nick to smuggle out June and Moira. What starts as a rescue mission soon turns into betrayal and repercussions.
Nick, who has been a complex character in June's life for a long time, is cornered by High Commander Wharton. Suspicious of Nick's recent activities, Wharton questions him about his actions at Jezebel's. At a turnaround point in the action, Nick spills, giving away the Mayday operation, hoping to save his neck and maybe also spare June another bruise.
By doing this, he creates instant jeopardy to the entire operation for the resistance and also deprives Jezebel's of their target.
June is apprised of Nick's deception when she is hiding out in Serena Joy's closet and overhears a meeting between Wharton and Serena that makes her worst nightmares come true. The faith and loyalty she had for Nick are shattered, and the psychological burden of knowing that is aptly foreshadowed by having The Blackest Day play in the background.
The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 employs this moment to not only conclude a relationship but also to show just how alone June has become.
Nick subsequently pleads with June to escape to Paris with him, hoping to escape the tightening vice of Gilead. He informs her he has arranged papers and an exit, but June remains silent.
Before she is able to act, Wharton returns, and June is sent back into concealment. It's apparent that even if she hadn't learned of Nick's treachery, abandoning daughter Hannah and the resistance cause would never have been a possibility.
Interested viewers can watch The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 6 on Hulu.
