(CNN) The following contains spoilers about "The Handmaid's Tale" season-two finale.

"The Handmaid's Tale" wrapped up a staggeringly good second season with this week's episode, made all the more impressive by having moved beyond its source material, Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel. The finish happens to coincide with the Emmy nominations, and after last year's breakthrough win, this Hulu drama has earned another red-cloaked army's worth of recognition.

Abused, subjugated and downtrodden, the female characters asserted themselves and even experienced a modicum of revenge in the finale, which followed an emotionally devastating penultimate episode, in which the teenage Eden was executed.

That death clearly played a key role in what has been the season-long exploration of the relationship between Offred/June (Elisabeth Moss, who has elevated the art of the hate-filled stare to new heights) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), to whom June pleaded to push back against the patriarchal system designed to oppress them, as well as their infant daughter.

"How are you going to keep her safe?" June asked, after Serena's own act of defiance -- leading a petition to allow Gilead's daughters to read -- triggered brutal punishment from the male council on which her husband, Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), sits.

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