The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 10 streams Wednesday, June 20, and we have a few hints for this darkly intimate episode.

Baby time

Birth is a familiar obsession of The Handmaid’s Tale, but “The Last Ceremony” brings the miracle of life into sharper focus than ever.

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As June’s pregnancy begins to come to an end, the realities of her situation — of Serena’s desires, the Commander’s lusts, and June’s own lack of agency — become painfully real. The degree of danger that had been somewhat mitigated by her pregnancy stalks closer as the mechanisms of Gilead close in around June. Her body, and the bodies of her fellow handmaids, are beyond her control, and June has little option but to let nature take its course.

But nature’s course is unpredictable… and if there’s anything Gilead (and its architects) seeks to crush, it’s the quirks of fate and time that it cannot predict.

A trauma familiar

The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 10 is also concerned with the many (many!) ways in which life is a lot less miracle and a lot more mania. With its power shaken more than the powerful would like to admit, Gilead buckles down on its awful rituals, with serious consequences for handmaid’s like June and Emily. Suffice to say, “The Last Ceremony” earns its name in more ways than one.

Dawning Eden

Eden gets a much-needed education of sorts in The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 10. Stretched to the breaking point as her expectations conflict so strongly with her reality, Nick’s little wife finds her own way into getting what she wants.

Well, sort of. As certain truths come to light in “The Last Ceremony,” Eden finally comes face to face with the messy reality of her life. And you’d thought that this girl was bomb waiting to explode before this week’s episode, it’s nothing to what Eden will be in position to do when all is said and done in episode 10.

Bring tissues

Every episode of The Handmaid’s Tale comes with its traumas and agonies, but the final act of “The Last Ceremony” takes the pain to a whole new level. Stark, simple, and intimate, the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 10 explores the wounds closest to June’s heart, offering answers to questions that have lingered since the start of the series.

It’s as enlightening as it is emotionally wrecking, in the very best of ways… and it sets up the finale three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 to tackle territory we never saw coming.

Trust me on this: You don’t want to watch this one on your lunch break.

The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, episode 10. “The Last Ceremony,” will be available for streaming on Hulu on June 20.