Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale.

In the climactic last moments of the fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale, we see handmaids, led by June (Elisabeth Moss), tear Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) apart in a Gilead-like fashion somewhere on the border of the United States and Canada. Despite knowing that Fred would likely be killed one way or the other, the question becomes: should June face additional consequences for the killing of Fred? Perhaps, considering the severity of his crimes and that a just war is being waged, June’s mental state is punishment enough.

June Is Punishing Herself Enough

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June's mental state is rapidly deteriorating and there is little she can do to stop it. She is suffering. The first episode of Season 5, entitled “Morning,” reads like June’s dissociative fugue. We see her wandering around Toronto, covered in Fred’s blood. In a moment of panic, she washes the blood off in a public restroom and a pond nearby, prompting a stranger to ask her if she is all right. Moira (Samira Wiley) and Luke (O-T Fagbenle) don’t completely trust her with Nicole, though neither blames her for what was done to Fred.

The second episode, “Ballet,” shows us that June is rendered unable to play Scrabble due to crippling flashbacks. Her already fragile mental and emotional state crumbles further as she becomes completely obsessed with Emily (Alexis Bledel) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski): their whereabouts, their state of mind, even their modes of transportation.

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After a conversation with Sylvia (Clea DuVall) about Emily’s return to Gilead after Fred’s murder, she is so wracked with guilt that she decides to turn herself in to the Canadian authorities.

Sylvia says she doesn’t need anyone to blame for Emily’s absence. She is gone and nothing will bring her back. It is just something her family, and June, will have to live with. June hopes that turning herself over will assuage her guilt about killing Fred and prompting Emily to return to her assured death. But as echoed by Sylvia’s sentiments, it does not matter who is to blame. There is nothing anyone can do now, except charge June an $88 fine for moving an “unsecured biological sample,” i.e. Fred’s finger, over the border. Perhaps she thought that a prison would provide her with a sense of peace or justice that she lacked, but even that choice was denied to her.

She also backs out of her deal to help other former handmaids kill their own commanders, a choice made seemingly out of fear, regret of getting others involved, and knowing that killing Fred did not bring her peace. Killing Fred only brings her more fear, more regret, and puts her in a bad position within her own community.

June Is in a Tenuous Position

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June is still living in fear and feeling the strain of having put her family in a delicate position. As Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger) assures her, Gilead will be coming for her as well as Serena. She is safe and free in the moment, but it won’t last. Her crime will ultimately catch up with her.

Although pregnant and newly widowed Serena is afraid, fear is a powerful motivating factor, and Serena is a worthy adversary. June knows that sending Fred’s severed ring finger to Serena is a thrown gauntlet, which Serena is sure to pick up. This is proved accurate when she poses with Hannah/Agnes (Jordana Blake), at Fred’s funeral, in purple no less, indicating that she is ready to train to be a wife. The fact that Serena was even able to pull off such an elaborate funeral and get access to June’s child proves that she still has power in Gilead, despite being deposed in Canada.

Speaking of worthy adversaries, Hannah’s adopted family, the Mackenzies, are formidable foes as well, and they are out for June’s blood. They seem to take personal umbrage and bewilderment at the fact that June is their child’s biological mother. They know that as long as June is free, they are in jeopardy of losing Hannah (whom they call Agnes), and they do not seem to be ones to tolerate living in that state for long. Plots are afoot. June does have Mayday on her side, but Gilead has a whole army.

Killing Fred Was an Act of War in Wartime

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As Tuello says to June of her involvement in Fred’s death, “Well done. You did something terrible that needed to be done. I understand what that costs. May he rot in Hell… Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” June is a soldier in the war to take down Gilead and Fred is a casualty in that war — far from an innocent one. Fred was, by his own brethren’s standards, a traitor, and was being tried for war crimes and trafficking.

Soldiers commit acts that they regret in war situations, but are not held accountable beyond a certain point. Leading a revolt/resistance makes June a solider. Whether the decree is official or unofficial makes no difference. June does have remorse. Maybe not that Fred is dead, but certainly that she involved others, and the brutality of it haunts her. Her trauma keeps her prisoner even if a nation does not, and that prison is harder to escape than a brick and mortar one.

If living in Gilead has taught anyone anything, it is kill or be killed, and violence begets violence. Fred’s actions drove him to his own violent end. He is no longer free to roam, create destructive governments, or traffic women and children for his own gains.

Whether the punishment was fitting for Fred or not, he is gone. June is the one being punished by fear and trauma during her time left on Earth. Fred is gone and June remains.

There is no need for the blame game when the stakes are as high as this war.

New episodes of The Handmaid's Tale Season 5 are streaming each Wednesday through Nov. 9 on Hulu.