We knew June's burst for freedom so early in season two was never going to end well but seeing her back in that house of horrors that is the Waterfords was a grim experience to behold in this week's episode.
Saying that, it still had to be better than her chained up existence along with that 71-flowered blanket in the Red Centre. No doubt June would have slowly lost her mind there, however, her time back in the Waterfords saw her lose something just as valuable - hope.
The episode started off with a newly empowered June giving her very best 'you're not the boss of me' face to Aunt Lydia, insisting the battleaxe call her by her real name and relishing the power her pregnancy had over the Waterfords when she returned.
June's time away had made her all the more resistant to her handmaid existence and she wasn't afraid to show it, brazenly announcing to a room of Serena's friends that she had felt the baby kick while later informing Aunt Lydia and co that she had to give a lot of her baby shower gifts away.
The episode took a while to get into any flashbacks but when it did we were brought back to the early days of June and Luke's relationship just after he had left his wife. Before now, we had never seen the face of the woman left behind in Luke's marriage but this time we saw who she was and got a glimpse of the guilt June carried with her for playing a part in the end of their relationship.
It was a guilt she could live with though, and as much as she clearly felt responsible for what happened to the other handmaids for defending Janine, June was still as determined as ever to not accept her subordination. However the end of the episode saw Aunt Lydia present June with an overwhelming guilt that she will struggle to get past for a long time to come as she realised that the family who had unwillingly helped her to hide had been severely punished for their actions.
In all we have watched our protagonist go through, it seemed that she was relatively unbreakable - too strong to be brought down by Gilead and its evil powers within, however the shock of this realisation finally broke poor June as we even saw her crumble and embrace Aunt Lydia in a hug.
Hope was further lost when we saw that the Latin inscription "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” in June's wardrobe, left by a previous handmaid, had been sanded out. Serena's creepy bed time cuddles didn't do much to help the situation either and June's only wish now is that her daughter will forget her and even more haunting, she says: "Let me forget me".
June emerges the next morning very much as Offred, ignoring Nick and waiting outside the gates like a good little handmaid.
How long this handmaid-bot version of June continues we don't know, but it is going to take something pretty drastic to snap her out of it. Surely help is coming soon though - the Canadians seem to be lurking about asking questions while Luke and Moira can perhaps help over yonder in America Land?
Until then, sure at least she's been sent good weather.
Read our review of episode 3 of The Handmaid's Tale.
Read our review of the opening double episodes of The Handmaid's Tale.