‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is finally told
After eight years and six seasons, with two industry strikes and the pandemic interfering, we come at last to the end of Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s seminal novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It was one of the first shows to put Hulu on the map, likely one of the jewels that made the streamer attractive to megacorporation Disney before they acquired it in 2019. Its first two seasons were exemplary; ambitious with regard to scope and dark themes and taking cues from shows like “Breaking Bad” in terms of pacing and cinematography. It was a very cinematic-looking show, and in the near-decade since it’s been out a number of other prestige shows from streamers have adopted similar tools.
After a middle period that felt frustratingly at times like they were treading water, “The Handmaid’s Tale” regains some of the urgency and energy of those first two seasons with season six, its concluding run of episodes. As we begin, June (Elisabeth Moss) is in Canada, heading for Alaska on the same train as Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), and they make for uneasy allies. Soon enough June is reunited with her mother but decides to return to Gilead to aid in the fight alongside husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley). Back in Gilead, Nick (Max Minghella) has been promoted to Commander, with a child on the way, and Lawrence (Bradley Whitford)’s new initiative, New Bethlehem, seems like a positive PR coup for international relations.
Closing loops
With Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) finally out of the picture, and with the full knowledge that this is their final season, the creators can begin to close loops, wrap up arcs, and provide a satisfying conclusion. As June, Luke, and Moira fully join the resistance group Mayday, plans are made to strike at vulnerable and significant targets, trying to bring an end to the men who run Gilead.
It’s not a perfect season, and not all of the many endings in the series’ final, epilogue-style episode might be neat or graceful, but there are enough surprising and thrilling portions to whet the appetite. The final revolution to take back Boston isn’t prolonged, isn’t peppered with cliché bits of surprise obstacles. The characters, after enduring years of hardships, get to mostly enjoy their takedown.
It’s interesting to note that when the show began, America was a few weeks into Trump’s first presidency, and the final season premiered near the same point into his second. This is perhaps a further reason why it’s had some added frisson of tension and urgency, what with efforts to curtail certain freedoms, especially when it comes to reproductive health. There’s an extra sauce of existential fear because of how cruelly the real world’s politicians seem to be taking their cues from the show.
The core nucleus of the show remains the duo of June and Serena Joy, and where they both end up befits their characters, even if we may want other things for them. With the forthcoming sequel series “The Testaments” already being prepared, we can only wait to see what comes next, and hope that better things await the women we have come to know.
