Critic’s Rating: 3.75 / 5.0
3.75
It took June two and a half years on that packed train to get to Alaska. OK, not so much, but it took that long for the show to return, so we can joke about it.
But here we are. It’s The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 premiere day, the beginning of the end.
Where will it take us, other than to The Testaments, which is already in production as of yesterday? We got more information from the trailer at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Episode 3 than they needed to give away.
Maybe the surety of The Testaments is why this was a three-episode premiere.
It wasn’t necessary, other than the fact that many characters had yet to appear in Episodes 1 and 2.
Because, as a closed story, that would have been excellent for premiere ponderings, those two episodes gave us what we needed to get back into this story, from the train to the point where they both accepted their fate as leaders in the future of their respective worlds.
But we do have an extra episode to tackle, so I’ll do my best not to drag it on too long.
June and Serena: Forever Entangled
The opening scene on the train was perfect, and the next two hours reminded us of how interconnected June and Serena Joy are despite their incredible differences.
Part of them will always be mothers just longing to be with their children, fighting for each other’s survival when rubber meets the road because of it. But the rest of their existence involves fighting on opposite sides of the aisle in the ultimate political battle.
Despite everything Serena knows about June and what people have been doing to her for the last several years, she still seems shocked that Gilead would try to kill her by mowing her down in her front yard.
And similarly, June couldn’t see the connection between her and Serena and how she romanticized their journey “on the run.” Serena seems too eager to forgive and forget, but June may never feel the same.
Serena is still blind to her part in ruining the lives of so many women, children, and their families, which she does in the name of God.
I had to laugh when she told June she wasn’t like a Disney villain sneaking up in the darkness of night because that’s exactly what it was like for June — more than once.
June’s complexities far outweigh Serena’s, but she still can’t allow the women on the train to kill Serena or the police to take her away.
I wonder how she will come to regret that decision as Serena Joy becomes the Queen of New Bethlehem.
Faith, Power, and a Washed-Out Paradise
It fascinates me that Serena’s deep belief in God never dissipates, but her father was a preacher, and in an effort to repopulate the planet, maybe she feels she has no other option.
Yet she’s been given many opportunities to step away from that life.
Sure, it might be hard when everyone else wants to kill you for your part in establishing Gilead, but in the end, she chose to represent what Commander Lawrence is selling with New Bethlehem.
I think of June’s comment, “How can you be so fucking blind sometimes?” They’re both guilty of that, which is how they’ve remained interconnected.
Refuge, Reunion, and Resistance
Months pass in the first two episodes, and not too much changes. June and Serena have found their places in different refugee camps, June in Alaska and Serena in Canada.
June’s life has changed because she was reunited with her mother, Holly, her daughter’s namesake, who didn’t perish in the colonies, after all. As this is, at its heart, a story about motherhood, it’s a perfect cherry on top of June’s travels so far.
But even if women are at the heart of this story, their fate has often rested in men’s hands.
Nick and Mark are still working together, and the season trailer hints that Joseph, who is placing his redemption arc in the success of New Bethlehem, remains steadfast in righting the wrongs that Gilead’s rise has wrought on everyday people.
Canada still doesn’t want dislocated Americans pouring over their border, but they still aren’t excited about being responsible for delivering them back into Gileadean hands, either.
The Return of Serena Joy
That’s where Serena comes in. Commander Wharton — Gabriel — can’t believe that she’s not front and center, promising New Bethlehem will live up to expectations, welcoming each new arrival with her signature charm.
Of course, we knew she’d be aching to go back, and it wasn’t at all surprising that Gabriel was smitten with her, either. But all I could think about was how she could trust men who still allow places like the colonies and Jezebel’s to flourish.
They have turned their attention to the whitewashing of Gilead, New Bethlehem, which looks like a washed-out Easter basket under its soft lighting and pastel tones. The filmography alone suggests that it’s never going to be what they want.
It’s too bad those under its influence can’t see it how we do.
Nick, Luke, and a Love That Endures
Nick sees it, though, and he’s continually putting his life on the line to do right by those outside of it because of his love for June. There’s always this part of me that expects him to fall into line with his father-in-law and New Bethlehem, but I’m always proven wrong.
Because Luke and Moira get themselves into a spot of trouble. Luke tries to fight for his daughter (and June, to some degree), but he’s simply not cut out for it. Every attempt lands him in hot water.
This time, he and Moira were caught behind enemy lines at the exact moment Nick needed to prove himself to his father-in-law. But if June needs him, he is always there.
If I had to break The Handmaid’s Tale down to a love story for June (and hey, why not), it ends with her and Nick. They have the same attitude toward life and each other, while Luke’s all in on fatherhood, with a splash of June.
The Will to Survive
After she was kidnapped, June had to become a different person by necessity. Her survival depended on it, and she was good at it. The American government counts on her ability to step into tough situations and maneuver her way out of them.
Holly was shocked at June’s determination, but not for long.
When Mark meets with Nick to secure his help getting Luke and Moira out, Nick is hesitant. Mark, on the other hand, promises that he will be fighting all things Gilead until there is no one left to fight.
His path is clear, if Nick’s is less so. But when you put June on that path, Nick is a different man, and he admits as much to June. The look on her face when they encounter one another again proves they feel similarly.
I imagine June will go down fighting, and Nick will be right beside her. When he chose to shoot the two Eyes who spotted them at the amusement park, he should have ensured they were dead. The season trailer suggests the close scrutiny on him will increase, as will his and June’s desire to be together.
Ultimately, their fight is for their children’s future. It’s not ideal for others to raise them, but they have people who love them, so while it’s a difficult choice, it’s not an impossible one.
This universe is rife with similar choices, and everyone makes them. For some, they’re life-altering, and for others, they’re just another day in the life they’ve landed in.
The way Moira and Luke greeted Nick supports this theory.
From Moira’s “Wow. Nick? What’s up, man?” to Luke clasping Nick’s arm for one of those awkward bro shoulder bumps, it’s clear that the understanding between them all will allow for such an ending.
Lydia’s Fog and the Coming Reckoning
Aunt Lydia didn’t make an appearance until The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Episode 3. She’s still in the fog, finding it difficult to navigate without her safety net as the beloved Aunt.
She still can’t reconcile how Gilead can demand that fertile women bear their children and then toss them away like trash. I assume The Testaments will be her inflection point, where she stops thinking they can believe anything else.
She will continue putting herself in danger for “her girls,” and the powers that be will keep treating her like a feeble old fool, which will ultimately be their undoing.
I don’t see Lydia remaining under their control much longer, but I do hope her moment comes with the understanding that she’s got to keep playing her role lest she lose the opportunity to rise up.
Cleaning Up the Mess… or Doubling Down?
The same can’t be said for Serena Joy or Joseph, who are putting their efforts into cleaning up the mess they helped create, but likely putting their eggs in the wrong basket, to continue the Easter basket connection to New Bethlehem.
Again, looking to the preview, we are shown that the pomp and circumstance of the Handmaids continues with Serena’s rise in her new world, and we’ve seen how easily she can be corrupted. We’ve also seen how quickly Joseph can fall if he feels he’s out of options.
Is there an in-between from the United States and Gilead, and is New Bethlehem it? One of Serena Joy’s biggest mistakes so far is failing to see how small the support for New Bethlehem really is.
Gabriel and his “What happens between a man and wife is between them and God” is proof. For him, women remain possessions of men, an extension of them rather than their own persons.
If places like Jezebel’s still exist, that’s the only proof I need to know that nothing has changed. In a free world, a place like Jezebel’s is proof of man’s position over women. Even if women claim to choose to be there, it’s not empowering. It’s catering.
We’re Back, and It Still Hurts (In a Good Way)
And that’s pretty much where we left it. Amazingly, it feels like we haven’t been far away from these characters at all, and that’s a testament to the good writing along the way.
We know these characters. Even if we don’t always know their next move, their decisions aren’t foreign to us. They make sense in a totally fucked up way, and with this topsy-turvy world in which we all exist, what can be better than that?
Drop me a comment below if you dropped by and got this far. Did The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 premiere work for you? Where do you imagine the characters ending up?
Until next time…
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