I’ve never believed that The Handmaid’s Tale was necessarily a show for women — not all women, at least. As a cautionary tale, sure, the Hulu series was for everyone: an urgent, dire reminder of how easily we can slip into dystopia — or, more appropriately, a “what if?” in a world that has already perpetuated its sins tenfold. As a tool for radicalization, it took the form of a sledgehammer, repackaging centuries of very real dehumanization within a story that would feel real for, and scary to, white women. It makes perfect sense that a show so bleak became such a powerful symbol of resistance in 2017, a year when it was more important than ever to perform the routines of revolution. It was the call-to-arms we needed then, but its dogged commitment to its own misery left people behind the longer it went on.
There are echoes of that in The Testaments, the sequel series that passes the righteously indignant torch to a new generation. The legacy of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), the heroine of Handmaid’s Tale, looms large as a new crop of female rebels come of age in the dystopian Hell known as Gilead. But this follow-up, created by original series showrunner Bruce Miller, has no problem suggesting that this revolution has outgrown her. June’s platitudes about sacrifice and the greater good, about leaving loved ones behind if it means fighting another day, were once gospel. But to someone like Daisy (Lucy Halliday), the latest addition to June’s clandestine resistance, that might as well be a dead language.
