After a critically acclaimed but bleak first season of The Handmaid’s Tale, we dared to hope things would improve for June/Offred (Elisabeth Moss).
In fact, things looked promising when she boarded a plane bound for Canada. But after she was caught, Offred’s ensuing downward spiral made last season look almost like a comedy.
It’s been sickening to watch June beaten into psychological submission as Offred again. And it only gets worse when we see her baby daddy Nick (Max Minghella) abruptly married off to a child bride in front of her. This show is not for the faint-hearted.
Aunt Lydia punishes the handmaids for being ‘disobedient.’
In a flashback, we find out more about Offred’s mother, Holly (Cherry Jones). While at the Red Centre, poor Offred learnt her activist mum was in the nightmarish wasteland of the Colonies.
Former handmaids Emily (Alexis Bledel) and Janine (Madeline Brewer) are also there doing hard labour – and it’s worse than Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) warned! The land is where lower-class infertile women – known as “unwomen” – are forced to dig on highly toxic land.
Emily (Alexis Bledel) was sent to the Colonies.
So why should we keep watching when all we see is pain and heartache? How can you not? It’s beautifully written and acted, and we’re just too deeply invested in the characters to turn away now.
