5 burning questions for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3
By Erin Qualey
Is *spoiler* dead? What in the what does June think she’s doing? We have so many questions to ponder as we wait for Hulu to release The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3. Spoilers. Obviously.
‘Scuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor after that insane Season 2 finale. Surprises abounded, peril reigned, and yet hope ultimately shone through. The message this season has been finding continued strength in the face of crippling oppression, and the women on this series are wonders of inspiration. While the series can often be difficult to watch, it’s a necessary piece of culture that manages to stoke a beating heart while presenting the bleakest of futures.
In the Season 2 closer, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) finally got a taste of her own medicine, and then seemed to grow a conscience. Emily (Alexis Bledel) went a bit mad, but was finally given a much-deserved break. And June (Elisabeth Moss)… well, June did June.
We’ll get to that perplexing bit of character development in a bit, but first let’s weave our way through some of the hairpin plot turns from the finale. The namesake of this episode, entitled “The Word”, pulls from Serena’s encounter with the High Command of Commanders, or whatever council it is that hubby Waterford sits on. Sorry but I’m not bothering to learn proper Gilead terms because evil.
Driven by June’s discovery of Eden’s Bible diary (Dible™), Serena comes to the realization that her daughter – the child she had sacrificed everything for – is destined for a life of anguish and terror in Gilead. In an attempt to alter the law and at least allow her daughter to grow up literate, she petitions for a change. Everyone should at least learn to read the Bible. Sounds reasonable enough, right? In front of the Commanders, she passionately reads from Eden’s Bible, so sure of what she believes in that she’s confident in a win. But women never win in Gilead. It’s designed that way. And, in return for her hubris, she loses part of herself.
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Serena’s shocking disfigurement was an event foreshadowed by Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) in his first appearance on the show. He qualified that a hand used to be the punishment for women caught reading, but since Gilead is so wonderful to their ladies, it’s now a lone finger. As Serena arrives home, she finally comes to a crushing understanding of the new world she’s created.
There is no justice in a world where women are second class citizens.
So the resistance fights back. As Serena recovers, a chain of events clicks into place, delivering a series of shocking twists that leave the series reeling with possibility.
Praise be,The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 is already a go at Hulu, and it will surely continue to rip our beating hearts out week after week when it returns. But while we wait for new episodes, here are the five key questions that we have at the conclusion of that mind-blowing Season 2 finale.
Is Aunt Lydia alive or dead?
The general rule of TV is that if you don’t see a dead body, a character is probably still alive and kicking. In recent years, that conventional wisdom has been turned on its head with deaths on prominent series such as Game of Thronesand Better Call Saul taking place off camera and only later confirmed by showrunners. So far, the death of Aunt Lydia has been left in the dark at the oddly uplifting conclusion of Handmaid’s Season 2. Where did she go after Emily so brutally attacked her with that knife? Did Commander Lawrence burn his very own house to cover up Emily’s transgressions? We’ve got questions on questions.
Ann Dowd is such a powerhouse actress that it seems inconceivable that she would be completely written off of the show without even giving her character a juicy backstory to sink her talented teeth into, but if Lydia’s prone body was indeed trapped in that distraction inferno, we don’t really see a way for her to return to all her stern and stoic glory anytime soon.
Who the eff is Commander Lawrence? And why did he choose to save June and Emily?
This show is just chock full of jaw dropping performances, and Bradley Whitford certainly did not disappoint during his two-episode stint as the eccentric and utterly unreadable Commander Lawrence. It was touch and go with the inherent goodness or evilness of his character right up until the moment he revealed that he was voluntarily freeing two handmaids and a newborn girl.
The situation reads as if Commander Lawrence feels guilty over Gilead’s implementation of his “genius” plan to organize the horrific Colonies, and therefore he’s trying to make it his transgressions at least somewhat right. Or maybe he’s just attempting to get back in the good graces of his sweet, anxiety-addled wife. Either way, we now know that he’s at least trying to be a force for positive change in a world flip turned upside down.
What is going to happen to Nicole?
In a completely confusing move, as June waits for rescue on the side of a deserted field, she decides that she’s going to stay in Gilead for the sake of her older daughter, Hannah. It certainly seems as if she’d have a lot more rescue power if she escaped Gilead itself and teamed up with Luke and Moira, but love isn’t always rational. So instead of leaving with Nicole, she shoves her in Emily’s quaking hands, entrusting her to provide safe passage for her daughter.
Emily is no doubt a capable human, but June isn’t thinking rationally here. How long is this trip out of Gilead, anyway? When June was “rescued” earlier this season, she camped out in that old newspaper building for ages only to get recaptured at an air field. June is literally Nicole’s only source of food – the previous episode made a point to underscore that issue in bold – so how is a newborn going to survive a potentially lengthy journey to safety? Let’s hope Emily shakes off her PTSG (Post Traumatic Stress Gilead) for long enough to find answers to these difficult questions.
Where does June think she’s headed?
In a way, June sticking around and squandering the opportunity to flee is a slap in the face to the chain of Marthas who risked it all to get her out. Also, does she think she’s going back to the Waterford’s? She stole their baby and carved up their wall. Unless June has some sort of plan to go ninja covert ops in the darkness of Gilead (unlikely, but I’d so watch that), we’re going to see some weird and dynamic shifts in that house. Will Serena team up with June? Will Commander Waterford allow her back in the house if she promises to give him a son? And how on earth does June plan on freeing her daughter?
There’s no clear plan, and it all makes me very anxious.
Is Gilead headed for collapse?
According to Oprah, the United Kingdom has placed sanctions on Gilead, indicating that there may be a coming sea change in how the world is viewing this new shift in power and ensuing society.
While the world watches, an internal shift in power is also taking place. While the wives of the Gilead Commanders may have run away while Serena was making her stand, it’s now clear that even wives are not exempt from harm. As women who have known lives of relative freedom, it’s only a matter of time before these women also fear for what is to come for their children in this new and uncertain future. May the lord open… their minds to see what a bum deal they all got with this Gilead nonsense and demand equality.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Seasons 1 & 2 are currently available for streaming on Hulu.