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Is Serena Joy beyond redemption on The Handmaid’s Tale?

By Alexandria Ingham

PHOTO EMBARGOED FOR USE UNTIL June 2nd, 2021. The Handmaid's Tale -- "Testimony" - Episode 408 -- June confronts Fred and Serena in court and challenges Emily to face a painful reminder of her Gilead past. Lawrence presents Aunt Lydia with a newly captured, familiar Handmaid. Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), shown. (Photo by: Sophie Giraud/Hulu)
PHOTO EMBARGOED FOR USE UNTIL June 2nd, 2021. The Handmaid's Tale -- "Testimony" - Episode 408 -- June confronts Fred and Serena in court and challenges Emily to face a painful reminder of her Gilead past. Lawrence presents Aunt Lydia with a newly captured, familiar Handmaid. Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), shown. (Photo by: Sophie Giraud/Hulu) /
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With June in Canada, Serena Joy is in a lot more trouble on The Handmaid’s Tale. Is there any chance Serena Joy can be redeemed?

If you’d have asked me at the start of the series whether Serena Joy could be redeemed, I’d have said a definite yes. We didn’t know enough about her past or her involvement in the creation of Gilead. It was possible that she acted out of survival or had been groomed by Fred.

Then we learned that Serena Joy was the one pushing for taking women’s rights away. She had encouraged the creation of Gilead, although things didn’t quite turn out the way she wanted. Serena Joy wanted to be a bigger part in the running of Gilead, but as a woman, that was never going to be possible.

There was still a chance of redemption up until the last couple of seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale. Serena Joy has shown the type of woman she is; the type of human she is.

At no point has Serena Joy shown remorse for creating this situation. She’s shown no sympathy for anyone else around her. The only time she’s shown emotion or any sense of sympathy is when she’s scared for her own life or her own freedom. The minute she realized she needed to, she turned back to Fred and joined forces with him purely for survival.

I don’t like saying a character is beyond redemption, but it happens now and then. Not everyone is redeemable. It’s impossible for a character to be redeemed if they don’t even acknowledge or believe that what they’ve done is wrong, and that’s where Serena Joy sits. She doesn’t even believe Gilead is wrong.

Could becoming a Handmaid be the perfect justice for Serena Joy on The Handmaid’s Tale?

During the promo for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Episode 9, Serena Joy shares that “they” want to make her a Handmaid. This is likely someone from Gilead, who will certainly want Commander Waterford and his wife back under their control.

Considering Serena Joy has proven she can conceive a child, they will want to bring her back to Gilead and make her a Handmaid.

It could be the perfect justice. After all, Serena Joy has routinely said being a Handmaid is a “blessing.” It’s supposedly a gift as the Handmaids get to bring life into the world. Of course, she had no reason to believe that would ever be her fate as she didn’t think she could conceive.

The minute she’s realized she could become a Handmaid, she’s terrified. She knows that it isn’t a blessing after all. Serena Joy is a hypocrite who shows no mercy for anyone else but expects everyone else to show her mercy when she wants it.

After years of being involved in forcing women to get pregnant and then taking their children away from them, now she is facing that same fate. Whether it happens or not, just the thought of it is a little bit of poetic justice.

Next. The Handmaid's Tale sets up the end to June and Moira's friendship. dark

What do you think will happen to Serena Joy on The Handmaid’s Tale? Is she beyond redemption? Is becoming a Handmaid justice? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Handmaid’s Tale airs on Wednesdays on Hulu.

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