What: The Handmaid’s Tale – Season 6
Where to watch: Hulu
The Handmaid’s Tale enters its sixth and final season at a breathless pace, and if the eight episodes delivered for review are an indication, the series will end as powerfully as it began.
The show imagines a fallen United States (now Gilead) as an oppressive theocracy where women are forced into domestic and sexual servitude, and the final season starts with heroine June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) making her way by train from Canada to Alaska (all that remains of the old U.S.). The big reveal at the end of season 5 was that June’s longtime nemesis, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), also boarded the refugee train, and the two continue their uneasy relationship as the new season begins.
In the meantime, June’s husband, Luke (O-T Fagnenie) is facing legal fallout due to his actions at the end of season 5. After a Canadian man ran June down with his truck, Luke pulled him from the vehicle and beat him to death. Despite a reasonable argument for self-defense, Luke’s refugee status and increasing political tension in Canada means a prison sentence is likely.
In Gilead, Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) is moving forward with New Bethlehem, a small community allowing refugees from Gilead to return with more freedom. Although Lawrence is convinced this will help Gilead rebuild its poor international reputation, fellow commanders are skeptical. Lawrence has support from Commander Nick Blaine (Max Minghella), but he is on shaky footing thanks to his not-so-secret romantic connection with June.
In short, there are dangling threads to tie as Handmaid’s Tale moves toward its close. The worry, with a beloved series like this, is that showrunners allow the project to lose steam. Fortunately, creator Bruce Miller has avoided this -- at least in the eight episodes provided for critique.
The early episodes of season 6 are as tense and satisfying as any in the series, and the anticipation for a dramatic finale builds the closer one gets to the close. It’s impossible to give too much plot detail without revealing spoilers, so it’s best just to say that all key characters receive appropriate screen time and move forward with pleasing and sometimes unexpected arcs.
Acting and production design have always been strong in the series, and that continues throughout. Of course, the real appeal is the storytelling, and the themes of misogyny, oppression, and political maneuvering feel more relevant than ever.
For some, that may be a negative because Handmaid’s Tale isn’t the sort of story that gives you renewed faith in humanity or relief from the depressing news cycle. Rather, it argues that human beings are capable of inflicting incredible cruelty on one another and that even fundamentally good people are one or two bad choices from pure evil. As bleak as this may be, it’s difficult to debate the take, especially when real-world headlines slide closer to Gilead daily.
I, for one, am eagerly anticipating the finale. If producers maintain the momentum built in the first eight episodes, The Handmaid’s Tale should cement its place as one of the finest TV dramas ever created.
Author Bio:
Forrest Hartman is the chief film critic at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine