USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Handmaid’s Tale’ has become insufferable
It’s exhausting just to think about the fourth season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Hulu’s flagship drama is back with three new episodes ( then streams weekly on Wednesdays), an unwelcome return to the pain and despair of the post- apocalyptic Gilead and star Elisabeth Moss’ grim face.
The plodding, frustrating fourth season is not unlike the plodding, frustrating third or the plodding, frustrating second. “Handmaid’s” has uniformly struggled after surpassing the source material in Margaret Atwood’s book. Seasons 2 and 3 tried ( and failed) to move the plot forward in significant ways, falling back on the series’ increasingly grating crutch of making June ( Moss) suffer rather than allowing the story to grow. “Handmaid’s” had the chance to change for the better, to prove it could run for years and years.
Instead, Season 4 teases something bigger, a pivot to the future, and then takes two steps back again. By the end of the eight episodes made available for preview, there are hints of something different and promising. But to get there, viewers are subjected to the worst of the series’ impulses, as if the first seven episodes were a thumb- twiddling waste of time. And in many ways, they are.
Because of the COVID- 19 pandemic, we haven’t had a new episode of “Handmaid’s” since August 2019, when Season 3 left off with June shot and bleeding after helping a plane full of kids leave Gilead for Canada. Season 4 picks up at that moment, as June and the other rebelling handmaids are whisked off to Mayday safe house in the farmland where the 14year- old Mrs. Keyes ( McKenna Grace) and her ancient, ailing husband provide shelter for them, disguised as Marthas.
June vacillates between ruthless leader and traumatized escapee. Mrs. Keyes, an abused victim of Gilead’s systemic rape and cruelty, wants June to teach her the ways of holy vengeance. Janine ( Madeline Brewer), Alma ( Nina Kiri) and the others want her to embrace whatever freedom and joy they can find in hiding. June wants to burn it all down. She’s at odds with her lover Nick ( Max Minghella) and former ally Commander Lawrence ( Bradley Whitford) as she seeks destruction and opportunity and eventually moves toward the warfront in Chicago, where the remnants of the U. S. are still fighting Gilead.
Of course, June’s struggle in Gilead is presented in contrast to the wintry land of peace in Canada, where a majority of the series’ main characters now reside. Unfortunately, “Handmaid’s” struggles to make the Canadian plot remotely interesting, as Fred ( Joseph Fiennes) and Serena Joy ( Yvonne Strahovski) vie in court; Moira ( Samira Wiley) seeks new love and healing; Emily ( Alexis Bledel) putters around; and Luke ( O- T Fagbenle) fights for June, oddly by hosting fundraisers and attending vigils.
Serena and Fred’s scenes drag horribly. There is no point in continuing their story by finding absurd ways for them to interact with the other characters now that they’ve been arrested, yet the writers cling to them ( and the famous actors who play them) with an iron grip.
Speaking to TV critics in February, the producers promised forward momentum in the new season, but they only half- deliver. Yes, we learn more about the world outside Gilead and the Mayday resistance, and June literally moves through the countryside, from Boston to Chicago.
But one episode consists almost entirely of June being tortured, physically, mentally and emotionally by Gilead interrogators. She’s waterboarded. She watches other people die. Her daughter Hannah is threatened before her eyes. It’s grotesque. And it doesn’t end up being consequential to the plot, instead verging on the exploitative “torture porn” horror flicks of the early 2000s, one “Saw” blade away from schlock.
This is not to say there are no redeeming qualities to the new season. Moss’ performance remains the series’ North Star, unwavering in her dedication and skill as she also takes a turn as director this season.
Few other series have maintained a visual language with the finesse and consistency in which “Handmaid’s” keeps its color palettes overcast. And there are great supporting performances from Grace, Brewer and Ann Dowd as the odious Aunt Lydia.
But a few good stars and pretty cinematography aren’t enough to sustain a TV show for one year, let alone four. And “Handmaid’s” returns when it no longer feels as relevant to the cultural moment. It’s not that times were particularly sunny when “Handmaid’s” premiered in 2017, but there is an acrid taste to the new episodes’ unending suffering and despair, as we claw our way ( almost) out of a global pandemic. We don’t want to see a world where nothing ever gets better.
At this point, it’s not unfair to ask if “Handmaid’s” should just end. Maybe Hulu needs it around for the prestige and potential Emmys, but with each passing year, its reputation is tarnished just a little bit more.