The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
FIGHTI NG FOR THEI R LIVES
The characters in three female-led ensembles go to ex treme measures to protect themselves and their loved ones — or to exact revenge on those who have caused harm.
What does it take for a woman to survive in a hostile world? According to some of the drama contenders this season: rebellion, murder and cannibalism — and maybe a little bit of each thrown together in a perversely entertaining stew. Bad Sisters, The Handmaid’s Tale and Yellowjackets boast powerful female-led ensembles in which women are driven to extremes and do bad to make good of their lives. Their acts are gruesome but also thrilling and implicate the viewer, forcing audiences to ask: What is necessity and what is just bloodlust? The Handmaid’s Tale and Yellowjackets adhered to a playbook established in their lauded previous seasons. In its fifth and penultimate bout, Handmaid’s caught up with Elisabeth Moss’ June in the aftermath of killing her former captor Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes); she and a group of other handmaids beat him to death, seeking revenge against the rapist. The fifth season opens with an image of June’s bloody hands before a close-up on her bruised and bloodied face. As she remembers the violence, she smiles almost maniacally. Waterford was, without question, the villain of the story, but June’s expression is disconcerting. Yellowjackets, meanwhile, barreled into its second season by giving the people what they want: girls eating people. Maybe that’s a flippant way of putting it, but while the inaugural outing teased the path toward cannibalism for the teens stranded in the wilderness in the 1990s, season two finds them chowing down and plotting their survival that involves the ritualistic murder of their own teammates. In the present-day timeline, the same women have nasty visions, placate themselves with the idea of wellness and try to avoid being caught by the cops for a more recent death they caused — with audiences compelled to consider which parts of their destructive behavior are actually excusable because of their trauma and which are just cruel. That’s also the case in Bad Sisters, adapted by Sharon Horgan, Brett Baer and Dave Finkel. Set in Ireland, the dark comedy jumps between two timelines as the Garvey sisters deal with an awful man named John Paul (Claes Bang). Called “The Prick,” John Paul is the controlling, emotionally abusive husband of Grace Garvey (AnneMarie Duff). He’s a nasty jerk who belittles his wife and threatens her siblings. Eva (Horgan) and Bibi Garvey (Sarah Greene) decide to take matters into their own hands and get rid of him, and the other Garvey sisters are drawn into the plot. But what’s clear is that John Paul deserves what’s coming to him, and getting this man out of the Garveys’ lives is imperative as he grows meaner, bolder and more dangerous. Is murder really the answer? Maybe not, but you certainly want John Paul to die. It’s a trend that extends across these shows: These violent acts are only justifiable to an extent, but they are cathartic.