We can’t take much more torture from ‘Handmaid’s’
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the latest episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Last Ceremony,” released on June 20.
Enough is enough.
After watching the first six episodes of Season 2 of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in April, I said the show had ventured too far into the “misery porn” arena, spinning its dark dystopia into a more maliciously violent and anguished place and its episodes into torture sessions, not just for its characters but also its viewers.
I hoped the subsequent episodes would take a different path, and make “Handmaid’s” more than a weekly celebration of depravity. Unfortunately, the only path for “Handmaid’s,” it seems, is the path of despondency.
“The Last Ceremony” contains one of the most disturbing scenes yet in the series, in which a nine-months-pregnant June (Elisabeth Moss) is violently raped by Fred (Joseph Fiennes), while Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) holds her down. It is similar to many rapes the series has shown, but is made more horrific by June’s pregnancy and her violent resistance. Fred is not raping her to impregnate her due to a fertility crisis, as is usual in Gilead, but to punish June for her insubordination, although he and Serena Joy justify it as an attempt to induce labor.
Watching the lengthy scene, I was reminded of another rape from an Emmy-winning show, HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” that was so controversial some fans quit the show for good.
It’s clear that Gilead is a terrible place for women, and that both Fred and Serena Joy are horrible people who consider June to be less than human. The rape, and the intensely graphic portrayal of it, felt gratuitous to the arc of the show.
The rest of the episode doubles down on June’s suffering. In an attempt to make amends with June, Fred arranges a surreptitious (and illegal) meeting with her young daughter, Hannah (Jordana Blake). June gets 10 short minutes with Hannah, who is angry, frightened and confused at the sudden reappearance of her biological mother after being indoctrinated with Gilead propaganda since their separation. When the meeting is over, Hannah is ripped from June’s arms yet again, an especially horrific scene given the news dominating headlines.
There are somethings about “Handmaid’s” that I like. It’s impeccably shot, with exceptional performances and interesting things to say. But I don’t know how much more misery I can sit through. The series made history last year at the Emmys, becoming the first streaming series to take home the outstanding drama prize, but I have to wonder if voters will have as much affinity for this terribly depressing second season.
The episode ends with June alone in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, after Nick (Max Minghella) is picked up by security for his part in the meeting. It’s snowing, she’s still pregnant, and no one but Fred knows her whereabouts, and he may not want to implicate himself. She’s essentially free, but not in a way she wished for. It’s a blank slate for the series, figuratively and literally, as she walks out into a white, snow-covered driveway in the final moments.
The show can go in many different directions from here. I only hope “Handmaid’s” finds some light in its bleak world.