After six seasons, “The Handmaid’s Tale” has finally drawn its crimson red curtains to a close. The last chapter in the dystopian saga has been quite favorably reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes, but did episode 10 do the day 1 fans justice? Series Creator Bruce Miller and Star Elisabeth Moss have both given lengthy interviews justifying their reasoning for the finale choices, which make sense in context but do little to console frustrated viewers who wanted to see the Gilead guys get a dose of their own medicine in a bigger more ‘Endgame’ type of way.
Social media seems somewhat divided on the finale, but it is undeniable there is almost no action…if that’s what you were expecting. Some storylines are tied up nicely and a surprise character return gives some nice closure, but we personally were hoping for more than what we got. Warning, beyond this point are spoilers for “The Handmaid’s Tale” series finale.
Social media seems somewhat divided on the finale, but it is undeniable there is almost no action…
It’s understandable that the author of the original source material writing a surprise sequel decades later in 2019 would completely change the plans and limit the options of the series creator. We were expecting some kind of tease to the future series that would help us understand the scope of Gilead’s control of old America, but instead we got a crazy amount of closeups and dramatic camera shots, which we appreciate, but don’t offer closure. It’s become increasingly more common for series to end on cliffhangers, not knowing if they’ll ever be picked up, but the ‘Handmaid’s’ team knew the end was coming and basically gave us an hour long epilogue. The climax came in the penultimate episode, and even then, the action was light. We understand stories don’t always end well, but stories always do end and this felt more like an interlude than an ending.
Aunt Lydia’s rise to power after she was on the receiving end of a Gilead rope was a bit jarring and we had absolutely no clue what happened with her or Janie…or Naomi for that matter. Why would Gilead’s soldiers allow a kid to be taken away from Gilead? Aren’t children the most important resource? We have been seeing from Lydia and Janine’s perspective for the majority of the season, why miss their ending and only just see them in a quick scene? Granted Janine got closure but Lydia leaves us with so many questions that at least the upcoming series “The Testaments” will have answers for, considering Aunt Lydia is one of the main characters (along with June’s now grown kids).
Production for the spinoff actually started this April l, but we don’t expect to see anything until 2026. We are very curious if the mysterious Aunt Phoebe/Ava from the CIA will also end up in the spinoff but in our humble opinion, Phoebe needed more screentime. We also don’t like the ambiguous nature of June and Luke’s departure, aren’t they working towards the same goal? June may have made an error with Nick, but didn’t she more than make up for it? Also, Serena is homeless? She deserves it, but her uncertain ending was also something we had hoped wouldn’t happen. Wed rather see her suffering but baby Adam in a good place but June felt she deserved forgiveness. Did she deserve to be absolved of her sins? We were divided on that one.
Overall, the season was solid, but we could’ve used more action from inside Gilead lines after the final attack and some insight into how Aunt Lydia ended up with any sort of power after that. We could’ve used a check-in with Hannah or some sort of future forward which would’ve balanced the series ending where it began a lot better.
Series Creator Bruce Miller has not ruled out June appearing in the next series and we believe that will almost definitely happen – whether it’s a cameo or recurring role is another conversation. Luke’s fate is less clear and we predict he will be dead by the time the time jump lands in a darker Gilead than the one we have seen.
What did you think? Was the finale cathartic, or too slow? Did the last season have way too many closeups and not enough action?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
