* CONTAINS SPOILERS *
The finale of The Handmaid’s Tale season 4 left me chilled. June, the mastermind behind Angel’s Flight who freed 86 children from Gilead had also orchestrated the murder of Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes). Her descent into fury was captured so brilliantly by actress Elisabeth Moss.
If there’s one thing The Handmaid’s Tale has shown me, it’s this – when it comes to heroes and villains, it’s not that simple. It’s not that simple in The Handmaid’s Tale, and it’s not that simple in real life, either. It’s easy to despise someone like Commander Waterford, and it’s also easy to empathise with June, who endured years of unspeakable trauma. But what happens when the lines begin to blur between the two? How do you know which side is the right one?
With the launch of season 5, I’m eager to see what kind of arc June is about to embark on. Is June as heroic as she once was? Or is she going down the path of villainy, after murdering her rapist? Or was that not an act of villainy at all, but an act of heroism because she spared the next woman from his brutality? Time will tell.
In many ways, she is the same June who is still figuring out ways to rescue her daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) from the clutches of Gilead. And yet, her trauma has shaped her present reality, and drives her to seek revenge. June is changing, and I am invested. I want to see how her arc will impact on everyone she loves, for better or worse.
Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley), also recovering from the trauma of Gilead, tried so hard to be that grounding moral compass for June throughout season 4, and continue to do so in season 5. But June, time and time again, struggled with their gestures towards safety.
Safety is the hardest thing to sink into, after years of being on high alert. I know what this feels like. When I was 27 I left a religious cult after two years and returned to my family. I had to shrink myself to survive the cult, and it was so hard to simply relax and take up space again once I left. The combination of therapy and reconnecting with my loved ones helped me launch my healing journey. I was physically safe, but I had to learn how to be content with that, instead of craving the familiar toxic rigidity of the cult I once belonged to.
Safety is the hardest thing to sink into, after years of being on high alert.
In Gilead, it was unsafe to relax. In Gilead, June needed to suppress her anger to survive. In Canada, safety probably felt incredibly jarring for June. Anger is familiar. Anger means control, after years of having very little.
Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) showed her own contradictions throughout season 4 by revealing more of her humanity. While she was pregnant and begging for June’s forgiveness, for a moment, I felt like maybe there was a glimmer for hope for her. Maybe Serena could have her redemption arc. Maybe she could truly try to make amends for the atrocities she committed.
Can Serena be redeemed? Source: MGM
Well. Up until the point where June executed her husband.
Commander Waterford has been a very easy villain to hate throughout the four seasons. I was chilled by the courtroom scene where June gazed straight into the camera and described his gross acts of abuse with perfect, stoic calm. What was even worse was Commander Waterford’s absolute lack of remorse.
Given that, did he deserve a grisly death and mutilated body, after he was executed by a mob of angry women? I don’t think so. I wanted him to get a trial, endure a just punishment and pay for his crimes in some meaningful way.
I wonder if characters like Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), Serena and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) deserve a redemption arc. Can they be redeemed, after everything they’ve done? Given the way season 4 ended, I don’t have faith in Serena’s redemption arc. On the contrary, I think Serena will use everything in her power to avenge her husband’s death – including leveraging her access to Hannah. The Handmaid’s Tale is, after all, a story about power, and the ways so many can abuse it.
Power, especially behind the guise of religion, can be so terribly abused. There were teachers and spiritual leaders I trusted once, who claimed that their path was the only path to peace and salvation. Anyone who deviated from that was an outcast, and doomed. I know now how that kind of coercion is a massive red flag.
Power, especially behind the guise of religion, can be so terribly abused.
As a cult survivor, I know all too well how men like Commander Waterford exist, and they are backed by women like Serena Joy and aunts like Lydia. The patriarchy can only be supported by other men and women who benefit from the massive imbalance of power. It takes incredible courage to walk away, but being physically safe is only the beginning. Years of brainwashing don’t vanish overnight.
Sometimes, the toxic script is so deeply embedded, and it becomes hard to trust again – one’s self, and others. It becomes hard to tell who is a villain, and who is a hero. It takes times, often years, to detox from cultish programming. I’m still healing, and some days are easier than others.
I hope that June, in season 5, will find her path to healing and stability. I side with June finding her way back to herself. That is the only side worth counting on.
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