The Handmaid's Tale's swan song raises hopes, but remains realistic. Since its premiere in 2017, The Handmaid's Tale has always been a much-discussed and much-praised series. Due to the corona crisis and the Hollywood strikes, the sixth and final season was delayed. But after almost three years, the wait is over. This year, The Handmaid's Tale will finally sing its swan song.
After the events of the fifth season, June (Elisabeth Moss), with unexpected company in the form of Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), is traveling by train to an unknown destination. Canada is no longer safe for American refugees and especially not for June. Meanwhile, criticism of Gilead is growing and Canada and the resistance group Mayday are noticing this. The battle is becoming fierce and bloodier. June still has a clear goal in mind: finding her daughter Hannah. But this season she may have an even more important goal: the end of Gilead.
The sixth season is clearly the final part of this long-running series. Especially in the first half of the season, a lot of time is spent on getting the right characters in the right places so that the final part can actually be played. This makes for an uncomfortable and incongruous pace. Sometimes things go very quickly, while other moments feel like they last too long. Especially the endless pensive looks from June, which are also part of it, feel like useless time-filling (in the already limited time).
Perhaps because it is a finale, enough space is taken to let all the characters have their last moment. After more than eight years, you are somewhat attached to all the characters. The acting is, as usual, of a high standard. Samira Wiley and Anne Dowd in particular shine. And every scene with Madeline Brewer is a pleasure, although there are far too few of them this season.
It is a world that The Handmaid's Tale loudly opposes. Of which she says: this must not happen, this cannot happen, and you will not win.
What this season does very well is create moments of happiness and hope, in the midst of all the misery and hopelessness. That makes this season a beautiful representation of what it is to be human in a situation that feels bigger than yourself. At the same time, The Handmaid's Tale feels more urgent than ever. Where in 2017 people might have seen the series as a distant dystopia, that dystopia doesn't seem so far away in 2025. This season in particular characterizes our current world. A world that is plagued by hopeless wars in which horrific crimes are committed, while the world watches and accepts it. A world in which powerful leaders see certain groups of people as inferior and treat them as such without shame. It shows what we are capable of. Ours is a world that The Handmaid's Tale loudly opposes. Where she says: this is not allowed, this is not possible and you will not win.
But this world is also stubborn. And The Handmaid's Tale never forgets that for a moment. The ending is therefore not a dance of joy. Yes, there are certainly glimmers of hope. But it is not an end, but the beginning of the end. And that gives hope. The ending will not appeal to everyone, but it is realistic. And that is more important than a happy ending. Moreover, The Handmaid's Tale has never been a series where you could relax and escape. It has always been a mirror in which you had to look and which forced you to find something of what you saw.
We will never know what happens next for June. And we don't need to. Her story is complete. What happens next for Hannah and Holly? We may find out. A sequel series, based on Margaret Atwood's sequel, is in the making: called The Testaments.
''You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then - let us use that power - let us all unite.'' - Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator
At the conclusion of The Handmaid's Tale and writing this review, the famous words of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator come to mind. I would like to conclude this review with a few of those words. Let's learn something from it. That is what The Handmaid's Tale would ask of us.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
