Buckle Up: June Is Going To Testify On The Handmaid’s Tale
This clip gave me chills.
After 42 episodes, The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 finally gave fans the one thing they’ve always wanted: an escape from Gilead for June. After so many failed attempts, viewers were thrilled that the woman known first as Offred and then as Ofjoseph finally became free of the theocracy that kept her prisoner. But freedom was never going to be an easy walk in the park. June came out of Gilead as angry as she was inside it. And in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Episode 8 promo, she’s taking that anger and using it for justice.
Warning: Spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Episode 7 follow. June’s arrival in Canada was regarded as a coup for the American Government-In-Exile. As one of the most famous leaders of the rebellion inside Gilead, her presence could help raise awareness for their cause and help bring charges of war crimes against Gilead’s leaders.
But her arrival also gave Serena Joy hope. Despite being a willing accomplice to the horrors of Gilead (and one of the silent architects of the country), she hoped June would side with her to testify against Fred Waterford. It would put the man who abused her away and let Serena walk as a free woman.
But June wasn’t willing to forgive or forget, and she made it clear to her former captor rthat she would be working not just to see Commander Waterford punished for his crimes. Mrs. Waterford will face justice alongside him.
The new promo shows June heading toward the witness stand, ready to give her statement to the courts of the horrors she’s experienced.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Episode 8 is, unsurprisingly, titled “Testimony.” The synopsis hints June’s time on the stand giving evidence against the Waterford might be the bulk of her screentime in the coming episode. But it also suggests it won’t be all viewers see.
June confronts painful reminders of her Gilead past. Lawrence presents something helpful to Aunt Lydia.
Viewers naturally want the show to follow June and her new adventures across the Canadian border. But the series was never going to leave Aunt Lydia far behind, and for a good reason. Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote a sequel called The Testaments, which heavily features Lydia and her experiences as the Gileadean government begins to collapse. That makes her story, as one of those who is still clinging to power as June’s escape creates massive upheaval, a critical part of the onscreen story.
That Commander Lawrence is helping Lydia for his own ends, which are to help June, makes this dance between them even more deadly. Lawrence may have the upper hand, as a man in a position of power, but no one should ever underestimate Aunt Lydia.
The Handmaid’s Tale continues Wednesdays on Hulu.
