Spoilers ahead for the most recent episode of The Handmaid’s Tale “Exodus”.
Every streaming service has some hits, The Handmaid’s Tale is definitely on that list for those with a Hulu subscription. The Emmy-winning series is currently in the midst of its sixth and final season on the air, and revolution is coming to Gilead. In the most recent episode “Exodus” the former Handmaids confronted Aunt Lydia about her contribution to their pain, and the cast has since talked about what it was like bringing that sequence to life.
While some folks figure out how to watch The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6, I’m eagerly awaiting each final episode. Seeing June, Moira, and Janine all convince Lydia to let the Handmaids fight back was powerful to watch, and it sounds intense to film as well. Janine actress Madeline Brewer spoke to THR about why it was so satisfying, saying:
This is a confrontation that’s been brewing for a really long time. It was so satisfying to be able to do it and to force Lydia to confront that she’s not been a protector, that she’s been complicit in this pain and in this torturous, horrible place. It also allowed for a lot of history between the women to be unspoken, for everything they’ve been through together to hang in the air. And then to get those handmaids out. These girls who maybe haven’t even been placed in a commander’s home yet. That felt so satisfying. Let’s get us all out of here.
Points were made. The Handmaids’ relationship with Aunt Lydia is a complicated one, especially Janine’s. She’s fueled by her faith, but has seen the fault in Gilead’s ways over the last few seasons. And one has to assume that this is making way for the spinoff The Testaments, where Lydia will presumably be one of the main characters.
Janine has had a particularly tragic story, even by The Handmaid’s Tale standards. Lydia took her eye from her in her first episode, and she had mental issues following the birth of her child (who was promptly taken away by Naomi). She was eventually sent to The Colonies, and has most recently been sexually and physically abused at Jezebels. And as she tells Lydia in the scene “you have us to them.”
While the scene originally saw Moira standing up to Lydia and calling her a “fucking bitch”, June and Janine took a more tender approach to the Aunt. In the same interview, Ann Dowd spoke about how June helped to bring out the villainous character’s humanity in that moment. In her words:
She could snap easily and she’s accustomed to that behavior, and the fact that June Osborne was calm and articulate to tell her, ‘No, that was you, Lydia. This is what you have done.’ Lydia can’t push it away. It’s landing, and you have to hear it. Samira going after her is one thing, but June, that was really well planned, because what could Lydia say? What June is saying is true, and there’s no way out. What June is suggesting should happen. It allowed the story to play out as it did.
It turns out that June was originally much much cruel to Lydia in an an early draft, before the scene was reworked. And the revised approach makes sense, especially as the Handmaids appealed to her morality and love for “her girls.”
Eventually Lydia relented and made way for the Handmaids to continue their plan for revolution in Gilead. It seems like Episode 9 is going to bring all sorts of violent chaos to the table, so I truly can’t wait until we get another episode next week.
The Handmaid’s Tale airs new episodes Wednesdays on Hulu as part of the 2025 TV premiere list. And there are only two more episodes until its gone for good.
