TV Review: Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Will Take A Darker Turn
The Handmaid’s Tale returns with a grueling truth: you don’t fight for your freedom without going through sacrifice. There is a conception of activists that fought for freedom like, Pedro Albizu Campos, Jose Marti, and Dolores Huerta as legends; mystifying their acts of bravery and glossing over the retribution they endured for having it. In truth, when someone takes your freedom from you, it is because they believe THEY should own it, of which The Handmaidens have consistently seen in their time at Gilead. As season 4 progresses, on Hulu, these women realize, you don’t regain self-ownership without gaining a few more wounds.
There have been many times in my life where I looked to the sky and thought, “It can’t get any worse? I’ve lost enough!’ Yet, the next day, bad news arrived and another issued popped up to join the others. At times, we believe our resistance will be met with reward. While Elisabeth Moss has shown that June is not a fool in understanding fighting systemic oppression will gain you the harshest of backlashes, I don’t think she could have imagined just how harsh it would be. To be fair…. Who could? For however much, we know our enemies’ darkness, declaring them war, only amplifies them to show us new levels, i.e the vicious Aunt Lydia. Moreover, June has new enemies in the form of Nick (Max Minghella) and Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford). Yes, even and friends will turn on you for the sake of their own perceived power and morals. Yet, June is not, necessarily, absolved from her now struggles with such dynamics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_160Be71gAs the season progresses and June is constantly faced with torture, loss of fellow soldiers/ friends, and an identity crisis, she embodies that becoming a beacon of justice occurs when you are victim of injustice. She did not want to be a symbol or leader, she simply wanted to be free, and that note turns this season into one of the roughest watches for a series that was inherently dark. The first three seasons were wrapped around June’s quiet rebellions and hidden plans to escape, but, now, the rebellion is loud and there is nowhere for her or her friends to hide. Yet, they are EXHAUSTED! The latter half of the season will have, even you, WAITING for this tempest to be over, especially as series faves, like Janine, have their wit replaced by weary. Even I screamed FREEDOM, like Braveheart, hoping June would FINALLY take her chance and get the hell out of that place. Still, the real problem with tragedy is the trauma that follows.
To be frank, I don’t know if we are ever truly free because pain is a lingering chain. Yes, you can escape your oppressor and even defeat them or watch as they defeat themselves. Yet, the memory of what they did, the time you waste recalling that memory, and the phantasm pains that burst through your body to trigger it can feel like you never left from living beneath them. THIS grueling truth is where Handmaid’s Tale, Season 4, is headed, and it is fascinating to watch because part of why an oppressor constantly wins is because, even when they are gone, you can’t help but recollect the time you were with them.
