The Testaments

Set several years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, Bruce Miller’s latest venture, The Testaments, sees a return to Gilead that’s perhaps more horrifying than the original. This adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s sequel, published in 2019 and winner of the Booker Prize, is seemingly sprinkled with a semblance of levity absent from Handmaid’s Tale, but quickly descends into the nightmare conjured by its predecessor.

A younger cohort of women, headed by the fantastic Chase Infiniti as Agnes, prepare for a future of servile domesticity at an elite prep school run by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd). A victim of grooming herself, Agnes becomes a mentor to the mysterious Daisy (newcomer Lucy Halliday). The two form a deep bond after Daisy is subjected to a traumatic ordeal, accordingly testing Agnes’s faith in her indoctrination by the Gilead regime.

Stylistically, it’s essentially the same as Handmaid’s, though the colour palette has shifted to pink and purple tones. And Daisy is undoubtedly reminiscent of June, bearing a striking resemblance to Elisabeth Moss. It’s also, perhaps, even more pertinent than the original series in the era of Trump 2.0. There’s no denying the proliferation of misogynistic discourse over the past few years. Much like the devastating relinquishing of women’s bodies in Atwood’s works, Roe v Wade came to an end after 49 years in the US in 2022, leading to a regression into backstreet abortions and women forced to carry pregnancies to term, in some cases resulting in the demise of both mother and child. Then, of course, there’s the rise of the manosphere. “Get back to the kitchen” has become a much-reiterated comeback uttered by teenage boys thanks to the likes of Andrew Tate; like The Testaments, we are in a timeline that feels simultaneously dystopian and like a throwback to archaic misogyny.

There’s a lot to be said about whether The Testaments revels in the very thing it’s critiquing. The sensationalism of its predecessor is amplified, as it descends into scenes that are uncomfortable, voyeuristic and thus difficult to watch, more so given that these girls are adolescents.

While it’s not an entirely groundbreaking continuation of Handmaid’s, Infiniti is an electrifying lead, elevating the series with a performance of incredible nuance and humanity. Moreover, The Testaments parallels a modern-day patriarchy that’s become a terrifying new normal, and for that alone it deserves a place on your watchlist.