Like a giant magnet that disrupts everything, the Republic of Gilead continues to make the whole world miserable

The new and penultimate season in the saga of "The Handmaid's Tale" deals with issues of reward and punishment and the imprint of life in a violent system, and of course continues with a perfect design alongside all the familiar and exhausting problems.

It is hard to say where she is going, but one thing is clear: it will end in blood.

Caution: Spoilers

Nadav Menuhin

16/09/2022

Friday, September 16, 2022, 08:50 Updated: 08:55

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Trailer "The Handmaid's Tale" Season 4 (Hulu)

We have not yet reached the end point in the odyssey of John Osborne, the heroine of the underground against the Republic of Gilead, but we are getting there.

Just before the fifth season of the saga, which was released yesterday and is available in Israel for HOT customers, it was reported that the series will indeed continue for a sixth, but final, season.

But don't worry: this shocking cinematic universe is only expanding with a sequel series that will be based on "The Evidence", the sequel novel that Margaret Atwood published a few years ago.

Gilead is television hell, and basically it makes sense to ask how moral it is at all on the part of the creators of the series to continue to delight again and again in the representations of the violence of the republic, and what is winning here in the battle between the aesthetic and the political.

And yet, sometimes nightmares do come true: the draconian anti-abortion laws in the United States illustrate once again, unfortunately, that this warning sign has not become even a little less necessary since "The Handmaid's Tale" hit the screens.

This raises further questions: the series may be iconic, but did it in any way change the consciousness of its viewers or was it able to influence reality?

Is that even her job?

A shocking performance.

Elisabeth Moss from "The Handmaid's Tale" (photo: courtesy of HOT)

Meanwhile, "The Handmaid's Tale" is slowly coming together, on the back of Elisabeth Moss' unsettling performance (and from here on - spoilers. Be careful and don't let the bastards bring you down).

We go back to John after the lynching in Fred, and find that she is still full of adrenaline, and doubtless crazy.

But the disillusionment hurts: very quickly it becomes clear that the desire for revenge has no end, it is never enough, and the hatred threatens to take over the whole being and empty it of everything else.

This madness claims more victims: Emily - aka Alexis Bledel who cut out of the series - decided to return to Gilad in a hopeless act if only for the opportunity to assassinate Aunt Lydia.

This beginning is gloomy: John is indeed free, but all her walls of support, her family and also her inner backbone - everything is crumbling before her eyes.

But it's not only that: the series emphasizes here how many years in the violent and extreme system of Gilead leaves a deep mark, from which it is impossible to get rid even later.

John explains that she constantly feels the pull of Gilead, this big magnet.

While other people try to move on with their lives, she keeps getting drawn into it time and time again.

More in Walla!

Gilead's violent and theatrical justice took revenge on her, but it is not certain that this is the right ending

To the full article

This is reflected, for example, in everything that concerns reward and punishment.

John tells Emily's partner that it's her fault, and replies that it doesn't matter at all.

It's the same with Fred's murder: John, who remembers the terror of the law enforcement from Gilead, insists on confessing to the act in the expectation of being punished.

She can't wait for the sound of boots, she explains.

But to her astonishment, no one really cares.

The murder took place in a contested area, so there is no authority to investigate it, and no one is really interested in it either.

The law is political, it turns out, and there is a terrible parallel here compared to Gilead: on both sides of the border it turns out that there are barbaric acts that are legitimate to commit and get away with without punishment under certain conditions.

Serena delivers a message.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" (photo courtesy of HOT and NEXT TV)

On the other side, Serena Joy is also in a vertigo between what she thinks of herself and reality, which is, well, bleak.

She grieves for Fred, is afraid of John, and at the same time recognizes with her keen senses that she is able to manipulate the forces around her to her advantage.

Gilead doesn't wait for her: the Waterfords are seen as traitors there, yet she manages to convince the authorities to hold a mass national funeral in honor of the unfortunate Fred Waterford.

And so at the funeral, which is cleverly staged into a dance show, a ceremony with its own choreography and performance, a message is sent not only to the entire world, but also to John, specifically.

The war between the two is far from over, and there are no red lines.

The secondary characters get a rather negligible place in the first two episodes of the season, and in any case they do not develop very much.

The only one with whom something happens is Nick, who turns out to be married and his wife, the wife, knows and shares a secret about his relationship with John.

On a side note, it seems like lots and lots of people know that Nick helped John with Fred's assassination mission too much for him to get away with it.

It is not clear how much longer this will last.

A world is crumbling before our eyes.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" (photo courtesy of HOT and NEXT TV)

The cinematography is great, the design is of course perfect - between the frozen and gray Canada and Gilead with its colorful and fascist aesthetics - but also all the problems of "The Handmaid's Tale" continue with it into the new season.

Endless close-ups, slow pace, unnecessary repetitions and a clichéd soundtrack that misses pop classics from the 60s.

Meanwhile, the current season is less violent, to its credit, but it's possible that we're just still in the exposition phase and there's more hell ahead.

It is hard to see where everything is going, if at all, and where everything will converge.

What is certain: Gilead's gravity will continue to operate, draining the forces and ruining the life of everything related to it, and it will probably end in blood.

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