The Handmaid’s Story’s Most Conflicted Commander Is One in all Its Finest Characters

There are some terrible ladies on The Handmaid’s Tale, however males make up the majority of its villainous characters. That goes for particular person males just like the thankfully departed Commander Fred Waterford, but additionally “males of Gilead” as a collective, oppressive, violent, misogynistic complete. The present tends to deal in heavy-handed themes, nevertheless it’s additionally invested in creating complicated characters. Essentially the most fascinating examples are Gilead insiders who understand too late they’re trapped in prisons of their very own making.

We’ve previously explored how this makes Serena Pleasure Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) certainly one of The Handmaid’s Story‘s most persistently infuriating but fascinating characters, nonetheless true within the present’s present sixth season. Through the years, we’ve seen Serena captured by Canada for struggle crimes, then launched, then awkwardly informed there was no place for her in Gilead as a result of its inflexible tradition wasn’t geared up to take care of a widowed single mom. Then, after Gilead tucked her out of sight as its consultant in Canada, she needed to flee Toronto when a kerfluffle over her immigration standing meant she would possibly lose custody of her son.

Serena has accomplished a variety of soul-searching since we first met her as pious Commander’s spouse, all in favor of ritualized rape if it meant she may get her mitts on a child. As we discovered in flashbacks to her life “earlier than,” she was as soon as a strong writer and speaker pushing the far-right Christian motion that introduced Gilead into existence… Gilead, a spot the place ladies usually are not allowed to learn or write and anybody who dares to talk out is swiftly executed.

Thankfully for Serena, her husband Fred doesn’t order her killed when she steps out of line; he simply chops off a finger as punishment. However her conflicted emotions about Gilead have crystallized fairly a bit as season six will get underway. She understands now the hurt she’s induced, each to the individuals who’ve been personally broken by her actions, in addition to her culpability in serving to construct a horrendous regime.

After realizing too late she’s too well-known to slink round unnoticed, Serena barely escapes an offended mob that’s all too ready to tear her to shreds. She’s actually a girl with no nation till Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) all of the sudden reappears in her life, as seen in “Exile,” season six’s second episode. It’s becoming that Serena and Lawrence grow to be allies on behalf of New Bethlehem, his “reformed” model of Gilead, as a result of like her he’s continuously grappling with the responsible unease of getting had a hand in bringing the nightmare that’s Gilead to life.

This week’s episode, “Promotion,” refers to Lawrence’s elevation from Commander to Excessive Commander, a rating that helps lend legitimacy to the fledgling New Bethlehem. It’s nonetheless part of Gilead, however in New Bethlehem ladies are handled way more respectfully; they’ll learn and write, and there are not any Handmaids. (Additionally, no public executions!) Serena doesn’t even should see its elegant beachside properties in particular person earlier than she agrees to maneuver there; the promise of having the ability to use her mind once more is irresistible, as is the sensation that the God who as soon as steered her so unsuitable is now guiding her on a path to make amends.

Lawrence would be the least spiritual man in Gilead—don’t ask him to recite a prayer—however he can actually establish with Serena’s quest for redemption. Lawrence joined The Handmaid’s Story in season two, after we’d lengthy grow to be accustomed to assuming that anybody strolling round calling himself a “Commander” was a woman-hating monster. However Lawrence, regardless of being often called “the architect of Gilead,” isn’t a monster. Dedicated to his spouse all through her lengthy battle with psychological sickness, he treats the ladies compelled to serve in his house with benevolence—he has Handmaids, as a result of all Commanders should, however he avoids the rape “ceremony” and is seemingly the one Commander who sees it for what it truly is.

He additionally proves to be an ally for June (Elisabeth Moss) and the rising resistance motion; whereas he’s not precisely an lively participant, he often makes use of his Commander standing to misdirect Gilead’s nosy troopers. He passes on data, provides shelter, and facilitates clandestine transportation, typically groaning about it, however at all times saving lives within the course of. Outwardly, no less than, he’s a part of Gilead’s elite, maintaining appearances and going by the motions. However particularly after his beloved spouse dies, and he’s nudged into marrying the shrill widow of an executed Commander (the lifeless man’s crime: raping a Handmaid that wasn’t his Handmaid), Lawrence strikes full velocity forward on New Bethlehem.

Lawrence is aware of he can’t undo the appreciable harm he’s induced, however he believes he’s discovered a manner ahead with New Bethlehem. The remainder of the world has understandably rejected Gilead’s draconian lifestyle—however stays curious concerning the optimistic environmental modifications it’s enacted, and particularly all of the profitable pregnancies that’ve been occurring inside its borders. New Bethlehem additionally gives a extra palatable return level for Canada and different international locations who’ve grow to be overrun with determined Gilead refugees. They don’t need to ship folks again to a spot recognized for rampant human rights violations, however New Bethlehem is completely different, proper?

With Serena Pleasure totally on board, and Lawrence assured that “energy will come from reform,” there’s a twinkle of hope that New Bethlehem can steer Gilead to a extra progressive future. There’s nonetheless a variety of season six left to go, although, and it appears possible that the “males of Gilead” that The Handmaid’s Story viewers have grown to despise received’t simply half with their merciless dystopian paradise.

At the least we’ve got Lawrence—sarcastic, depressed, however wryly humorous and, albeit misguided at occasions, undeniably sensible as hell—to remind us that not each Commander is loathsome to the core. The present itself appeared to underline that time this week, when as an alternative of taking part in a track over the tip credit of “Devotion,” it as an alternative used voice-over of Lawrence studying The Little Princess to Angela, his toddler-age step daughter. Earlier within the episode, he’d launched the story by saying it was his first spouse’s “favourite ebook when she was just a little woman,” and promising Angela—a toddler born right into a society the place ladies aren’t allowed to be literate—that when she’s sufficiently old, she’ll have the ability to learn all of it by herself too.

New episodes of The Handmaid’s Story season six arrive Tuesdays at 12 a.m. ET on Hulu.