Just when you think The Handmaid’s Tale can’t get any more violent, they release season 4 to prove you wrong… Eight out of the season’s ten episodes were made available for review and two things become quite clear: (1) it is now a type of “torture porn,” with one episode heavily focused on all kinds of torture techniques and (2) it has overstayed its welcome, with many redundancies and storylines that are not enjoyable anymore.
It starts right after the events of season 3’s finale, with June (Elisabeth Moss) orchestrating the release of many children to Canada and staying in Gilead. Season 4 focuses its first half on showing how June and the other handmaids are trying to flee as well.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) are detained and trying to figure out what they can do to avoid punishment. Their arc was the least interesting so far this season, with situations being created to make these two characters still interact with each other when it’s clearly not necessary anymore.
We also see Luke (O-T Fagbenle) waiting for June, Moira (Samira Wiley) fighting to rescue June, and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) seeking revenge on June, which is basically a repetition of season 3. It’s a shame that we don’t see much of Emily (Alexis Bledel) on the eight episodes available. Her arc was more intriguing and could be better explored. I would also like to see a bit more of Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), who’s been an elusive and mysterious character and it would be nice to fully understand his intentions.
To the show’s credit, some things remain very good. The cinematography, for example, is one of the show’s best features, along with a great choice of songs to compose its soundtrack. Moreover, the acting has been consistently superb, especially from Elisabeth Moss. It’s also worth pointing out that she directed two out of the eight episodes available, which goes to show how deeply involved she is.
The show does, however, get a bit better after the first 5 episodes, and I’m curious to see how the season will end. With season 5 already confirmed, it’s likely they’ll be running around in circles a bit more.
