‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Everything That Happened Until Season 4
Since we met in June, Gilead has changed a lot. Here is a summary to get ready before its premiere on April 28. 29 in Spain on HBO.
On April 29 we return to Gilead with season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale on HBO. It’s been almost two years since we last saw June ( Elisabeth Moss ) and you may not remember everything that has happened in the fictional republic of the show. If this is your case, here we have prepared a summary of the protagonist’s career, from when we met her as a docile Waterford maid to leading a revolution for women’s rights.
WHAT HAPPENED IN SEASON 1 OF ‘THE MAID’S MEETING’
June is an American editor with a normal life. She met Luke ( OT Fagbenle ) and together they had Hannah. After a few years of happiness, they see how the United States is dominated by the presence of the Sons of Jacob, who eliminate the rights of women and reduce them to secondary roles in society. Most try to flee to Canada, which is still a western country without a dictatorship, but those who remain to suffer an authoritarian regime. June, Hannah, and Luke also tried to cross the border but were unsuccessful. In the events of the series, Luke finds himself in Canada, struggling to get his family back.
In season 1 of The Handmaid’s Tale, we gradually learn about the rules of Gilead and how the United States got to that point of censorship. Under Aunt Lydia, the girls are trained to become maids and serve empowered families. We also meet characters like Ofglen -whose real name is Emily- ( Alexis Bledel ), a lesbian woman who has a relationship with Martha and both are punished. Emily watches as her partner is hanged while she undergoes genital mutilation.
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Emily’s story is one of the cruelest. Not only is she separated from her partner -who is in Canada- and has undergone an ablation, she has also gone from house to house to which worse and, once they do not find a solution for her, she is sent to the Colonies, condemned to live working hard at the cost of her health. This is how we know the Gilead forced camps, horrible places where women end up who no longer have a solution for the new American society.
Another important character from the first season is Janine, a pregnant maid who shows the audience how the parenting system works at Gilead. The wealthiest families have children through their maids, who are forced to have relations with the Commander until she becomes pregnant. Then the baby becomes part of the family and the cycle begins again. Janine does not accept being separated from her daughter and, after a suicide attempt with the girl, is sentenced to death. The opposition of the rest of the maids, who are forced to stone her, causes them to spare her life.
WHAT HAPPENED IN SEASON 2 OF ‘THE HANDMAID’S TALE.
In season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale, June, pregnant with Nick ( Max Minghella ), Waterford driver and lover of the protagonist, manages to escape thanks to his help and spends several months surviving in an abandoned warehouse, but returns to Waterford house, in worse condition than before and subjected to greater torture. Meanwhile, the maids’ fight turns more violent than ever and one of them sacrifices herself by exploding a bomb at a meeting of the Sons of Jacob. Kill 30 maids, but also numerous commanders.
June continues her personal battle to find Hannah and Commander Waterford shows her where he lives so he can blackmail her. In the house of the protagonists, a revolution is also taking place and Serena reads the Bible in a meeting – a prohibited act – which results in the amputation of one of her fingers.
In the last moments of the season, June manages to escape with the baby under the gaze of Serena, who lets it go, and together with Emily, who has stabbed Aunt Lydia and manages to cross the border with June’s little girl. An alliance is created with Serena, who only wants the best for her daughter -adoptive-, although the relationship between the two is far from being close.
The Waterford Trial.
One of the most interesting plots of season 3 revolves around the Waterfords and their trial for the crimes committed at Gilead. Serena ( Yvonne Strahovski ) charges Fred ( Joseph Fiennes ) and hands him over to the Canadian authorities. Serena could have been pardoned, but since she made June and Nick have sex so she could have a baby, she was arrested.