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[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from The Testaments season one finale, “Secateurs.”]
At its core, The Handmaid’s Tale — and now The Testaments — has always been about a mother fighting to get her stolen daughter back. The flagship Hulu series signed off after six seasons last year with that mother, June Osborne, played by Elisabeth Moss, vowing to never give up that fight until she gets her first daughter, Hannah, out of Gilead, the fictional dystopian nation that toppled America.
Now with the release of the season one finale of The Testaments on Wednesday, the sequel series adapted from Margaret Atwood‘s sequel novel of the same name has accomplished what the flagship did before it. Yes, the franchise is about June and Hannah reuniting. That’s what viewers want — and that’s what Moss wants, too. But it’s also about all of the people who need saving in the world of Gilead, and now June’s daughter, who was renamed Agnes when taken by Gilead, has realized that as well.
Agnes, played by Chase Infiniti, finally finds out that June is her real mother in the finale, “Secateurs,” which was co-written by Miller. But, it’s complicated. In the world of the Plums, who are the girls learning to be Gilead wives at Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) training school, June is a known terrorist who leads the resistance movement against Gilead. Viewers know she’s the hero, but Agnes and her friends have been told she’s the villain. Season two will explore Agnes and her friends’ awakening as they are empowered to fight and pick up June’s mantel, and Miller promises that viewers will, at some point, get what they have been waiting for after six seasons of Handmaid’s and now one season of Testaments.
