The Testaments Review: Handmaid's Tale Sequel Stumbles
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- The Testaments premieres on Hulu as a 10-episode sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," with most installments running under 45 minutes and three clocking in well under 40
- Agnes (Chase Infiniti), a Gilead-raised "plum" on the cusp of an arranged marriage, and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Toronto recruit, form the show's central coming-of-age bond
- The review criticizes the series for recycling "The Handmaid's Tale's" themes, structure, and tone while repackaging established backstory as major reveals
- Race is a "frustrating non-factor" despite a Black lead in Infiniti, with the show sidestepping the white supremacist influences that inspired Atwood's world
- Mayday spies still slip in and out of Gilead with implausible ease, undercutting suspense about the resistance's grander designs
- The show dodges the harder question of procreation in a collapsing society by making every suitor a "creepy old man," giving Agnes an easy moral out
Why it matters: A sequel pitched as a next-generation rebellion against Gilead inherits the original's creative stagnation rather than expanding its critique, settling for a brighter palette and softened violence over the discomfort that once made "The Handmaid's Tale" essential viewing. By avoiding race entirely and offering easy outs on fertility, "The Testaments" delivers the banality Aunt Lydia warned about — the exact fate its predecessor was built to resist.
