‘The Handmaid’s Story’ Simply Proved Serena Pleasure Is Extra Harmful Than Ever

Editor’s notice: The under comprises spoilers for the primary three episodes of The Handmaid’s Story Season 6.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Serena Pleasure Waterford is likely one of the most contentious characters on tv. From the beginning of The Handmaid’s Story, she was each architect and prisoner of Gilead — a regime constructed, partially, on her writings and inflexible spiritual beliefs. Her complicity has by no means been unsure, however Yvonne Strahovski’s layered efficiency has added a putting depth, infusing the character with soulfulness and vulnerability regardless of her morally reprehensible decisions.

After defying Gilead by studying scripture in Season 2 (and dropping a finger for it), Serena turned a pregnant widow following Commander Waterford’s (Joseph Fiennes) brutal demise in Season 4. In Season 5, she was handled like a Handmaid, gave delivery, and finally fled as a refugee — even searching for assist from June to flee. And but, even at her lowest, Serena by no means really let go of the beliefs that formed her. If something, within the early episodes of Season 6, she’s merely discovered new methods to weaponize them. The previous Serena was harmful, however this model could be essentially the most threatening but.

Serena Pleasure Will get Her Energy Again in ‘The Handmaid’s Story’ Season 6

Now, in Season 6, Serena isn’t returning as a determined refugee or grieving widow — she’s being positioned as the general public face of New Bethlehem, an island settlement designed to look extra progressive and welcoming to Gilead refugees. Spearheaded by Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), New Bethlehem permits ladies to learn, work, and even put on pants — a surreal shift in a regime constructed on oppression. It’s a calculated rebrand geared toward courting worldwide assist, and nobody is extra certified to promote the phantasm than Serena Pleasure, the lady who as soon as helped form Gilead’s ideology.

Serena’s biggest weapon has all the time been her means to control notion. She is aware of how one can seem civil, how one can bury harmful concepts beneath elegant language and a disarming smile. Her motherhood and standing as a widow aren’t simply a part of who she is – they’re now strategic weapons. Throughout an occasion with international dignitaries, Serena sees Lawrence faltering with a number of the ladies guests and instantly steps in with an “as a lady” perspective — a chilling instance of utilizing gender to uphold an anti-feminist, deeply abusive system. She even actually rolls out child Noah as proof that Gilead does work, bodily presenting him as a logo of fertility and success, which is one thing lots of the ladies current, residing in nations with declining delivery charges, can not declare.

What makes this model of Serena so terrifying is that it really works. The dignitaries fairly actually soften once they see Noah, asking to carry him, visibly swayed by Serena’s efficiency. In that second, she is aware of Lawrence owes her, and she or he realizes she could maintain extra affect now than she ever did earlier than. Serena can now not be silenced, and nobody can contact her. And that could be essentially the most harmful model of Serena Pleasure we’ve ever seen.

Yvonne Strahovski’s Efficiency Makes It Exhausting to Know Find out how to Really feel About Serena Pleasure

What makes Serena’s present arc so compelling — and at instances deeply unsettling — is the anomaly surrounding her intent. Within the early episodes of Season 6, there are moments when she appears honest, even sympathetic. When she provides to assist June, it feels real. She is aware of June is alone, and she or he seems genuinely horrified that somebody from Gilead tried to run her over with a truck — ironic, contemplating the horrors Serena and Fred as soon as inflicted on her. It’s virtually irritating to search out your self agreeing with Serena and catching glimpses of who she might need been with out Gilead. Her tearful apology to June even feels actual — and because of Yvonne Strahovski’s endlessly nuanced efficiency, you virtually imagine her. However virtually is the important thing phrase.

Regardless of her softer tone and teary eyes, Serena’s core beliefs stay firmly intact — a truth she makes painfully clear when she recklessly endangers Noah on the prepare. Surrounded by refugees who need her lifeless the second they acknowledge her, she clings to her ideology anyway, placing her son in danger to take care of her self-image as righteous. It’s a disturbing second that slices by means of her performative regret, revealing a lady nonetheless unwilling to let go of the worldview she helped construct. If something, she’s clinging even tighter — nonetheless wrapped in that previous Messiah advanced, nonetheless satisfied she’s there to vary the world.

That’s what makes her such a maddening and endlessly fascinating character. Serena is aware of how one can navigate methods of energy, particularly those she helped construct. Even whereas hiding out in Canada as “Rachel,” she admits Gilead “went fallacious,” and tells international dignitaries she asks for forgiveness on daily basis. However can we actually imagine her? The query isn’t whether or not she’s modified, it’s whether or not she’s even able to change. Is she attempting to repair Gilead from the within? Or is she merely doing what she’s all the time carried out: adapting to outlive, and defending her place at any value?

As The Handmaid’s Story heads towards its sequence finale, Serena Pleasure is extra harmful than she’s ever been — not as a result of she’s inflicting violence together with her personal arms, however as a result of she now not has to. The present’s signature close-up photographs have lengthy captured June’s fury, nevertheless it’s the quiet, chilling moments on Serena’s face that linger most. The delicate curl of her lips right into a realizing smile, the ice in her eyes — these are the photographs that reveal the place the ability actually is. Strahovski performs each beat with unnerving precision, making even Serena’s silences really feel sharp and intentional. No matter her lengthy recreation could also be, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than it collides with June’s — and that confrontation may outline the present’s remaining act.

All new episodes of The Handmaid’s Story Season 6 drop Tuesdays on Hulu.