‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Showrunner Likes That Viewers Were Frustrated with the Season 2 Finale
Spoiler Alert! The following article contains spoilers from season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Read on only if you are fully caught up with the series.
If you binged the entire second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, chances are during your binge sessions, you couldn’t wait to see what happened next! The entire second season was filled with suspense and anxiety right up through the season finale. Chances also are that you were left a bit frustrated and angry with the way the season finale played out.
After two seasons of trying to break out of Gilead, the season two finale finds June (aka. Offred who is played by Elizabeth Moss) and her newly born baby finally finding her way out to freedom. It was an elaborate underground railroad type scheme put together with the help of the Marthas and even Serena (played by Yvonne Strahovski). At the absolute last second, however, June makes the decision that she’s not leaving. She hands her baby over to Ofglen (played by Alexis Bledel) who is also on her way to freedom, before turning around and heading back towards the madness that awaits her back at the Commander’s home.
If you’re anything like me, you were left yelling at your TV screen asking why would she do such a thing? A split second would be all it took to hop into the van to safety and freedom in Canada, but instead, she’s going back and doing so without her child? WHY?
As it turns out, those feelings of frustration towards the season two ending is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale showrunner wanted us to feel. Strong feelings mean we care and it also adds depth to the show’s characters.
Speaking recently with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Bruce Miller says he’s too was frustrated with June’s choices at the end of the second season and that he likes that viewers shared in that frustration. To him, that’s what makes June’s character so interesting. He said:
[row]”I like the fact that people are frustrated; I was frustrated. You want her to make a different decision. I love the fact that June does things that we disagree with, that she’s driven by her emotions and her brain and her strategy and all of those things, but in different measure than we are. So I’m glad that people are annoyed by what she did and have questions about what she did, and I think the reviews help me see how people feel about it because I know how I feel about the moment. But you can’t really tell how people are going to react until you get there.”[/row]
Frustrated or not, The Handmaid’s Tale is a show that delivers episode after episode. It’s surely earned all the critical acclaim that has comes its way over the past year. At last year’s Emmys Awards, The Handmaid’s Tale was the first show from a streaming platform to win for Best Drama Series. If you ask Miller, despite the dark content explored on the show, there’s no cast or crew in the business that deserves it more. He said:
[row]”I’m so happy for everybody, for all the cast and crew. They worked so hard, and some of them play very complicated and yet despicable characters — like Yvonne [Strahovski] and Joseph Fiennes. I see the hard work that they do, and I see how precise they are and how they bring all their experience to bear on every single moment and every single scene, and it’s easy to forget how exhausting and detail-oriented putting together a really good acting performance is. They worked their asses off.”[/row]
Maybe the upcoming third season will give fans that sense of safety and closure they were hoping to get from season two. One thing’s for sure, you can be that the series will continue to deliver the incredible story and performances fans have come to love.
What did you think of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s season two finale? Were you left frustrated by June’s choice? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
A karaoke obsessed, craft beer enthusiast and lover of all things pop culture, Denise enjoys all facets of entertainment from Broadway to box office blockbusters. In her spare time, she enjoys photography, concerts (lots and lots of concerts), volunteering, reading and playing with her rescue kitten, Samantha (who rescued who, right?).
