Warning: This article contains spoilers for previous seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Season 5 of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale is set to premiere on September 14, 2022, and the show appears to pick up where season 4 left off. A pregnant Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) is back in Gilead and mourning the death of her husband, Fred (Joseph Fiennes), while June (Elisabeth Moss) is plotting to bring down Gilead and retrieve her daughter, Hannah (Jordana Blake), from the oppressive country that ripped her from June’s arms seven years prior.
Over the course of the previous four seasons, June and Serena have been pitted against one another, and the upcoming season seems to be ramping up that dynamic. The show’s trailer states that “every line you cross brings you closer to the edge,” and June’s actions are doing just that. She’s managed to put herself in a precarious situation after orchestrating Fred’s murder. Given he was a founding father of Gilead, the country is unlikely to let such an action slide as they publicly mourn his death and showcase Serena as the grieving widow of Gilead, a role she seems more than willing to play.
Despite Serena’s motivations to betray Fred in season 4, she tends to romanticize past events. This would indicate that her late husband’s previous wrongdoings against her will likely be forgotten as she pours her energy into destroying June and those who helped her murder Fred.
June and Serena represent the ultimate conflict of the show, freedom versus oppression. With their impending confrontation seemingly set to occur in season 5, their actions will ultimately determine the trajectory of the show as it’s led into its sixth and final season.
The Feud Between June and Serena Speaks to the Large Issues in Gilead
An amicable relationship between June and Serena is fundamentally impossible, given their dark circumstances. From the beginning, the show has been preparing viewers for their showdown since its premiere in 2017. Serena has hated June and openly treated her as such. Given the oppressive dynamics of Gilead, formed in the wake of an uprising in the United States, such feelings are mildly understandable.
However, they neglect Serena’s role in the formation of Gilead. Although, any agency she might have had during its inception was swiftly taken away. Serena was not only an oppressor of June and other Handmaids by partaking in Gilead’s newly formed “traditions and culture,” but she was (and still is) oppressed within the system she is upholding. When Serena attempted to read a Bible verse in front of The Council, she lost a finger for disobeying the law, an act in which her husband did nothing to prevent.
Such dynamics speak to the bigger issues currently holding Gilead together. The country thrives when the women it oppresses are enemies. The clash between the two main female characters in The Handmaid’s Tale is a culmination of the way in which Gilead pits women against one another in order to oppress them no matter how high a woman’s status within the country might be. Furthermore, it speaks to a larger issue regarding what it means to be a woman with power (a Wife) if other women (Handmaids) are unable to possess that power as well.
Now that June is in Canada, though, the power dynamic has shifted. She’s set on liberating Gilead and possesses some of the political influence she needs to try to do so. Serena, on the other hand, is intent on upholding the ideals she and her husband destroyed an entire country for.
If the Women in Gilead United, the Country Wouldn’t Survive
If June and Serena united, Gilead would eventually topple, which makes their ultimate showdown even more depressing and complex. Since Gilead’s power is derived from the oppression and control of half its population, uniting those “under His eye” would surely cut the head off Gilead’s proverbial snake. Unfortunately, any effort that might occur to unite the women of Gilead is futile when Serena’s rebellious side is purely self-serving.
While the show has attempted to make Serena a sympathetic character at times, it’s hard to forget her major role in the formation of Gilead, as well as her previous transgressions against June when she’s done nothing to repent for such actions.
While Serena may have acted rebellious in the past, it has only been a means to achieve her own end. The only time she has shown any genuine compassion was when she allowed June to escape with Nichole at the end of season 2. However, even then, such an act was rooted in selfishness as it was on the heels of losing one of her fingers as a punishment for reading. Since she personally felt the oppression of Gilead for a moment, she allowed June to flee.
However, her efforts to pursue Nichole’s return to Gilead the following season negated any goodwill she may have gained with viewers. Serena’s continued unawareness of her detrimental actions makes empathizing with her seemingly impossible.
While the show attempts to portray June and Serena as two sides of the same coin, such a concept disregards Serena’s place in the narrative of Gilead. While they may be equals in spirit, they are not equals in circumstance, and their impending showdown represents the fate of Gilead itself.