A reminder: we are in the Republic of Gilead, a dystopian totalitarian theocracy run by fundamentalists. Women's freedoms have been destroyed. The most fertile of them are assigned to ruling families and raped against the background of Bible reading until they become pregnant. We follow one of these maids, June, now named Offred (DeFred), after her "Commander" Fred Waterford.
After winning all the awards at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards, the success of the first season is no longer proven. How then to maintain an equal dramatic tension and quality when Elizabeth Moss, now a star, can no longer die and the script is written independently of Margaret Atwood's novel? Season 1 had left the public with a taste of perfection. All the elements – narration, aesthetics, soundtrack, acting – fit together with a natural coherence for a result as beautiful as it is chilling. The stakes were therefore high.
We can safely say, in light of the 8 episodes out of the 13 that the season includes, that fans of the first season will not be disappointed. The viewer is drawn into a dangerous spiral and always vibrates to the rhythm of the hopes and anxieties of June/Offred, who navigates more and more difficult between her two identities. Your nerves will be as damaged as your eyes will be satisfied with the licked pictures of a violence that oscillates between brutality and perversity. The perfect direction serves a plot that plunges us ever deeper into the heart of the workings of Gilead. The viewer, like Alice who falls down the burrow, begins an endless fall.
The plot makes us travel in the Republic, making us discover new facets not really more enjoyable. We find Emily and Janine in the horror of the colonies, in which they now work until exhaustion. The character of Emily, like other secondary characters, gains importance, and enriches the series by decentralizing it a little from June. A mosaic of female experiences of Gilead emerges, through which the viewer captures fragments of each person's feelings for her overall idea of what this atrocious country, yet so close in some aspects to our reality, can be.June's mother, very present in the book, makes an appearance, fleshing out the feminist scope of the series, and allowing us to bridge the gap between reality and fiction.
The web of relationships woven between the characters is fulfilled with June's pregnancy. The psychological and power games between the characters are gaining momentum, especially the one between Offred and Serena. The lines between good and evil, good and bad are gradually blurring. We are getting better and better at understanding the individualities and motivations of each person and how they fit together. The psychological aspect is probably the most interesting aspect of this season, and saves the series from a visual violence that still seems sometimes exaggerated and gratuitous.
The narrative feeds on flashbacks that illuminate Gilead's present in an even more direct way than in the first season. More than a refined contrast effect and an explanation of the Coup d'état, they serve as introspection to the characters, and really plunge the viewer into the psyche of the characters. Little by little, the simple memories that served as their refuges turn into regret, remorse or guilt. As if they had resigned themselves to this new order of things. The spectator, in turn, becomes one with June's pain, before taking a step back from the story and shivering a little more. June, who, by her acting, makes us forget that she is an actress and that we seem to imagine afterwards at any time of our day, sitting at our desk or lying in bed, always – she – prisoner of Gilead.
Rich in action and reversals of situations, season 2 unfolds the foundations laid in the first season at a steady pace. From a serial heroine who should have escaped, June becomes before our eyes a simple witness of the injustice and violence of what has become of her daily life, of what will now be her life? You hold your breath and wait for what's next. Come on, blessed day.
