Margaret Atwood’s Cameo In The Testaments Season 1 Finale, Explained – SlashFilm

Do not make any final-minute confessions if you have not watched “Secateurs,” the Season 1 finale of “The Testaments.” Main spoilers observe!

Be aware: This text comprises discussions of kid abuse and sexual assault.

“The Testaments,” a televised spin-off of “The Handmaid’s Story” primarily based on Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s literary sequel launched in 2019, simply wrapped up its debut season. Naturally, Atwood herself confirmed up in a small cameo position … so, who does she play?

Atwood seems very briefly in “Secateurs,” the tenth and closing episode of this present’s first season, as a jail matron who guides Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd, reprising her “Handmaid’s Story” position) to a selected cell in a detention middle. Lydia is there to see Becka Grove (“Matilda: The Musical” alum Mattea Conforti), who was arrested on the finish of the season’s penultimate episode, “Marat Sade,” for killing her father Dr. Grove (Randal Edwards) in chilly blood. Throughout “Marat Sade,” Becka realizes that two of her pals — the present’s protagonist Agnes MacKenzie (Chase Infiniti) and Hulda Marie Edwardson (Isolde Ardies) — had been assaulted by her father, who works as a dentist within the totalitarian non secular realm of Gilead. Utilizing a pair of her mom’s gardening shears, that are additionally known as “secateurs,” Becca confronts her father within the bathtub and stabs him to loss of life earlier than she’s hauled away by the Gilead police power referred to as the Eyes.

We knew that Atwood, a professed fan of “The Testaments” who works with showrunner Bruce Miller to convey the story to life, would seem on the collection … however we did not know the way. Sure, Atwood’s look could be very fast, however she’s not the one main participant to return within the Season 1 finale of “The Testaments.” 

Elisabeth Moss truly kicked off the primary season of “The Testaments” and appeared within the present’s pilot, reprising her position as Handmaid turned revolutionary June Osborne from “The Handmaid’s Story” … and that alone made it clear that June will proceed to play a task within the narrative. What the viewers is aware of — and what June and Agnes do not know till the Season 1 finale — is that Agnes, initially named Hannah, is June’s lengthy-misplaced daughter who was torn away from her in Gilead and given to Commander MacKenzie (Nate Corddry). Not solely that, however June is the primary level of contact for Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a teen lady from the free territory of Canada who infiltrates Gilead as a “Pearl Woman,” or a keen convert, in an effort to attempt to convey down all the operation from the within as a budding revolutionary in her personal proper.

To be clear, “The Testaments” is about in the identical world as “The Handmaid’s Story” — the TV present primarily based on Margaret Atwood’s beloved 1985 sci-fi e book — and but, it nonetheless manages to face by itself. Because of totally compelling performances from Chase Infiniti, Ann Dowd, Halliday, Mattea Conforti, and Rowan Blanchard (the final of whom performs the bossy however overconfident teen Shunammite Hayes), “The Testaments” is a superb new story that takes place in Gilead. What I imply by this, although, is that Moss’s involvement and her cameos all through Season 1 simply add to the story as a substitute of creating the entire enterprise really feel like an inexpensive ploy to money in on the success of “The Handmaid’s Story.” So, what may we be capable of anticipate from the present’s second season, which has already been confirmed by Hulu?

In the aftermath of Becka’s spontaneous however wholly comprehensible actions in “Marat Sade,” Agnes, who is aware of exactly why her finest buddy murdered her personal father, tries to rally the troops (so to talk) to assist Becka return from her jail sentence. In the method, although, Agnes makes a doubtlessly deadly mistake so far as her future in Gilead is anxious; she tells her a lot-older organized fiancé, Commander Weston (Reed Diamond), that Dr. Grove assaulted her. Figuring out she’s not absolutely “pure” (so far as his personal litmus exams go), Weston breaks off the engagement, placing Agnes’ future in danger and infuriating her merciless stepmother Paula (Amy Seimetz). 

Issues may be about to show round for Agnes in Season 2 of “The Testaments,” although … because of each Daisy and Agnes’ lengthy-misplaced mom June. In the episode’s closing moments, Daisy, who pleaded with June to let her keep in Gilead and struggle, does two important issues. First, she reveals to Agnes that her actual title is Hannah and her mom is the so-known as terrorist June Osborne. Second, she leaves a observe for June at her house in Canada, telling the story’s authentic revolutionary that she, Daisy, intends to type a military of teenage ladies that features Agnes and convey Gilead down as soon as and for all. 

Till Season 2 premieres, you possibly can watch Season 1 of “The Testaments” on Hulu proper now.

In the event you or somebody you realize often is the sufferer of kid abuse, please contact the Childhelp Nationwide Little one Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Little one (1-800-422-4453) or contact their dwell chat companies.

In the event you or anybody you realize has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is obtainable. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Nationwide Community web site or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).