Happy Premiere Day! Praise be, the day is finally here! In true Hulu fashion, the first three episodes dropped today so there is a ton of ground to cover in today’s review. Remember that this review and analysis will include MANY SPOILERS so do not continue to read unless you have watched them already! With that being said, let’s dig into the first three episodes of The Testaments! (Disclaimer: if you’re reading this far and are watching The Testaments, I’m assuming you are fully caught up on The Handmaid’s Tale all the way through the end of season 6 to the series finale.)
Episode 101 – Precious Flowers
In the halls of Aunt Lydia’s premarital preparatory academy, the finest in Gilead, Agnes is assigned to mentor a new Pearl Girl, and a fragile alliance begins.
Writer: Bruce Miller
Director: Mike Barker
The pilot opens with a bit of a prologue, informing audiences of the rise of the theocracy that is Gilead in the former United States. We then are dropped into a morning at the McKenzie home with a voiceover monologue from Agnes, the daughter of Commander McKenzie. The monologue style is a bit reminiscent of a certain blonde badass’s monologue style, isn’t it? The writers use the device of Agnes’s dollhouse to show what life is like in the home of a Commander. Then, enter Paula: Commander McKenzie’s newest wife and stepmother to Agnes. (Side note: costume designer Leslie Kavanagh did a STUNNING job on the horse-riding version of a Wife outfit.) We start to see glimpses of Agnes pushing back against the authoritarian theocracy she has been raised in.
A purple school bus arrives at the McKenzie home to pick up Agnes for school. We learn that she is called a Plum, a daughter of a commander that has not yet gotten her first period. The bus has all windows covered in order to protect the girls from the men around them. Agnes has a memory of going on a field trip and playing with the other girls from her school in a pack as the Aunts watch over them. It seems like such a fun moment of young girlhood, but we are quickly reminded that we are in Gilead as the girls are called over to view bodies hanging from a town square that have been hung for the crime of rape (which is rich, considering what being a Handmaid entails). Unfortunately, Aunt Vidala takes the opportunity to tell the girls that God has placed the burden on THEM to not tempt men into raping them. Gilead loves the victim blame game. In the voiceover, Agnes says that “Just by existing, we were mortally dangerous to otherwise perfectly good men. They were helpless to resist us.” Absolutely devastating.
The bus arrives at the Aunt Lydia School where we learn that pink dress are for little girls, plum dresses for the older girls “predestined to marry High Gilead Commanders” once they became eligible (AKA once they begin menstruating). Then they would become “Greens” and receive pins, designating that they were ready for marriage (AKA child brides). Agnes introduces us to Becka, who was her first friend she met after moving from Colorado (Handmaid’s Tale fans, catch the end of season 5 tie-in?) She calls Becka her best friend, although they were not officially allowed to have best friends because that led to secrets, which in turn led to disobedience, and then turned into immoral women as a result. Even the most privileged girls are kept firmly under the thumb of control. We learn that Becka is already Green and is preparing to be matched into marriage.
A statue of Aunt Lydia is located in the lobby of the school (a lovely reference from the novel). Agnes references the “The War of Massachusetts” (series finale reference for the THT fans) and we learn that is has been four years since Boston has been liberated. Aunt Lydia was able to overcome her fall from grace and is being celebrated and worshipped, as the young girls bring tokens of gratitude to leave at the base of her statue.
We are introduced to the concept of Pearl Girls, which are young girls who have immigrated to Gilead from other places, collected by Aunt Lydia’s missionaries. Their status is designated by their white outfits and pearls. The Plums look down on them as beneath their elevated status and see them all as potential spies, prepared to rat out the Plums to the Aunts.
The Plums classes appear to be made up of needlepoint, weaving, and other fiber arts. We know that they aren’t allowed to read, so they must fill up their time with other “Wifely” activities in preparation for running their future households. We see that Aunt Estee is much more lenient than the strict Aunt Vidala.
Agnes is called to Aunt Lydia’s office where Lydia meets her for a chat at the statue. Aunt Lydia is well aware of Agnes’s true identity and appears to have been watching over her all this time. She brings Agnes into her office and introduces her to Daisy, a Pearl Girl who may be joining the Plum’s class. Aunt Lydia asks Agnes to show Daisy around and be her guide here at school. Agnes begins a tour of the school to show Daisy around and asks if Daisy has been asked to watch Agnes.
They arrive in the large dining room for lunch where they join a table of Shunamite, Becka, and other Plums in their class. Agnes introduces Daisy to the group, and they all appear incredibly skeptical of her presence. Daisy appears to very pious and tells the Plums that she is originally from Toronto, Canada which is a sinful place. Shunamite encourages Hulda to take Daisy to get ice cream so that she can get all the hot gossip from Agnes. Becka and Shunamite don’t trust her. Becka must leave school early for a dress fitting and does not seem to be excited that she is already preparing for married life. Shunamite encourages Agnes to tattle on Daisy about something minor, before Daisy can do the same to her.
That night at home, Anges chats with Rosa, one of her Marthas. She expresses concerns about Becka potentially marrying a Commander from out of state, but Rosa reminds her that if she marries a High Commander, she won’t be able to move very far; they would have to stay close to the capital. So, we know the school is located somewhere close to Washington DC. Paula walks in sends Rosa to work on something on the third floor, even though she has an injured leg. After Rosa leaves, Paula says, “I grew up riding. When a horse would come up lame, my father would shoot it. It was hard, but it was the merciful thing to do.” She tries to use this as some sort of cruel lesson to Agnes about running her own household someday.
The next morning at school, the Plums are brought into an assembly in the dining hall. Agnes guides Daisy inside to the upper level. Down below, they see that some tables have been cleared away. Aunt Estee plugs in a long extension cord, and two guardians drag in a man who has been gagged. Aunt Estee says “He was found touching himself, abusing himself, on school grounds…You are not blameless, girls. Shame upon any of you that tempt a man!” She asks if he should go unpunished, and Becka starts off the crowd girls screaming “BY HIS HAND!!” Even Agnes, and all of the Plums begin aggressively screaming as a table saw is brought up, poised to cut off the hand of the man set to be punished.
All of this happens as the girls cheer it on, but Daisy begins to panic and runs from the room, with Agnes following closely behind. Daisy runs downstairs, where she vomits after witnessing such intense brutality. She begins to swear, taking Jesus’s name in vain. Once she realizes it, she begs Agnes not to tell. Agnes gets her to a restroom to help her clean up. Daisy says that she was told about assemblies but didn’t think it would be like this. She apologizes for committing blasphemy and must confess. Agnes lets her know that Aunt Lydia is in charge of punishing Pearl Girls; and that she doesn’t have to confess, she will keep her secret. She offers to pray with Daisy and says that God is merciful.
Later that night, in the dormitory where the Pearl Girls sleep, Aunt Lydia is doing bed checks and saying goodnight. Once she leaves, Daisy sneaks out of bed to her secret hiding place in the bed beside hers and pulls out an old handheld radio and headphones. She sneaks back into bed to listen to the radio and we hear the Radio Free Boston is still alive and well! She hears instructions for Mayday girls to turn to a specific station (Daisy is with Mayday!!!). Once she does, she hears a coded message.
We then get a flashback to Daisy skateboarding through Toronto. She arrives at a vintage clothing store and walks past a blonde woman with a bob haircut, and before the camera can even pan around, I KNOW IT’S JUNE!!!!!!!!! I SCREAMED! At home in the bathroom, we see that Agnes has gotten her first period. And here we go!
Episode 102 – Perfect Teeth
“As Agnes begins the rituals that mark her coming of age, she struggles with the confusing stirrings of adolescence. Meanwhile, Daisy is subjected to Gilead’s system of discipline.
Writers: Stuti Malhotra & Bruce Miller
Director: Mike Barker
We pick up immediately where we left off in Agnes’s bathroom as she contemplates this new stage of her life in Gilead now that she’s begun menstruating. She’s both ecstatic and scared to death. We don’t know all of what these young girls have been told about what happens next in terms of their bodies. Paula finds Agnes walking around with her blood stained clothing. She kneels before Paula and recites a prescribed set of lines to announce her menarche. Paula goes to get some pads and beings to teach Agnes about how to care for her period and takes a genuine moment to help her through this phase of life. She also gives Agnes a cover for her pad that her mother Tabitha made her before she died. Agnes flashes back to a moment with Tabitha where she tells her a fairytale version of the story of how she became her mother.
Rosa enters the room and Paula tells her of the exciting news, and they discuss all the new appointments she will need to have now that she has “blossomed”. Once it’s just the two of them, Rose helps Agnes celebrate with a cup of coffee now that she’s a woman.
As she heads to school, Agnes begins to wonder if anyone will notice now that she’s had her period. When she arrives, she leaves Daisy in the lobby and runs upstairs alone. She reaches a room at the top of the building with a long rope and begins to joyfully pull on it to ring a large bell that chimes throughout the school. Everyone begins to hear it and knows that it means that someone has gotten their first period.
All the girls run outside to a garden/platform to wait to see who the lucky one is. Once Agnes makes her appearance, she walks along the platform and kneels before the Aunts and again recites the prescribed set of lines. The Aunts place her new Green pin on her coat, and her friends embrace her to celebrate.
At lunch, Agnes is treated like a queen among her peers, though Becka seems less than excited. Aunt Estee comes to bring the Plums up to the corrections room for one of the Pearl Girls. Daisy appears to have confessed to committing “blasphemy”. Aunt Vidala places some of the blame on Agnes because she is supposed to be her guide. She forces Agnes to be the one to lead the Aunt Lydia/Red Center style shame circle as they all begin to chant “dirty girl” at Daisy. “Teenage girls appreciate rage.” Daisy points at Agnes and announces that she was there and heard the blasphemy.
Aunt Vidala quickly grabs both girls and hauls them from the room to force them to brush their teeth with soap as their “correction”. Once they’re alone, Agnes expresses her anger and betrayal at Daisy and asks why she’s even there in Gilead. Daisy informs her that some people don’t have a home and come from “crappy lives”. She says she’s grateful for a fresh start in Gilead and asks Agnes to give her a chance.
Later in the lobby of the dentist’s office, Paula is telling Agnes she deserved all of her corrections today. The dentist, Dr. Grove, also Becka’s dad, calls her in. During Agnes’s cleaning, they talk about Becka and the new chapter they are both in together. As he gets her ready for an x-ray, he starts to make weird comments about her body. Agnes looks confused, and then Dr. Grove carefully slides his hand beneath the vest to touch her chest. He moves along as though nothing has happened. But Agnes is horrified and says that’s when she started having nightmares about her wedding night and future husband.
In the middle of the night, a dark figure wakes her, and it is Aunt Lydia who says “It’s time.” She puts a green cloak over Agnes’s nightgown, and they take a ride over to the school where candles light the way to a large baptismal pool. The pool is surrounded by green hooded figures. Aunt Lydia beings to recite lines and it’s clear that this is some sort of initiation or baptism into womanhood.
Aunts guide her into the pool, and the cloaked figures remove their veils. It’s Becka and the other Greens at the school. Aunt Estee dunks Agnes under the water several times before bringing her to the surface. She walks out of the pool and Becka places a green cloak around her, and the Greens all run to greet her and offer congratulations.
She heads to the bathroom to clean up and Becka is there, who expresses dark thoughts she’s been having. “I didn’t want this for either of us. I don’t want to get married; I don’t want a husband.” Agnes is confused because this is the only life they believe is available to them. She tries to tell Becka of the good things they both have to look forward to together. It seems to her some level of comfort.
In the Pearl Girl dormitory, Daisy is in the bathroom using matches to sketch something onto a scrap of paper. Someone comes into the bathroom and Daisy carefully hides in the stall until they leave. She silently heads back to her hiding place next to her bed to place the sketch inside and slips back into bed. The Pearl Girl who is in the bed next to her is wide awake and watching.
Very early in the morning, Agnes returns home to get ready for the rest of the day. Her eyes linger on the guardian posted at her house. He congratulates her on her initiation and encourages her to head inside. She is very clearly developing a crush on him, although she knows there is no point to it. She knows the role she is required to play.
Paula greets her in the foyer and says that her father is home and will be happy to hear the good news. Agnes heads into the parlor where Commander McKenzie is holding a meeting of other Commanders. She walks through the room of men and approaches him. She once again kneels and recites the menstruation announcement lines. The Commanders are very creepily congratulate him and their eyes linger on Agnes for far too long.
Episode 103 – Daisy
An incident on a school trip spurs Daisy’s memories of Toronto, revealing her past and a world shattered by violence.
Writer: Bayan Wolcott
Director: Mike Barker
This episode begins with the Pearl Girls participating in some beekeeping. (Fun fact: I have a fear of bees, so this scene was ROUGH for me. I persevered.) We see that the Pearl Girls are responsible for harvesting honey, jarring it, and prepping it for distribution.
We flash back to Daisy’s life in Toronto. She walks into the vintage clothing store where a couple of Pearl Girls are leaving brochures with Daisy’s mom at the register. They give her a jar of honey as a gift. Daisy tells her mom she doesn’t know why she allows them to leave the brochures. Daisy’s dad arrives and they start to talk about Daisy’s boyfriend, Justin. Her mom tries to have a talk about the birds and the bees with her and wants her to be safe. They clearly have a fun relationship.
We see Daisy hanging out with Justin at a park smoking weed, being a typical free teenager. Daisy says that she is going to admit to her mom that they are sleeping together so she can ask if he can sleep over. Justin gives her a gift that appears to be the handheld radio and headphones we see her with. She’s skating home when she sees police cars outside the store where her parents work. She tries to get closer when the police stop her and she sees them laying on the ground, dead.
The Pearl Girls serve the Aunts tea and breakfast as they chat about the school and plans for the day. We hear that a ball is coming up soon and that most Pearl Girls will not marry Commanders but will become Econowives. Daisy joins the Plums to go on a field trip to a former Green’s home. Penny AKA Mrs. Judd is a former student and newlywed child bride. The Plums are not excited to see Daisy has joined them, but they board the bus. Agnes gets a glimpse at her Guardian, Garth. Daisy notices the look she gives him. When Daisy says something about him, Agnes calls her a “slut” to be lusting openly after him.
There seems to be trouble ahead. The guardians notice that there are armed shooters trying to box the bus in. They crash and all the girls hit the floor as bullets spray. Garth jumps out with other Guardians to take out the shooters. He then evacuates the girls off of the bus and hurries them into a nearby shop. Daisy and Agnes see bodies all over the street.
We flash back again to Daisy at the hospital where she is tasked with identifying her parents’ bodies. A social worker approaches her to give her some tea and tries to help her. She keeps asking about her phone, and he says he’ll sign her out and then they’ll leave. He walks away, and who shows up to sit next to her? JUNE OSBORNE. She tells Daisy she needs to come with her because she is in danger. Daisy doesn’t know who she is, but WE KNOW, she needs to trust June. June lets her know that her parents were murdered and that she was a friend of theirs. June rushes to sneak her out of the hospital and finally tells her that her name is June. She takes her hand and takes her somewhere safe.
After the attack the girls are waiting inside the shop, and Agnes thanks Daisy for shielding her. Hulda has been hurt and Aunt Vidala’s arm is broken. The girls talk about the attackers and say it was Mayday. Hulda notices something about the Guardian that she shares with the girls. They clearly have little knowledge about adult men. Daisy explains the ways of the world and how things are outside of Gilead in Toronto. The Plums are absolutely scandalized by it all, but they appear to be beginning to bond with Daisy.
In a motel room, Daisy is trying to come to grips with her new reality. She asks June to use her phone so she can call her boyfriend, but June refuses and tries to get her to eat. She tells Daisy that it was agents from Gilead that killed her parents because Neil and Melanie were working with Mayday. It was kept secret from Daisy for her own protection. June says they need to get Daisy out of the city. June tells her that she needs to let go of her life and learn to move forward. Daisy tries to leave, and June slams the door to stop her. She storms off to go to bed, and June looks a little impressed with how feisty Daisy is, even in the face of tragedy.
In the middle of the night, once June is asleep, Daisy manages to sneak out and heads over to Justin’s house. Once in his bedroom, he says that the police have been looking for her. Before she explains what’s been going on, she takes some physical comfort from him first. He encourages her to go to the police and to talk to his parents. She asks him to run away with her. When he says no, he goes to talk to his parents. Daisy knows she has to leave this all behind and packs up to sneak out and head back towards June. She knows she’s right. As she’s running down the street, June finds her and tells her that she knows how she feels and is able to comfort Daisy. You can just tell that June is seeing Hannah in Daisy.
A week after the attack, the Plums finally arrive to visit at Mrs. Judd’s home to see how a young Wife runs her own household. She gives them the grand tour, and the girls are delighted to see such a beautiful home. Penny is excited to be able to show off her new life, the one that they are all on track to have one day. She alludes to the fact that she may be pregnant, and the girls are so thrilled for her. At lunch, they talk about what it’s like to be a Wife, when Commander Judd walks in to greet his Wife and the girls. (By the way, this actor’s voice sounds WEIRDLY like Fred Waterford’s, and there are other similarities.) He notices Daisy in her Pearl Girl outfit and asks why she’s in Gilead before heading out.
At the end of the visit, Daisy sneaks out a little early to talk to Garth at the bus and we learn that HE is also a part of Mayday. The attack was meant to be a retrieval mission by Mayday. Were they trying to get Hannah? She gives her sketched map of the school to Garth. She tells him that she needs to speak to June, but Garth doesn’t know who June is.
In the flashback, June and Daisy are at a coffee shop late at night. June continues to explain what happened with her parents. She then drops the bombshell that Daisy was born in Gilead and that Gilead wants to bring her back into the country. She then reveals that Neil and Melanie are not her biological parents. When Daisy was a baby, Melanie and Neil took her in for Mayday.
Daisy doesn’t believe it so June tells her the very sweet story of when Daisy arrived, and that she was theirs “in all the ways that matter.” June tells her not to blame herself for their deaths. She gets up and tells Daisy to stay there and keep ordering coffee. Someone is going to come get her. June gets a chance to drop her signature “don’t let the bastards grind you down” before heading out into the night, leaving Daisy waiting.
WOW. What an incredible first three episodes! I am loving the vibe of the show and I cannot wait to see where this is all headed.
