'Testaments' can't lift the dark cloud of 'Handmaid's Tale' − Review

"The Handmaid's Tale" is nowhere near its end.

Less than a year after Hulu's landmark, eventually exhausting signature series ended, the world of Gilead returns in "The Testaments," based on author Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel that continued the story she started back in 1985 with her original book. This time, the perspective shifts from the red-clad handmaids forced into sexual servitude by the oppressive patriarchal Gilead regime to that of the "plums," the richest and most privileged daughters of Gilead's high commanders, adolescents on the cusp of womanhood and mandatory marriage.

If you haven't read or didn't know about Atwood's newer novel, the show may seem puzzling: a spinoff/sequel so close to the end of the original series with a different setting to, presumably, explore the exact same themes? Did the audience really need (or want) more from the world of Gilead, nearly 10 years after the first show exploded into the zeitgeist and then slowly, at times painfully, faded away?

As a series, "Testaments" (streaming Wednesdays, ★★ out of four) is frustrating, vacillating between deeply intriguing and deeply boring, and at times wasting a strong cast of promising young women ready for Hollywood stardom. It is so directly correlated to "Handmaid's" that it cannot escape its shadow to become a story of its own ‒ a feat the best sequels, prequels and spinoffs manage to achieve. It is an exercise in unmet potential, and a prime example of franchise fatigue. Maybe in three years, a return to Gilead might have had more impact. In 2026, it just feels tiring.

Set after the events of the "Handmaid's" finale, "Testaments" primarily follows the perspective of teen Agnes (Chase Infiniti, the breakout star of Oscar-winning "One Battle After Another"). The prepubescent daughter of a powerful commander, she is a picture of perfection. She and her friends Becka (Mattea Conforti) and Shunammite (Rowan Blanchard) attend a "school" run by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd, reprising her "Handmaid's" role), where they are taught how to be submissive wives, learning scripture and embroidery ‒ but not how to read or think for themselves.

Just as Agnes reaches womanhood in her society (i.e., gets her first menstrual period and is ready to be married off), she is paired with a "Pearl Girl" companion, the doe-eyed Daisy (Lucy Halliday). These girls are immigrants to Gilead from other countries, voluntarily seeking security and the country's oppressive gender roles (the allusions to modern "trad wife" culture are blinding). The two embark on a strained friendship, although Daisy is more than she appears. Meanwhile, Agnes starts to learn just how oppressed and exploited she really is in Gilead, even as she dons pretty ball gowns and fantasizes about her destined marriage.

The novel jumps between perspectives that seem wildly divergent before the characters begin to coalesce into one story. The series, however, thrusts all into one narrative anchored by Agnes, turning the story into something best described as "what if we set 'Beverly Hills: 90210' inside a dystopian totalitarian state?"

That's perhaps overly simplistic and insulting to the show, which wades in morose and serious waters. But it is a coming-of-age story set in a world where women are judged solely on their ability to serve men − materially and sexually. And, like in the book, it's a fascinating look at how even the most cherished and sheltered of those women are used and abused in a society that sees them as barely human.

"Testaments" is created by Bruce Miller, the architect of "Handmaid's," and he adapts this new text much as he did the first, with the same color-coded aesthetic and rebellious themes. There is no difference in style or approach here, except for the girls' purple and green uniforms, which offer some refreshing pops of color, a relief from the exclusively gray and red world in "Handmaid's."

With the same style and sensibility come the same sins. "Testaments" veers frequently into sensationalism and guffaw-worthy ridiculousness, leaving gaping plot holes. It eschews introspection and intimacy in favor of big set pieces and (entirely predictable) twists. Although "Testaments" as a novel lends itself more to this approach than "Handmaid's", it's still jarring to see the Booker-Prize-winning later novel recast as a story of action, intrigue and hormones.

If the bad is all the same as "Handmaid's," the good parts of "Testaments" are at least novel and refreshing. Infiniti is, as she was in "One Battle," an immensely magnetic rising star. Though the actress is now in her mid-20s, her portrayal of Agnes's girlhood feels authentic as the audience slips into the world of the princess locked in purple towers. The entire cast of young women is a joy to watch, from Blanchard's delectable mean girl missives to Halliday's wide-eyed innocence and disbelief. The stakes of their limited lives feel palpable and terrifying.

But ultimately, it all feels overwrought and unnecessary. Subtlety and nuance are lost in favor of trading on the goodwill of "Handmaid's." And in a real world full of tragedy and desolation, it feels too hard to bring Agnes and Daisy's traumas into our living rooms week after week.

"The Handmaid's Tale" will live on, but it's really OK just to let some things die.