The Handmaid’s Tale Can't Afford This Redemption Arc (It Will Ruin Everything)

Summary:

• Serena Joy has been one of The Handmaid's Tale worst and most dangerous villains
• In season 5, however, it was hinted she could have her redemption arc soon
• Many fans believe this would be a wrong creative direction for the Hulu hit

The Handmaid's Tale is a controversial show. Every character in the series is a complicated soul with many flaws. And that goes for the protagonists as well.

But even with that in mind, we can certainly divide all the characters into two groups: those who always suffer, and those who are responsible for it.

The Handmaid's Tale has many villains. There are Commanders, their wives, all the other Gilead government participants, the awful aunts that are ruling the Red center. Countless people are just keen on making the life of handmaids simply unbearable.

Some of them eventually get what they deserve. For example, Fred Waterford was killed by June and other handmaids at the end of season 4 for his many crimes. But there is one particular villain who has gone completely unpunished for her crimes.

Yes, it's Serena Joy. The most dangerous villain on the show. Most of the time you can't even believe she's a human being. She has no feelings and is incapable of thinking about anyone but herself. And she has proven this countless times.

So when the show’s season 5 hinted on the possibility of Serena suddenly having a redemption arc, the fandom went crazy. If the storyline ever comes through, it could actually end up hurting the show in the long run. And all June’s suffering will be for nothing.

Though season 5 left us with two female leads somehow warming up to each other, this storyline feels fake. All the things Serena did to June are impossible to forgive and forget. The rapes, the manipulations, all the abusive things she did to June are just so horrible that to imagine Serena being set free after that is just something that can never happen.

“Serena is incapable of feeling empathy because she is a narcissist and worse she is a religious lunatic lol. She would neither understand other people’s feelings nor she cares about them. She would happily go back to Gilead if they would offer her old status. She would go back and continue to torture women,” Redditor zynpsntryk said.

Some fans are only ready to allow a redemption arc for Serena because she is played by the brilliant actress Yvone Strahovski. She is extremely beautiful, and humans are just programmed to think that beautiful people should be that way on the inside. But life shows us that's rarely the case.

Season 6 of The Handmaid's Tale was supposed to be released on Hulu in September, but the strikes have caused a turmoil in the show's schedule, so the premiere date is currently unknown.