I was wondering if The Testaments was going to get more in-depth about Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) backstory and how she came to power in Gilead this season. In episode 6, The Stadium, they did
In the book The Testaments, this chapter was one of the most interesting, because it shines a light on exactly how a coup works in real time. And how normal people react when exposed to extreme circumstances.
Feels kind of relevant right now, doesn’t it? Watching ordinary people just trying to live their lives, go to work, get a morning coffee get bombarded with violence and chaos on a daily basis. Uncomfortably close to reality.
The Marriage Lottery
But this episode wasn’t all about Aunt Lydia. It was also about the Green girls getting their marriages arranged. The Aunts gather to pick through each girl that’s ready to be married off and the Commanders that have expressed interest in them.
Each girl gets 2-3 Commander picks, and their families will decide which one the girl should be married to. The girls who get no inquiries from Commanders return to school for another year, and hopefully they will get picked during the next mating season.
Aunt Vidala (Mabel Li) raises a concern about Agnes’ (Chase Infiniti) bloodline, likely referring to June (Elizabeth Moss). Lydia quashes her concern by saying that Agnes is the daughter of a handmaid, as many girls are. But the weight of Agnes’ birth mother’s identity hangs heavy at the table, even though it’s unspoken.
Aunt Lydia doesn’t seem to be cruel in her recommendations of husbands for the girls. She appears to genuinely want to give each girl what she needs to be happy like security, or safety, or the right Commander for social climbing.
Marrying A Mayday Agent?
In fact, when Agnes approaches Aunt Lydia privately and asks her to make Guardian Garth (Brad Alexander) eligible for marriage because he will soon be made a Commander, she appears to consider it. There’s a sense that she might have a fondness for Agnes, because of her long past with June.
When Aunt Lydia suggests putting Garth into the mix as a potential suitor, Aunt Vidala objects. And later on, during Aunt Lydia’s reflection, she seems to change her mind. The episode ends with Aunt Vidala at the McKenzie’s door to give them Agnes’ marriage options, so we will have to wait until next week to see if Garth made the cut.
But the audience knows Garth isn’t just a dedicated Guardian poised to rise up the ranks in the Gilead hierarchy. He’s a Mayday agent, working with the group and protecting Daisy as well as keeping an eye on Agnes. He does seem to have real feelings for Agnes, but I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue if June’s daughter was married to a Mayday agent under cover as a Commander. I don’t know that June would take that very well.
The Stadium
The real meat of this episode was a look back at what happened when Gilead took over. Lydia and Vidala were teachers together. One day, with no warning, Guardians came to the school. They shot the principal, and rounded up all the women.
They were taken to a stadium filled with women. The women had to put all their phones and jewelry into big bins at the entrance. Then, they were herded into groups and taken into the stadium. The Guardians barked orders at them and shoved them around. That’s a tactic used to keep prisoners disoriented and off balance.
Once in the stadium, a group of women were taken into the center, forced to kneel, and executed by Guardians while Commander Judd (Charlie Carrick) made a religious statement.
Again, the women were not told what was happening or given any instruction. They were just left in the stadium for days. At intervals they were given a single piece of bread and a bottle of water.
Women were taken away by the Guardians throughout that time, and they disappeared. Including Lydia’s fellow teacher and friend, who is now Aunt Vidala. When Lydia’s turn comes, she is taken to see Commander Judd. Commander Judd is deciding the fate of the women.
Lydia Becomes Aunt Lydia
Judd tells Lydia that abortion is now retroactively illegal, and since she had one in the past she could be killed. Lydia, determined to survive and very shrewdly sizing up the Commander, tells him that he should delegate the selection of the women to her.
Judd, an expert in manipulation like all the Commanders, shows her the first kindness she’s seen since the women were taken. He takes her to a locker room where she is given a chance to shower, fresh clothes, and a hot meal.
As intended, Lydia starts to relax a little. Then she’s knocked back into disorientation and panic as Judd hands her a gun and walks her out to the middle of the stadium. As a test of loyalty, he expects her to kill one of the women blindfolded, on their knees, waiting to be killed by Guardian.
He pulls the blindfold off of the woman in front of Lydia, and it’s her friend. Lydia must decide in an instant if she will execute her friend in a bid to stay alive and garner power in the new Gilead, or if they will both die. After an agonizing minute of consideration, when Judd gives the order to execute, she pulls the trigger.
The women fall, shot in the head by the Guardians, but Vidala doesn’t fall. The gun wasn’t loaded. Judd just wanted to know if Lydia had what it took to do violence for Gilead. And anyone who has watched The Handmaid’s Tale knows, she absolutely did and does.
The Record, For The Reckoning
We learn Aunt Lydia and Aunt Vidala’s histories through a secret journal that Aunt Lydia is keeping. Now we get into the real depths of The Testaments. Aunt Lydia is keeping score. Aunts are allowed to write, and as the highest ranking Aunt, Aunt Lydia can do pretty much whatever she wants. For now.
Her past betrayal of letting the handmaids go in Boston, and her almost execution for helping June, hasn’t been forgotten. Commander Judd is secretly sidling up to Aunt Vidala to install her in Aunt Lydia’s place.
And Aunt Lydia is secretly writing the violence history of Gilead and the history of their abuses of women and girls. She’s naming names, writing down all the details, and keeping score of the crimes of all the Commanders in her area of influence. Aunt Lydia is writing the book that could bring Gilead down one day.
Questions I Have After Episode 6
The show is deviating from the book in some ways, and after episode 6 I have some questions including:
- Will Aunt Lydia sacrifice Agnes to bring down Gilead later on? She probably could have gotten Agnes out for June, but never did. What are Lydia’s feelings about June?
- Will Aunt Lydia trust any of the other aunts with her secret?
- How do the Peal Girls factor into this? Lydia didn’t start that program for no reason. Does she know who Daisy really is? Is she helping Mayday?
Lots of questions. But with just a couple of episodes left this season, we may not get answers until season 2. There’s been no official renewal of the show, but it’s highly unlikely they’d cancel it now. Especially when the story is chillingly relevant to the world we’re currently trying to survive.