Covenants ★★★
After six seasons of The Handmaid’s TaleThe dystopian baton has been passed to this sequel. Once again we are in Gilead, the brutal Christian theocracy that has violently taken over the United States and eliminated the modern world, including women’s rights, through murderous means. But 15 years have passed, and the focus is on the institute’s daughters – “pious girls” raised to be pious, child-bearing wives of national leaders. On screen, it’s a dangerous balancing act.
Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Covenants has Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed novel as its source material. Both shows were created by Bruce Miller, and both expand on the plot lines of the books. Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd)a brutal enforcer of Gilead’s misogyny who wanted to break June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) into Of the maidshe now runs an elite girls’ academy whose teenage students include Agnes MacKenzie (Chase Infiniti). Although she does not know it, Agnes’ privileged stepparents, the authorities, and the audience know that she is June’s eldest daughter, Hannah.
With upright Agnes asked to mentor new student Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Gilead convert from Canada, the narrative is presented in the concerns of these teenagers. They are young and trained, they have no memory of America. The brutality of Gilead, such as the sawing off of an offender’s hand, occurs without notice. At times the storytelling has the tone, and pop, of a Young Adult drama. Agnes has a cruel stepmother (Amy Seimetz), but her father (Nate Corddry) is the father of a Gilead girl.
“These women would change history,” Agnes says in a voiceover, but the path of their revolutionary organization is complicated. Showing the hypocrisy of Gilead means focusing on the naive criteria of the girls. Several episodes are invested in students competing to woo suitors through community rituals – it feels akin to a 19th-century romantic comedy, complete with the mischievous malice of an ambitious single mother. The scene between Agnes and the handsome security agent, Garth (Brad Alexander), also remains.
Daisy, in particular, is written as very rebellious, but the relationship between the young people is real and reflects the hope that Atwood put on the page. But the key failure is to reduce the focus on Aunt Lydia. This book gave him a detailed backstory, revealing how he chose to become a participant, but that is compressed into one place here, along with his zealous deputy, Aunt Vidala (Australian actress Mabel Li) Finally, the defining quality is the Infiniti’s very Agnes-like performance. The One Battle After Another The star is attractive and when he is on screen Covenants is flourishing. The show goes to Infiniti and beyond.
Covenants streaming on Disney+ starting April 8.
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Craig Mathieson is a TV, film and music writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect through X.
