The Handmaid’s Tale: Where did we leave off?

Emily (Ofglen/Ofsteven)

In the book, Ofglen kills herself when the Eyes come for her, which leads me to be continually anxious about Emily’s fate. But so far, her trajectory in the Hulu series has been quite different. Arrested initially for conducting a secret, same-sex relationship with a Martha, she is forced to watch the Martha die, then is forced to receive a clitoridectomy and is reassigned to a new Commander. But Emily isn’t done. She reunites with June, gives her new instructions, steals a car, and runs over a Guardian before being arrested. Her fate at the end of season 1 is unknown.

Except we know from the trailers that she survives. She’s shown in what looks like the Colonies, an awfully convenient fate for us, as it means we finally get to see what this place is like. The Colonies have only ever been alluded to as places in North America where waste from the war has contaminated everything. People sent there are forced to clean it up, and usually die painful deaths of illness, starvation or exhaustion.

No one wants that for Emily. And as gruesome as Handmaid’s Tale can be, Emily’s spirit hasn’t been broken yet. She’s the kind of character who could lead a revolution from wherever she is. My hope is that, from the Colonies, Emily is able to put together a scrappy army of angry people who don’t want to die, and turn it against those in charge.

If Emily is indeed headed for the Colonies, then we are put in a position to see things from four perspectives: from safety in Canada, from those in power (Waterford), from the Handmaids (June) and from the Colonies. If war can be waged on all four fronts at once, there may be hope for at least some of the characters to win their freedom back, Emily included.