To say Andrea Connolly is unhappy with the latest season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” would be an understatement. Image: MGM

*THIS PIECE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST THREE EPISODES OF SEASON FOUR OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE*

It’s time. I can no longer keep enduring this. I am officially breaking up with “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It’s never been a light show but in the first two seasons it had some sort of hope going for it, and the central heroine, June Osborne. I struggled with season three but I made it through, and the payoff felt well worth it. But given how season four has started … I just can’t f..king do it anymore.

This is definitely not the first article like this. I’ve been seeing them pop up with increasing visibility since season two aired. At the time, I thought, “Surely, they’re wrong to give it up so soon? I mean, she’s going to get out and get her daughter back! Gilead will be taken down!” The naivety. Of course June’s not getting out. Of course Gilead can’t be taken down, what show would remain if the plot were to – shock horror – resolve?

“The Handmaid’s Tale” has become an endless cycle of misery and suffering of all its main characters – some deserved, mostly not. It has become an utter chore to watch. When I heard it was coming back, initially I was excited. It had been a long wait with nearly two years between seasons and whilst I can’t say I missed it during that time, I was looking forward to seeing how June’s plan with the “angel flight” resolved at the beginning of the new season.

Then I watched it. My excitement turned to disbelief to disillusion to disgust. I know that sounds incredibly dramatic, but God, that one episode really did just squeeze any lingering excitement and love I had for that show out of me. I soldiered through the remaining two that were released simultaneously and came to the conclusion that I simply could no longer give a single flying f..k about this show. Which if you know me, is saying something.

I’ve always been something of a completist when it comes to TV shows, even when a show really annoys me. I kept watching “Grey’s Anatomy” despite my deep hatred of season four, I reluctantly kept watching “Game of Thrones” even after I saw them starting to diverge from the books in season five. I even kept watching “The O.C.” after the goddamn mess that was season three. Very rarely have I abandoned a show that has reached the very depths of mediocrity.

And yet, here I am. The misery porn has become far too much. I don’t know if it’s the lingering spectre of COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns on me personally, or if it’s the fact that nothing that happens in the show makes a lick of f..king sense anymore. Either way, it’s time. I’m breaking up with “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

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It still looks good, the aesthetics never fail to evoke the specific atmosphere Gilead required. The acting is astonishing, which it has been since season one. Yvonne Strahovski singlehandedly delivers one of the most layered and unnerving performances on television and the fact that she’s not won an Emmy for her role as Serena Waterford is a goddamn crime. Then, of course, there’s Elisabeth Moss who always delivers. The entire show hinges on her performance and she f..king sells it. She’s brilliant as June, the show without Elisabeth Moss would be nigh on unwatchable.

However, these things are not enough to keep me watching a show where the protagonist has so much plot armour that nothing that happens feels like it will have any consequences. At least not for June Osborne. For the people around her? Sure. For her comrades in Mayday? Sure. For innocent people who have nothing to do with her? Sure. But never June.

This was brutally shown to all who watched in the first three episodes of season four. Alma and Brianna, I hardly knew thee. June and Janine apparently did – well enough to have a secret language between them all, but of course we don’t find this out until after they’ve been hit by a train at great speed. Was this explored in any of the previous seasons to build their characters? Of course not. Let’s throw it in at the last minute so we can act like we’ve had deep and considered development for them. The Marthas from the Lawrence household, Beth and Sienna, are both said goodbye to in an especially brutal and heart-wrenching way. For what reason? To continue June and the audience’s endless suffering? To illustrate what’s happening with Commander Lawrence? No. It’s just to show one how brutal Gilead is, as if we haven’t known that from the very first episode of the goddamn show. It also did absolutely nothing to illustrate the situation with Commander Lawrence and his household. So as I said earlier, it was just misery porn.

June’s actions have consequences. A thing June seems to realise briefly when she realises her murder of Commander Winslow in season three meant the Jezebels of that particular brothel were gotten rid of for the most part. But this lasts approximately two minutes as she then plots the mass murder of a bunch of commanders and their drivers at another brothel in the very next scene. Because her actions don’t actually have consequences for her. Plot armour, may thee remain strong and unbending, because that’s the only thing keeping this show going at this point.

I’ve never read “The Handmaid’s Tale” or “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood because I considered the show was probably enough. The show is now an empty vessel of what it once was, except with more suffering and, I’d assume, a bigger budget. Now that I’ve broken up with the show, I may finally read the book. I’ll be curious as to what happens with June Osborne, but I can no longer be along for the ride. It’s simply too f..king infuriating to witness.