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The ending ofThe Handmaids Tales second season was already frustrating enough.
Instead, June hands her child to Emily and the truck drives away.
The Handmaids Talehas a mixed record of music choices.
Theyre funny in a pitch-black way, which can feel refreshingly out of step withHandmaidstone.
At their absolute best, they feel like the big, subversive middle finger June cannot throw herself.
Emily is petrified, obviously convinced shes being taken to her own execution.
Emily cant take it any longer, and begs him to turn it off.
So, not a music fan, he cracks.
Emilys fear and stubbornness are magnified.
Even the song deepens what we already know.
(Or, as he puts it, Im getting myself in deep shit.)
She decides that fighting back will work this time.
Like the Annie Lennox cue, the Talking Heads song choice is hilariously unsubtle.
And as bleak as its been, theres an important truth to that idea.
Until Burning Down the House dropped, as if to say,Screw all that!
Its time to rise up!
It attempts to shift our entire understanding of Junes character with one transformative moment.
It makes even less sense and feels all the more disingenuous.
I can see that the ending was supposed to be read as hopeful.
But those binaries are useless in a show likeThe Handmaids Tale.
And its hard to imagineThe Handmaids Taleever fully recovering.
