The Testaments Season1 Episode 1

·56 min·5 clips

Why does Gilead call its newest female converts 'Pearl Girls,' and what does that reveal about their brutal transformation?

Paul and Caroline, hosts of the podcast Escaping Gilead, begin their coverage of The Testaments, the sequel series to The Handmaid's Tale. They note the episode contains spoilers and encourage listeners to watch first. The hosts debate the timeline, suggesting the jump might be 10-12 years rather than the book's 15, based on Agnes's age. Agnes, formerly Hannah, is introduced living a privileged life at a country estate and attending the Aunt Lydia School for 'plums' (adolescent girls). The hosts detail Gilead's color-coded system for women: pink for little girls, plum for adolescents, green for those available to be wives, blue for wives, gray for econo-wives or Marthas, brown for aunts, red for handmaids, and white for 'Pearl Girls,' new converts from outside Gilead. They analyze the symbolic meaning of 'Pearl Girls,' linking it to purity, pressure, and transformation. The episode explores characters like Agnes's cold stepmother Paula, who has a short haircut and mistreats the Marthas; Agnes's friend Becca, who is transitioning from plum to green; and Shunammite, a mean girl with a biblical name. Daisy, a Pearl Girl from Toronto assigned to Agnes, is revealed to have a contraband radio and shares a look with June Osborne, hinting at resistance ties. The hosts discuss Aunt Lydia's return, now running the school with a statue in her likeness, and ponder her backstory after the events of The Handmaid's Tale. A key scene involves the plums voting on a guardian's punishment, leading to a table-saw amputation of his hand, which the hosts analyze as a demonstration of Gilead's brutal justice and the girls' conditioned reactions. They note the episode's brighter tone and colors compared to The Handmaid's Tale, but emphasize the underlying violence through mentions of a Martha with a cut-out tongue. The hosts also touch on Agnes's dollhouse as a metaphor for her controlled world and a tool for emotional expression. They conclude by praising the casting and authentic portrayal of teenagers, looking forward to future episodes.

As heard by us

A spoiler-heavy look at The Testaments' time jump, Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia's return.

Paul and Caroline frame The Testaments around the questions raised by its leap forward in time, especially how Agnes's age and stage of life sit against the 15-years-later setting.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want to step back into Gilead after The Testaments premiere and sort through the time jump with guides who know the Handmaid's Tale terrain.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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