Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Testaments Season 1 finale.
Summary
- In Gilead, secrets destroy, but resilience comes when the girls of Gilead lean on each other.
- In the season finale of ‘The Testaments,’ Daisy’s undercover work gets messy as emotional bonds complicate the mission.
- Agnes learns the truth about June and must decide how far she’ll go to protect Becka.
Gilead works best when the girls there don’t question what they’re told, and they follow the rules drilled into them. But after everything set in motion by Agnes (Chase Infiniti) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), which was well-intentioned but misguided, Becka (Mattea Conforti) has to face the dangerous consequences for her actions. Daisy may be an undercover operative working with the resistance movement Mayday, but she unexpectedly finds herself more emotionally connected to the women of Gilead than she ever could have imagined without any real preparation for what to do about that. At the same time, Agnes just wants to keep her friend from getting executed and must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect her. As everything comes to a head in the season finale, entitled “Secateurs,” the girls of Gilead realize that secrets destroy, change is not a solo mission, and their true strength lies in each other.
After watching the first season of the Hulu series The Testaments, Collider got the opportunity to chat with co-stars Infiniti and Halliday about the stressful experience of wearing all white as a Pearl Girl, the moment when Daisy explains sex to Shunammite (Rowan Blanchard), the importance of the kiss between Agnes and Becka, how Agnes feels when she learns the truth about who June (Elisabeth Moss) is, and what that final moment with Agnes, Daisy and Shunammite together could mean for what comes next in Season 2.
Being a Pearl Girl in ‘The Testaments’ Was Tough for Lucy Halliday in This One Silly Way
“Thank you for recognizing the difficulty.”
Collider: Lucy, it’s a bit of a silly question, but when you have to wear a uniform that is white from head to toe because you’re a Pearl Girl, did you ever have any mishaps with getting anything on it?
LUCY HALLIDAY: I can proudly say that I didn’t once spill anything on the costume. It was an incredibly stressful experience, every single day, fearing that I would. Thank you for recognizing the difficulty. I feel very validated right now. It was tough because I would see the Plums lounging on the ground. They were given so much freedom. The costume department took it very seriously that I was head-to-toe in white, and I wasn’t granted that freedom. It was tough, but we made it. We’re here. And I’m really proud that didn’t happen.
CHASE INFINITI: You slayed.
HALLIDAY: Thank you.
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‘The Testaments’ premieres April 8 on Hulu.
Lucy, I loved the moment when Daisy explains sex to Shunammite, and she refuses to believe her. What was that scene like to shoot? What did you think of that moment?
HALLIDAY: There’s something so endearing in the fact that, finally, only facts are being said in that scene. And then, that’s the thing that Shunammite refuses to believe. Daisy is trying so hard to just give the truth to Shunammite, to give her something to latch onto, and Shunammite is having none of it. I did like filming that scene. I just remember the amount of eye contact I had with our boom [operator] during that whole scene because he was standing right there. I think that maybe impacted how I felt throughout the scene. But no, it was a very sweet one. I hope that people liked it.
Agnes and Becka’s Kiss Was a Moment in ‘The Testaments’ That Chase Infiniti and Mattea Conforti Wanted To Protect
“Above all, regardless of anything, Becka and Agnes do love each other.”
Chase, one of the biggest aspects of this season is the relationship between Agnes and Becka. They go through so much with each other and with the relationship drama with Garth. What was it like to find that kiss between Agnes and Becka? What does that moment meant to Agnes?
INFINITI: That moment, to me, is very, very heartbreaking because of the circumstances, especially with what Becka has gone through, even within that scene prior to that kiss. It was something that I remember we had both talked about with Bruce Miller, who’s our showrunner, with that part of their story happening in the last episode. We both were just like, “This is such a beautiful moment.” We really wanted to make sure that we protected it as much as possible. Above all, regardless of anything, Becka and Agnes do love each other. Whether or not Agnes loves Becka in the same way that Becka loves Agnes, you can’t deny that they have this special love for each other. In that moment, you really feel that they are protecting each other and leaning on each other. I watch it back now and it’s very heartbreakingly sweet and it hurts to watch.
HALLIDAY: It’s that thing of a first kiss, regardless of what feelings are behind it.
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“She has so much love for Agnes that she would never blame her,” says Mattea Conforti, when it comes to what Becka would do for her best friend.
Agnes finally learns who her mother is and where she came from, and she clearly needs some time to process that. Do you think that Agnes just needs some time and maybe actually needs to meet June to really understand what that means?
INFINITI: Yeah. I think that Agnes would love to meet June. If there was a world in which Daisy told Agnes who her mom is, and then in the next scene, Agnes meets June, it would just feel too rushed. I think Agnes really needs to process what Daisy has told her, especially considering that her entire life, Agnes has been told that June Osborne is essentially, in simpler terms, the worst person on the planet. She is a terrorist. There are a lot of internal things that she needs to figure out before she even has the capacity to meet June. And then, at the end of the episode, I think it’s very satisfying to see that she’s made a bit of peace with that, and she’s really taking charge with that information. I think if she met June right after that, it would have been way too soon. It wouldn’t be as satisfying.
In ‘The Testaments’ Finale, the Girls of Gilead Found Strength in Each Other
“I’m interested in seeing where that can take them in Season 2.”
I love the moment at the end with Agnes, Daisy and Shunammite walking down the hall together and finding strength in each other. It’s a great moment that will probably also fall apart right after that. What are you most excited about getting to explore with Season 2? What do you want to dig into next with these characters?
HALLIDAY: I’m no Bruce Miller. The season ends in a really interesting place. The girls have found a new strength within themselves and within each other. Especially with Daisy, she’s actively made the decision to stay and keep the love that she has for these girls. That relationship between all of them is the most important thing that they’ve got. I’m interested in seeing where that can take them in Season 2.
INFINITI: For Agnes, something I’m very excited to see in Season 2 is her taking charge and learning about her story. We literally leave her in this internal struggle of figuring out who she actually is versus what she’s been told she is, her entire life. That’s something that I am very excited to explore.
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The Testaments is available to stream on Hulu.
