Warning: contains spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale season six episode eight “Exodus”. In the early days of The Handmaid’s Tale, the pre-Gilead flashback episodes were eagerly awaited. Who was June Osborne before she was captured and enslaved? Who had Commander and Mrs Waterford been before they played a part in the coup that destroyed America? It took three seasons before we saw one of the show’s most anticipated flashbacks – that of Aunt Lydia. Before Gilead, had its cruel enforcer been a prison warden? An army captain? A police officer? Nothing so authoritarian: Lydia Clements was an elementary school teacher with a background working in family law. She’d been married, we learned, but it hadn’t worked out and now she lived alone and relied on her faith for comfort and self-esteem. In flashback, we saw Lydia befriend Noelle, the single mother of one of her pupils, and allow herself to be pushed into the dating world at her young friend’s encouragement. Humiliated by a romantic rejection from a colleague, Lydia lashed out and reported Noelle to the authorities as an unfit parent, sending her son into foster care. Foreshadowing her role in Gilead, Lydia told herself that she had acted out of love, saved the child, and put his wayward mother on the path to salvation. Love has always been Lydia’s purported motivation. Love for God and for the tainted-but-redeemable souls of her “girls” has been her justification for meting out acts of outrageous cruelty. Having Janine blinded, or Emily mutilated, or June tortured, were all done for the girls’ own good, Lydia told herself. Everything she did was for the righteous love of the lord, as hallowed by the holy republic of Gilead. Now, in season six, Lydia has made a move that was genuinely motivated by love. When she arrived unexpectedly at Serena Joy and Commander Wharton’s wedding and discovered the Handmaids mid-rebellion, June asked her not to further punish the women, but to let them escape. Deep down, said June, Lydia must know that the Handmaid system was glorified rape, and that the women and girls she had delivered to the Commanders over the years did not deserve their abuse. It wasn’t until Lydia’s “special girl” Janine entered to make her appeal that Lydia finally thawed. She apologised for sending Janine into the home of the abusive Commander Bell, held her, and let the women leave. Speaking to US Weekly, actor Ann Dowd explains that Aunt Lydia is where she is “because she loves Janine as her daughter.” Lydia clearly saw similarities between Janine – who was also a young single mother – and Noelle in their early interactions, and over six seasons, has come to a genuine, familial love for Madeline Brewer’s character. Lydia is “a softer human being,” says Dowd, “because she has come to love in a real way – Janine and the girls.” Co-showrunner Yahlin Chang agrees. “In that moment, she can’t see what to do other than let them go. She does it out of love for Janine. She just goes over to Janine and says, ‘I’m sorry I hurt you.’” As the Handmaids, led by June, Janine and Moira, leave the Red Centre, Aunt Lydia sinks to her knees. “She understands what she’s done,” Dowd tells US Weekly. “She can’t bear it. I’m sure she’s begging for forgiveness. She’s not going to deny anything. When it comes to what she’s done, she would do it again.” We leave her praying for divine help. And she’s going to need it, according to co-showrunner Eric Tuchman, who told US Weekly: “Now we know she’s made that decision to liberate the Handmaids. She’s aligned with them in the eyes of Gilead. She has betrayed her duties to Gilead, so I can’t spoil what happens with her, but she’s on very shaky ground moving forward.” Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The Handmaid’s Tale streams on Hulu on Tuesdays in the US, and airs on Channel 4 on Saturdays in the UK. Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/aunt-lydia-decision-handmaids-tale-down-to-love-ann-dowd/ #aunt #lydias #decision #the #handmaids #tale #all #down #love #says #ann #dowd