The Testaments Premiere Recap: Gilead Is (Unfortunately) Alive And Well In The Handmaid's Tale Sequel — Plus, Grade It!

After "The Handmaid's Tale" ended its six-season run, I thought I'd be good with never going back to Gilead. But along comes "The Testaments," Hulu's sequel series based on Margaret Atwood's sequel novel, and I find myself once more entranced by the story of women living under a misogynistic, totalitarian regime.

To be clear: I wish Gilead, its leaders, and everything they stand for would die in a fiery conflagration. Their violence against, and subjugation of, women is abominable. Their holier-than-thou hypocrisy is stomach-turning. And their philosophies hew just a little too close to some troubling trains of thought in the real world these days.

But "The Testaments" is a different view of Gilead, one with teenage girls at its center. These young women, most of them commanders' daughters, don't know a world outside of the deeply messed-up bubble in which they've been raised. They are prim and proper future wives groomed for nothing but obedience and child-bearing. Still, adolescent rebellion is a power to be reckoned with, no matter where you are. So, as a newcomer enters their midst, we see that Gilead's girls are also likely to be the very agent of its undoing. Hell yeah — grind those bastards down, ladies!

In a moment, we'll want to hear what you thought of the premiere. First, though, read on for the highlights of "Precious Flowers."

"These women would change history," a title card assures us at the start of the episode. Which is good and all, but in the present, we're listening to Radio Free America broadcasts indicating that Gilead didn't quite topple like we'd hoped it would after the "Handmaid's Tale" finale. One of the voices on the radio is June's, advising Mayday operatives inside Gilead to keep their heads down and stay safe.

Then the voiceover shifts to that of Agnes MacKenzie (played by Chase Infiniti, "One Battle After Another"), who's narrating her story from some point in the future. Agnes lives with her father, Commander MacKenzie, and her stepmother, Paula (Amy Seimetz). Paula is the commander's second wife — not the one that raised Agnes — and she and Agnes aren't close. One of the MacKenzie's marthas, Rosa (Kira Guloien), stands in as a maternal figure for the teen. The other martha, Zilla (Blessing Adedijo), has had her tongue cut out in punishment.

"I was a Plum," Agnes informs us, referring to the purple clothing she and girls like her are made to wear. "I didn't have my period yet. In my world, that made all the difference." Younger girls wear pink. Those who've started menstruating wear green, and are on the path to becoming (child) brides. Agnes and her friends attend The Aunt Lydia School, run by everyone's favorite drill sergeant (welcome back, Ann Dowd!). In addition to Agnes, the Plums include Agnes' best friend, Becka (Mattea Conforti, "Power"); gossipy Shunammite (Rowan Blanchard, "Girl Meets World"); and timid Hulda (Isolde Ardies, "Wayward").

We also learn that Agnes moved to the school from Colorado, and here's where it's time for me to tell you that while I am bound by an agreement not to spoil some specific information that Hulu wants to keep under wraps for new viewers, if you watched "The Handmaid's Tale," none of this should be a surprise for you. Moving on!

It's been four years since "The War of Massachusetts," aka the Mayday-led event we saw near the end of "Handmaid's." In the aftermath, Gilead purged those it found subversive. "Some people were hung, and some had schools named after them," Agnes notes. "Aunt Lydia was a legend. She had been worshipped, then vilified, then worshipped again."

To that end, Aunt Lydia also has a new pet project: the Pearl Girls, or converts from outside Gilead who willingly enter in order to live a more godly life. These white-clad newbies are young, fertile, mostly runaways, and — per Agnes — not to be trusted, because they're likely to rat you out to the aunts. So Agnes is not pleased when Aunt Lydia summons her to her office and orders her to shepherd a recently arrived Pearl Girl named Daisy (Lucy Halliday, "Blue Jean"). Agnes is polite to her new shadow, who hails from Toronto and instantly earns the disdain of the other Plums.

Lydia is helped at the school by other aunts: Vidala (Mabel Li, "Safe Home"), who covets power and thinks Lydia is too soft; and Estee (Eva Foote, "Devil in Disguise"), who presents a warmer front to the girls. Still, it's Estee who summons the students to the assembly room, where she is about to punish a Guardian accused of touching himself on school grounds. In one breath, she blames the girls for tempting him. In the next, she incites them to violence. As one, all of the girls — save a very freaked-out Daisy — start screaming, "Punish him!" As their cries escalate, Estee cuts off the man's hand with a buzzsaw.

Daisy runs from the room, and Agnes finds her, on her knees and gagging over what she's just seen. Daisy also drops a few f-bombs as she tries to process what she's witnessed... then panics about having to confess her blasphemy to Aunt Lydia. Agnes kindly says not to worry, because the transgression will be their secret. The teens seal it with a pinky swear.

That night, as the Pearl Girls sleep in their dormitory, Daisy retrieves a Walkman-style radio she's been hiding under the bed next to hers. Through an earpiece, she tunes in to Radio Free Boston — and yep, that's Stephen Colbert saying, "Remember, folks: Don't let the bastards gr-" — which transitions into a flashback of Daisy's life before Gilead. She skateboards to a vintage store and walks in like she owns the place. A customer with short blonde hair is standing at the counter; when the woman turns, we see it's June Osborne, who watches Daisy with a little smile.

Back in Gilead in the present, Agnes gets her period. Big day all around! "I didn't know who my mom was yet, my real mom," she voiceovers. "That would come soon. I had no idea how much that would change things."

In hindsight, Agnes notes, the time she became eligible to be a wife dovetailed with her meeting Daisy, and that was when "it all started."

Now it's your turn. Grade the series premiere of "The Testaments" via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!