*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for The Testaments episode 10, Secateurs.*
The penultimate episode of The Testaments ended with Becka (Mattea Conforti) being carted away by The Eyes in an act that Agnes (Chase Infiniti) was left heartbroken about, believing that by telling her parents, they would get her the appropriate medical care.
Instead, as we see in the finale of the dystopian drama, Becka is left somewhat circling the drain and has been locked away for her crimes.
While the rest of her classmates are left to wonder what’s happened to her, Agnes’s narration explains Dr Grove’s (Randal Edwards) autopsy findings and the fact it concludes that “the damage well exceeds what would have been necessary to kill the victim, indicating a spirited attacker”.
With excessive deep wounds around Dr Grove’s genitalia, it’s clear that Becka wanted her father to suffer for what he had done to Agnes, who she is secretly in love with.
We see Becka as a shell of herself while locked away in prison, restrained and singing the children’s bible song, Rise and Shine, on a loop. But it’s when Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) comes to visit her student that fans may be surprised by a shock cameo appearance.
As we see Aunt Lydia being led into the hallway to face Becka’s cell, we see that she’s being chaperoned by none other than Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments.
“Don’t agitate her,” she says sternly in her prison matron role to Aunt Lydia before leaving her to it.
The well-known novelist also serves as an executive producer on The Testaments so what’s the fun in penning books that are being brought to screen, if not to slip into a small role! It’s not the first time that Atwood has appeared onscreen, with the writer having actually appeared in the pilot episode of The Handmaid’s Tale back in 2017.
There too, she was a stern figure, featuring as an Aunt who slapped Offred (otherwise known as June, played by Elisabeth Moss) during a particularly dark confrontation scene with the other Handmaids.
While Atwood’s appearance in The Testaments is only fleeting, it’s certainly a welcome blink and you’ll miss it moment for fans of both the original books and the new TV adaptation – especially as she’s in the scene with OG Handmaid’s Tale star Ann Dowd.
But that’s not the only Handmaid’s Tale character making an appearance in the finale episode as Moss returns once again, this time meeting Daisy (Lucy Halliday) in the night to extract her from Gilead.
Daisy puts up a fight, defending what she’s been doing and underlining her need to help Becka. But it’s in her honest confrontation with June that Daisy maps out why each newfound friend of hers is so brilliant and worth saving, mentioning Agnes in passing. June stops in her tracks, instantly getting emotional at the mention of her daughter’s name and reveals to Daisy that Agnes (also known as Hannah) is the daughter she left behind.
Daisy tells a teary-eyed June that Agnes is “one of the bravest people I’ve ever met” and those heartfelt affirmations about her daughter are just what June needs to hear, then allowing Daisy to go back to Gilead to continue her Mayday mission.
As everyone tries their hardest in their own way to protect Becka from her tragic outcome, things get even more heartbreaking as Aunt Lydia has come up with a plan to spare Becka – but it puts the blame entirely on her mother (Kate Hewlett) instead. “It’s what should’ve happened,” Mrs Grove tells Becka when she starts to push back on the proposed plan.
But Aunt Lydia, Aunt Vidala (Mabel Li) and Mrs Grove have made up their minds and, not wanting to tarnish Becka’s young life in such a way, offer up her mother almost as a sacrifice. It is on the same day of Becka and Garth’s (Brad Alexander) wedding that Mrs Grove is sent to be hanged in what appears to be the same courthouse.
Sedated so as to withstand a wedding day without her mother, Becka is later put to bed by Garth – but we then see him lock the door and walk away. With Garth a Mayday operative and now being wed to Becka, many fans think that her natural aversion to Gilead life may lead her on a path to join forces with him.
Seeing as the character’s fate has been changed from the novel and a second season of The Testaments has now been confirmed, we’ll just have to wait and see how Becka’s story will continue to unfold.
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