*Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Testaments episode 8 and contains discussions of sexual assault that some readers may find distressing.*
From its premiere episode, The Testaments has continued to divide its viewers in quite a surprising manner of ways.
Much of the hate train for the series has been spurred on by devoted book lovers who haven’t appreciated the changes from the source material, with some viewers deeming the series to be too slow in its world building and now, some are growing impatient with the central story.
While some reviews have cuttingly said that Chase Infiniti is one of the only saving graces of the series, others have berated how long it’s taking to get to the grittier aspects of Agnes‘s story. In my humble opinion, there are too many unjust complaints for such a well-crafted piece of television.
There may be a growing group of people that are getting tired of Agnes, but those fans are forgetting the very divisive June Osbourne (Elisabeth Moss) of the original series and the way in which fans grew increasingly irritated with her controversial antics – and stuck with the original series nonetheless. The same simply can’t be said of Agnes (yet anyway) as her childlike wonder of the world gives us an intriguing lens in which to view Gilead.
As with any adaptation, there will always be naysayers and those that may not agree with casting but I think we can all agree that Chase Infiniti as Agnes really is a stroke of genius. Her leading role in The Testaments shows that her turns in Presumed Innocent and One Battle After Another weren’t just a stroke of luck and Infiniti is no one-hit-wonder – but episode 8 is a whole other level of astonishing as she puts on a performance worthy of a litany of awards.
Her doe-eyed fascination of the world is only one facet of her performance as Agnes, with the series thus far already excellently demonstrating Infiniti’s range and impeccable face acting. We’ve seen Agnes reckon with her growing feelings for Garth (Brad Alexander), remain composed in spite of her heart being broken by him being engaged to Becka (Mattea Conforti) and, of course, try to make sense of being sexually assaulted by Dr Grove (Randal Edwards) whilst unconscious.
Agnes’s survival instincts have been seemingly silent, with us seeing how she’s been navigating an increasingly awkward friendship with Becka in light of her father’s abuse, but also how she’s tried to push down her feelings about it all.
It’s in episode 8, Broken, that Agnes’s feelings about everything related to Dr Grove come to the fore as she learns that Hulda too has been abused. Hulda’s teeth whitening appointment goes the way that viewers were quietly willing it wouldn’t and, noticing a change in her friend’s behaviour after their sex education lesson, Agnes pushes her friend to confide in her.
Having grown up in Gilead, Hulda blames herself for “tempting” Dr Grove, but upon hearing the news, Infiniti’s performance comes into its own. Almost angrily gritting her teeth as she pleads with Hulda to tell the Aunts, the tears pooling in her eyes and her simple voice-cracking admission that “he’s not supposed to do that” are not only the symptom of a dawning realisation that she too is a victim, but also that these girls – despite now being seen as women by their society – are literally just children.
In a scene that’s already incredibly emotional from the accompanying score, viewers will be hard pressed not to feel their own tears develop as Agnes says: “I’m with you, Hulda.”
The rest of the episode sees a visibly preoccupied Agnes try to put on a happy face as she moves forward with her own wedding plans and then, has to remain calm as Aunt Vidala (Mabel Li) urges her to ignore Hulda’s allegations.
It’s at Becka and Garth’s engagement party that Dr Grove approaches Hulda and Agnes, with the interaction clearly impacting Agnes. She goes to Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) to tell her that she knows Hulda is telling the truth, but Aunt Lydia does her usual thing of acknowledging it, wrapping it up in a big Gilead religious teaching and intimating that Dr Grove will be dealt with accordingly.
Nevertheless, Infinti’s poised performance as Agnes in that moment – the very first time that Agnes admits what Dr Grove has done to her to someone else – anchors everything, with her foot in our real world thinking of justice, while also remaining committed to being as picture-perfect as she’s been taught in her Gilead life.
A final heart-wrenching moment comes at the end, when Daisy asks Agnes why she’s missing her best friend’s party. Daisy knows that Agnes is in love with Garth – but that isn’t the reason Agnes can’t go back inside and in a moment of raw honesty, she tells Daisy that Becka’s dad “did things to me”.
For a moment, she can’t even meet Daisy’s eyes as she reveals the truth but then says that Daisy is the only one she can tell, not wanting to “sully anyone else”. In that scene, it’s more powerful than ever to see these two young actresses at the top of their game; Halliday as straight-faced and furious Daisy while Infiniti grounds us with her almost infantile innocence.
The handling of Dr Grove’s storyline will continue to unfold in episodes to come, but the impact that sexual assault can have on victims is expertly done here and isn’t just done as a throwaway plot in the wider world of The Testaments. Everything about the series is intentional and the same can be said of Infiniti’s quietly powerful embodiment of Agnes.
Some of the online criticism around Infiniti has been around casting her, a 25-year-old, as the lead character. It’s certainly not the first time that an adult has played a teenager, and while some think she may appear too mature to be a teenager, after this episode (and most of the season, really), Infiniti continues to proves that her handling of Agnes is masterful.
We saw in The Handmaid’s Tale what happens when you cast a teenager, with McKenna Grace’s performance not only being standout, but deeply disturbing for many viewers as she was the same age – 14 – as her character.
There are many things to love about the expansion of The Testaments (a sentiment coming from a lover of the original 2019 novel) but the strength of the series stands on the back of its leads. The Emmys are certainly a-calling for Infiniti, who brings Agnes to life in such a compelling way in episode 8 that it may just take your breath away.
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