What To Know

Paula MacKenzie (Amy Seimetz) resents her stepdaughter Agnes due to her handmaid parentage in The Testaments.
Paula is determined to train Agnes into submission and marry her off to a powerful commander, or else.
Seimetz explains Paula’s resentment for Agnes and how June Osborne’s legacy impacts their lives.

Paula MacKenzie (Amy Seimetz) has made it explicitly clear that she wants her stepdaughter, Agnes (Chase Infiniti), out of the house on The Testaments. She’s more hopeful than ever that she’ll get a new start soon, now that Agnes has gotten her period and is eligible to become a wife. That hope is feeding Paula’s icy nature and her inability (and complete disinterest) to conceal her disdain for the daughter she didn’t want. In The Testaments Episode 4, streaming now on Hulu, Paula gets closer to the future she wants. Here, Seimetz explains the layers of Paula’s resentment for Agnes. Warning: The Testaments spoilers ahead.

As Handmaid’s Tale viewers know, Agnes is Hannah Bankole, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Luke Bankole’s (O-T Fagbenle) daughter. Agnes doesn’t seem to remember her life before Gilead, but the adults in her life know who she is and who her parents are. June is one of Gilead’s biggest enemies. Infiniti explained to TV Insider that at the start of the spinoff, Agnes knows June as “a rebel handmaid” and nothing more. Agnes’ Gilead father, Commander MacKenzie (Nate Corddry), knows who June is to Agnes, and so does his new wife.

Seimetz tells TV Insider that Paula is constantly fearing that Agnes will start acting like her mother, and those feelings inform her treatment of the teenager. Paula is ashamed of Agnes’ parentage and wants a fresh start with a new child in the house.

“To Paula, the way of Gilead is the correct way of living,” Seimetz says. “She is somebody who knows what the world is like outside of Gilead. She had a career outside of Gilead, and to her, June is a dissenter. She has broken the code. She is not living life justly or in a godly way. And so, for Paula, with her instilling these ideals in Agnes, it’s basically like, ‘If you do not follow these, you will go rogue just like your mother. You have that seed in you. You have that wild streak. You have the potential to explode.’”

“That’s why she feels like she has to keep on Agnes. She has to keep on her, she has to keep training her,” Seimetz continues. “She has to make sure she knows the rules, she follows the rules, or else she’ll explode or she’ll put herself in danger.”

Disney / Steve Wilkie

Paula, like the aunts of the Aunt Lydia School, feels it’s her duty to train Agnes into submission, and the stakes feel especially higher because of Agnes’ parentage. Simultaneously, Paula knows that Agnes’ success or failure will influence her social status as a wife. She’s determined to marry Agnes off to a powerful commander because of that.

In The Testaments Episode 4, the green-pinned plums were put to the test by the wives and aunts of Gilead. They had to serve tea perfectly. In a show of twisted support for Agnes, Paula tripped one of the plums, ruining her otherwise perfect performance. In Gilead, something as simple as spilling tea can decide your fate. Paula took fate into her own hands for Agnes’ benefit.

“I think there’s a twisted affection that she grows into,” Seimetz says of Paula’s feelings for Agnes. “I don’t think she has the comforting qualities that Agnes’ Gilead mother, Tabitha, had. She was a much more comforting mother. Paula feels like she’s more of an instructor to Agnes. And I think that is a way of showing your love and concern, in her own right. She feels like she needs to guide her into womanhood in some way.”

June is in The Testaments, and her impact on Gilead would be felt regardless. That rebel handmaid is infamous in the regime, and the Gilead propaganda machine has worked hard to make sure that the nation knows that June is an enemy. Few people in Agnes’ life know that she is June’s daughter, but Agnes knows she is the daughter of a handmaid and has been raised to be ashamed of that. If more people knew of her origins, it could impact her standing in society and put a target on her back.

The Testaments, Wednesdays, Hulu