The Handmaid’s Tale should follow the lead of Orange is the New Black if its to survive long-term and fully realize its own potential. The Handmaid’s Tale is nearing the end of its third season on Hulu, and has already been renewed for season 4.
Season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale has continued to tell the story of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), expanding her character arc well beyond the pages of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale novel. However, while Moss continues to shine in the role and the rest of the cast is strong too, there have been some storytelling issues that’ve meant it hasn’t been as strong as it was in its stunning first season.
The Handmaid’s Tale and Orange is the New Black are two very different kinds of shows that tell different stories, although they share themes around power, abuse, and patriarchy. But even though they aren’t exact matches, The Handmaid’s Tale has some big lessons it can take from OITNB.
The Handmaid’s Tale & Orange Is The New Black Suffered The Same Issue
Both The Handmaid’s Tale and Orange is the New Black are TV series based on books, and with that come inherited protagonists who’ve had to grow beyond the confines of the page and adapt to the demands of a long-running TV series. June and Piper have some surface similarities, mostly a shared privilege in their pasts, but otherwise aren’t too alike. And yet in terms of how they fit into their respective shows, both represent a problem.
Orange is the New Black started out as Piper Chapman’s story, which makes sense since it was based on an autobiography by the real Piper Kerman. The first season of the Netflix Original Series was very good, but it became increasingly apparent that Piper herself wasn’t the most interesting character. Her crimes, her relationships, and her struggles were a fine introduction to Litchfield, but they didn’t reach the same levels of fascination or tragedy as some of her fellow inmates. The longer Orange is the New Black kept the focus on Piper as the single lead and everyone else supporting, the clearer this issue became.
The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t quite in the same boat, if only because Elisabeth Moss delivers such powerful work that she can carry an episode even when the material is lacking. But it has taken June far beyond the source material, without ever matching what’s in season 1. June’s story has continued, but it’s hard to say that the character is necessarily better now. What’s more, though, is that it has kept such a focus on June and how things impact or relate back to her that it’s struggled to develop its other characters well enough. There’s some great talent involved, and it’s not completely for a lack of trying - season 2, in particular, did some world-building - but The Handmaid’s Tale is so married to the idea of making June its hero that the other characters suffer as a result.
How Orange Is The New Black Fixed Itself
If there’s a sign that The Handmaid’s Tale can turn things around going forward, then it’s in Orange is the New Black. The Netflix series realized, gradually at first and then with increasing certainty, that it worked much better as a legitimate ensemble show than it did the story of Piper with some supporting players around her. The shift started in season 2 as other characters started to get fleshed out in much more interesting ways, and by seasons 3 and 4 it was easy to say that Piper was just one of the many inmates Orange is the New Black was following.
It’s too simplistic to put all of Orange is the New Black’s success down to this change, with praise for its fearless writing, deft balancing of comedy and drama, and so much more, but it was undeniably a big part of its appeal and especially its ability to run for seven seasons. It smartly used each episode to develop a different character via flashbacks, while spreading its plot out across the prison. So many characters were given their own backstories, distinct personalities, and most importantly their own agency in the story, rather than how they fit next to Piper or with what she was doing. There were so many characters there was something for everyone, and all pushed forward in unique ways. Very few shows have proven as adept at handling so many different characters and storylines and giving them their due as Orange is the New Black.
How The Handmaid’s Tale Can Use Orange Is The New Black’s Approach
The Handmaid’s Tale has already attempted elements of this, with mixed success. In season 2 we visited the Colonies, and spent an increasing amount of time in Canada too, but still these were relegated to being B and C plots, with June almost always the A storyline, and with subplots that often linked back to her in some way. The singular focus on June worked in season 1, when it was adapting one book into a single season of television. It added to the feeling of claustrophobia and sense of hopelessness that made The Handmaid’s Tale so brutal yet compelling to watch. Since going beyond then, though, it needed to better expand beyond the source material, which is something it has struggled with.
That’s not to say The Handmaid’s Tale should lose sight of June, who remains a potentially great character and allows Moss to show off her incredible talent. But it also needs to prove it can exist without her. Emily is one of the most interesting characters on the series, but has been given little screen time; Serena Joy is one of its most complex, but again so much of her story entwines with June. They attempted to give Aunt Lydia a backstory, but struggled to come up with much beyond her being rejected by a man and being ashamed of giving in to lust.
In a way, that highlights the difficulty of what Orange is the New Black attempted, and makes it even more impressive that it pulled it off. But it’s not as though The Handmaid’s Tale is lacking in talent, either in front of the camera or behind it. It has some strong building blocks in place through the like of Emily, Moira, Aunt Lydia, Serena Joy, and Janine, who should all be given more focus, and active roles in storylines that don’t loop back to June but push their own stories forward. Gilead is effectively its own prison, and there are numerous people struggling to at least just survive, if not escape. The Handmaid’s Tale should look to Orange is the New Black and start telling more of those stories, which would allow it to expand, flourish, and run for many more years to come.
More: Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Has the Opposite Problem to Game of Thrones
