In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Episode 7, we see more from Aunt Phoebe, the newcomer played by D’Arcy Carden – but maybe it’s best not to get too attached.
Carden is best known for playing Janet in the Kristen Bell-starring sitcom The Good Place, but you may also recognize her from roles in Barry, A League of Their Own, and Nobody Wants This.
Although her style tends to lean on the comedic side, she takes on a totally different kind of role in the Hulu series, working as a calculating Aunt at Gilead’s Red Center, alongside Lydia.
She joins Josh Charles’ Commander Wharton and Timothy Simons’ Commander Bell as newcomers to The Handmaid’s Tale’s sixth and final season – and one who may not survive the final battle. Warning: spoilers ahead!
D’Arcy Carden’s Aunt Phoebe may have her fate sealed
In Season 6 Episode 7, we find out that, unlike her counterparts, Aunt Phoebe is actually fighting the good fight. She’s on Mayday’s side and helps smuggle Moira and June into the Red Center, telling them, “Let the revolution begin.”
While this means we’re rooting for her, it also feels like a death sentence. We know the final season is headed for devastation, and newcomers rarely make it out alive – especially those brave enough to betray Gilead from within.
That threat looms even larger when you consider her position under Aunt Lydia, who remains the commanding presence at the Red Center. Phoebe operates beneath her, and the power imbalance becomes clear to see in the latest episode.
This is testament to Carden’s performance. She plays her character with a nervous energy in every charged interaction with those above her, whether it’s another Aunt Lydia or a Guardian.
Of course, nothing is set in stone just yet. But in a TV show where defiance only goes unpunished if you’re a main character (*coughs* Nick *coughs*), Aunt Phoebe’s quiet rebellion may not stay hidden for long.
June promises to “take care” of Commander Bell
HuluThere is a silver lining to this. In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Episode 7, Commander Bell has a target on his back. So far, he’s proven to be one of the most despicable characters of the Hulu show.
Even more so than Fred Waterford, he embodies the worst of Gilead’s cruelty. Introduced in Season 6, Bell is a high-ranking Commander who abuses his power to benefit his own desires.
At Jezebel’s, the regime’s secret brothel, he treats women – including Janine – as disposable objects, degrading them in front of his peers for “fun”.
What’s more, he’s using Commander Lawrence and New Bethlehem to lure in US refugees. The ultimate plan is to get them all in one place, stage a coup, reinstate Gilead’s oppressive regime, and get Lawrence on the wall.
In short, he’s a villain of the worst kind. Simons, like Carden, is best known for his comedic roles – particularly as the bumbling Jonah Ryan in Veep. And like Carden, that background works well here, making his character all the more unnerving.
But if Season 6 Episode 7 is anything to go by, the smile will be wiped off Commander Bell’s face pretty soon.
When June and Moira find this out he’s captured Janine and is keeping her as a Handmaid, June says, “I’ll take care of it.” And if her way of “taking care of it” is even half as relentless as Waterford’s comeuppance, Bell has a grim (and well deserved) fate ahead. Praise be!
Find out when the next episode drops with our guide to The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 release schedule. You can also catch up with our recaps of Season 6 Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 6.
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