Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Testament Episode 6, “Stadium,” which is currently available on Hulu.
From the beginning of Hulu’s Will, it was clear that Aunt Vidala (played by Mabel Lee) wasn’t Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) biggest fan, and now we know why.
This week’s episode of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” follow-up series reveals more of Lydia’s backstory — which “Handmaids” viewers have come to know a lot about over the course of six seasons — including the fact that she actually created an aunt program in Gilead to save herself in her early years. Furthermore, she was willing to actually kill Vidara to make it successful.
In a flashback to the very day that Lydia and thousands of other women were rounded up in a stadium for evaluation by those in power at the start of the Gilead regime, Lydia proves her desire for a new cause by pointing what appears to be a loaded gun directly at the head of fellow teacher Aunt Vidala (then known as Vivian) and pulling the trigger. Unbeknownst to Lydia, the gun was loaded with a blank cartridge. In this way, Vidara’s life was saved, but it wasn’t because of Lydia.
Courtesy of Disney/Russ Martin
Asked how many times she shot the scene with Lee, Dowd told Variety, “I don’t know, many, many times,” adding that for her, “every time was a state of shock.” “All of a sudden the hood comes off (Vidala’s head) and my colleague is there and I’m going to shoot her. I think something very powerful and very intense happens to Lydia and it changes her.”
Lee said the scene took four to five hours to film because the crew had “so much coverage” to film the dramatic scene.
“I felt like I was in a bit of a flow state because I was able to stay open to anything,” Lee says. “Just like when the blindfold comes off, even if there’s a fake gun in front of you and you see someone holding it, it’s really scary.”
Lydia nearly kills Vidala after first pitching the idea of the Antz program to Commander Judd (Charlie Carrick), who was charged with figuring out what to do with all the women rounded up under Gilead’s surveillance. She suggests that a team of women is needed to guide other women, including the Handmaids program, and that she can align them. Lydia twists the story to show that she has a relationship with God and intends to use her found salvation to help the girls for their “sin,” and even uses her past abortion to her advantage.
Courtesy of Disney/Russ Martin
“My first move was to survive. My second move was, if I’m going to start something here that works for me, I’m going to involve other people, other women,” Dowd said of Lydia’s choice to create Antz System. “She’s a teacher. She knows how to work with her colleagues, but she’s going to be the best. That’s the absolute priority. So she’s busy writing the rules for how to do things, and she talks to Jud as if she has complete confidence. And I think she wants to bring in the other aunts, to create another group of women rather than men, to be here and take charge in their own way.”
Back in present-day Gilead, Lydia and Vidara and the other aunts of the school are choosing among this year’s plums for a new group of eligible “green” girls. During these talks, it becomes clear that Vidara does not agree with Lydia’s position, and with encouragement from Commander Judd, Vidara now appears to be considering usurping Lydia’s role. In particular, Lee says that Vidara hates the “Pearl Girl” program that Lydia has set up for Daisy (Lucy Halliday) and other Gilead newcomers.
“Early on, she was kind of critical of Lydia, and I think Vidala thinks Lydia has become too soft and there’s something going on,” Lee says. “But I think that at the root of that criticism is probably a deep sense of resentment over a betrayal that happened in their past. It’s all really rooted in that great betrayal.”
Lee said Aunt Vidala’s “ambition is awakening” in this first season of “The Will,” and that Judd is accelerating that ambition, building on the early wedge he helped drive between the two. “I think Judd threw the door open for me,” Lee says. “And in this world, as a woman, you need the power of men to have more power. So I think when that happens, her ambition awakens.”
By the end of the episode, another new fact about Lydia is revealed. She leaves a stain on all of Gilead’s power players. We see that she takes notes and names, collects secrets, and writes them all down in a book, but for what purpose?
Courtesy of Disney/Steve Wilkie
“One of the things I respect about Lydia is that she’s very conscious, very observant, and aware of what’s going on,” Dowd teases. “And what will happen? I’ll leave this for a little while, and I’ll keep it, because I’ll use it someday. So I’m not in a hurry. One step at a time. I know I can keep it safe and secret. That’s what I need to know when no one else needs it. One day we’ll see what happens.”
Following this episode, which is largely told in flashback, “The Testator” returns to the main storyline at the school, where Agnes (Chase Infinity) and her friends soon learn which commander they will spend the rest of their lives with, following the orders of their aunts. Agnes is in love with Garth, who is about to be promoted to commander, but that doesn’t mean he’s the one Lydia and Vidara choose for her.
“Agnes might be the least satisfied with her game,” Lee says. At the end of Episode 6, Vidara delivers the news of Agnes’ match to her family, but viewers won’t find out who the lucky man is until next week. “I think there’s going to be a really wide range of reactions among that friendship group. I think some people will get what they want and others will be quietly disappointed.”
