The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 is finally utilising a character that we all wanted more from

Moira is finally being used more in The Handmaid's Tale Season 6, and we couldn't be happier about it. Throughout the show, Moira has had a pretty powerful character and has been a big influence on June as well. When they both started out as handmaids in The Red Center, it was Moira who somehow gathered the courage to escape. Even though she got caught and sent to Jezebels, she held on to her courage and made it out of Gilead and into Canada.

Moira's character has been sidelined for a long time in favor of June. Even when June and Moira were in Canada with Luke, Moira had no real participation. Her strength and complexity weren't given the space to shine. But, it appears The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 is finally utilizing Moira's character for more than just a third wheel in Luke and June's relationship.

Here's how Moira is taking the initiative and facing Gilead head-on in The Handmaid's Tale Season 6.

Moira's Strength and Complexity at the centre of The Handmaid's Tale Season 6

Moira and Luke decide to start working with Mayday after June makes it out to Alaska with her daughter in The Handmaid's Tale Season 6. Now that June is out in Alaska, Moira and Luke finally have the chance to fight against Gilead, against the people who've been hurting them for so long.

Even though Moira has been a captivating presence throughout The Handmaid's Tale, supporting refugees, adapting to life in Gilead, Jezebels, and then Canada, she is reduced to a supporting character when in June's presence. Her strength, fire, passion, and depth don't make it to the forefront when placed next to June, which is usually where she's found.

However, The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 5, "Janine," seems to be taking a different route. June and Moira go undercover as Marthas to conduct a dry run of the Jezebels, where Mayday would attack the next week. Jezebels is the same brothel that captured and kept Moira and the other women around as prostitutes for the men of Gilead. So, this was a powerful full-circle moment for Moira to take part in bringing down the place and the people who tortured and raped her.

The episode even witnesses a much-needed confrontation between June and Moira when June asks Janine to leave with them, which would fail Mayday's plan. Moira confronts June about her recklessness, releasing tension that has been building up for a long time. Moira points out how everything centers around June, her trauma, her guilt, and her friends, resenting how nobody around June gets the space to experience their trauma.

This resentment and exhaustion expressed by Samira Wiley as Moira is incredibly powerful and deeply human. As the episode progresses, we get to witness Moira's strength as well, when she overpowers and kills the guardian who tries to sexually assault her. It is incredibly powerful when Moira is the one who kills the guardian holding the telephone wire to his neck, and June is the one supporting her.

Even though June and Moira's mission in The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 is now complicated after they miss their ride back to No Man's Land, it is incredibly powerful and refreshing to witness Moira as the central figure. Samantha Wiley takes this responsibility beautifully, reminding the audience just how brilliant Moira is. Here's hoping the final season utilizes Moira's strength and power even more in the upcoming episodes.

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The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 new episodes are released every Tuesday and are available to stream on Hulu.

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