‘The Testaments’ Star Mattea Conforti on How Becka Reached Her Breaking Point in Season 1 [EXCLUSIVE]

Something had to break on The Testaments, the new Hulu series adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale. The Mary Sue talked to Mattea Conforti, who plays Becka Grove, about the major moves her character her makes in the final two episodes of the Hulu series, singing in distress, and her complicated bond with Agnes (Chase Infiniti).

The Testaments takes place a few years after the end of The Handmaid’s Tale. It follows the a class of upper class teenage girls called Plums who Gilead aunts groom to be the wives of powerful Commanders. It speaks to the “next gen” for Atwood’s Gilead as well as the audience. Spoilers ahead for season 1 of The Testaments!

One thing The Testaments offers that The Handmaid’s Tale did not always, however, is hope for the future. The first episode promises us that the characters we’re about to meet will be instrumental in Gilead’s demise. Finally, proof that the horrors do not persist! And who burns the world? Girls.

“We wanted to continue the same core themes and messages from Gilead that that we’re so accustomed to from The Handmaid’s Tale,” Conforti tells me. “However, the stories are being told from a younger perspective. As unfortunate and harsh and horrible the things are, happening in this world, there’s this sense of underlying hope, and almost playfulness, and lightheartedness as well within these girls and and within the friendships that they all cultivate within each other.”

Conforti’s character is in desperate need of the internet.

Most of Becka’s classmates compartmentalize their hormones and look forward to gett. But Becka cannot contain her misery. It’s a familiar tale to any of us who grew up with stories like Catherine Called Birdy, Little Women, and even Beauty and the Beast.

The problem, so to speak, is that Becka is hopelessly in love with Agnes. She joins Alexis Bledel’s Emily and Samira Wiley’s Moira in the grand tradition of devastating gay female characters in The Handmaid’s Tale universe. Even worse, unlike them, she doesn’t remember a time before Gilead’s oppressive and violently anti-LGBT society.

Think about it: Becka gleefully shouts “dirty girl” at Daisy (Lucy Halliday) for taking the Lord’s name in vain. The aunts teach them that, while rape is wrong, women are at fault for tempting men to sin. Even the straight girls feel shame about their sexual urges and desires. We can only imagine what they teach about “gender traitors,” the disparaging Gilead term for queer people. We only see glimpses of how Becka feels about her feelings for Agnes. She has nobody to talk to about them. Coming out is out of the question, as homosexuality is punishable by death.

“These girls have no outside reference or material of an alternative universe or world where these situations don’t exist,” Conforti says. There was a lot of conversation about this on set. If she could show her any pop culture, she says, she’d give her the whole internet. “They have no idea that there could be this other world where women don’t have to get married and they’re not expected to become mothers, and that’s not their ultimate destiny.”

It’s what makes Daisy so important as an outsider. When Becka does confess her feelings for Agnes to Daisy, the Canadian rebel is empathetic. She tells her that it’s okay to feel this way. Unfortunately, some circumstances arise that push Becka away from Daisy and send her on a totally unexpected path.

Becka takes the lead in The Testaments season 1’s big twist.

Becka has a sardonic, dark sense of humor that was fun to play, says Conforti. “The girls are talking about the aunts potentially setting up their matches right now and Becka immediately says, ‘and then it’s prison for the rest of our lives,'” she says, citing one example. “You are not allowed to say that in Gilead when your future is, you know, that heavily dictated.” Yet she openly talks about running away and wanting to die before getting married. She even prays for the apocalypse!

But then, suddenly, horrible things start to happen very quickly. Daisy learns that Becka’s father, a dentist, has been sexually assaulting several Plums in their class. She pretends to be a victim in order to protect them. At first, Becka does not believe Daisy and blames her for destroying her family. But then, Agnes confides that she is one of her father’s victims. All of Becka’s anger, heartbreak, disgust, and rebellion combine and combust and she murders her own father in cold blood.

“As an actor I was very excited,” says Conforti. “It’s really been his amazing and huge buildup from episode one, and I think it’s just this huge snowball effect that we’re seeing just finally unravel. She’s really just hit her breaking point, and unfortunately, these are the outcomes of her, of her situation.”

Conforti inspired the musical moment in the finale.

In the last episode, Becka sings a children’s worship song called “Rise and Shine (Give God the Glory)” to herself in a jail cell. It’s haunting, and not totally out of the actress’ wheelhouse.

“Chase and I actually are huge theater kids,” Conforti says, “and we spent probably every single minute of every day on set singing Wicked, any show tunes ever. The writers actually would listen to us sing, and they decided to write in that scene for me after hearing us sing on set, which was so much fun.”

Conforti is a musical theatre professional with three Broadway credits to her name. She joined Matilda: The Musical in the titular role and played Louise in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. She also originated the role of Young Anna in Frozen.

“In film, [singing is] so different,” she says, however. You don’t necessarily have to project your voice and reach the back of the house with your expressions. “I can almost kind of whisper and then have that intimate moment with the camera.”

Becka’s fate in The Testaments finale is her worst fear.

The aunts quickly conspire with Becka’s mother, who takes the fall for her daughter and hangs for Doctor Grove’s murder. On the same day, Becka marries Garth (Brad Alexander) against her will. It’s traumatic all around. That said, excepting the fact that her mother is dead, this the best possible scenario for her marriage-wise on paper. Garth won’t make her do anything against her consent. He’s young, and her platonic friend, and secretly a May Day rebel.

He just also happens to be her secret crush’s secret crush. It’s a Sartre-esque nightmare scenario.

“Navigating those relationships was very interesting because [Agnes] is, you know, focused on Garth, but is also still aware of Becka, and her feelings, and their incredible friendship that they have together. And Becka is focused on that bond with Agnes, but then also now has to deal with this this new relationship blossoming with with Garth and that friendship and what’s gonna happen there.”

Plus, as Conforti says, “Becka just doesn’t want to get married, so it’s still heartbreaking for her at the end when she’s inevitably forced to walk down the aisle.”

Just before she does walk down the aisle, however, Becka kisses Agnes on the mouth. She’s not shooting her shot in a traditional sense, obviously. She can’t do that. The kiss reads more like grief, or a last grasp at freedom–an I have to do this before I die, or else I’ll die, sort of thing. Agnes doesn’t pull away, or really react at all. They don’t talk about it. Agnes’ expression during the wedding ceremony is imperceptible. (If this was any other show, I’d be lightly advocating for a Becka/Agnes/Garth throuple situation. But it’s too dangerous and complicated. This is Gilead, not Riverdale!)

The Testaments is officially returning for season 2. If Daisy can’t get Becka out of Gilead ASAP, let’s all hope that she finds some kind of peace and quiet in her new situation. “I hope that these girls really invest in the strength that they have within each other,” Conforti says, “and really explore that. I hope that they ask more questions, and I wanna see a little rebellion spark, maybe.”

(featured image: Disney/Steve Wilkie)

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]