Do we like them?

Do we like Offred (June Osborne)?

A character from The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)

Our score: 8 out of 10. Yes, we'd back her. She is flawed, stubborn and sometimes reckless, but she keeps resisting and keeps trying to protect the people she loves.

June Osborne is a married mother with a job and a daughter, living in a near-future America. A theocratic regime takes over and calls itself Gilead. Women lose their rights, and fertile women are assigned to elite households as Handmaids. June is renamed Offred, meaning "of" her Commander, and is made to serve in his home. The story follows her trying to survive, keep her sense of self and find her family.

Offred is not a flawless hero, and that is much of why she works. She is observant, sharp-tongued and often afraid, yet she keeps finding small ways to push back. She builds quiet alliances, gathers information and refuses to let Gilead decide who she is. Her love for her daughter drives almost every choice she makes.

We give her an 8 because her courage and loyalty clearly outweigh her faults. Those faults are impulsiveness, a willingness to gamble with other people's safety, and a growing hardness as the pressure builds. Given what is done to her, most viewers will forgive nearly all of it and keep backing her.