‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Fans Blast Cringeworthy Moment in ‘Chicago’

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 midseason episode, “Chicago,” generated plenty of chatter online for more than just those emotional final moments. Amid the continued uprising in Gilead and June and Janine’s escape, the Hulu original series opted for a peculiar song choice that failed to win over many. Warning: This story contains major spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Episode 5, “Chicago.”

Episode 5 was no doubt a whirlwind of an episode that picked up with June and Janine in Chicago with a group of bandits trying to survive in a city broken by war. As the two former handmaidens ventured on their own path to find the Nighthawks, the episode ended with bombs dropping from the sky just moments ahead of a planned cease fire. June ultimately survived the attack, and as Moira emerged from the smoke, a rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You” played. The song was a far cry from the music typically associated with the Hulu original series, and as it tore fans away from what would have otherwise been an emotional scene, viewers took to social media to poke fun at the song of choice.

Over on Reddit, an entire thread was dedicated to the song choice. Titled “UHH CRINGE ending scene,” one viewer wrote, “they were trying to be dramatic and when that song came on I f–ing cackled. Out of place meme song is out of place indeed.” While another person agreed “the song choice is a little cringe,” they said they “started ugly crying as soon as I could tell it was Moira’s silhouette.” A third chimed in by writing that they “immediately turned down the volume and cackled as soon as i heard ‘when you try your best but you don’t succeed…’”

The song even caught some flak from reviewers, with a Forbes recap reading, “this is an odd choice of music—pretty enough, I suppose, but I don’t think it really fits. Neither the melody nor the lyrics really line up with the moment.” The site MamaMia dubbed it “a weird song choice,” with Den of Geek writing that “the un-ironic use of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ over a slo-mo reunion scene would result in disciplinary action from the mawkishness police, but The Handmaid’s Tale gets away with it.”

The currently airing fourth season is slated to consist of a total of 10 episodes, meaning there are now just five episodes left. Fans can catch the remaining episodes, as well as all past episodes, of The Handmaid’s Tale when they arrive on Hulu, which you can sign up for here, on Wednesdays. Stay tuned to PopCulture for all the latest updates!

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