The Handmaid's Tale

[cabbagekid]

I searched and searched for an actual thread on the show, but I couldn't find one.

This season was difficult to watch. While the first season was depressing because it had so many similarities to what was going on in the real world, Season 2 was uncomfortable at certain points.

I mentioned it in another thread, but I was slightly annoyed that they announced Season 3, three episodes into season 2. I'm a hopeful person and I need to know when shitty things are going to end because I can only take so much shit. But damn it, I'm more than likely going to be back next year watching this depressing show because I need to know that this shit ends with Gilead going down.

Memorable scenes for season 2 (whether for a good reason or bad):
- Serena confessing that she hates knitting
- Serena and June working together on stuff for the Commander
- Rita agreeing to be the baby's godmother
- Glimpses of Serena waking up from the world she created
- June and Hannah seeing each other again only to be torn away again, the timing of this episode could not have been better
- June and Nick in the beginning of the season in the warehouse.
- Enid telling Nick she didn't want to have a baby with him. She was a character I completely misjudged and dismissed because she's 15, but in a way, she was smarter and far braver than the adults.
- Moira saying "My name is Moira" at the Waterford's car. That was powerful
- The music chosen throughout the series. They are doing a remarkable job.

Scenes I had to close my eyes for because I didn't have the stomach to watch it:
- Serena being whipped by Fred
- June being raped so they can induce labor
- Drowning scene with Enid. I closed my eyes because I hate the verse "Love is patient, love is kind" that she was reciting, but no one should die because they decided to love someone else.

The Season 2 Finale had me yelling at the TV, especially in the end. I just knew that June was going to stay behind because of Hannah (and I honestly don't blame her). The only way June is ever going to get out now is if Gilead ends because no one is going to want to stick their neck out for her anymore. My favorite scene tonight was Nick finally being able to hold Nichole/Holly. I wonder if June telling Emily to call the baby "Nichole" is so that she's named after her real dad, Nick.

Speaking of Nick, I don't see how this ends well for him. But it does seem like the Gilead is starting to crumble from the inside so maybe he gets saved somehow. Nick and Rita are probably the only two characters I want to have a happy ending, Rita may get it but I'm not holding my breath for Nick.

As for Rita, I loved the development of the Martha network. It was impressive how organized they were and how quickly they were able to move and get their plan in action. Mayday took forever, while the Martha's were a couple weeks? A few months maybe? And the subtlety in the episode with the Martha's missing twice: 1) The Commander was looking for Rita so he can make tea and 2) when Emily thought it would be the ceremony, but instead he was upset that his Martha was missing.

I'm glad to have a year break in watching Season 3. My heart is going to need it.

[scarlet]

Yeah, when she pulled out the photo of Hannah I knew she wasn't going to go. Nice twist that the crazy professor was actually part of the resistance.

My favorite scene tonight was Nick finally being able to hold Nichole/Holly. I wonder if June telling Emily to call the baby "Nichole" is so that she's named after her real dad, Nick.

Oh, wow, I hadn't made that connection. Interesting that Serena named her that. This season was brutal, much moreso than season one. God only knows what will happen in season 3--but I am happy Emily got out. I hope she finds her wife and son.

[Deleted]

I feel like the show's creators watched Game of Thrones and thought its popularity indicated people want depressing shows nowadays. Except that Thrones also contains quite a bit of humor, and the bad guys in fact usually get their comeuppance, it just doesn't come from an obvious source. Handmaid's Tale is over-the-top bleak. For a second I thought June would escape Gilead and become sort of a guerilla figure on a quest to get her daughter back. But now she's just back to the Commander, back to Aunt Lydia, back to non-stop suffering and awfulness, and why? There's literally no reason why she'd still be there except for the plot demanding it. And her daughter, I guess you could make that argument, but she just smuggled a baby out of Gilead, there's no way Eden would be executed for adultery and Offred would be allowed to get away with baby smuggling when babies are all Gilead cares about, that's a massive plot hole, and she's no help to her daughter dead.

I don't know if I'll be back for Season 3. Bleak without occasional humor is just exhausting, and life is exhausting enough right now.

[petitesuite]

The finale has me DONE with this show. It's just so stupid! She's not secretly commanding a small militia or similar, so what exactly is she going to do for Hannah? See her once every three months (at the very most, and even that seems pretty unlikely since it is so dependent on Waterford's good graces) and...nothing else. So, so dumb. Also how does she anticipate Nichole being fed while she gets to Canada?

This show has incredible moments of emotional resonance, but this whole season was a little off to me. June running away/coming back, getting sent away/coming back was so over used; Serena mobilizing the wives should have happened over several episodes and not in five minutes; a lot more could have been done with Emily and Lawrence; we should have had some prior indication that the Marthas were a network although the chain of them working together was cool. Also while I think Eden's storyline was a good addition, it really should have happened at another house. It just makes no sense that Waterford keeps having all these difficulties with apparently no repercussions for his standing. Ultimately the good parts of this show (all of the acting, especially) just isn't enough for me to get over the increasingly dumb writing.

[Yossarian]

I think the actress who plays Serena is just as fantastic as Elisabeth Moss. I have so much empathy for Serena ... even though most of the time she is a raging cow.

I too hated the ending - ugh, I know she loves Hannah but Hannah was actually ok (in a Gilead ok way) whereas that little baby needs her. And she has spent two seasons trying to get out only to stay in the end! So annoying but, yeah, it will probably make for a better next season than June in Canada.

[Deleted]

I think I would have preferred to see June in Canada and Serena wage the battle in Gilead. The organic enlightenment of women previously in the dark who are willing to admit they were wrong and abandon their lives of relative ease for the sake of future womanhood is so much more satisfying to watch at this point in the story of Gilead. If nothing else, we would have gotten a break from Elisabeth Moss's go-to "I'm sooooo mad right now you guys, like really, REALLY mad" face. It was effective at first, but got to be a bit much as the season wore one. We get it Elisabeth Moss, you are ACT-TING!

[varsity]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that hated the ending. People sacrificed so much for her to get out, and she chooses to stay. I'm still interested to see where they go next season.

[Ginger]

I'm very late to the party on this one, but I just binged both seasons, which is a bleak way to spend two weekends.

Season 2 has me so accustomed to inconsistent characters and inconsistent internal logic that it makes total sense that Offred will stroll back to Gilead after her third escape, having disposed of a precious infant, and will survive relatively unharmed.

The Season 2 rules of Gilead were totally relaxed anyway. All of a sudden the Handmaids were allowed to talk to each other in groups and sass everybody and use their real names and didn't even get sharp looks from the Guardians let alone a zap with a caddle prod.

It's been many years since I read the book, but one of the problems with the show is that there is no bit of happiness or levity for anybody in Gilead ever. Everybody is miserable, nobody gets what they want, and nobody is safe. Totalitarian regimes don't work that way. Somebody needs to be benefiting from it or it wouldn't exist in the first place.

[Mugsy]

I don't know, look at super fundie Christian types. Everything is wrong and sinful and they spend their days with pinched faces, judging everyone else. They're in charge, but they're not happy or benefiting. I don't really get it.

[scarlet]

Anyone watching season 3? I saw it get some tepid reviews, but I actually think I'm liking it more than last season. The best parts are with Emily adjusting to being free of Gilead. Alexis Bledel is doing some A+ acting.