The Handmaid's Tale - Hulu Original (**Spoilers**)

nomdeboardie

kunst nugget wrote: »

I'd be much more interested in the Netflix series with Atwood's involvement than the third season of this series. Season one was great but two was pretty uneven and I'm not holding it much hope for season three tbh.

Oops, I meant Hulu, not Netflix!

The Late Late Show

The Handmaid's Tale is the best series to come along in a long time. I enjoyed series 1 and series 2 as well. Some people were not big fans of the second series but most rate it highly and I cannot see anything wrong with it. This series is something to look forward to and hopefully series 3 will be another good one. I also enjoyed the book and the 1989 film. The racist nature of Gilead is detailed in both these but not in the series. Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel as well and look forward to that too.

The Late Late Show

nomdeboardie wrote: »

From
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/28/margaret-atwood-announces-the-handmaids-tale-sequel-the-testaments

"The Testaments will be set 15 years after Offred’s final scene in The Handmaid’s Tale and narrated by three female characters. It will not be connected to the television version, which has extended beyond Atwood’s 1985 novel to continue Offred’s story."

Unconnected? Given Atwood's involvment in the Hulu series, and the intention to continue the series for an unspecified/undecided number of years, I wonder how they're going to orchetrate that little entnglement - or will it just be ignored so that the book becomes a parallel universe? Talk about milking it... :pac:

Will The Testaments include Offred I wonder? Or will Margaret leave her story to the series and concentrate on 3 other characters and their tales of Gilead life. My guess is they will be 3 new characters perhaps a wife, a Martha and a handmaid maybe?

nomdeboardie

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Will The Testaments include Offred I wonder? Or will Margaret leave her story to the series and concentrate on 3 other characters and their tales of Gilead life. My guess is they will be 3 new characters perhaps a wife, a Martha and a handmaid maybe?

Perhaps, but I'd imagine they'd still want to co-ordinate the societal events/dates between the two fictional entities...which could get messy!

Greyfox

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Some people were not big fans of the second series but most rate it highly and I cannot see anything wrong with it.

The problem is there's only so much misery a audience member can take. I loved S1 and felt S2 was at best just very good. S3 needs to focus more on the actual rebellion/fighting back

wakka12

S2 was well made but I thought it didnt really bring anything new that S1 didnt

Sleepy

Greyfox wrote: »

The problem is there's only so much misery a audience member can take. I loved S1 and felt S2 was at best just very good. S3 needs to focus more on the actual rebellion/fighting back

I suspect this is exactly where the show will jump the shark tbh. Ofred will get a total character transformation and suddenly become an expert in guerilla warfare rather than the liability she has been to date.

The Late Late Show

Sleepy wrote: »

I suspect this is exactly where the show will jump the shark tbh. Ofred will get a total character transformation and suddenly become an expert in guerilla warfare rather than the liability she has been to date.

Sarah Connor? Remember her in Terminator 2 Judgement Day versus her in the first Terminator movie. 2 completely different people.

iguana

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Sarah Connor? Remember her in Terminator 2 Judgement Day versus her in the first Terminator movie. 2 completely different people.

Of course she was two completely different people, well over a decade had passed. She had gone through a trauma during which she had learned that how she raised her son was what stood between humanity's survival or total annihilation. And that different person emerging was apparent by the end of the first movie.

In book Offred/June is never an amazing person. She is just someone who, like most people in similar circumstances, finds a way to adapt to her new life and survive as best she can, for as long as she can. She is weak in a lot of ways and strong in others, but it's the kind of strength that allows Gilead to flourish. She will either live whatever life she is allowed in Gilead, or passively escape with the help of Nick/Mayday and then keep her head down and not challenge Gilead for fear of repercussions against the daughter she left behind. She's designed to be a textbook case of the passivity and fear that allows totalitarian societies to flourish.

It would be fine, probably necessary, for tv show June to evolve beyond that, but it needs to be a realistic process. Instead in S2 we had about half the episodes end with her thinking '**** that!' and then starting each new episode in the same spot. The tv show keeps on making the same step forward and then back, constantly ending up in the same position. In making her keep on doing stupid, stupid things that would see her living chained up in a basement having babies until she can't anymore and is hanged. The writers are clearly afraid to make significant changes in the story, to move her out of the Waterford's house. To have the Waterfords face the only end that their constant screw ups in Gilead would lead them to. They want to constantly hint at progress without actually making significant changes.

That said they've faced significant criticism for that and failed to clean up in the Emmys this year. So there may be a good chance that they make those bold steps this year. Each episode of The Handmaids Tale tends to be excellent as a single episode but poor when viewed as a whole season because of the lack of willingness to allow the story to evolve.

Sleepy

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Sarah Connor? Remember her in Terminator 2 Judgement Day versus her in the first Terminator movie. 2 completely different people.

Sarah Connor would have had 14 years of living in a free society where she was free to learn how to use weapons, had the opportunity to stock-pile them and had free access to all the military strategy books she could read via the US Library system.

Offred doesn't have 14 years (she'll be infertile by that stage), access to weaponry, the freedom to learn how to shoot or even the freedom to read.

The characters situations are incomparable imo.

The Late Late Show

Sleepy wrote: »

Sarah Connor would have had 14 years of living in a free society where she was free to learn how to use weapons, had the opportunity to stock-pile them and had free access to all the military strategy books she could read via the US Library system.

Offred doesn't have 14 years (she'll be infertile by that stage), access to weaponry, the freedom to learn how to shoot or even the freedom to read.

The characters situations are incomparable imo.

I sincerely hope that they do not go down the Sarah Connor route with June/Offred. If they did, it would be just a copy of a mix of The Terminator Judgement Day and Mad Max Fury Road. They are 2 of my favourite movies just like The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favourite TV series but the latter should stay true to its world.

Of course, season 3 will be all about the fightback against Gilead and it is made clear that Gilead's leaders are a mix of moderates and hardliners. Mayday exist as the rebel group and are trained many ways. The Martha network too as well as Nick will be involved. There will be violence but for June, it will be using her new allies like Serena and her knowledge of all the wrongs Fred does that Serena knows only too well. Look at the despicable person Fred is and his awful treatment of both June and Serena in that last episodes of season 2 shows us who the main focus of the fightback will be.

wakka12

Ah it would just get ridiculous if they did that. June has pretty much shown herself to be pretty physically weak but emotionally strong, just stick with that,she hasnt a violent bone in her body, she couldnt even shoot the waterfords after theyd abused and tortured her for years, not everyone needs to be a super hero

She is just an average mom that now has to endure life in a world completely turned upside down, its relatable , shes a normal person

The Late Late Show

wakka12 wrote: »

Ah it would just get ridiculous if they did that. June has pretty much shown herself to be pretty physically weak but emotionally strong, just stick with that, not everyone needs to be a super hero

She is just an average mom that now has to endure life in a world completely turned upside down, its relatable , shes a normal person

June is physically weak but emotionally strong and intelligent. Her biggest asset is information and the fact that the whole household hate Fred. June knows that Fred has broken every rule in Gilead and she has a strong ally in her friend, Nick, who is there to spy on Fred. All in all, things are looking very bad for Fred. Margaret Atwood of course in the book noted that Fred was executed by the regime itself. June and Nick could very easily arrange this and there may even be other Gilead leaders (Warren is mentioned as approving of Serena's plan to allow women reading the bible) who are anti-Fred too.

Agent Coulson

Superbowl teaser for season 3 full trailer will be after the game.

Mr E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuWg6AyzETg

Agent Coulson

Johnny Red Cab

When is it back?

Purple Mountain

Johnny Red Cab wrote: »

When is it back?

No confirmed date yet.

Agent Coulson

Trailer

Blingy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Trailer

Gave me goosebumps. !

Exclamation Marc

I'm still torn on how I feel about this series.

Loved the first season but by the end of the last season I was quite a bit worn out by all the uncompromising misery (and I can stomach quite a bit).

The ending was also utterly baffling.

Might give an episode or two a go but it will really need to be something excellent to pull me back.

youngblood

Do I really want to put myself through another season of pure misery???

Makes Eastenders look like a Disney musical

iamwhoiam

I feel the same , I was drawn in by the amazing acting and hard hitting stories . I loved the first season but the last one was baffling and cruel for the sake of it
Not sure if I can cope again with wall to wall misery

is_that_so

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

I'm still torn on how I feel about this series.

Loved the first season but by the end of the last season I was quite a bit worn out by all the uncompromising misery (and I can stomach quite a bit).

The ending was also utterly baffling.

Might give an episode or two a go but it will really need to be something excellent to pull me back.

The first series is the book, the second and subsequent ones the invention of showrunners. Atwood is actually writing a follow-up book called The Testaments which is not linked to the show content, but to the original book.

Cina

The last season was a real drag and the ending sucked. I'm really not sure I can be bothered with another season of her suffering.

The Late Late Show

I cannot understand why some people talk about misery, violence, etc. No wonder we are getting all this tame stuff like Taken Down, Rebellion, Clean Break, Striking Out, etc. that could have been so much better if those who don't want violence and realistic depictions of criminality and/or dictatorship hadn't had their way. The Handmaid's Tale, like Love/Hate and Breaking Bad before it, offers an uncompromising depiction of a violent society that is supposed to make one realise the horrors of a violent dystopia. Handmaid's is an excellent series and is giving fans of proper drama what they need. If one does not want that, there's always Tubridy's Boyband special tomorrow night.

jewels652

Hello everyone,

I would like to start watching this series but I don’t have Hulu I don’t think is available in Ireland. Is it available on netflix ?
Tía

Agent Coulson

jewels652 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I would like to start watching this series but I don’t have Hulu I don’t think is available in Ireland. Is it available on netflix ?
Tía

Channel 4 have it. Not sure if you can stream it in Ireland but here is the link.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-handmaids-tale/episode-guide

iamwhoiam

The Late Late Show wrote: »

I cannot understand why some people talk about misery, violence, etc. No wonder we are getting all this tame stuff like Taken Down, Rebellion, Clean Break, Striking Out, etc. that could have been so much better if those who don't want violence and realistic depictions of criminality and/or dictatorship hadn't had their way. The Handmaid's Tale, like Love/Hate and Breaking Bad before it, offers an uncompromising depiction of a violent society that is supposed to make one realise the horrors of a violent dystopia. Handmaid's is an excellent series and is giving fans of proper drama what they need. If one does not want that, there's always Tubridy's Boyband special tomorrow night.

We all have different opinions and entitled to feel it has taken a turn to gratuitous violence . It has also strayed from the original book . I for one will definitely try again to watch but yes am the first to say it is wall to wall misery with very little lighter moments . It makes tough viewing and will of course attract different opinions .

Exclamation Marc

The Late Late Show wrote: »

I cannot understand why some people talk about misery, violence, etc. No wonder we are getting all this tame stuff like Taken Down, Rebellion, Clean Break, Striking Out, etc. that could have been so much better if those who don't want violence and realistic depictions of criminality and/or dictatorship hadn't had their way. The Handmaid's Tale, like Love/Hate and Breaking Bad before it, offers an uncompromising depiction of a violent society that is supposed to make one realise the horrors of a violent dystopia. Handmaid's is an excellent series and is giving fans of proper drama what they need. If one does not want that, there's always Tubridy's Boyband special tomorrow night.

That's a bit disingenuous to be honest and missing the point of people's concerns. Love/Hate, Breaking Bad etc present nowhere near the same level of consistent misery with every little glimmer of hope or happiness crushed soon after. Those shows had redemption, happiness and laughs which balanced out the drama, this doesn't.

Also, people have less tv time these days, they don't want to be facing consistent misery, violence, rape, slavery, pain, torture, emotional distress etc. with little happiness or pay off.