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

Sleepy

Neyite wrote: »

I wondered why June is allowed to get away with so much and my theory is that it's leverage to get Nicole back from CA.

If they execute June, then could it be that Luke as her husband is then the default guardian under international law? And since they know that there is no biological connection to Fred, the Waterfords would lose Nicole for sure having no legal claim over her. As of now her presence during their media appeals gives credence to their story that June has willingly handed Nicole over for adoption and she was subsequently kidnapped by a rogue handmaid, but without June they lose all claim to the baby.

That would only make sense if there weren't dozens of ways to torture someone without leaving a mark on them. As June stated a couple of episodes ago, they can't take an eye or a hand or whatever but electric shocks, waterboarding etc. could all be used to "bring her back into line" without leaving any visible marks for the cameras / any medical check insisted upon by the Canadians.

extra gravy

So now June is on a mission to save the children. I'm sure they'll manage to drag a whole season out of that.

Sardonicat

extra gravy wrote: »

So now June is on a mission to save the children. I'm sure they'll manage to drag a whole season out of that.

Yep. And somehow the convoluted plot will involve several encounters between Serena and June alternating between being besties and sworn enemies and we'll still be in the same spot of the narrative arc on the last episode as we have been all this season. And June will gurn her way through each episode, reach breaking point and have an epiphany that brings her back from the brink and avoid being hung on the wall or a lamp post. Rinse and repeat.

Stark

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-handmaids-tales-showrunner-shares-what-keeps-june-a-1836016377

Stupid justification for **** writing. It's like one of those cheesy comedies where the main character is visited by himself from the future or finds out through some other means that he can't die so gets up to progressively crazier and wackier **** knowing there are no consequences.

Exclamation Marc

Stark wrote: »

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-handmaids-tales-showrunner-shares-what-keeps-june-a-1836016377

Stupid justification for **** writing. It's like one of those cheesy comedies where the main character is visited by himself from the future or finds out through some other means that he can't die so gets up to progressively crazier and wackier **** knowing there are no consequences.

Wow that is some level of shïtty justification.

iguana

Stark wrote: »

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-handmaids-tales-showrunner-shares-what-keeps-june-a-1836016377

Stupid justification for **** writing. It's like one of those cheesy comedies where the main character is visited by himself from the future or finds out through some other means that he can't die so gets up to progressively crazier and wackier **** knowing there are no consequences.

When I read that interview all I could think of was the end of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Of course Bill and Ted is a comedy having deliberate silly fun with the idea of a predestination paradox. I don't know what THT actually is anymore but it purports to be thought provoking speculative fiction while feeling like it's about a step away from June freeing herself with keys that her future self hid for her last week.

Neyite

But that's the opposite of the book though - they don't know what happened to June in the original book. Years into the future they discover her tapes but were unable to identify her or trace her or find out her fate. If the first series was based on the book then her vanishing into thin are would have happened in the first series.

Riskymove

Neyite wrote: »

If the first series was based on the book then her vanishing into thin are would have happened in the first series.

but that is what happened in the first series....she is put in the back of the van and driven off with no one knowing her fate.

if further series had not been approved then it would have ended just as the book did.

Sittingpretty

Riskymove wrote: »

but that is what happened in the first series....she is put in the back of the van and driven off with no one knowing her fate.

if further series had not been approved then it would have ended just as the book did.

I think it would have made more of an impact had it ended as a complete finale at season 1.

It had such promise but frankly whereas before I looked forward to it and watched it with a mixture of discomfort, dread and fear about what might happen next so gripped was I.

Now I find myself scrolling through Instagram while it’s on.

Diceicle

Between the tanking in quality writing on Handmaids Tale, Walking Dead, The Good Fight and Game of Thrones - American Drama writers seem to be in need of some fresh ideas....

ejmaztec

Diceicle wrote: »

Between the tanking in quality writing on Handmaids Tale, Walking Dead, The Good Fight and Game of Thrones - American Drama writers seem to be in need of some fresh ideas....

They've been revamping the same ideas for decades, only changing the actors, the character names, and the locations. Sometimes they're even too lazy to do that, and just go for a remake.

Stark

Bit of a boring episode this week but I did find it quite chilling how closely the plot resembled real life cases such as

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PP_v._HSE

wakka12

What a **** episode. What was even the point?Like fair enough if they want to save some plot twist or action for the end of the season but why wouldnt they at least use such an uneventful episode to show some flashbacks to develop backstories of some of the characters. We didnt learn a single new thing about any character in that entire episode. Just watching Junes boring mug pulling moody faces for an hour under fluorescent lighting.Really sad that my favourite shows has got so boring and ****e

is_that_so

Diceicle wrote: »

Between the tanking in quality writing on Handmaids Tale, Walking Dead, The Good Fight and Game of Thrones - American Drama writers seem to be in need of some fresh ideas....

I think TWD has other issues. Having so many episodes per season means very thinly stretched materials. It's also wandered off down far too many cul de sacs and roundly abused viewers' patience. In Handmaid's they were always going to be tested as writers once the book ended in S1 and they ain't no Margaret Atwood. They seem to be slipping from what people are saying here.

KGC

Stark wrote: »

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-handmaids-tales-showrunner-shares-what-keeps-june-a-1836016377

Stupid justification for **** writing. It's like one of those cheesy comedies where the main character is visited by himself from the future or finds out through some other means that he can't die so gets up to progressively crazier and wackier **** knowing there are no consequences.

Listening to that interview looks like him saying......expect more of the same people!!!! Maybe in series 7 when no ones watching they'll decide to move the story on. The whole teasing of which of the bad guys is going to turn good (will it be Mr/Mrs Waterford or Aunt Lydia or Josh from The West Wing????) is starting to grate too.

hutman

The book ends much the same as the 1st season, with her been taken away.. so they could have gone anywhere with it from there.. for example her chained up awaiting execution after she's given birth and focusing on other aspects of Gilead that haven't been touched on as much.. then wrapped up at the end of the season, june gives birth and the credits roll...

ejmaztec

There are a lot of TV series that have short lives, and people are sorry to see them go, but this one needs to be short lived, because there's only so much misery anyone can take.

If they think that they can get away with dragging this out for ten seasons, they must be deluded, because as it stands, a lot of people will stop watching it.

I've already reached my boredom threshold on this, and get the impression that the writers are going around in circles, and straining themselves trying to work out what the hell to do next.

Galwayguy35

I just record the episode now and skip through the boring bits.

Really disappointed at how it all turned out.

Agent Coulson

We are going to need a bigger boat.


This weeks episode might just be the worst one yet in the 3 seasons for me.

cdgalwegian

Stopped at episode 2 a few weeks back, and awaited reviews here. Sad to say I'm leaving it at that- as I thought Elizabeth Moss was fantastic, but by the sounds of it, the misery porn can no longer be sustained by a proper functioning story. I can't justify the Sisyphean slog.

is_that_so

ejmaztec wrote: »

There are a lot of TV series that have short lives, and people are sorry to see them go, but this one needs to be short lived, because there's only so much misery anyone can take.

If they think that they can get away with dragging this out for ten seasons, they must be deluded, because as it stands, a lot of people will stop watching it.

I've already reached my boredom threshold on this, and get the impression that the writers are going around in circles, and straining themselves trying to work out what the hell to do next.

As long as some TV exec thinks there is money to be made from it, it will continue. TWD is a good comparison. Now down more or less to its first season ratings it's still a very healthy number for AMC and a financial justification to push on.

youngblood

cdgalwegian wrote: »

I can't justify the Sisyphean slog.

I need to use this word all the time

The Late Late Show

I do not see all the hate for this !!!! It is not like we are flooded with excellent TV every day of the week is it??? Sure, The Handmaid's Tale season 1 was the best TV in a long, long time and a hard act to follow but this is STILL a very good show and the only thing along with Iran and Saudi Arabia: Bitter Rivals worth watching on RTE or any other regular channel this week.

In the age of repeats of Dermot Bannon and his Incredible Homes or some other similar house reality programme at 8.30PM yesterday, I welcome Handmaid's 3 with open arms.

Exclamation Marc

The Late Late Show wrote: »

I do not see all the hate for this !!!! It is not like we are flooded with excellent TV every day of the week is it??? Sure, The Handmaid's Tale season 1 was the best TV in a long, long time and a hard act to follow but this is STILL a very good show and the only thing along with Iran and Saudi Arabia: Bitter Rivals worth watching on RTE or any other regular channel this week.

In the age of repeats of Dermot Bannon and his Incredible Homes or some other similar house reality programme at 8.30PM yesterday, I welcome Handmaid's 3 with open arms.

When you compare it to those two, sure its marginally better.

This season is dreadful though when compared with not only contemporary US TV drama but also its former series.

Sardonicat

Episode 10 is better (it would be difficult to get worse, though) but things seem to be building up to another credulity stretching turn of events. At least June has stopped gurning.

Sudden Valley

hard episode to watch - feels a bit like a Holocaust Tv series , just misery after misery. They at least moved the Lawrence storyline along.

LizT

I love Elizabeth Moss and think she's a brilliant actress... but I'm starting to hate her now because of this season. I wonder, when how many of the scripts had
'June stares angrily into distance/camera for 10 seconds' because that's all that seems to be happening.

MargeS

I think June has lost the plot. I think madness has set in.

The Late Late Show

Sudden Valley wrote: »

hard episode to watch - feels a bit like a Holocaust Tv series , just misery after misery. They at least moved the Lawrence storyline along.

They say that era define TV. Of course, The Handmaid's Tale is MEANT to be misery TV or Holocaust TV or whatever you care to call it. Indeed, it is not alone as other TV shows like Chernobyl have also shown. In a world DEVOID of positive news, negativity has taken hold.

John Bolton taking over America in April 2018 and steering America towards, well, Gilead (look at those abortion laws in some states of note coupled with the anti-Iran drivel: if a real war was to come and break America, Bolton's regime would be very picky about who gets protected and who doesn't). Then, you have Brexit. Then, you have Ebola in the Congo. Then, you have terrorist attacks, civil wars, messy revolutions, etc. in places from Ukraine to Syria to Sudan. Modern music is mostly gone to the dogs too. Unless one is interested in sport, there is nothing cheery is there?

Sure, there were other times when ALL the above was going on too. But positive news came too such as the moon landings. World leaders of the time were also able to present themselves better on the world stage (even if they were not all that much better than Bolton and the likes in reality). But culture was better then: musically, they had Elvis and the Beatles.

Art mimics despairing times. If the cold war was coming to a head in the late 1970s until around the mid 1980s, coupled with the rise of the religious right in the US who often spoke about being tougher on the USSR, then the seeds of the next chaotic world events were also sown: chaos in the Middle East with the Lebanon war, the Iran-Iraq war and the Afghan wars. No wonder, the original Mad Max series and the book version of The Handmaid's Tale thrived in that era! Dystopian fiction is ALWAYS the comfort in unhappy, uninspired times like then and now.

wakka12

The Late Late Show wrote: »

I do not see all the hate for this !!!! It is not like we are flooded with excellent TV every day of the week is it??? Sure, The Handmaid's Tale season 1 was the best TV in a long, long time and a hard act to follow but this is STILL a very good show and the only thing along with Iran and Saudi Arabia: Bitter Rivals worth watching on RTE or any other regular channel this week.

In the age of repeats of Dermot Bannon and his Incredible Homes or some other similar house reality programme at 8.30PM yesterday, I welcome Handmaid's 3 with open arms.

We are though, I started watching big little lies and the third season of stranger things and they were just so much higher quality tv than the new season of THMT tbh