How much time has passed from the rise of Gilead to the events of this series? For example, Nick's teenage bride seems to have been raised with Gilead's principles.
It's only been a couple of years. In the first season there were all these pop culture references in the flashbacks (Kylie singing Can't Get You Out of My Head was played in one) to show how recent it'd happened.
I very much liked season one, and think Elisabeth Moss is one of the best actresses around, and that despite having plenty of great competition. But, only two episodes in so far in season two (and here's why), I am quite troubled by this whole torture porn business. I see some here do not think that's a fair charge to make against the show. But I am not so sure about that. It certainly bothers me. To be clear it is not bleakness alone that puts me off. One of my favorite films all time for example is Winter Light, Ingmar Bergman's perhaps bleakest film, and that's saying something. (Although to be clear even there I find some optimism in the ending.) And Handmaid's Tale's bleakness does serve a purpose. But the physical evisceration of one character after another gets to be a bit much. Not sure if it is too much, as I consider watching episode 3.
I had a lot of hesitation watching season 1, as the book is one of my favorite novels and was a subject of a few different university courses. But they pulled it off, with amazing results. Knowing that it's now into unwritten territory, again some hesitation around season 2. Once again, IMO great results. Incredible performances across the cast, for the most part. They've been able to introduce some new elements that I find really intriguing, such as Nick's child bride fully embracing the ideals of the new regime. Her scene with the knitting needle and June was chilling, humorous, and insightful. What they three actors are able to do with facial gestures alone in that scene made me rewind and watch it twice. Ten seasons seems like a stretch, but I would like some more backstory on the prime characters. The Serena flashbacks are just scratching at the surface, where she's the architect of her position (more so that her much weaker husband) yet at times seems to resent it (simple things, like not having a pencil). The history of Aunt Lydia could almost be a season to itself; what a complex and contradictory position, where some elements of compassion occasionally leak out but are almost as quickly extinguished.
Brilliant ep(8)! I wasn't expecting such a quick reversal of fortunes for the dynamic duo with the return of Fred Waterford, but June & Serena still managed to forge a victory of compassion by reuniting Janine with her baby. In fact, that very last scene with Janine singing to her baby the classic Dusty Springfield song I Only Want to Be with You (and very well, too), set off some waterworks at this end.... So very beautiful. And notice, she also cast off her shekels - the handmaiden uniform . One has to take those moments when they present themselves, despite the consequences. Nevertheless, there appears to be a growing alliance between June and Serena, which could lead to some interesting developments. "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them".
These last two episodes, 8 & 9, were as effective as a show can possibly be in conveying story, emotions, acting and filming. When it's dialed in, it's all the way dialed in, placing it among the ranks of the best shows ever. It has faltered this season, but only by a small amount. All is forgiven, thought, with back-to-back drama like these past two. One more left.
While I enjoyed this week’s episode, they stretched credulity by having Serena go about the Canadian hotel without any chaperone or security detail. In light of the attack in Gilead I cannot believe they would have allowed the wife of a Commander to lack protection. Of course that allowed them to have Serena meet the American, an exchange I found riveting (but predictable), such are the occasionsl contivances of even the best TV dramas. Luke’s confrontation with the Commander was first rate, the pain and guilt on Serena’s face said it all, and the Luke and Nick scene was equally good. Offred’s scene with Aunt Lydia was very powerful, at last we found out a small detail of Lydia’s past, she’s a complicated monster. A flashback episode revealing just who this woman was “before” is something I’m really looking forward to. With four more episodes to go perhaps we’ll get there.
Spoiler alert: For this tikiphile and exotica fan, the saddest part of this week's episode was when Serena threw the box of tiki matches into the fireplace.
Wonderful episode all around. It's interesting how, days after, certain scenes stick in one's mind. Last ep, it was the end scene with Janine singing to her baby. This ep, it was a minor scene where Nick tells June that he made contact with her husband and delivered the letters. This news completely overwhelms and reinvigorates June's demeanor. Her face lights up as she hungrily devours every morsel of news. Having access to information in an information restricted world is a gift to be treasured.
I think this season belongs to Yvonne Strahovski (Serena)... if she is not at least nominated for an Emmy, it will be a shame. Her performance is what keeps me coming back week after week. While I feel the show keeps trying to get us to feel something akin to sympathy for her. I refuse. I see her as one of the great villains in cinematic history. A Nurse Ratchet. Or Ramsey Bolton. Albeit, more complicated. But she is evil to the bone. Her being in Canada and seeing free women being free made for great television. Strahovski often seems to do some of her best acting without saying a word. And it was great for someone to tell Serena point blank "That's not your baby." I'd love to see character development for Serena. But I don't think we are getting it. I actually think we've yet to see the worst Serena can be.
I think we are. A few eps back, we saw how happy she was doing 'real' work (I hate knitting!) when her husband was recuperating, and in collaboration with June. She was also sympathetic to Janine's situation with her baby. We saw her resentful when Mr Waterford came back to the house and she had to revert to subservience - her briefly experienced independence evaporating. But not completely, as she experiences how the world used to be in Canada. She desires her freedom and independence, but is still emotionally trapped within the world she helped to bring about. There is some real cognitive dissonance going on there. We didn't know this about here previously, therefore, I would say that we have seen her character develop and the narrative is leading us to believe that she may at some point break free (perhaps after another patriarchal beating!), especially after June's last words in ep9: "I know I should accept the reality of you (her baby) being born here, make my peace, but eff that!".
If Serena turns, it will be up there with Darth Vader restoring order to the force in "Return of the Jedi." I see a different path for Serena. I fear for Hanna. But I hope you are right. I want to root for Serena. I hated seeing her getting spanked by her husband, in front of the girl they rape together. I understood her a little more when I saw her get shot at Harvard. But I think Serena is the villain here. And even if she does turn, I won't be ready to root for her until she makes some pretty hardcore reparations. Killing Commander Waterford would be a good start.
And that could happen. I think she feels overwhelmed by her situation and underwhelmed by her husband, who is a creep. Does she suspect that the baby is Nick's? Loved the dynamic between June and Serena a few episodes back.
She doesn't suspect she KNOWS the baby is Nick's. She orchestrated Nick raping June. She probably isn't aware they had consensual sex afterwords. But Serena 100% knows the baby is no more biologically Commander Waterford's than it is hers.
From Season 1, episode 5 "...Serena suggests to Offred that she have sex with Nick in case Commander Waterford is sterile. Later that day, Serena leads Offred up to Nick's room and waits by the door while Offred and Nick have detached sex." Was that rape or was it consensual? Later on in that episode they have sex again.
First time = Rape Second time = Consensual-ish June is basically a slave to the Watefords, so you could really argue she doesn't even have the ability to consent to anything in her predicament. However, for the sake of the show, I would say the first time they had sex was rape, just like the Commander rapes her. But something happens and June realizes Nick isn't like the commander. And she goes back for consensual sex. I don't think Nick is a bad guy. Since his role as an "eye" is unknown to Serena, as far as Serena is concerned , Nick works for them. He couldn't refuse her requests any more than Offred could've. And now Nick is forced to sleep with his child bride, also against his will. No one in Gilead is free to do as they wish, besides the male heads of house.
As much as I enjoyed that scene, I also thought it was equally, if not more so, incredulous. How could Nick have possibly found Luke? Nevermind if he had tracked him down at his home, but to have found him at a bar was a real stretch. *Re-watching the scene, I suppose it's possible that Nick followed Luke from the hotel. It was shocking to hear the Commander say that in the progress they made with the Canadians, there might be the possibility of the extradition of illegal immigrants. Yikes! It was a relief that everything fell apart, due to the letters. Aunt Lydia's comment about her nephew was kind of alarming. The fact that she said his death at 4 days old wasn't her fault seemed ambiguous. It could've been that she was suggesting she was somehow blamed, but it really wasn't her fault, or more eerily that, since she mentioned it unprompted, she had actually done something to cause his death.
Another great episode, and stellar performances -- I'm consistently amazed by how much they can all convey with just a look, versus words. The look Nick gives his child bride after she gives him the cookies was worth rewatching. Serena is the architect of her position, as we've seen in past episodes it was her determination to rally against the university crowd to promote the idea of Gilead. The in passing she's referenced all the weaknesses of the male leaders....and then just as you start to have some compassion for her, she quickly closes the door. I hope they continue to go further into her background.
Well, we don’t know if she was determined to promote the idea of Gilead exactly as we know it, and if she fully realized to what reality these ideas would lead. Possibly after the forces and ideas she supported won, she found herself in a trap, and she might not like how the things turned out. But in Gilead she saw an opportunity of having “her own” child, and she became obsessed with this, overlooking everything else. Just a tough.
