The Handmaid's Tale - Hulu

Well, except you are told that the state of Gilead no longer existed at the time June's diary was discovered.

 

I think she is consciously doing penance for the guilt she feels about her part in hurting his husband's ex. It wont last.

 

I’m not liking the 2nd season nearly as much. As with a lot of series that are based on a book, once the source material is surpassed, the thing kind of flails around. Some of the second season hasn’t made that much sense, overall, in terms of plot logic or trajectory.

 

I find it exceedingly unbelievable that they wouldn't have gone after Nick as the prime suspect in June's disappearance. Serena knows she's carrying Nick's baby!

 

Good point! But isn't he protected somehow as a member of "The Eye?" It's like having a spy in the house that everyone knows is a spy, so mind your Ps&Qs.

I might have that wrong, though. Nick's official position has always been a little blurry to me.

 

A lot of times a show is at its best when they're still establishing the foundations of the plot and developing the characters, and become less interesting when they actually have to start following through with things.

 

Nobody is protected, not even the commanders. That dude had his hand cut off!

 

That is true in general (or knowing how to end a series), however I don't agree that that criticism can (yet) be leveled at this show. I'm still very much engaged in the narrative and the wonderfully realized main characters.

 

This show has presented many a bleak scene over its course, but in thiis ep (S02E05) one scene really stood out as unnerving.

I'm referring to the scene where June is placidly bathing herself (as required) and we see her blank face staring at nothing. Then the camera pans across the bathtub to reveal crimson colored water. June is bathing in her on blood, completely emotionless. This really gave me the creeps, moreso than any overt physical abuse scenes.

A methodically slow paced episode that held my attention at every moment. I wonder where the Emily narrative is going and how it will (surely?) link up with June's.

 

This week's episode was 50 straight minutes of torture porn. Hardest watch of the year.

 

Exactly what I told my wife, and then to explain what "torture porn" is!
I wonder how the viewing figures are this season, because it's pretty relentless so far with no positivity at all, which must put a fair few people off I would have thought.

 

Well, the last episode ended on a positive note, or at least an optimistic one.

I don't watch the show for the 'torture porn', though I don't think that label applies for this show, despite how grim it is (the Saw movies are more appropriately labeled as torture porn, for example). I watch for the great acting AND any and all small victories won against the sadistic authoritarian theocrats in charge! Now that June's back, we may start to see more satisfying developments as she starts to fight for her child's future.

 

See, I told you guys that June was broken and needed some sort of spark to bring her around. Hell yes, she was broken! Everything points to broken.

Well, now she's found a new hope to latch on to.

I think this show has been every bit as good as Season 1, save for the episode where she magically found the runway.

My only question is: why do we watch such a show? What does it say about us to descend into this much darkness?

 

I refer you to my previous comment:

"I watch for the great acting AND any and all small victories won against the sadistic authoritarian theocrats in charge! Now that June's back, we may start to see more satisfying developments as she starts to fight for her child's future".

 

We love our dystopian science fiction, why?? I'm not qualified to answer the psychology behind the appeal.

 

We like it because it displays the strength of the inner spirit, as humans, better than almost anything. Survivors of the Holocaust and other atrocities are seen as positive, strength inducing examples of the human spirit.

 

Or, is this just what we tell ourselves so that we don't have to face our sadistic rubbernecking human tendencies ?

 

Speaking for myself, no, it definitely is not.

Not much going on in ep6, except -spoilers- some flashbacks to Serena's role in the rise of authoritarianism as she delivers a Coulter-like campus speech. Nick's new child bride looks a sweet, and totally brainwashed, psycho-to-be. She's definitely trouble.

 

Ka bang...

 

Offset of course by the cause of the dystopia, most living things are hard wired to self preservation in the face of any number of threats it's the way things are.

 

Does Serena definitively know this, or was it simply hinted at? I'm trying to remember the details.

 

I was kidding.

 

I totally did not see that coming. Caught be completely off guard. I was ready to immediately start the next episode until I remembered that they're only releasing one a week lol.

 

I thought Serena engineered it because she knew Commander Waterford was sterile? Maybe I just imagined that.

That last episode was amazing.

 

That's how I recall it.