No love for The Handmaid's Tale on HTF, I guess. I think it's a remarkable series, that they've kept interesting beyond the first season, which was basically the novel. It is difficult material, though. Not much of a reprieve from the grim subject matter.
I thought the first season was amazing! Season two I found some episodes dragged. Will definitely give Season 3 a shot. Starts tonight in Canada.
Gonna be starting Season 3 shortly, here — on an out-of-state trip right at the moment, but will be hitting “play” on these probably the very same day we get back.
I think it's a spectacular show. I'm not new to the story, having read the novel 10-12 years ago. Maybe I'll revisit it. I think it's steadily gained steam with each season. Far from "dragging", I thought season 2 got down into the grimy dirt of the whole situation. It was outright brutal at times, also bringing in some topical issues that probably puts off some viewers. So far, season 3 has continued to crank it up, as far as I'm concerned. The character of Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) is especially intriguing to me. And, of course, Emily (Alexis Bledel) is the real surprise of the series.
Well I thought the third season was pretty uneven, until the last few episodes anyway. But the finale was great.
I agree. Too much time spent with Elisabeth Moss glaring at the camera. They just dropped Emily the entire second half of the season, until the end of the final episode. But... the uneasy ambiguity of Commander Lawrence made for a good bit of enduring suspense. The turn of events for the Waterfords was a great idea, that I think might have been mishandled a bit. June's turns to the dark side were also good. I know a lot of people seemed to dislike the second season, but I thought it was awesome. It really took off the gloves and got it's nasty on. I know it was probably too relentlessly grim for most people.
My wife and I just finished going through all three seasons. Pretty much an episode a day, with a few days off between each season. “Relentlessly grim” is a good way to describe it. But we liked it a lot the whole way through, even if it boils the blood every step of the way. At least the last few episodes of season three had some really hopeful/inspired turns; Spoiler Stabler’s death, the Waterford’s arrest, the success of getting those 50+ kids to Canada Very curious, though, how much longer the series will be. If they have a grand plan of sorts with an endgame in mind, they can go for however long they see fit, I suppose. I’d be fine with another season or two, but I don’t know how much of this effed up stuff I can take! lol!
