Handmaids tale

Only the first series was based on the book, so be prepared for that when you read it.

I’m sure I’ve read that there will be a series 5 in 2022. I think it may have already been released in Canada, but I’m not so sure about that.

They've left it open for another series. I've really enjoyed it from the beginning and although it was rather brutal, was pleased to see the commander get his just deserts.

I am glad it has ended. I dont think i could bear watching June's facial expressions any longer. Sometimes she looked positively evil depending ont the camera angle. I hope there wont be another series, although i expect they will do one as it is a great money earner. After all she still hasn't got back Hannah her first daughter ......yet

The HT is my favourite book. I don't mind the series, but it isn't the book IYSWIM.

It was revenge porn and June's revenge was very well justified by the sequences showing her feelings at being imprisoned and raped by Fred. We all enjoyed watch her revenge, and Fred's terror.

It is a moral dilemma, because for instance respected institutions like Amnesty International don't call for revenge but instead they call for bringing to justice people like Fred who break international law.

n the case of Gilead versus the free world, the free world was not responding properly to June's case.

Therefore the moral is that for justice to succeed it must be seen to punish so that small people like June are satisfied that crimes against them are taken very seriously and they clearly see the state avenging their suffering.

I have enjoyed the series from the start, hoping there will be another one. I’m not sure if June ever will be reunited with her daughter Hannah who has no memory of her real mother. Difficult decisions for June, stay in Gilead close to one daughter and the man she loves or return to her youngest daughter and her husband?
I have a copy of The Testaments still waiting to be read.

I’ve watched the series from the start and have thoroughly enjoyed it. My only complaint is that at times the action takes place in such dark places and it is difficult to see what is happening.
Amazing acting by all concerned.

I was quite spooked by last nights episode. Elizabeth Moss is such a great actress and says it all with her facial expressions but when she left gaps in her speech I filled them in for her (not keen on silences) and I was correct. I went to bed feeling quite disturbed

Loved this too. I think it may have been left to us to decide. She was cuddling Nichole, saying she has to leave. Luke looked unhappy. I would assume she wants to go back into Gillead for Hannah. Of course, she’s in love with Nick.

Whether this becomes a fifth series....I don’t know. I was starting to tire of June’s long looks into the camera, and shaking head!

May7

I was quite spooked by last nights episode. Elizabeth Moss is such a great actress and says it all with her facial expressions but when she left gaps in her speech I filled them in for her (not keen on silences) and I was correct. I went to bed feeling quite disturbed

It’s funny how we’re all so different. My daughter said she would love to have watched this, but can’t stand Elizabeth Moss. My daughter said she’s the same in everything she’s in. I’ve only seen her in ‘ Top of the Lake’, and actually can’t remember her at all.

Not often the Yanks give us good drama but loved this.

The characters were so complex. Greatke twisted relationships like that between Aunt Lydia (best lines) and Janine. Is Joseph Lawrence good or bad ... or just a psycopath.
Final scene bit over the top with the 'handmaids' killing off Fred by hand for raping handmaid as we saw earlier in the series.
Then Fred's finger in the post to Serena as retribution for her amputation - evidence of the love hate relationship between June and Serena.
Thoroughly entertaining but think it shoukd be left here. Else Nick might wake up and realise that Fred wasn't impotent afterall and request a DNA test on Nicole....

Else Nick might wake up and realise that Fred wasn't impotent afterall and request a DNA test on Nicole....
Yes Holysox I'd been waiting for that penny to drop as well.
Roll on next series

At the risk of sounding ridiculous I cannot bare anything to do with this and I have never watched it. Saying The Handmaid's Tale makes me tense with fear and feel physically sick. I think it was the Heart of Glass song that triggered this phobia! Did Phillip Glass do a haunting version for the series?
My daughter has told me bits as she is a fan and I beg her to stop. Possibly past life hauntings making me so irrational. I have tried reading some of your posts about it and feel like I have been hit in the stomach. I wish i could watch it but even writing that has made me shiver.

Elizabeth Moss is a Scientologist so I sometimes wonder if she draws upon this experience when acting this part of June given that, from what I understand, both Gilead and Scientology both believe that all outside sources are wrong or evil.

May7

^Else Nick might wake up and realise that Fred wasn't impotent afterall and request a DNA test on Nicole....^
Yes Holysox I'd been waiting for that penny to drop as well.
Roll on next series

Oh, I'd assumed that Serena had found another man to impregnate her. She wasn't above doing that when Fred couldn't get June pregnant, so I've been waiting for her to be exposed as an adulterous wife, with all the implications of that in Gilead.

Final scene bit over the top with the 'handmaids' killing off Fred by hand for raping handmaid as we saw earlier in the series.

Why was it over the top? I think it is very likely that refugees and the resistance in Gilead would kill those who had turned their society on its head. A society that leads to sanitized rape and deprives women of their rights to the point of hanging them, or stoning them if they disobeyed will see a backlash at some time. The law did not help them so they found their own justice.

If you create a savage society you should be aware that you are creating savagery all through it. In all societies, people deprived of equality eventually rebel and they often use the methods of their "masters".

I have read both novels, indeed all of Atwood's dystopian novels. I think she is almost visionary in her depiction of what the future could be like.

Am with you, Whatdayisit. Watched first episode, quite enough for me. Never watched it again

I've always loved The Handmaid's Tale and all of Margaret Atwood's writing. The first series seemed OK but then it seemed to lose so much of the mystery and confusion of the book. I thought the Testament was predictable and not up to her usual standard.

I was so excited to watch the last episode but thought the ending was rushed. I was hesitant to watch the series because of the rape scenes.

If anyone is looking for something to watch with Elizabeth Moss, 'Mad Men' is an amazing series about 1960's advertising, set in Manhattan. She plays an ambitious secretary, called Peggy. 'Don' is nice to look at too!

PippaZ

I'm wondering if you have read Sarah Hall's novel The Carhullan Army based in Cumbria?

The population has to be controlled after climate change and flooding has reduced the habitable landmass. People have had to flee to high ground. The country is dependent on expensive imported food. There is little work and it's reserved for men. Women are forceably fitted with IUDs to control population growth.

Your final paragraph describes exactly what unfolds.

Well according to Mumsnet it has been confirmed that there will definitely be a 5th series; that explains why there were so many loose ends in Sunday's episode. I think June will return to Gilead - to rescue Hannah and I think it was obvious that she is now more in love with Nick than Luke her husband. I so hope that Serena gets her just desserts and is transported back to Gilead, has her child taken off her and ends up as a handmaid - anything less would be so unjust!

Oh my goodness there is something wrong with me because I have a crush on Joseph Lawrence the way he stands with his hands in his pockets and I think he is so laid back, June wouldnt have got away with anything without his help. I do like the series but it can be slow at times. I have just started reading the book, I have had it on Kindle for about a year.
I must say Im fed up with June crying all the time. Glad Fred got his comeupence and I hope Aunt Lydia gets her's too in the 5th series.

I loved Elizabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in Mad Men and also Christina Hendricks. The character of Don was interesting but I got very annoyed with his antics.. Pete was truly awful as a character and I loved the SilverFox boss. During the first lockdown I watch the whole series again.

I found the finale of the Handmaid's Tale very hard to watch even if Fred did deserve it.