The Handmaid's Tale

If I may start 'off-topic' for a moment. I am male, mid sixties, and have watched, like many others, all the great (and not-so-great) horror films. After watching the ten episodes of 'The Handmaid's Tale' I can safely say that THIS is a real horror story. It makes the entire horror genre seem like cotton candy. After each episode I find myself shaking, often with tears in my eyes. I'm not going to talk about the story. I am going to tell you that the acting is beyond reproach. In almost every movie, every TV series, there are at least one or two characters that don't fit or are poorly portrayed. Not so here. I simply cannot find fault with the performances of the entire cast. Stellar! The sets, the direction, the camera work, the intensity all fit together seamlessly. This is a story of a good world...gone very wrong. This is a story about faith, twisted by evil intent, then thrust upon the common people. For me it is truly horrifying. I'm sorry I can't find better words to describe how this show affects me. I will say this: My daughter is currently attending university in the U.S. and I can tell you I fear for her safety every hour of every day. Not because this story is happening now...but because it is so close.

I've never written a review in my life. After seeing this and then looking for more information about it, I came across IMDb and instead of finding intelligent reviews from intelligent people, I find a few that scream of ignorance.

It is pretty easy to understand why.

As the 20th century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more enlightened, civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down of society began to occur. How did this happen? Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest and in which the weakest or not-so-intelligent were culled, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Evolution began not to reward intelligence, but to coddle and save the weakest. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left "Intelligent Man and Woman" to become an endangered species. One need not look far within these comments to see that in effect. It's not that hate which is shown in some of these reviews that is killing the world. I think that up to a certain point all of us possess some level of hate. It is not having the mental acuity or aptitude to recognize it within ourselves, and to not let ourselves be led by it. Some of these so-called reviews are downright scary when you stop to think that is the actual mentality of the person who wrote them. One guy decrying interracial couples and gays to the point of not watching a television program that has them. A woman who says this could not happen and in the next paragraph goes on to detail how it could happen, only not as Christianity. Who cares what it is called, if you admit it could happen?

As for this series itself, it is relevant. For now. In this time. More than ever.

Beyond that, it is beautifully filmed and acted.

Do not fall for the negative reviews of those fanatics and zealots who are purposefully trying to bring down the ratings and who are so lost they cannot even practice the very laws of a god they are trying to defend.

This series is a masterpiece.

The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most infuriating, depressing, and most difficult to watch shows I've ever seen. You keep waiting for things to turn into June's favor or all the terrible people in the show to get what they have coming to them but it just never happens. It just keeps getting more and more depressing and hopeless! There are little victories along the way but it takes until the end of Season 4 before you finally get some satisfaction. Having said all that it's still an incredible show that is so well acted and written that it is always nominated for all the major awards. June is a character the changes so much throughout the show. She's almost unlikable by the time season 3 & 4 arrive. There is no doubt that some of the show is excruciatingly slow but it's worth it to stick with it. It's probably time for the show to come to an end soon and I hope it has a satisfying ending.

After 3 and half seasons of the same thing happening over and over, of characters acting irrationally against their own best interests, of June's very sophisticated facial expressions, of one cliff-hanger per episode to keep your curiosity up through the feet-dragging and fake depth... it's probably time to acknowledge that this lemon has already been squeezed dry and move on.

I wanted to like this series and had actually watched up to Season 2, midway, but I got overwhelmed and just plainly put off by Elizabeth Moss's constant close ups!!!

My exact thought echoed here by several reviewers so apparently I am not alone! Just got tired of her face's weird projection that comes off like she is about to transform into an alien or monster or head about to explode as she semi lift her head with matching head/neck twitching, big ugly stare and pursed lip breathing.... so annoying and distracting!!! I just had enough of her face and felt overdosed that I needed to stop watching the show to get a much needed withdrawal from her.