The Handmaid's Tale

I jumped onto The Handmaids bandwagon pretty late; I started the series a couple of weeks ago & just finished with seasin 4. I chose to disregard the plethora of negative reviews about the last 2 seasons because I wanted to make my own conclusions about the show, as a whole. While many of the negative reviews do make valid points, such as some of the scenes being too slow & the (way) too many unnecessary close-ups of June, I thought the overall show was excellent!!

As an individual who: 1- raised in an extremely strict, religious setting 2- a victim of sexual abuse for many years 3- trapped in very tightly controlled & highly abusive relationships & 4-had a child ripped from my arm because I was deemed "unworthy" of being a mother simply because the grandparents were more financially stable at the time, this show truly resonated with SO MUCH of what I've gone & been through & what I've overcome & recovered from...hence the title of my review.

I understand that my review doesn't give much in reference to the show, itself, but it is a testament not only to those of us who've endured similar circumstances, but a testament to what strongly held beliefs, such as religion can do & the impact it can have on those who do not have those same beliefs.

It is OKAY to have differences of opinions. It is OKAY to have different beliefs. It is OKAY to be who we are, as individuals, but it is NOT okay to be persecuted for those differences. We do not all have to or need to agree with one another, but we all MUST learn to respect one another & accept people for who they are.

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.

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.

They have an interesting story but it happens in super-slow motion. They have about 2 seasons worth of storyline but they are trying to stretch it into 6-7 seasons by spending half of each episode zooming into people's eyes, showing people's empty faces and characters moving at slow motion. Each episode has about 4-5 minutes of story development and 40 minutes of zooming into people's faces and eyes.

This show was meant to be watched at 2x or 3x speed. If you are watching it at regular speed, you are actually watching it in slow motion.

Each episode: zoom into someone's face, zoom into someone's eyes, zoom on the ceiling, zoom on the walls, zoom back into someone's eyes, zoom into another character's face....20 minutes gone, another 20 left to go. Zoom some more until we fill 40 minutes. Then 5 minutes of actual story development.

The Handmaid's Tale is a chilling & gripping series set in a dystopian world where the USA is transformed into a class-based society, with emphasis on fertile women who are treated as property for reproduction. The shows does a great job at depicting brutality, repression, authoritarianism, but also how these acts are justified in various forms. The acting really captures the cultish behaviors that can be found on both left & right extremes of today's ideological spectrum. Season 1-3 are definitely top-tier for those who enjoy dystopian/post-apocalyptic genres with high production.

Season 4 however is a snoozefest. The show has lost steam, there's not much storyline development left and it just drags with no objective or goal. Even the good acting & cinematography can't salvage what was once a solid 8-9.