"No Handmaid's Tale Post?" Fri May-05-17 04:35 PM by BigReg
First episode was extremely filmed(beautiful even) , well acted, very atmospheric. Only nitpick was it as a bit heavy with the exposition but alas its the first episode of a sci-fi show and that comes with the territory.
Interested to see where it goes; right now its a mix of Children of Men and an artsier version of Oz...its an interesting but not a fun watch outside of the visuals because of all the abuse scenes, LOL.
1. "Watched that first episode " In response to Reply # 0
That was brutal and yet I couldn't look away. Probably what happens when conservatives get their way. Surprisingly great cast. The lead is an actress has that face we remember from other projects without really knowing who she is. Joseph Fiennes been giving me weirdo vibes since that Urban Myths episode and this is not helping. Yvonne Strahovski is awesome in most of her roles.
Gonna rewatch the first episode with the Mrs and definitely will continue watching. How is this not the Golden Age of TV? I watched it just before American Gods and Dear White People and realized how many good shows are out there.
time is money, money is time so i keep 7 o'clock in the bank and gain interest in the hour of God I'm saving to buy my freedom, God, grant me wings, I'm too fly not to fly _ Saul Williams
TheAlbionist Member since Jul 04th 2011 3306 posts
Mon May-08-17 05:15 AM
2. "Love the book, starting this tonight I think." In response to Reply # 0
>First episode was extremely filmed(beautiful even) , well >acted, very atmospheric. Only nitpick was it as a bit heavy >with the exposition but alas its the first episode of a sci-fi >show and that comes with the territory. > >Interested to see where it goes; right now its a mix of >Children of Men and an artsier version of Oz...its an >interesting but not a fun watch outside of the visuals because >of all the abuse scenes, LOL.
6. "I think I'm all in at this point " In response to Reply # 0
I'm a big fan of dystopian fiction, so I was sort of all-aboard from the jump.
That first episode was definitely heavy...maybe because it had so much to establish, or maybe because I wasn't ready for the overall tone of the show going in. I definitely finished watching it and said I was probably good on continuing with the series because I'm not trying to feel so depressed for several hours...but I was told it got a little more rewarding with subsequent episodes.
I'm three episodes in now and am hooked. Aside from the fascinating (and eerily relevant) story/writing, cinematography is top-notch. Acting is great. Not the biggest fan of some of the music cues, but all in all, this show is extremely well-done.
4 episodes in It's good Need to watch the rest ~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
13. "Last night's episode was great. (The Bridge)" In response to Reply # 0
I think this ep did a great job of highlighting just how warped and abusive this world is for the handmaidens and really all women ( but mostly the handmaidens). I completely felt the resolution at the end. It's crazy that now we are starting to see that there are degrees of cruelty to the women who run the households. It's all bad for sure, I mean these women are essentially being raped monthly, but some wives in blue are worst than others.
18. "Masterful expansion of the written material." In response to Reply # 0
Great job of expanding on the other characters. Should be interesting to see what the second season will look like since that'll be completely uncharted area for the show runners.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
20. "I thought the show was fine." In response to Reply # 0
Political relevance notwithstanding, I thought the filmmaking itself was just OK. Mediocre cinematography, uneven performances (Joseph Fiennes was bland as hell IMO), clunky structure. Last episode was strangely anti-climactic, especially the last 10 minutes.
I have a few Atwood novels on my bookshelf but haven't read this one yet. I want to. I assumed while watching this that the potency of the book was watered down a bit, almost as if they wanted to make Atwood more accessible/relevant for the Divergent/Hunger Games YA dystopia crowd.
Definitely not bad, just left a little something to be desired...
21. "You really thought it was anti-climatic? " In response to Reply # 20
I had straight up tears in my eyes. I can feel your Fiennes comment but otherwise I think they do a great job with setting up the world and characters. It's not perfect but it's damn good IMO.
22. "The cinematography? That critique I don't get. Imho its the best on TV" In response to Reply # 20 Wed Jun-28-17 11:29 AM by BigReg
Games of Throne's withstanding (and that's more because of scope).
Every scene in the show was a painting, enough where id say that at times it felt like they were more concerned about setting shots then plotting*
But scenes like the hanging from the perspective of the open door of the moving van in the middle of the season? Stunning.
*
MINOR SPOILERS
My issue is that the first half of the season is basically well filmed psychological torture porn where any bit of hope is immediately stamped out. Which is great for the atmosphere, and great depressing tv watching, but feels manipulative and makes Finnes and his wife like you said, cardboard cutouts of evil.
25. "Curious if folks here still watch this." In response to Reply # 0
I stopped watching after the end of the second season because I was getting to feeling Hulu was stretching this show out and the quality would suffer in future seasons.
I just saw something online that the fifth season for this got renewed. Is the show worthy of a binge to catch up?
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
26. "The insane level of paranoia I got from the 2nd season." In response to Reply # 25
I blasted through the whole series at the beginning of the pandemic, and got to the 2nd season shortly after Jan. 6th. How quickly they got womens’ rights taken away and their own version of taking over the capital, even before any of that happened, had me super paranoid one Sunday I was driving with my mom. Seasons 3 & 4 didn’t hit me like that.
I do wanna see a new/final season, just to see the story resolve.
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