Starts tomorrow night on Channel Four, and looks promising, going by the trailers and it would take some going to butcher the Atwood novel. That said, has been some time since I read the original, which is probably to my advantage in terms of any liberties taken.
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The Handmaid's Tale
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The Handmaid's Tale
Like DR it's a long time since I read the book, though the opening episode did seem pretty faithful to the novel as I recall it. My main concern is discovering a second series has been commissioned. Now the original book didn't exactly have closure by my memory of it but neither was it open-ended. And that was necessary to save the whole thing from being too depressing. I'll watch on because I really rated the book, with a nagging fear that it might end up too grinding.
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I've found this riveting so far; there have been some brutal moments where the humiliation and loss of control inherent in the premise are logically followed through. It isn't without moments of dark humour and Elizabeth Moss is good at conveying a sense of the absurdity of being stuck in a waking nightmare. The series has reminded me that the default genre for dystopian fictions on screen is often the thriller, and this is paced differently to a conventional one. I'm dubious as to how further seasons might work, without gratuitously repeating the nastiness or becoming a more straightforward resistance yarn. Neither would measure up to what has been a very strong stand alone piece.
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Just finished this , very good.
I never read the book, I might have a peek.
The brutality and humiliation dished out was pretty hard to take; but beautifully acted and and shot.
I can predict any second series going dangerously close to The Hunger Games melt down, of "the revenge, the fightback" or what ever, and will lose the simplicity of it all.
The single coloured outfits , red, blue, or black - although kept reminding me of FIFA rules, were very effective in the various landscapes.
Might just try and watch Top of the Lake, to get more Elisabeth Moss.
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Warning - vague spoilers. Not, I think, enough to be serious partiucularly if you haven't read the book, but those yet to complete Series 1 might want to skip it anyway.
Series 1 is basically the entire novel, baring the coda which is set decades afterwards. However Atwood seems to be very involved in the TV series, so there is hope that it will maintain it's structure rather than becoming some typical resistence yarn. I wouldn't have thought they would make Gilead begin to look vulnerable to falling as yet, as this would limit them to just a handful of series when the makers would presumably rather go on as long as it is making money. This shouldn't be a problem - Gilead has just had it's successful revolution and is still fighting the remnants of that war (which it will continue long after it has been fully won, perpetual revolution and all it). It has many stages of brutality and development to go through yet before the whole thing turns on itself and founders.
My guess for what Series 2 will deal with - problems mainly for the Commanders and their wives; political purity, purges, the emergence of a Stalin-like figure to be worshipped as a little god. Probably after receveing revelations. It will show that in such a society everyone is vulnerable, not just those on the bottom rung (though they, of course, will be partiuclarly at risk). We were already seeing a foreshadowing of that happening towards the end of Series 1, with Fred being upbraided for insufficient piety at the trial of that other bloke. My Mum, who has been watching it avidly, found the behaviour and atmosphere if not the specifics distubringly like her childhood in Communist Czecholsovakia, particularly the secret police and the parrotted catchphrases like "Blessed be the fruit", "May the Lord open" and "Under his eye". Which isn't particularly surprising, given that Atwood was in West Berlin when she wrote much of the book. It borrows from all of American evangelicalism, Iranian theocracy and an archetypal police state like East Germany. So the various stages of development of communist societies can form the model for series to come.Last edited by Janik; 09-08-2017, 11:28.
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We're now up to Episode 8 and it's as good as before but I have to admit to one rather personal niggle. I know that Gilead is very good with its emissions and they clearly have minimal lighting. But I can hardly see a bloody thing with some of the indoor shots. Partly my eyesight.
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RTE has got a jump on the UK now with Series Two - without giving any spoilers, there are three main strands in the new storyline - the first concentrating on Offred, the second on Aunt Lydia and Gilead, and the third introducing life in the Colonies. An intriguing sidestory also fleshed out Ofglen's (Emily's) background.Last edited by Diable Rouge; 27-04-2018, 18:08.
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C4 showed the first episode on Sunday over here. Ruthlessly effective combination of high visual style and brutality, with Elisabeth Moss again the pick of an excellent cast. The new directions in nastiness could tip over into just being an arty version of Saw VI at some point, but the balancing act still works for now.
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Originally posted by Benjm View PostC4 showed the first episode on Sunday over here. Ruthlessly effective combination of high visual style and brutality, with Elisabeth Moss again the pick of an excellent cast. The new directions in nastiness could tip over into just being an arty version of Saw VI at some point, but the balancing act still works for now.
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Not a fan of the last episode (Women's Work, for those running ahead of the UK). Part of it is just curmudgeonliness about it not being the book, but it's also not the world they set up in the first season. There's just no way the powers that be in that world would tolerate with such relative equanimity these constant, flagrant breaches of law and faith and norms. Sure there was punishment at the end, but there's no way the Aunt Lydia of the book or the first season would have allowed any of the ICU stuff, let alone endorsed it. In previous episodes this season the increasing "leniency" has been somewhat justified by the situation the powers find themselves in, but it's just not remotely plausible any more. Handmaids have gone from not even trusting their shopping partners to just openly talking about rebellion in shops. It's gone from being a terrifying totalitarian state in which you can be hung for saying your real name, to basically a 19th century patriarchy with 21st century tech. It's not a convincing portrait of an authoritarian regime collapsing under its own contradictions, even though that seems to be what they're aiming at.Last edited by Ginger Yellow; 09-07-2018, 18:29.
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Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View PostNot a fan of the last episode (Women's Work, for those running ahead of the UK). Part of it is just curmudgeonliness about it not being the book, but it's also not the world they set up in the first season. There's just no way the powers that be in that world would tolerate with such relative equanimity these constant, flagrant breaches of law and faith and norms. Sure there was punishment at the end, but there's no way the Aunt Lydia of the book or the first season would have allowed any of the ICU stuff, let alone endorsed it. In previous episodes this season the increasing "leniency" has been somewhat justified by the situation the powers find themselves in, but it's just not remotely plausible any more. Handmaids have gone from not even trusting their shopping partners to just openly talking about rebellion in shops. It's gone from being a terrifying totalitarian state in which you can be hung for saying your real name, to basically a 19th century patriarchy with 21st century tech. It's not a convincing portrait of an authoritarian regime collapsing under its own contradictions, even though that seems to be what they're aiming at.
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Yeah, I'm not too happy with that final decision either. On the other hand, the Small Faces afficionado commander provides a promising new character and household to further explore.
I thought for a moment they were going to attach a sickening image to Itchycoo Park, but that's not at all how it went down. Much more interesting this way.
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Not sure who has or hasn't seen it so
*SPOILER*
I sense also the regime is beginning to crumble under a combination of a flawed foundation, plus international sanctions and censure. The ability of Bradley Whitford's character to maintain his status while abusing the model so severely lends weight to that I reckon.
Perhaps Offred senses this shift, and wants to try and help destabilise things. I know that's investing one character with a lot of influence, but this is fiction.
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Originally posted by Sits View PostSo no allowance for maternal instinct?
[spoiler]in order to go after her first child from within Gilead, she had to give her second child to somebody else. The alternative would have been to bring her second child with her to Canada to build a family of initially three, and go after reunion with her first child while fighting against the Gileadean system from the outside. Right now, she has access to precisely zero of her loved ones.[/spoiler]
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