Handmaid's Tale Season 3

[Anonymous]

Just saw episode 1 and liked it. I struggled with last season because it was so damn depressing. This episode had a few reasons to make me smile. I can’t go through another season like last years.

[Anonymous]

June still manages to piss me off every five minutes.

Poor Nick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:June still manages to piss me off every five minutes.

Poor Nick.

Yeah, way too much June.

[Anonymous]

I was disappointed. Seemed like too many “wtf” moments and holes in the plot. I was definitely expecting more. I thought season 2 was amazing. It’s supposed to be depressing and infuriating - it’s about a dystopian society of enslaved women!

Having her wind up with Lawrence will open up some possibilities though - otherwise not sure what she would have done.

Prediction: Emily finds her wife and kid and wife has remarried.

[Anonymous]

I still can’t figure out exactly what was going on with the Marthas and what they were trying to do.

[Anonymous]

So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

He’s the most fascinating character on the show, to me. I think he is very controlling and probably regretful of what he has done, if for no other reason than the effect it has had on his wife. He bores of people easily and disdains them unless he finds something compelling about them. He likes smart people and will mentally and emotionally test them to determine whether they are worthy of his time and efforts.

It occurred to me while watching episode 3 that he is sort of the embodiment of humanity as it is presented in the show. Deeply flawed, dangerous, sadistic, and misogynistic, with a flip side that is compassionate and willing to risk all in order to do the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still can’t figure out exactly what was going on with the Marthas and what they were trying to do.

Sounds like they are trying to organize a resistance movement. I’m excited to see the new characters that June hand picked to be Marthas, what they will do, and whether the commander will play a role in having them placed strategically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

I've watched all three episodes now - WARNING: SPOILERS if you haven't watched -


>>I'm going against the Post review that they've run out of source material and story (but the Post has also seen up to episode 6 I think, so we'll see). I think they are putting this season together pretty deliberately and with a new focus. I didn't care too much for Episode 1 - too drawn out with lots of meaningful glances, but not a lot of substance. Didn't need the extra drama with Emily, but she made it. All good.

Several reviews seem to imply that Gilead is going to make a diplomatic play to get baby Nichole back. That could be interesting, tense, and satisfying if they do it right. And by right I do not mean a sobbing Moira and Emily handing Nichole over to Canadian authorities to send the baby back to Gilead. That might do it for me.

I'll combine comments on Episodes 2 and 3 - I think we are seeing a re-setting of the chess board, so to speak. Someone asked if Commander Lawrence is good or bad. I think he's both. He was the academic that developed the economic system, but I don't think he was ever really invested in or believed that it could be implemented. But.....I don't think he was hugely pro-woman in the past. A flashback episode on him would be good. I see him as someone who is now reluctantly trying to make the best of it - protecting himself while allowing some level of resistance to exist inside his home - unless he gets caught. The whole storyline with moving the bombmaker Martha, him opposing it, and then making June dig the grave was really well done. As was his Sophie's choice. He's setting limits. I thought his statement about Emily being unnaturally smart was really interesting.

I wish they could kill Fred off, but they need him. I just feel like he doesn't add a lot. Serena, on the other hand - a lot going on there. I am sure she will be crappy to June again, but deep down I think she's figured out that this whole Gilead deal is a nightmare.

Overall, I'm liking it and I think the character development is very good. Everyone is straining under actual reality. That scene where Aunt Lydia is first so kind and then turns on June was great.

Am looking forward to Emily's real reunion with her wife and son. I thought that storyline was so well done, if a little unbelievable in that Emily's arrival in Canada would have been all over the press.

[Anonymous]

I was done after the ending to season 1. It made no sense that she would stay there when she had a chance to escape with her baby. She could've worked to rescue her other daughter from a position of safety. It was poor writing and a lame attempt for a season 2 filled with more subjugation, torture, and closeups of June's face. Lame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was done after the ending to season 1. It made no sense that she would stay there when she had a chance to escape with her baby. She could've worked to rescue her other daughter from a position of safety. It was poor writing and a lame attempt for a season 2 filled with more subjugation, torture, and closeups of June's face. Lame.

I meant I was done after the end of the last season. Oops

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was done after the ending to season 1. It made no sense that she would stay there when she had a chance to escape with her baby. She could've worked to rescue her other daughter from a position of safety. It was poor writing and a lame attempt for a season 2 filled with more subjugation, torture, and closeups of June's face. Lame.

I wouldn’t have left any of my children behind, so I found that part of the story believable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

I've watched all three episodes now - WARNING: SPOILERS if you haven't watched -


>>I'm going against the Post review that they've run out of source material and story (but the Post has also seen up to episode 6 I think, so we'll see). I think they are putting this season together pretty deliberately and with a new focus. I didn't care too much for Episode 1 - too drawn out with lots of meaningful glances, but not a lot of substance. Didn't need the extra drama with Emily, but she made it. All good.

Several reviews seem to imply that Gilead is going to make a diplomatic play to get baby Nichole back. That could be interesting, tense, and satisfying if they do it right. And by right I do not mean a sobbing Moira and Emily handing Nichole over to Canadian authorities to send the baby back to Gilead. That might do it for me.

I'll combine comments on Episodes 2 and 3 - I think we are seeing a re-setting of the chess board, so to speak. Someone asked if Commander Lawrence is good or bad. I think he's both. He was the academic that developed the economic system, but I don't think he was ever really invested in or believed that it could be implemented. But.....I don't think he was hugely pro-woman in the past. A flashback episode on him would be good. I see him as someone who is now reluctantly trying to make the best of it - protecting himself while allowing some level of resistance to exist inside his home - unless he gets caught. The whole storyline with moving the bombmaker Martha, him opposing it, and then making June dig the grave was really well done. As was his Sophie's choice. He's setting limits. I thought his statement about Emily being unnaturally smart was really interesting.

I wish they could kill Fred off, but they need him. I just feel like he doesn't add a lot. Serena, on the other hand - a lot going on there. I am sure she will be crappy to June again, but deep down I think she's figured out that this whole Gilead deal is a nightmare.

Overall, I'm liking it and I think the character development is very good. Everyone is straining under actual reality. That scene where Aunt Lydia is first so kind and then turns on June was great.

Am looking forward to Emily's real reunion with her wife and son. I thought that storyline was so well done, if a little unbelievable in that Emily's arrival in Canada would have been all over the press.

I did not understand why June is so upset with him?

[Anonymous]

I did not understand why June is so upset with him?

At which point? When he took her to choose the new Marthas or humiliated her in front of the men?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was done after the ending to season 1. It made no sense that she would stay there when she had a chance to escape with her baby. She could've worked to rescue her other daughter from a position of safety. It was poor writing and a lame attempt for a season 2 filled with more subjugation, torture, and closeups of June's face. Lame.

I wouldn’t have left any of my children behind, so I found that part of the story believable.

Same. And the wrenching memory of them prying her daughter away from her.

Does her daughter have a good life? In the world they live in, sure. But June hasn't accepted that world and therefore won't accept a fate without Hannah.

If it were me, I'd probably die trying to get my kid back as well.