Handmaid's Tale Season 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read a review in the post that said that the lack of source material is starting to show in season 3

I think the reviewer was short sighted. I am loving it so far. A little slow, and yes, there are some repetitive themes because you know- men still treat the women like crap. But still very powerful to see how the women deal with it.

I agree. In fact, I think developing the much murkier household of the new commander is great, and am relieved the Waterfords' old house is no more. Bringing the Marthas into focus is great, and I am thrilled Emily and the baby made it out. The shocking nature of the transition back to a modern egalitarian society was so well done. Ann Dowd's reappearance was unsettling. I'm loving it so far!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know what she tied around Hannah's wrist at the McKenzies' house? I couldn't make it out.

I thought I was going to have a stroke during the Emily&baby scenes. So powerful, and so beautiful when the border agent found her.

Oh man now I’m crying again just reading this.

[Anonymous]

I really don't like starting off with a storyline about June getting a mercurial male "mentor."

[Anonymous]

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

My understanding was that they were trying to move the engineer martha to some sort of safehouse or contested area where she could be connected to a more entrenched resistance.

[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.

I absolutely would have sent my newborn off with someone fierce that I trusted and stayed to try to rescue my preschooler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't like starting off with a storyline about June getting a mercurial male "mentor."

I didn’t get any kind of mentor relationship vibe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I absolutely would have sent my newborn off with someone fierce that I trusted and stayed to try to rescue my preschooler.

And I can’t see Canada sending a girl baby back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Serena's character...she thought she could sell out other women without harm to herself. She deserved to lose her finger- but I will give her points for giving up Nicole.

Spoiler alert******

The dip in the water at her mother’s house looked like a baptism scene- I took it to mean that she was reborn with a different outlook, but reviews indicate that there will be a fight to get the baby back from Canada a la Elian Gonzales. I wonder what Serena's involvement with that effort will be.

I think Serena goes back and forth between having the strength to try to fight to fix Giliead and feeling hopeless enough to go back and make the most of the position she is in. It was unclear to me if the water scene was her getting stronger or accepting her fate. I really hope the show ends with her having a strong hand in bringing the whole thing down.

[Anonymous]

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

The Martha’s are running the resistance. Typically this just means passing along information. But they were trying to move one of them to a different resistance force to build bombs. It did get a little odd that the woman they tried so hard to get out came back with a wounded woman and then just left again. Why did she need escorted the first time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Serena's character...she thought she could sell out other women without harm to herself. She deserved to lose her finger- but I will give her points for giving up Nicole.

Spoiler alert******

The dip in the water at her mother’s house looked like a baptism scene- I took it to mean that she was reborn with a different outlook, but reviews indicate that there will be a fight to get the baby back from Canada a la Elian Gonzales. I wonder what Serena's involvement do with that effort will be.

I think Serena goes back and forth between having the strength to try to fight to fix Giliead and feeling hopeless enough to go back and make the most of the position she is in. It was unclear to me if the water scene was her getting stronger or accepting her fate. I really hope the show ends with her having a strong hand in bringing the whole thing down.

Current previews show Serena and June discussing what more Serena can do. So at least she hasn’t gone completely back to the bad side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't like starting off with a storyline about June getting a mercurial male "mentor."

I didn’t get any kind of mentor relationship vibe.

No? I wouldn't have been shocked if he told her to wax on, wax off.

[Anonymous]

Something that I don't buy....Serena's mother. Giliad is still a very young "country" (Serena was instrumental in the movement that led to its founding) but we're supposed to buy that a woman in her 60s or early 70s has bought into the cult totally hook, line and sinker after living 50+ years as an American? I just don't buy it. I get that she's a shallow woman who loves gloating that her daughter is a powerful "celebrity" but I still don't believe she'd be so entrenched in their new nation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something that I don't buy....Serena's mother. Giliad is still a very young "country" (Serena was instrumental in the movement that led to its founding) but we're supposed to buy that a woman in her 60s or early 70s has bought into the cult totally hook, line and sinker after living 50+ years as an American? I just don't buy it. I get that she's a shallow woman who loves gloating that her daughter is a powerful "celebrity" but I still don't believe she'd be so entrenched in their new nation.

I buy it. This isn’t far fetched at all. Think about today’s America and how many women evangelicals and right wingers would love - and actively promote - a Theocracy, to include female subservience to men in marriage and who see women as mere vessels for babies. Serena’s mom strikes me as someone who would be buddies with Karen Pence (aka Mother). Think about the woman like Kay Ivey. She’d have no problem fitting into Gillead along with Mother Pence. That’s what makes HMT so unnerving; there are aspects of this society alive and well in today’s America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something that I don't buy....Serena's mother. Giliad is still a very young "country" (Serena was instrumental in the movement that led to its founding) but we're supposed to buy that a woman in her 60s or early 70s has bought into the cult totally hook, line and sinker after living 50+ years as an American? I just don't buy it. I get that she's a shallow woman who loves gloating that her daughter is a powerful "celebrity" but I still don't believe she'd be so entrenched in their new nation.

I buy it. This isn’t far fetched at all. Think about today’s America and how many women evangelicals and right wingers would love - and actively promote - a Theocracy, to include female subservience to men in marriage and who see women as mere vessels for babies. Serena’s mom strikes me as someone who would be buddies with Karen Pence (aka Mother). Think about the woman like Kay Ivey. She’d have no problem fitting into Gillead along with Mother Pence. That’s what makes HMT so unnerving; there are aspects of this society alive and well in today’s America.

And maybe that's where a younger Serena was encouraged to follow those ideas. They were planted by her mother at an early age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something that I don't buy....Serena's mother. Giliad is still a very young "country" (Serena was instrumental in the movement that led to its founding) but we're supposed to buy that a woman in her 60s or early 70s has bought into the cult totally hook, line and sinker after living 50+ years as an American? I just don't buy it. I get that she's a shallow woman who loves gloating that her daughter is a powerful "celebrity" but I still don't believe she'd be so entrenched in their new nation.

I buy it. This isn’t far fetched at all. Think about today’s America and how many women evangelicals and right wingers would love - and actively promote - a Theocracy, to include female subservience to men in marriage and who see women as mere vessels for babies. Serena’s mom strikes me as someone who would be buddies with Karen Pence (aka Mother). Think about the woman like Kay Ivey. She’d have no problem fitting into Gillead along with Mother Pence. That’s what makes HMT so unnerving; there are aspects of this society alive and well in today’s America.

And maybe that's where a younger Serena was encouraged to follow those ideas. They were planted by her mother at an early age.

Yes, makes sense.