Handmaid’s Tale season 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team Disappointed here.

First, it is completely implausible that a country would not fulfill a deal. No one would ever make a deal with them again.

Second, a gang beating? In the dark woods? Facilitated by Nick and Lawrence (who certainly slide in and out of Canada easily)? Defies even fantasy reasoning.

The only aspect I liked was that Gilead so damaged June that it’s clear there is no coming back for her. Even if/when she gets Hannah back, June is too damaged to ever be a real mother again. She’ll never have her family back.

Agreed. I would have preferred to see Fred in fear being dragged off after being traded (that much is plausible) and then his finger show up in the mail to Serena (with Serena opening the package). I don't know if there will be more seasons but I think leaving his exact fate unknown at the end would have been sufficiently satisfying as a viewer.

Really? I completely disagree. I would’ve been pissed. I wanted that closure and I wanted him to suffer. Got both.

Let Gillad dosa with it.

Fred would have received a mild pass from Gilead, just like Lawrence. Lawrence aided in the escaped of 22 children, 8 handmaids, and an unknown number of Marthas and he still has a command. Fred would have weaseled his way out, because he probably has blackmail information on most of the other commanders. Nope. The only wall Fred would have seen is the wall June and company provided him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see this as a win/loose or moral/amoral thing so much as a cost of war thing. June is choosing to stay in the war/resistance/revolution. That's not compatible with life as a refugee and family woman. It involves a lot of violence and extrajudicial justice.

So it's very sad because it probably means she can't stay with Luke/Nicole as a murderous revolutionary/guerrilla fighter. I thought HIS face close up in that scene was great, actually.

+1000 this season sucked and the last episode, while at least surprising, was totally unbelievable and silly.

This is a small complaint but I'm to believe that June drove all the way home from the border lands without wiping the chunks of Fred from her face? Just so she could like, rub them on the baby? It's so heavy handed and unnecessary. The scene was great as it was. We didn't need an implausibly bloody baby to drive the point home. We got it.

That is an absolutely valid complaint. I was thinking “Girl, wash your hands!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see this as a win/loose or moral/amoral thing so much as a cost of war thing. June is choosing to stay in the war/resistance/revolution. That's not compatible with life as a refugee and family woman. It involves a lot of violence and extrajudicial justice.

So it's very sad because it probably means she can't stay with Luke/Nicole as a murderous revolutionary/guerrilla fighter. I thought HIS face close up in that scene was great, actually.

+1000 this season sucked and the last episode, while at least surprising, was totally unbelievable and silly.

This is a small complaint but I'm to believe that June drove all the way home from the border lands without wiping the chunks of Fred from her face? Just so she could like, rub them on the baby? It's so heavy handed and unnecessary. The scene was great as it was. We didn't need an implausibly bloody baby to drive the point home. We got it.

That is an absolutely valid complaint. I was thinking “Girl, wash your hands!”

So it’s interesting because I thought the same thing but then I remembered that June isn’t really a typical person anymore. That last scene was the only real time you saw June be a mother and show love to Nicole. And she seemed to only be able to do it after murdering Fred. She just can’t be a mother anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see this as a win/loose or moral/amoral thing so much as a cost of war thing. June is choosing to stay in the war/resistance/revolution. That's not compatible with life as a refugee and family woman. It involves a lot of violence and extrajudicial justice.

So it's very sad because it probably means she can't stay with Luke/Nicole as a murderous revolutionary/guerrilla fighter. I thought HIS face close up in that scene was great, actually.

+1000 this season sucked and the last episode, while at least surprising, was totally unbelievable and silly.

This is a small complaint but I'm to believe that June drove all the way home from the border lands without wiping the chunks of Fred from her face? Just so she could like, rub them on the baby? It's so heavy handed and unnecessary. The scene was great as it was. We didn't need an implausibly bloody baby to drive the point home. We got it.

That is an absolutely valid complaint. I was thinking “Girl, wash your hands!”

So it’s interesting because I thought the same thing but then I remembered that June isn’t really a typical person anymore. That last scene was the only real time you saw June be a mother and show love to Nicole. And she seemed to only be able to do it after murdering Fred. She just can’t be a mother anymore.

Not true imo. There was a scene of her cuddling Nichole in the nursery, and of she and Luke playing with her outside. I think she can connect with mothering, and even intermittently with Luke, but is obviously damaged from profound trauma and the rage it engendered. I think Luke still doesn't grasp a fraction of what she went through and he needs to hear every nasty grisly detail to get a sense of why she is the way she is right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see this as a win/loose or moral/amoral thing so much as a cost of war thing. June is choosing to stay in the war/resistance/revolution. That's not compatible with life as a refugee and family woman. It involves a lot of violence and extrajudicial justice.

So it's very sad because it probably means she can't stay with Luke/Nicole as a murderous revolutionary/guerrilla fighter. I thought HIS face close up in that scene was great, actually.

+1000 this season sucked and the last episode, while at least surprising, was totally unbelievable and silly.

This is a small complaint but I'm to believe that June drove all the way home from the border lands without wiping the chunks of Fred from her face? Just so she could like, rub them on the baby? It's so heavy handed and unnecessary. The scene was great as it was. We didn't need an implausibly bloody baby to drive the point home. We got it.

That is an absolutely valid complaint. I was thinking “Girl, wash your hands!”

Yeah this was dumb and OTT. She could have had blood smeared on her jacket and a little in her hair or something, to perfectly good effect.

[Anonymous]

Where’s she going after leading the kill mob against Fred?

[Anonymous]

The ending was odd and abrupt. I was disappointed to see Fred killed so soon. No satisfaction in not having the opportunity to watch him die. Poorly done ending!

And watching Fred get lamely lightly beat up by the women circle was extremely anti-climactic. I wanted to hear gut wrenching screams of fear and terror from him. I feel robbed of a satisfying ending. Sigh

[Anonymous]

This season was awful, and as a canadian huge Margaret Atwood fan, I can’t believe she approved this!! Also, as a canadian I agree that Canada is boring, and more of file as would have been better.

I know this was filmed months prior, but it was also hard for me watch Canada portrayed as this wonderful place and far superior, you know America’s saviour, when as these episodes were airing, we were uncovering the atrocities of what happened in Canada to First Nations people. I couldn’t even bring myself to sing the national anthem for the hockey game last night and watching Canada portrayed as this wonderful country made me want to throw up. I know it’s apples to oranges and perhaps Americans won’t understand, but there is a lot of national shame right now about the genocide at residential schools, and for me this season was disappointing because of the writing and also because I’m not happy with Canada right now.

[Anonymous]

*more of gilead, not ‘file’!!

[Anonymous]

This season was barely watchable.

I can’t stand:

- how every scene is so dark (without lightening). In a library for a therapy meeting? Dark. Having people over in your kitchen? Dark.

- how Fred whispered everything he spoke.

- how June spends zero time with her baby.

- how Serena and Fred were never treated like prisoners of war.

- how the agent completely flipped from Geneva to giving Fred back (like he would never thought of using him as a tool).

- how they spend long periods of time with cameras paused on faces.

- how People can easily and freely cross in and out of gilead (the bearded guy met June at the diner, the women went in to kill Fred, the baby’s dad brought June the info on Hannah, etc)

- June said, “There’s pictures?!” When looking at the folder on Hannah. She looks down and clipped together are pictures. It wasn’t some tiny Polaroid. She’d have seen the pics immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see this as a win/loose or moral/amoral thing so much as a cost of war thing. June is choosing to stay in the war/resistance/revolution. That's not compatible with life as a refugee and family woman. It involves a lot of violence and extrajudicial justice.

So it's very sad because it probably means she can't stay with Luke/Nicole as a murderous revolutionary/guerrilla fighter. I thought HIS face close up in that scene was great, actually.

+1000 this season sucked and the last episode, while at least surprising, was totally unbelievable and silly.

This is a small complaint but I'm to believe that June drove all the way home from the border lands without wiping the chunks of Fred from her face? Just so she could like, rub them on the baby? It's so heavy handed and unnecessary. The scene was great as it was. We didn't need an implausibly bloody baby to drive the point home. We got it.

That is an absolutely valid complaint. I was thinking “Girl, wash your hands!”

Yeah this was dumb and OTT. She could have had blood smeared on her jacket and a little in her hair or something, to perfectly good effect.

The pathetically clumsy makeup (blood) on June in the last scene echoed the implausibility of the whole finale. It looked like some makeup artist took a brush - literally - and brushed June’s forehead and cheeks. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This season was barely watchable.

I can’t stand:

- how every scene is so dark (without lightening). In a library for a therapy meeting? Dark. Having people over in your kitchen? Dark.

- how Fred whispered everything he spoke.

- how June spends zero time with her baby.

- how Serena and Fred were never treated like prisoners of war.

- how the agent completely flipped from Geneva to giving Fred back (like he would never thought of using him as a tool).

- how they spend long periods of time with cameras paused on faces.

- how People can easily and freely cross in and out of gilead (the bearded guy met June at the diner, the women went in to kill Fred, the baby’s dad brought June the info on Hannah, etc)

- June said, “There’s pictures?!” When looking at the folder on Hannah. She looks down and clipped together are pictures. It wasn’t some tiny Polaroid. She’d have seen the pics immediately.

Yes to all of this. I’m going to add the audio of June gasping / breathing that comes on periodically. Annoying as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This season was awful, and as a canadian huge Margaret Atwood fan, I can’t believe she approved this!! Also, as a canadian I agree that Canada is boring, and more of file as would have been better.

I know this was filmed months prior, but it was also hard for me watch Canada portrayed as this wonderful place and far superior, you know America’s saviour, when as these episodes were airing, we were uncovering the atrocities of what happened in Canada to First Nations people. I couldn’t even bring myself to sing the national anthem for the hockey game last night and watching Canada portrayed as this wonderful country made me want to throw up. I know it’s apples to oranges and perhaps Americans won’t understand, but there is a lot of national shame right now about the genocide at residential schools, and for me this season was disappointing because of the writing and also because I’m not happy with Canada right now.

Why would you torture yourself with what likely dead people did long ago to other likely dead people. Live your life. Let the dead bury their dead.

[Anonymous]

This season was second rate. Lots of rehashing of now-overdone themes (yes, being a handmaid is a cruel fate) and anemic story arcs - Luke and June, Serena vs Fred (Serena and Fred), Aunt Lydia’s return, Janine, Moira and her boo, Nichole .... all of these threads that are pulled but never developed. The finale was terrible in every respect.

Disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This season was awful, and as a canadian huge Margaret Atwood fan, I can’t believe she approved this!! Also, as a canadian I agree that Canada is boring, and more of file as would have been better.

I know this was filmed months prior, but it was also hard for me watch Canada portrayed as this wonderful place and far superior, you know America’s saviour, when as these episodes were airing, we were uncovering the atrocities of what happened in Canada to First Nations people. I couldn’t even bring myself to sing the national anthem for the hockey game last night and watching Canada portrayed as this wonderful country made me want to throw up. I know it’s apples to oranges and perhaps Americans won’t understand, but there is a lot of national shame right now about the genocide at residential schools, and for me this season was disappointing because of the writing and also because I’m not happy with Canada right now.

Why would you torture yourself with what likely dead people did long ago to other likely dead people. Live your life. Let the dead bury their dead.

Wow. What a very white American perspective. Geez.

Also - dear Canadian, if you should ever see this, writing from America, we did this too. Tons of dead kids at Indian Schools (as they called them at the time.) We just aren't into feeling as bad for it as often because we have too much else to beat ourselves up again. That doesn't make it right, but add it to the list of shitty things we did.