Duke
Duke MegaDork
3/10/20 1:17 p.m.

Anybody here watched / watching A Handmaid's Tale?  I searched but didn't find any discussion  thread.

DW and I just finished binge watching Season 3 of the show.  We get the DVDs from out local library and only have a week.

Wow.  It's really good but really depressing.  It's clearly speculative fiction / alternative history, but it's not far enough away from reality to leave me comfortable.

We had watched the first 2 seasons last year, a few months apart.  They were excellent - unbelievably chilling; well written, well acted, and well produced.  Season 1 did a great job of capturing the original book (with some changes, made for specific reasons).  Season 2 went beyond the original story (which is only 300-odd pages), but in a very believable way.

Season 3 is not quite as good, but still excellent.  At 13 episodes it is a slow buildup of tension that at times is a little too slow, but that's part of the claustrophobia and paranoia of the situation.  The season ends on a note that is close enough to a wrapup that they don't need to continue, but open ended enough that they can.  Not sure if Season 4 is in the works.

DW and I are both big Margaret Atwood fans.  We both read the original in 1985/86.  DW is currently reading The Testaments, which is Atwood's new sequel.  I'll probably reread the original and then move on to the new book.

Thoughts?

 

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa HalfDork
3/10/20 1:49 p.m.

I started watching with the wife, but I had to stop cause it was depressing and too real.

I have a somewhat bad habit of that.  I watch fiction to escape the world.  I expect the good guys to win.  Part of the reason I didn't like GoT

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
3/10/20 2:05 p.m.

I watched about 10 minutes of it with the wife. What a depressing show. I got up and left the room and went back to not watching TV. 

Aaron_King
Aaron_King GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
3/10/20 2:26 p.m.

We have watched all but the latest season.  It is good but hard to watch sometimes.

Rons
Rons GRM+ Memberand Reader
3/10/20 2:43 p.m.

I am no help as I have dedicated the last forty years of my life to avoiding Margret Attwood.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
3/10/20 3:00 p.m.
Rons said:

I am no help as I have dedicated the last forty years of my life to avoiding Margret Attwood.

Once you get past the smarmy Canadianness her writing is very good. 
 

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
SSjDPtZYtTZ0myY1y2ccpfNvObLvI6wMS6biAZenITiiFwYjf88xSuaT2QrUENH7