nav1942 Waste of time, far fetched and hideous... call it the handsmaids fail

Endo13 Having never read the book, some of my complaints my stem from the source material. For myself, this series has two enormously fatal flaws.The first is that all the premisses the show is based on to lead up to the dystopian "future" are impossible in every way, and completely immersion breaking. Even assuming some religious cult paramilitary organization would be able to take down all three federal branches of government simultaneously, the US military wouldn't just stand idly by and let such a group take control of anything long term. Yet supposedly this story is set in real-life USA (not some alternate universe) and somehow the military is just AWOL, aside from a brief mention of the national guard and the pentagon. Even more absurd is the idea that this group somehow managed to take down the US, and yet inexplicably left Canada untouched.The second is the mind-numbingly slow pace of the show, where nothing really happens, nothing changes, and we get the same repetitive garbage over and over. I can't believe I actually got through the first season and partway through the 2nd before I couldn't take it any more.And those are only the things about the show that are objectively awful. There are many other more subjective things that many viewers will find equally objectionable on a personal basis.

aguilastina This actress is amazing, she looks like a real woman and not a gorgeus actress model, and i like that a lot because You can relate to the character in a deeper way. I'm tired of tv series, I think a story shouldn't be that long. This is a mixture of sci fi and social and religious criticism. In an opressed world, a feminist who never wanted to be one or even knew that was one, fights for her freedom.

waterdr I have no problem with the 'politics' or plausibility of the storyline, but the stifling pace ruined a lot of good acting and well thought out set designs.One can only assume that the legions of reviews that rated this show 8 Stars and above never read the book and were simply stunned by the concept of a dystopian future where a misogynistic, authoritarian political climate might evolve. My guess is they're equally unfamiliar with Sharia law - and likely very resentful of the orange haired guy's election victory. As others have pointed out, the main character's appearance is distracting and often jarring as she simply appears too old. After all, she is is supposed to be the epitome of a young fecund woman. That said, I found her acting to be mostly adequate since as the eponymous handmaid she would of necessity had to hide her emotions - so her lack of range is part of the characterization I suppose.The roles of the other handmaids are either played by better actresses or perhaps the director allowed them more range, but it's fortunate in my opinion because a host of robotic performances like the lead would have put me to sleep by the end of the second episode. And the highlight of the show for me was the character of Serena Joy; the actress playing her part showed some real flashes of talent I've not seen in her other roles.Unfortunately, what could have been a well paced six hour mini-series was milked for a multi-season show. It's not bad, it's simply diluted down to mediocrity. One can only assume that the legions of reviews that rated this show 8 Stars and above never read the book and were simply stunned by the concept of a dystopian future where a misogynistic, authoritarian political climate might evolve.