The Handmaid's Tale on HULU

Amazing episode!
The show has diverged considerably from the book, but that's not a negative thing. Atwood is involved with the show so I guess she would give her blessing. I wondered how a 2nd season could come of this & now I can see it.
Wasn't it interesting, Serena Joy's background? And how painful the handmaiden situation must be for her.
Yes, Elizabeth Moss is perfect in this role.
 
Amazing episode!
The show has diverged considerably from the book, but that's not a negative thing. Atwood is involved with the show so I guess she would give her blessing. I wondered how a 2nd season could come of this & now I can see it.
Wasn't it interesting, Serena Joy's background? And how painful the handmaiden situation must be for her.
Yes, Elizabeth Moss is perfect in this role.

I think Serena's whole storyline is a perfect illustration of the saying "be careful what you wish for"
 
I was assuming a little time had passed because Offred said they'd played/visited 34 times, and then when Offsteven (was that her new name) was playing ball with the dog she told her Martha that she couldn't be sick "every month" which implied it wasn't the first time she had said she felt sick on ceremony night. .
FYI that wasn't a Martha, that was the wife of Stephen. You can tell because she's wearing tealblue, like all of the wives wear. The Marthas wear gray and caps. You can see from this scene that a lot of the wives are disgusted by what the men are doing.

They've diverged quite a bit from the book, especially in the Ofglen line. Not a bad thing, especially if they want to go for 2 full seasons.

Loved all the background information on Serena Joy, as I was wondering when they were going to get to that, and the whole international relations/trade storyline that wasn't in the book.

I think in the book they implied that other nations had sanctions against Gilead for their human rights violations. It would be nice to hear more about how their international relations are going. One assumes Gilead's leaders have found alliances with more repressive countries.

I have Episode 6 queued up now!
 
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This is one of the best shows that's come around in a long time. I can't believe i haven't read the book, it's such an interesting concept/storyline. Everything from the writing to the acting is incredible. Elizabeth Moss deserves an award for her performance. I love the complexity of each character and all their interactions. Serena Joy makes it so easy to despise her but feel bad for her at the same time. At first i thought the Commander was a decent person but that quickly changed as you realize his "niceness" is actually just a passive act to be super condescending and controlling. I still don't even know what to think of Nick.
 
Commander showing his darker side. Just started rereading the book - the series is doing a remarkable job of adapting it. Casting Fiennes was really brillliant - in the book the Commander was a much older man - casting Fiennes as younger, handsome and soft spoken man makes him more seductive - and all the more disturbing as it plays a cover for his brutal side and the brutal regime he supports.

I still don't know what to think of Nick either. I new they would have sex on their own (remember that from book). But it was a little sudden - maybe on purpose to contrast the so uncomfortable and degrading scene where he had sex with her in her order to impregnate her with Serena Joy watching and trying not to watch. It was interesting that Offred initiated things - some how couldn't help but feel this was an act of rebellion on her part.

Can't wait for the next episode.
 
Ok some more random musings (sorry can't help it) - re-reading the book and series is so thought provoking - anyways find it interesting that Offred in her previous life was involved with Luke, her husband, while he was still married to another woman. I wonder why Margaret Atwood did that - was she trying to make a point? Stereotypically she would be the "other woman" in her relationship with Luke. "Other women" usually don't do well by society - they always seem to take more blame then the men - called homewreckers and worse etc. The irony, is of course, Offred in her new life, is once again the "other woman" in her relationship with the Commander and Serena Joy - albeit an unwilling participant.
 
I wonder if the fact that the new regime- Gilead- might have used June/Offred's infidelity with Luke against her to make her compliant. She is fertile, she's had one child, therefore is too valuable to "waste" by executing.
This is some ruminating on my part.
But Offred having relations with Serena's husband has certainly got to work on her conscience, don't you think?
 
I wonder if the fact that the new regime- Gilead- might have used June/Offred's infidelity with Luke against her to make her compliant. She is fertile, she's had one child, therefore is too valuable to "waste" by executing.
This is some ruminating on my part.
But Offred having relations with Serena's husband has certainly got to work on her conscience, don't you think?

Interesting.. I don't know the book and series is unclear. But she is very valuable being fertile, however I think if a Wife found out - she would be over - she would be sent to the colonies; that's transgression that couldn't be overlooked and the Wife supposedly rules the household. And no other Wife would want her as they would worry that they same thing would happen with their husbands.

I don't think she feels that guilty about her relationship with the Commander. I think she's trying to use him, to see how she can leverage the situation for her benefit. The interesting thing is that she did say she felt like she was cheating on Luke when she was first with the Nick - she has feelings for him.
 
I wonder if the fact that the new regime- Gilead- might have used June/Offred's infidelity with Luke against her to make her compliant. She is fertile, she's had one child, therefore is too valuable to "waste" by executing.
This is some ruminating on my part.
But Offred having relations with Serena's husband has certainly got to work on her conscience, don't you think?

Just finished reading further in the book and it was interesting in light of your comments that in the book June/Offred mentions that Luke faked their travel documents to erase any history of his divorce; seems like from the book divorced couples who remarried were not considered legally married, probably sinners. So maybe that fact did make her more vulnerable but in any event, she could bear children and so wasn't tainted enough not to be a Handmaiden.