Trailer now up
28th April apparently but I’m not sure about when it’ll appear in the UK. Usually seems to run pretty close to the US over here on SBS.
Lots going on there.
A bit of a love/hate show for me. They manage to drag out the stories a lot but at the same time they can really pull of some great episodes. I felt like the last series pulled away more from lingering on the actual violence against women but a lot of this looks like it will be tough.
Watched the first season of this and gave up. It was just unrelentingly bleak. Well made show and I’ve heard the books are good but I need a tad more light and shade.
Season 1 is basically just the book so yeah it will be bleak.
The first 3 were dropped at once so the Aus broadcaster followed suit.
Very little really happened in those three episodes overall but some interesting moments. Anyway so far, so Handmaid’s Tale. Nothing surprising or new on the table.
I thought seasons 2 and 3 expanded out from the book/season 1 really well but the end of S03 did seem like a good natural end point which they then manufactured a continuation from. Having said that I think there are lots of potential aspects they could expand on i.e. refugee integration in Canada so maybe it will have legs.
I’ve only just caught up with season 3 recently.
My main gripe with it at this point is June is completely untouchable. She’s pretty much in open revolt against Gilead all the time and is allowed roam freely, whereas other minor characters are executed for minor transgressions. I get that it’s just plot armour coz she’s the main character but it’s just stretching the credibility of the world the longer it goes on.
Finding the occasional nostalgia for “America” reeeeally cringy as well, almost as if they’re missing the entire point of the source text
Watched the first 3 over the weekend and thought they were good, pretty much in the same vein as Season 3.
The bit at the end of episode 3 with the train hitting those two handmaids would’ve been the natural point to end the episode though. The flashback scene after it felt really unnecessary.
Really enjoyed this. Anyone know when it’ll be on a UK service? Can’t seem to Google it without getting massive spoilers!
Just the usual “later in 2021” from C4. At a guess autumn because summer isn’t a popular time to drop new series?
I’m watching it on OCS. Do you have a VPN? If so, you could change your region to France and sign up for a free trial.
Presume the free trial is only a week or a month though? In which case leave it until closer to when the finalé drops in mid June, Bluto.
Yeah or do multiple free trials with different accounts.
You have far more patience than me😀
Also a bit surprised they don’t use the payment details to block later free trial attempts TBH. Very poor IT work
I don’t really know what OCS or a VPN is, so will just wait. Thanks!
Some do but you can often get round them by using another card or PayPal. Tbf I should do this but tend to rotate subscriptions instead.
OCS is a French streaming service. A VPN is a thing (app for tv/fire stick etc. or extension on your internet browser) that changes your displayed IP address so it looks like you’re in a different country. I use Express VPN and it’s easy to use.
Yeah so my main issue with the first 3 episodes of S4 are
How little really happens. It feels very much like the opening to S2 where we got 3 episodes to put her back where she was at the end of S1 because that was what the extension of the story needed but it was just frustrating for the viewer.
Here we have a slightly different take on that where it’s a really drawn out and brutal way to just remove the other Handmaids in her group.
And the situation she escapes from seems so monumentally silly it’s hard to really get on board with:
Episode 1: Aunt Lydia states her intention to hang June from the wall
Episode 3: Aunt Lydia quietly retires her to some little farm and takes her there with minimal security.
Plus there’s the slightly crazy thing of the guy with the gun not shooting them over the empty flatbed cars that keep going by him…
Are you up to date?
Have to say I thought S4 Episode 5 (Chicago) was one of the worst in the series so far.
We find out Aunt Lydia’s been removed from her post and then she regains it in the same episode so…erm. Okay.
Equally Commander Lawrence was apparently spared for his military abilities, meaning surely Lydia knows blackmailing him is a hiding to nothing but equally why don’t they listen to his strategy?
On top of that when they do listen the logic is apparently: “Have a ceasefire so we can take the international moral high ground…but, um, bomb the shit out of them just before the ceasefire to try to kill civilians.” Possibly not going to work out how you want?
Moira is EVERYWHERE. Running the entire US aid operation it seems and now rolling into Gilead under cover of an NGO even though (presumably) she’s actually a wanted criminal as far as Gilead are concerned and therefore could likely legally be detained?
Yeah, I’m up to date.
S4E5 spoilers: I completely agree. So far, this season isn’t as strong as previous seasons because it is all getting a little too ridiculous. The amount of times June escapes death/capture yet everyone around her does not is getting too much.
I thought episode 4 was terrible, literally nothing happened other than June travelling in the train to Chicago.
But I thought episode 6 was much better, interested to see what they do now she’s back in Canada