The Handmaid's Tale

Good to hear that you're enjoying it. I read, and loved, the book several years ago. I hear that Channel 4 have picked up the rights to screen it later this month, so I'll definitely be tuning in.

I can't wait to see it. Like many others, I read it during high school. Modernising it with black Handmaids works quite well, I think. Likely interracial relationships are taboo, but one can well imagine people like Herman Cain and Omarosa keeping in step with the PTB.

I'm transfixed by it also (and given Gilead's fundamentalist underpinning, watching it irreligiously).

I don't know if anyone has been following The Leftovers but that's also wonderful (only a few episodes left, sadly).

****SEASON ONE FINALE SPOILERS******

What an ending! I love how they remain faithful to the book even when making all those changes. You can tell they've been respectful with the source material. Having all the Handmaids begin to rebel as well as Aunt Lydia's face when she realises she hasn't crushed their spirit as much as she though she had was such an incredible addition and it speaks volumes for future seasons by showing the tiniest cracks beginning to appear in the regime. I know Aunt Lydia a sadistic w(b)itch but I can't help but loving her and I think her love for the Handmaid's is genuine - in a f u c k e d up kind of way. 

The scene between Luke and Moira was really touching -  her reaction when she found out he considers her family broke my heart as did when the refugee worker was flippantly giving her money and insurance and she was just absolutely speechless. I can't wait for her to gather her thoughts and become bad a s s again in Season 2. Moira and Luke are going to be a formidable team.

Things I'm hoping to see more of are in Season Two are: Little America and the refugees, especially escaped Handmaid's and Marthas. I also love the references to the Martha's being organised throughout the series - I don't for a second think that Rita isn't part of that, especially after she revealed her son had died during the Gilead War and her eagerness to grab the letters when Offered was taken away. In the book there's a reference that the story take place entirely in Harvard Square and the rest of the city is carrying on as normal. Men going to work, woman staying at home, not even aware of what's going on with the Hanmaids. I'd love to see public life and the fear they're all living with as well as their reaction to just how bad the Gilead regime is when they realise every woman is going to be eventually to sorted into some sort of submissive role. 

I really hope we get to see the Econowives in Season Two. I reckon they are so resentful of the regime since they are expected to act as Martha, Handmaid and Wife that they'd be keen to grind down the regime as well in their own organised way. I was interested in them from the tiny glimpses we saw in the books. It would be really interesting to see a character give us her point of view of being in the middle of the Gilead hierarchy, not exactly a powerful wife but not exactly a powerless Handmaid.

I'm glad we'll finally get to see the colonies, as the show runner confirmed in various interviews. It's been confirmed Offred's mother makes an appearance in Season 2 so I bet Offred gets sent to the colonies and reunites her with her mother. Any ideas on who could play Offerd's mother?

I wish we could have seen a softer side to Serena Joy. The book makes her almost likeable but the TV show just has her a cold, heartless, you-know-what. I really rooted for her earlier in the series, I even compared her to Cersai Lannister, but she became very 2 dimensional as the series progressed. I know there were glimmers of her softer side, like giving Offred the music box, but it didn't ring true and it after she had locked Offred up for two weeks. I think Serena Joy has been a missed opportunity. 

How far into it are you?

UK up to date? We've only had 3 episodes whereas they've had the season finale in the US

Another fan via C4. I did try to read the book years ago, but found it rather dull. Perhaps this will inspire me to pick it up again.

Love Elisabeth Moss in this - and our modern-day Rosa Klebb of course!

My English teacher lent me the book when I was 15 or so and I found it a proper slog - absolutely hated that it, haven't read anything by Atwood since. Possibly I was too young for it at the time. Loving the series, though.

While it's a bit slow-going, I think it's much better written than American Gods which seems to have been padded out beyond stretching point with some episodes hardly moving at all, so they could wring two seasons from it.

For Handmaid's Tale the flashbacks make a lot of sense as it helps to visualize how much the women (and everyone) have lost and that Gilead is not some little community in 19th century (which it often looks like) but a future USA where so much modern technology seems to have been lost. It really jarred to see that laptop recently.

I loved that. It showed that technology hadn't been forgotten, but very few were trusted to have it. A good us and them sign and reminds people that this is current-ish.

Right. I didn't mean "jarred" in a bad way, it was just so... surprising to see that thing suddenly and realize we're not in some distant past.

I've been watching and enjoying it but god it's slow.
And have to say I don't fully understand it but I'm a bit thick anyway.