"The Handmaid's Tale" on Hulu

Is anyone else watching it? It's based on the dystopian '80s novel by Margaret Atwood. (I haven't read the novel, though I probably will now. I found Atwood to be a slog in a college literature class.)

The series stars Peggy from "Mad Men," and the premise is that environmental issues have rendered child-bearing rare, and the United States has in reaction overnight converted into a theocracy in which women are largely second-class citizens. The women who can bear children are "handmaids." They work for "commanders," and are ritualistically raped by them in order to bear children.

As I understand it, Atwood has said everything depicted in the novel was something women have actually been subjected to in history, so I suspect that the novel was meant as a commentary on women's condition throughout modern history rather than as a prescient look into the future. Nonetheless, almost every current television critic bleats the alarm about how "immediate" and "familiar" the show is in the "era of Trump," though I don't see it. (Mrs. Whitman does.)

Nonetheless, it's pretty good TV.

 

This white male hasn't been impressed with the "straight from today's headlines" interpretations ...

 

When you read the novel, the women have names based on their commander -- Offred, Ofglen, etc.

Someone in our class did not pick up on this, which made for some brief amusement. Alas, most of the rest of the time discussing the book was beyond dreary.

 

Same as the show. I don't know how closely it hews to the novel. I think they want to do multiple seasons, though. So maybe it's just based in that world, like "The Leftovers."

 

Read the book long, long ago.

 

There's also a part with some handmaid-on-handmaid physicality. Before class, a dare was thrown down for someone to describe that scene and conclude by mentioning some degree of arousal.

No one fell on the sword. We needed poindexter in the class.

 

It's pretty good TV. I just wish I could have read the book first.

 

You could have.

 

It probably was on some high school reading list. Or I could have just taken a trip to the library. But I'm enjoying not knowing what's coming next.

 

Read the book like four years ago and thought it was great. Every time I go to watch the TV show, I fall asleep. Made it through one and a half episodes so far.

 

I just finished reading the book - for the first time - the other day. It was available for free through Amazon Prime. I'll definitely watch, in large part because I think Elisabeth Moss is great, but I'll probably wait a little while.

 

Freak out your co-workers by saying something similar to "Under His Eye."

Alexis Bledel's character seems to screwed over whenever she's in a show with Elizabeth Moss.