Re: The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:29 am
I've just finishing watching Season 3 and was rather disappointed.
For some reason I didn't comment on this thread about Season 2 which I did watch 12 months ago though it does feel like only yesterday that I watched it.
I thought the second series was an improvement on the first. Briefly, it had great narrative drive and fleshed out all the characters this time really well and finished with a powerful conclusion to be continued. There was no padding this time round and it packed in a lot and plenty of gut punches along the way.
Season 3 is rather problematic. Firstly, there is virtually zero narrative movement and most of the episodes are like extending mini dramas that could have been condensed. The only exciting moment was the end of the episode 11 (if you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about) and a scene at the end of one of the episodes that takes place in a shop that was brilliantly executed. I have mixed feelings on Aunt Lydia's flashback which goes some way to explain how she got to where she is in the series. Great to see Ann Dowd get to move into a different gear and do a backstory but its conclusion was a tad simplistic - nothing worse than a woman scorned (in her eyes) basically.
Way too many scenes of Elizabeth Moss grinning away like a maniac at times. Acting honours in this series clearly lay with Bradley Whitford who plays one of the primary architects of Gilead harbouring some serious doubts and a mentally unstable wife.
Still despite my disappointment with series three I'm up for series four. There is plenty of potential for the series to lift its game and its second to last scene was extremely moving.
For some reason I didn't comment on this thread about Season 2 which I did watch 12 months ago though it does feel like only yesterday that I watched it.
I thought the second series was an improvement on the first. Briefly, it had great narrative drive and fleshed out all the characters this time really well and finished with a powerful conclusion to be continued. There was no padding this time round and it packed in a lot and plenty of gut punches along the way.
Season 3 is rather problematic. Firstly, there is virtually zero narrative movement and most of the episodes are like extending mini dramas that could have been condensed. The only exciting moment was the end of the episode 11 (if you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about) and a scene at the end of one of the episodes that takes place in a shop that was brilliantly executed. I have mixed feelings on Aunt Lydia's flashback which goes some way to explain how she got to where she is in the series. Great to see Ann Dowd get to move into a different gear and do a backstory but its conclusion was a tad simplistic - nothing worse than a woman scorned (in her eyes) basically.
Way too many scenes of Elizabeth Moss grinning away like a maniac at times. Acting honours in this series clearly lay with Bradley Whitford who plays one of the primary architects of Gilead harbouring some serious doubts and a mentally unstable wife.
Still despite my disappointment with series three I'm up for series four. There is plenty of potential for the series to lift its game and its second to last scene was extremely moving.