Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Number of episodes: 13
Year: 2019
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Joseph Fiennes, Max Minghella, Alexis Bledel, Anne Dowd, Bradley Whitford
Description: Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.
Review: “Praise be”. As a loyal fan of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, these words should sound familiar to you. After seeing the final episode of season 3, called “Mayday”, there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel.
In the first season we were given an image of a future America, now also called a theocracy called Gilead. A group a religious fundamentalists seized power and created a society with one priority: procreation. Fertile women serve as sex slaves (handmaids) of the rich powerful Commanders. In general, it is a medieval civilization with the technology of the future. Women are not allowed to read, write, drive a card, exercise a profession, etcetera, but they should be engaged in household chores. The series tells the story of the protagonist June Osbourne, int the first season as Offred, now Ofjoseph. She tells us her thoughts in the dialogue, since she will never be allowed to express them. The story sounds unrealistic when you hear it, but once you’ve started you will think: ‘but what if…?’
The second season ends with a breakaway attempt by Emily and June’s daughter Nichole, which was made possible thank to Commander Lawrence. June decided to stay, because she won’t leave without her daughter Hannah. After the second season we asked ourselves two questions: will Emily and Nichole make it to Canada and what will happen to June? The third season starts where the second season left us.
June is assigned to a new post in a household that doesn’t act like most. She becomes the handmaid for Commander Joseph Lawrence and his wife Eleanor. Lawrence is one of the founders of Gilead, but now refuses to follow the rules and doesn’t treat his handmaid and Martha’s the way the others do. A clever move for the storyline, it offers a lot of possibilities for new material. Especially since the relationship problems between Fred and Serena, that already arose at the end of season 2.
We get to see new content about the ‘normal’ life outside Gilead and we get backstories to complicated characters like Aunt Lydia. And I liked the addition of Commander Lawrence and wife Eleanor. It’s not exactly clear which side they are on.
What sets “The Handmaid’s Tale” apart from other series is the complexity of its characters. Of course, in a dystopian story like this you have certain protagonist and antagonists, but almost every character is interesting enough to want to know more about them. Serena Joy for example, the wife of Commander Fred Waterford. Despite the fact that she is one of the most mean, sneaky characters of the show, Yvonne Strahovski manages to portray her in such a way that you sometimes doubt that she might not deserve a second change ( and then immediately regret it). And this season she makes some controversial choices.
Another strong point is the credibility of the story. It’s a lot closer to reality as you might think. Seeing how America turned out to be, being reinforced by flashbacks through the episodes. This way you get to understand the world, characters and actions.
The only thing I didn’t really like is what they did with the character of Nick Blaine. It felt a little bit far-fetched and left of center. The third season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” definitely didn’t disappoint and is again of high quality. It’s a series that is so horrible and the same time so wonderful. I can’t wait what happens next, season 4 is supposed to air in 2020.
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