TV Show Review - The Handmaid's Tale (Season 4)

Season: 4
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2021
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: It took a while before “The Handmaid’s Tale” returned with season 4. But Elisabeth Moss, who plays June, is finally back and is great as ever.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO AREN’T CAUGHT UP

This season, June manages to finally escape from the hell that’s called Gilead. After a while, she even manages to end up in Canada where she is finally reunited with her husband Luke. However, in her escape, June did not have the opportunity to take her daughter Hannah with her. She blames herself greatly for this and feels guilty towards Luke about it. Although June’s escape attempt, which she does together with some of the other handmaids, is ultimately successful for her it is obviously not going to be easy. June faces considerable hardship and loss.

So the relationship between June and Luke is what I found most interesting this season. Both are struggling with a sense of guilt about their daughter Hannah who is still trapped in Gilead. June and Luke both deal with it in a different way, but the sadness is very palpable for both of them. Meanwhile, Fred and Serena Joy are still in jail in Canada awaiting the lawsuit filed against them. Fred wants nothing more from his wife, until Serena Joy discovers that she is pregnant with his child.

Season 4 contains a few memorable scenes. Like the speech June gives in the courtroom in front of Fred and Serena, the people who made her life a living hell. But the scene that most impressed me and stuck with me is where June ruthlessly taunts Serena as to why God let Serena get pregnant according to June. Elisabeth Moss should win an Emmy for this scene alone.

But with four season already made, it’s hard to avoid a little bit of repetition. A lot of things happening, we’ve seen before.

But it’s still a great season and I highly enjoyed it. I believe the fifth season, which will come out in 2022, is the final one. Which might be for the best. I really want to know how it ends and what will happen to all the characters, good or bad.

Movie Review - Spiral

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Crime
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisol Nichols, Patrick McManus, Dan Petronijevic, Richard Zeppieri, Ali Johnson, Zoie Palmer, Dylan Roberts, K.C. Collins, Edie Inksetter
 
Description: A criminal mastermind unleashed a twisted form of justice.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE

WEEK 44: A HORROR MOVIE

Review: When it was announced that Chris Rock would be working on a new “Saw” film, a few eyebrows were raised. Although the comedian declared himself a big fan of this horror-franchise, his resume shows zero experience in the genre. But maybe he can blow new life into the franchise. Well, the answer is no. The film is not that great and Rock can be partly blamed for that.
In all fairness, it is of course a tough job to continue the “Saw” series in an interesting way. The surprise hit from 2004 received six sequels in quick succession, which increased the horror and made the ramified story increasingly complex. The numerous subplots, flashbacks and bizarre revelations turned the franchise into a weirdly unusually film series. By the time the seventh part wa intended as the finale, however, the formula had already become rather threadbare and the planned relaunch, with the unimpressive “Jigsaw”, didn’t really get off the ground either. So yes, which way can you go with this series?
Back to basics then, seems to be the idea. That was probably the right choice, as it allows “Spiral” to function as a sequel without getting caught up in the complex continuity of the previous parts. The great advantage of this is that no prior knowledge is required. Even the pre-history of a moralistic killed who killed his victims with sadistic traps is made sufficiently clear for newcomers here and there. In terms of plot, “Spiral” is straightforward: a series of Jisaw-like murders are committed against policemen, and the officer in charge of the investigations is someone who, because of his extreme rectitude does not exactly enjoy the appreciation of his colleagues.
“Spiral” is much easier to categorize then previous parts: it’s a police thriller. So we get an experienced cop who makes his own plans, a commissioner whom regularly fights and a young partner whom he teaches the intricacies of police work, while the city suffers from a heat wave and the victims pile up. Good enough for a serial killer thriller, except that the whole Saw-element in it feels rather incidental. It would take little rewriting to make this a completely stand-alone film.
Back to Chris Rock. In itself, not an unpleasant choice, were it not for the fact that Rock is a bit out of place as the driving force of the film. He tries to hard to be serious, which leads to a somewhat wooden performance. Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Rock’s character’s father, partially compensates, but mostly plays on routine and does what we see more often of him.
“Spiral” leaves us with an open ending, which hints to yet another sequel. We already didn’t need this movie, so a sequel is really unnecessary. The movie proofs that most life has been drained out of this franchise, just stop making them.

Rating: 2 / 5

TV Show Review - The Handmaid's Tale (Season 3)

Season: 3
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.

TV Show Review - The Handmaid's Tale (Season 2)

Season: 2
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Number of episodes: 13
Year: 2018
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: “There is more than one kind of freedom… Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it”.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” had a wonderful start, season 1 was fantastic and very captivating. And season 2 is also fantastic. Although, June’s life isn’t and it’s not getting any better.
There are so many heavy themes this series deals with: child marriage, rape, slavery, abuse, oppression and dictatorship. But the scariest parts is maybe the inability to do anything about it.
There is a constant fight going on. Not only the fight between good and bad, because the show isn’t that black and white. We see the emotional fight of Serena, the fight between Serena and June, the fight between the establishment and them thinking it's so good what they’re doing. The right to self-determination, to decide as a woman what you want to eat, drink, carry and who you want to love.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is filmed beautifully in a dystopian world that used to be America. Gilead is seen through the eyes of the women, wearing red, blue and grey. You can see the children’s faces, that never asked for this and grow up thinking this is normal. And the cruelty of the men and women higher up the ladder, who think they have the wisdom.
Serena's battle is beautifully performed by Yvonne Strahovski. How broken June is, is shown in the fantastic performance Elisabeth Moss delivers. But Fred Waterford’s brute force, which Joseph Fiennes more than excellently portrays, is also a feast for the eye and ear. It’s for a reason that all three have been nominated an Emmy Award and Moss even won a Golden Glove for her role.
Gilead pulls the viewer into the world that seems so far away, but it actually lives around the corner. A world were June is forced to live in, which is cruel and bloody. When you think everything is going to be okay, things get even worse. It seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel and that a world like this cannot become better. Happiness is not a word that describes Gilead. The last few episodes of this season is full of tension and you still have hope, but inside you know it will no
t get better. And I will no longer think that anyone in this series will ever find happiness, as long as they live in Gilead.
This series surprised me so much, it’s daring and doesn’t shy away from confronting situations and themes. And, like its first season, season 2 is strong from start to finish.

TV Show Review - The Handmaid's Tale (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2017
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Joseph Fiennes, Max Minghella, Alexis Bledel, Anne Dowd

Description: Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

Review: Let me just start by telling that it’s a fantastic first season of this show. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is oppressive, compelling and credible enough to believe that people would really to make this a reality.
The series is based on the book by Margeret Atwood and it’s gripping and frightening. And it doesn’t let you go easily.
In “The handmaid’s Tale”, a picture of the future of the United States is presented that is not really rosy, to put it mildly. The United States has come into power from a group of religious fanatics who have renamed the country the Republic of Gilead. This republic is full of betrayal, suspicion and oppression. Most women have become infertile. The women who are still fertile are placed with families that are high up in the republic. There they have to become pregnant by their ‘masters’. They have to give up their real name to show how insignificant they are.
We follow June Osborne who has to change her name into Offred. This well-educated and free-spirited woman is ‘lucky’ enough to be fertile. She is placed within the family Waterford: Serena Joy Waterford and her husband Fred Waterford. Because of this, June lost her everything: her job, her husband and her daughter. Despite the hell she is living in, June is determined to find her daughter. She’ll do anything for that.
You get an inside look on how this society works and its rules. But you also get to see flashbacks, where you see who everyone was before it all went down and what happened to them and to the US. And why it is the way it is.
As said, the series is oppressive, it’s edgy with regard to the status of women in a society. And it does not hesitate to address social issues. All this is portrayed brilliantly but painfully and June’s role is played excellently by Elisabeth Moss.
Before you start this series, it’s best to know as little as possible. This way it’s more shocking and it adds to the TV experience.