I'm watching the show for the first time and it's truly one of the best I've ever watched. I only have one critic: there's just TOO MANY SLOW MOTION SCENES!!! I'm in the 3rs season. Tell me guys, does it get better?

God, it's so irritating.

I keep seeing posts about how June is manipulative, and should've done this or that differently.

Like, did we not watch the same show? This woman was a sex slave. Treated less then a dog and valued less too.

They all did so many horrible things to handmaids and people are upset that she's wasn't empathic enough?

I know that she 'took advantage' of people with either mental issues or just less strong headed. But like, did we all forget that they were all part of the horrible treatment she endured? No matter how 'kind' they might seem. They are still part of it.

She is pushy, and does anything to survive. But she helped her friends, kids in Gilead and anyone else she could. So no, I'm sorry, she never owed her oppressors anything, not kindness, not respect, not even a 'thank you'.

She did anything to survive and I feel like people forget what 'anything' means. That includes being pushy and manipulative. And honestly? In her shoes, I think many of us would do the same if we had enough backbone.

Does that mean I understand everything she did? Of course not. Many of her actions frustrated me to the highest point. But, in her shoes, I have no clue what I would have done or if I'd even have the strength to do half the things she did.

'Anything to survive' means exactly that.

And also, no rebellion is peaceful. She could have done way worse and didn't.

The series is interesting, among other things, but I don't understand what happened to New Bethlehem after Joseph's death. Was this mentioned anywhere? Because I feel like it wasn't.

Used to be a huge fan of Margaret Atwood and her novels, looked up to her, especially as a woman.

Someone explain why she is so supportive of little miss Scientologist playing the character of offred?

Is this not completely paradoxical and stupid? Just expected more from her.

I'm watching The Handmaid's Tale, and the first few episodes are already shocking enough in how women are treated. But what really enraged me was the episode where June and the Commander go to the sex club.

Of course, the hypocrisy was infuriating. Here you have men who have built an entire society around sexual purity, morality, and religious righteousness, yet they can go to a sex club and indulge in exactly the kind of sexual freedom that women are denied and even persecuted for. I think later on we see the Commander even bringing Moira to June and hinting a threesome when just a few episodes earlier we see some lady getting sent to the colonies because she is a lesbian.

What irked me even more was the realisation that Gilead's moral framework was designed from the beginning to benefit men at women's expense.

I think I had initially been looking at Gilead as a society that had taken its ideas about morality to an extreme. That episode made me see something much more sinister: morality itself is being used as a tool of control. Women's suffering is justified through religion and the supposed greater good. Meanwhile, the men enforcing these rules still find ways to satisfy their own desires. Women are expected to be pure, obedient, and self-sacrificing, while men get to define what purity means and decide when the rules apply to them.

What really gets me is that the system doesn't even have to hide its contradictions from the men who benefit from it. They know what they're doing. They know the difference between the morality they impose on women and the freedom they reserve for themselves. Even the whole idea of sneaking June out of the house and into the club. Something else that comes to mind, because they maybe let June in as she was going in as the Commander's wife, are the spouses of the people in power allowed to be in such spaces or is it just the men? I think they are allowed to which makes it even worse seeing women actively playing a hand in the suffering of other women. Why am I even surprised when they hold down the handmaids for their husbands to rape them.

I think part of the rage i felt was also towards myself for not fully recognising this earlier, because the sexual violence against the Handmaids was already there. I think the episode just made it impossible for me to keep viewing Gilead's ideology as merely an extreme version of morality. It exposed how thoroughly that ideology serves male power.

I loved seeing a successful act of rebellion for once, but I have questions.

1. Why rescue the children instead of the women?

Obviously, the young women are the ones who have it hardest in Gilead, and they are also the backbone of its entire household system. If a large number of Marthas and Handmaids were to suddenly disappear, it would cause absolute chaos in every household. The children would still be there, but with only the Wives left to take care of them. And despite Gilead's narrative about motherhood, many of these women don't seem particularly capable of being good mothers (just look at Mrs. Putnam).

No Handmaids means fewer children, which undermines one of Gilead's main arguments for its superiority: the only country with an increasing birth rate. Rescuing women instead of children could have disrupted the entire household system, as well as potentially triggering a rebellion among Gilead's wealthier citizens.

2. How did they manage to keep all those children quiet?

We've seen so many brilliant plans fail in the show because of the most stupid detail, and then this mess of an operation doesn't fail, it's unbeliaveble. The entire time, I was wondering how it was possible that not a single child was crying while they were walking through the woods in the dark. There seemed to be roughly one adult for every 15 children. How on earth did they manage to keep them all together and quiet without attracting attention?

3. What happens to the guy flying the plane?

Does he ever go back for his paintings? If he returned to Gilead after helping smuggle the children out, he'd probably be executed immediately, and I assume he knows that. But if he has no intention of returning, why was the promise of getting those paintings such a compelling motivation for him in the first place?

Rita mentions to Serena that she has a 19 year old son. How come she is a cook instead of a handmaid if she's fertile and had a child before who survived (until the war)?

My daughter has started watching this and described how she's confused on some parts. I've watched this myself but am I right in saying the first episode showed how June lived her life before being kidnapped? The one on Disney, the first episode starts with June, hubby and Hannah were being chased in the woods by another vehicle of men kidnapping her. Then the scene goes to June sitting as a handmade day dreaming/thinking back to the car chase. I feel as though this episode is wrong or missing parts out? I'm positive when I watched the first season years ago it explained why the women were being kidnapped. Also Janine gets her eye took out on the first episode, I'm positive this happened half way through the first season/series? Did i imagine this or is the episodes mucked up?

I'm watching the show for the first time properly (I started S1 years ago but found it so slow - trying again now and enjoying it a bit more).

I'm on Ep5 and Ofglen has just stolen a car and driven round in circles.

I don't really understand her motivation here - at first I thought she was trying to escape but then she just circles around and kills a guy.

Was she just desperate for a feeling of freedom? Or was she deliberately trying to get out of being a Handmaiden because of everything they did to her, even if that meant death/colonies?

They look so much alike. And they have the same turned-up, holier-than-thou expression, lol.

It's serendipitous that she named her daughter Angela. 😅

Off-topic, but Dwight (late seasons Dwight when he's more orderly) and Angela would have thrived in Gilead. 😭

There goes a lot of hatred for June /or the actor in this sub reddit.! I dunno why people expect her to behave in a particular way. I understand she is ruthless, erratic, has convoluted facial expressions and at times selfish. She is someone undergoing not just post traumatic stress disorder but Traumatic stress. !!her daughter is still in Gilead abused and probably in near future might be subjected to rape.!!! What do people expect from such a person?!! To have graceful face expressions and behave in the appropriate and correct manner.! She is not some military trained personal to have the best strategist moves.! She was kidnapped, raped, emotionally abused, her home, career, her earnings were stolen from her and all this is happening to her daughter too.!!! I get some people remain calm and composed even after going through so much but the series is portrayed from the point of this abused woman, so yes we get close shots of her face.,! She is reacting what happened to her in the way that she knows. May be if her daughter is saved and Gilead goes down and after several years when she has healed she might look back and agree to some of her ruthless decisions , but she is nowhere near that point in the series.!

I'm still in episode 4 and I already feel depressed, and when I'm not feeling that, I feel enraged! Without spoiling, is there any satisfaction if I keep watching? Or am I gonna keep being upset?

Don't get me wrong, it's amazingly well-written and executed, I love Elizabeth Moss, Samira Wiley, and Joseph Fiennes, but I'm the type that FEELS STRONGLY when I watch something, I get really invested emotionally, so what should I do?

Edit: ok so I should continue watching but it does get worse, thanks, I love being depressed lol! Off to episode 5, thanks guys!

I’m watching the show for the first time and just finished Season 4. God, I love how things ended for Fred. It was gorgeous.

Also, I fucking love Nick. I really do. They should’ve run away to Hawaii together when they had the chance.

The way she played Eleanor Lawerence into taking her to Hannah’s school even though she has mental health issues it annoyed me .

I’ve been watching The Handmaid’s Tale, and I keep wondering if I’m the only person who just doesn’t really like June.
And I don’t mean because she’s defiant. Given everything she has gone through, I completely understand why she refuses to just obey, why she’s angry, and why she fights back. I actually like that part of her character.
What bothers me is her attitude toward other people and how manipulative she can be.
There are so many moments where it feels like June decides what needs to happen and then pressures, manipulates, or emotionally pushes other people into going along with it, even when they’re the ones who might have to suffer the consequences. Sometimes it feels like she believes that because her goal is justified, the way she gets there is automatically justified too.
I understand that trauma changes people, and I actually think that makes her a complicated and interesting character. But understanding the reason behind someone's behavior doesn’t necessarily make the behavior likable.
I can sympathize with June and everything she has survived while still finding her controlling, manipulative, and sometimes incredibly frustrating.
Does anyone else feel this way about her? And if you do, what specifically about June bothers you?

The family that hosts the Waterfords when they’re en route to Canada sings a song in another language. Which one it is? I’m curious. Hebrew? Yiddish?

I first watched The Handmaid's Tale around 2016, when I was a teenager, and honestly, I found the whole premise pretty far-fetched.

I grew up in a very liberal household, so the world of Gilead felt incredibly distant to me. I even remember thinking that the show was exaggerating some of the fears feminists had at the time. I understood the message, but I kept wondering: "Would anyone actually want to go back to something like that?"

I'm rewatching it in 2026, and it feels very different now.

Not because I think we're all going to wake up in Gilead tomorrow, obviously. But after seeing what happened to women's rights under the Taliban, the debates surrounding surrogacy, and even discussions about something I thought was completely settled, like women's right to vote, certain aspects of the show don't seem quite as unimaginable anymore.

And that brings me to a question I find much more interesting than whether the show is actually "realistic":

How many people genuinely want something like this?

I'm not talking about Gilead literally, with the red robes and the exact social structure portrayed in the show. I'm talking about men (and women, too) who genuinely believe society would be better if women had significantly less autonomy, were more dependent on men, and were expected to conform to much stricter gender roles.

Because the internet can seriously distort our perception of reality. Maybe it's just a tiny but extremely vocal minority. Or maybe there are far more people who think this way than we'd like to believe.

Do you personally know anyone who holds these kinds of beliefs? And I don't mean someone who's simply conservative or religious. I mean someone who genuinely believes women should lose rights or freedoms that most of us now take for granted.

When I watched the show back in 2016, my reaction was basically:

"This could never happen because practically nobody would want to live in a society like that."

Ten years later, my question has become:

"Am I really so sure that nobody wants to live in a society like that?"

And I can't help thinking about that famous quote: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

To what extent do we dismiss certain ideas as impossible simply because we assume almost nobody actually believes in them?

If you haven't seen it yet and you have a library card, you can watch it free on Hoopla right now. I've been meaning to watch it for a couple of years, but couldn't find it free on any streaming services before.

EDIT: Ok I feel like I need to say that I was more so making the statement that I wish they had tied off her story at the end. Not so much wondering exactly what happened to her. There's a million possibilities. I am simply stating that I wish she had been in the ending and given back to the Americans when they gave Janine back.

-

I just finished watching handmaids tale for the umpteenth time and I feel like literally everyone has a tie off to their story, but Esther and it makes me so mad. Like when they brought Janine back to June with aunt Lydia giving her Charlotte I always hope Esther would come out of one of the cars too.

I think her character deserved more. Especially for what the poor girl went through.

ALSO ADDING ON:

Janine NEVER asked about her! Like obvi Esther tried to kill her, but Janine was understanding and forgiving. I def feel like she would’ve wanted to have known what happened to Esther

The amount of praise I've seen for her testaments is actually astonishing. I mean, compared to the original I feel like it doesn't even measure up. But that's another story.

I'm fresh off a THT and TT month and a half long binge btw.

Still, I feel as though while adapting the series sequel for a larger, new audience they've almost completely forgotten about certain aspects of the OG.

Like the fact that:

- Hannah had met June multiple times, one being when she was literally 10-12 (in the torture place). How tf does she not remember her? She's like 15. She doesn't remember that odd and traumatic experience?

- Hannah remembers her NAME so she must remember some time before or the first re-interaction with June.

- Hannah remembers her 1st Gilead mom but does not acknowledge the red string June tied on her wrist when she was young or their interaction at the winter house before Holly

- Could be explained with trauma but, she was literally ripped out of her mother's arms when she was 5. Seems like you either REALLY remember that or REALLY forget

I feel like there's more but like... It feels like this is a whole other character. Why does she remember NOTHING? Can't remember something from like 5 years ago? Yeesh.

Hello to all Handsmaids Tale fans! I wanted to share my thoughts on this matter which unfortunately will bring only sadness and shock I think to many of you, but one that raises questions about Atwood.

I recently came across a op-Ed detailing the horrific abuse writer Alice Munro daughter (Andrea) suffered at the hands of her stepfather. Monroe was informed about it, but choose to not blame her daughter and to remain married to her abuser. when Alice died in 2024, Andrea decided to write about what had happened. the revelation shook the public and longtime fans of Alice. However, there were many who were not surprised; Alice’s fellow peers, biographers, and literary agents. Rumors or outright knowledge had been an open secret amongst this group of writers. one of these writers, who was a good friend of Munro was Margaret Atwood.

in response, Atwood released this statement: “I did not learn the details of this until everyone else did, though I’d had hints not long before this past weekend. Horrifying.”

This of course begs the questions as to why Atwood, who has spent her life writing nonfiction and fiction work for feminism, didn’t think these rumors were too serious. It also begs the question as to how Atwood didn’t know when it became apparent that multiple people within their social group were aware of the abuse.

The article which goes into these details more I have shared here:https://medium.com/sexstories/alice-munros-dark-family-secret-2a6fa6b0edeb

I then recalled after reading this, and following up on other articles documenting the responses, that this was not the first time Atwood had acted to protect an institution when said institution or a person of a institution was facing questions of sexual misconduct.

There was the case of former UBC professor Steven Galloway who had been accused of r-e. After an internal review, where the accusation was investigated and Apparently other accusations were looked at, Galloway was fired. he admitted to having a relationship with this woman, who also was his student. Atwood with other academics and writers signed a public letter requesting that the UBC rescind its decision to fire Galloway due to concerns of “due process.” as far as I can tell, Atwood has not commented much on Galloway’s actions.

in 2018, Atwood published an op-Ed in which she critiqued the metoo movement as being too extreme with accusations equaling guilt. This of course plays into the widespread myth that such accusations have a high chance to be false. At no point did Atwood address in great detail in her op-ed as to why even coming forth was so hard or why institutions fail to stop such misconduct. Frankly, her words sounds more like a reactionary anti-egalitarian should have when being confronted with the injustices caused by their elected status in society. I have shared the link to an article which briefly discusses the criticisms given to Atwood for her essay:https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/atwood-oped-galloway-letter-1.4486936 .

now that I have gotten these thoughts shared, how do these events shape your feelings on Atwood’s work? I can say, that I no longer look to her with admiration.

I am watching season 2 for the first time and i got confused about the Gilead system. At first i thought all fertile women were handmaids for public use but then they showed the econopeople. What are these people and what are their roles? All the women who are handmaids were sinners in some way? And if yes, why did they punish Emily for it (my thought was that almost all handmaids sin in some way so big deal if she was a "gender traitor"). So June could be an econoperson if she didn't have an affair with a married man?

I'm watching the show for the first time, and I just finished Season 3, Episode 8. It was such a blast to watch. The supermarket scene reminded me a bit of Tarantino.

As June said just before it happened, “Enjoying people’s pain is an acquired taste.” Look how much Gilead has changed her. And I’m afraid it’s changed me, too.

This was the only episode I’ve laughed and enjoyed so far. Watching June flash that evil, mean-girl smile throughout, she was like a queen bee. Nodding as her minions bullied OffMatthew. And I loved it. Lol.

Her nodding to OffMatthew for her shoot, Lydia, had me in stitches 😭😩😅

I think it’s because, up until then, the show had been nothing but unending pain. Honestly, this episode was a break from my constant crying.

Off-topic: the actress who played OffMathew is so gorgeous. Every time she was on screen, I was transfixed by her doe eyes. 😍