The Handmaid's tale

Spoiler alert.

What a long drawn out episode last night. I had hoped she was going to have the baby in the snow where it would be carried off by the wolf and raised as its cub in the forest - best case scenario for the baby.

All that faffing about with the car but not once did she check the fuel gauge.

What's the betting we're back chez Waterford next week

I read the book when it first came out. Have been watching the series but not had the courage to continue.

I am enjoying series 2 as much as series 1 to be honest.

I am happy to know what happened to them all after the first series and I am not disappointed to see so many of the original characters in series 2. It is adault viewing so not for the faint- hearted I suppose.

I think the Nick character would be more interesting if he had a smidgeon of sex appeal. I know they're all shit scared but does he have to look so gormless?

Elizabeth Moss is brilliant at doing Offred's sinister, 'You have know idea what I'm thinking' expressions and Aunt Lydia reminds me of the Freak in Prisoner Cell Block H.

I'm watching it with interest but also with impatience. It's 13 episodes long, so we're less than halfway through! There are so many long, static shots of faces, people walking very slowly, Offred's bedroom, etc etc - they could cut about a third out of each episode and it would be much more watchable. Elizabeth Moss is expressive and interesting to watch, but the other main characters (the Waterfords and Nick) are limitd to one or two facial expressions and tedious to watch in extended close-ups, even if their acting is otherwise good.

First series was based on Margaret Atwood's novel which I read and enjoyed (if that's the right word - I found both book and TV adaptation gripping but chilling.) I can't see any point in watching series 2 as it is no longer based on the book.

Watched first series but find the second just unwatchable.

I thought the first series was a good adaptation of the book, but I think that the second series is disappointing and seems as if it is being spun out just to fill more screen time. Am fed up with it.

I read the book and saw the (Vanessa Redgrave) film. Having done so, I have no desire to watch the tv series. A truly awful concept.

It's certainly not a drama to dip in and out of I've found. There appears to be lots of silences and because I've missed a bit I couldn't fathom what was going on. Not for me. Neither is Poldark. Perhaps I've changed and now need something livelier.

Wow! What a cliffhanger!!

Glad something really dramatic has happened because Offred's pregnancy was becoming a bit tedious.

Series one was true to the book and kept the uncertain, troubling, what has happened? feeling. Series 2 is too explicit and not mystifying enough. Also a lot of time filling shots. It's interesting but never as good as Margaret Atwood's original. Elisabeth Moss does her best but the writing is too thin and the plot is tenuous relying on scarey images and too obvious violence,

I agree with Luckygirl that real life is gruesome enough and find this kind of dark fantasy too difficult to watch. It can't be viewed as entertainment, surely? There are so many parts of the world where oppression of women is a reality that it seems more effort should go into tackling the existing horrors of FGM, subjugation and kidnap/slavery if programme makers are determined to make audiences anxious or fearful. And I don't mean that we need to have these things shown in graphic detail, of course. Just that there are real life issues to challenge and change.

I think the 2nd series is just as dark as the first and equally as gripping especially as they didn't base this series on a book as a second book wasn't written. The scary bit is - could something like this ever happen? Having recently seen a documentary about 'Hate Preachers' in the USA who hate gay people, divorcees, people in single sex relationships, people living together etc. etc. They pray for such a Utopian society and would violent methods to try achieve it.

I have made a point of not watching this - real life is gruesome enough thank you.

Thanks, pensionpat. I guessed she might be one of the wives because of her religious fervour. Bit of a dim-wit if she didn't realise they'd be out to get her.

I wonder what will happen to Janine?

Series 2 not good in my opinion but I loved series 1.

Same here Auntieflo - I was struggling with even that small clip. Not for me I’m afraid

I loved the book and series 1 but this new series is too gruesome. I had to change the channel with the torture last week. This week was so dark, grim and confusing I'm not sure if I will carry on.

The only bit of this programme I have seen, was a snippet from Gogglebox, and I couldn't watch all of that. It looks horrid and upsetting for the sake of it. Nasty.

Pensionpat she is in a disused newspaper office, now that newspapers have been banned and it looks like the news reporters have been killed.

Episode 2 all a bit confusing, dark and rather boring for me.

I will watch again, see if it improves. I hate seeing the torture, I fast forwarded through the hand part last week.

Merlot. The woman who was poisoned was one of the upper classes who had been caught having an affair. So she had been one of those who had held down a handmaiden every month while husband tried to impregnate her. Not sure where Offred is now. Looks like disused office block.

I started episode one and the first half hour was just torturing women, I don’t mind gruesome but it just seemed one after the other, the pretend hanging, then the kneeling in the rain, followed by the hand in the burning flame all seemed like voyarism wasn’t comfortable so gave up

I'm not sure I'm enjoying this new series. Introducing new characters via flashback then plunging them into the darkness of the colonies where you can't see who's who is confusing. Who was the woman who was poisoned by one of the 'inmates' at the end? (sorry about all the whos)

Where exactly is Offred and was that sex scene necessary to the plot??

I think I'm losing the plot.