The Handmaid's Tale

The new episodes deftly explore what happens next for June and everyone else in a way that feels true to the source material, while also feeling a bit looser and more sure of itself now that the story is wholly the series’ own. ... In many ways it was even better than The Handmaid's Tale's already impressive debut season.

This is not only an important show, one that gets into your head as few TV series can, it is also pretty much a masterpiece. ... Once again, the performances are astounding. And once again, the most astounding is Emmy winner Moss. ... The rest of the cast is extraordinary.

In its sophomore season, the series creeps deeper and serves up countless harrowing, haunting moments.

For those fascinated by how a society such as ours can devolve relatively quickly into a misogynist nightmare, and by how fragile our moral balance is, there’s nothing better out there, even the miraculous “Dark Mirror.” And The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t intriguing on a conceptual level only; it’s a deeply personal story about a few women who’ve been abducted. ... TV storytelling at its boldest.

The Handmaid’s Tale is just as brutal, visually pointed, and brilliantly acted as it was in season one. ... The former Mad Men star must wear an even wider variety of masks this season, and she takes them on and off with such controlled ease that it is sometimes staggering. ... She’s surrounded by equally convincing actors.

A level above the endless viewing options that exist today.

As a cautionary tale, Handmaid’s is never moralizing or hysterical, instead constructing a pervasive mood of dread through quiet, deliberate storytelling. Uncomfortable images linger--the camera watches, unflinchingly, for a full minute as a character performs a bloody act of self-mutilation in the premiere--and some of the most powerful scenes have no dialogue, yet swell with intense emotion: fear, hope, despair, desire.

Miller and company don’t always make it easy to follow (the flashbacks could be confusing for new converts), but they never undercut Atwood’s impact.

The new season of The Handmaid's Tale takes special delight in allowing bubbles of hope to surface in this opaque, sorrowful mire, only to submerge them before they can break open. Taken in large doses this makes for tough, wearying viewing. It’s also worth every moment of discomfort it dishes out. For now, we can take it.

The second season initially improves on the first -- a richer, deeper dive into this dystopian world and the paths followed by key players in getting there.

While Handmaid’s Tale comes across as more disturbing because the world it creates actually feels like it could come to pass. Neither program [Handmaid's Tale or Westworld] is an easy viewing experience; both shows represent today’s TV at its best.

This second season is packed, but without getting too far into spoiler territory, fans can be assured that what's here feels exactly right.

Aside from the occasional heavy-handedness and missteps in characterization, The Handmaid’s Tale remains a must-see.

Showrunner Bruce Miller has established the stakes for this world, and while it’d be nice if there was more focus, the series remains as unforgiving and unforgettable as ever. June’s anger and rage are ours as well, screaming out for those kept silent.

Silence speaks volumes as June withstands the psychological abuse of the fearsome Aunnt Lydis (ann Dowd) and endures domestic tension. [30 Apr - 13 May 2018, p.13]

The Handmaid’s Tale is powerful and propulsive. After the first three episodes, when the horrors become more predictable, it’s even pretty watchable. And, even so, it should have ended after the first season.

Dowd’s performance is absolutely essential to keeping this show from tipping over into excessive self-seriousness. You’ll notice that whenever Handmaid’s Tale shifts away from Lydia and Offred, and back to the Canadian border and the subplot involving Offred’s husband, Luke (O.T. Fagbenle), and Moira (Samira Wiley), the show becomes deadly drab and dull.

It's not the politics that drive this drama. It's the threat of what could be, portrayed in very human terms by Moss, Dowd and costars Alexis Bledel (Ofglen), Max Minghella (Nick) and Samira Wiley (Moira).

It’s become a confident, emotionally rich series--but one that, by nature and obligation, is wrenching to watch. ... Often, though, The Handmaid’s Tale feels so determined not to be misread, to treat its subject with gravity, that its storytelling is heavy-handed and its peripheral characters stiff. Fortunately, the central performance is anything but. ... Without someone as expressive as Ms. Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale might not pull off its balancing acts.

In addition to being dark, the first six episodes of the new season are very, very good, something nobody could have taken for granted with Miller and company moving farther and farther from Atwood's source material (and with Morano too busy with a burgeoning feature career to return behind the camera this time around). With Moss again leading the way, The Handmaid's Tale continues to thrive in many of the same emotional, yet soaringly beautiful, ways it succeeded last year--though several key flaws remain unimproved and are sometimes even exacerbated because everything else around them is so good.

Once again, the series’ relevance is clear as a cautionary tale, but some of the scripting can be ham-fisted in that regard. But whatever issues Handmaid’s has with narrative nuance, though, is more than made up for by exceptional work by its cast.

There are moments of heart-piercing beauty amid the horror; this season’s directors are skilled at finding color-saturated or windswept tableaus that recall classic paintings of rural worlds and faithful congregants.

The Handmaid's Tale remains intellectually nourishing, easy to admire, and difficult to endure. It's a beautiful test of stamina, offering only small reprieves from June's suffering. It embeds us alongside her, and remains dedicated to illustrating how exactly the villains can win.

Expanding Handmaid's into a multi-season TV series from a single novel by Margaret Atwood was always going to be tricky, and to maintain the core of the series as it moves beyond the book's roadmap, its characters have to suffer. Still, there's only so much trauma audiences can take before it becomes too much. Handmaid's would do well with a lighter touch.

Moss is the putative star of this vehicle, but Bledel is going to give her a run for her money. ... Increasing the episode count from 10 to 13 seems to have encouraged the writers to slow down the storyline and, worse, pad out each hour with flashbacks. There are too many of them. Some scenes of Moss waiting in limbo feel just like that. Waiting.

In season two, The Handmaid’s Tale continues to be an angry, searing piece of work. When it forces you to hold its infuriated gaze, it makes it clear that your inability to do so for long is exactly the point. But as it continues to broaden its world, the show needs to find a way to get more comfortable with the perspectives that make it most uncomfortable, or risk losing itself in its own myopic tragedy.