Morning

How Long Can A Good Thing Last?

Clearly June is riding on a high, well deserved after the torture she, and us as viewers, have been through over the run of the series. Watching her wreck a breakfast and follow it up, slurping'ly, with a milkshake is about as satisfying a moment this series has ever had, borderline fan service. I literally made bacon, waffles a la mode (nilla ice-cream) after watching this episode. Yet, June moves through much of the episode still bloody, incapable of washing it from her hands and body. Multiple times she tries to cleans herself, yet still leaves traces of blood throughout.

The tension is high, the episode starts at an extreme pace and continues the tone through the first half. We finally get a breather midway, much needed after all of that intensity. Luke's reassurance and comfort is welcomed, thoroughly. Then, a bit predictably, June tries to blow up her life, it's a bit masochistic. While June is coming off her high, Serena deals with the aftermath and the remains of her life. Some great scenes between Mark (Jaeger) and Serena (Strahovski). Clearly the season is setting up for Commander Fred's Dead to be a martyr and Serena to be the face of some sort of Gilead movement, I'm looking forward to Serena being the big-bad as Strahovski is a brilliant actress.

Elisabeth Moss provides excellent direction, this is clearly her baby now, and she takes ownership well. All the production values are as good as they've always been, no downturn at all. The writing is also excellent, many great scenes, especially Jaeger and Fagbenle who get the juiciest dialog. In a series that has so many fierce actresses, it's satisfying to see the males characters get some shine.

One of the best season premieres of the entire series, absolutely satisfying.

Exceptional episode.

Poetic, moving and honest. Not a lot of action but it isn't needed. It's setting up the entire season. It reminded me of season 1-3 (4 was a considerable misfire for me). Yes there is the obvious continuity issue that we have been aware of since season 3 (that she would have been put on the wall long ago) but this ep gives me hope that the show is back to its better days.

It's the best ep Moss has directed so far. If they focus this season - it has huge potential now that we know that it will wrap up in 6. I think if you suspend a bit of belief and just enjoy the ride, then this show is still of the best that there is.

Another absolute travesty of an episode, if this is the first one then I dread what the next nine are going to be like. It follows directly on from the traumatic, violent events of season four's climax, but as is all too often the case with this show these days, there's next to nothing happening. A lot of the regulars show up to remind us who they are, there's an excruciating scene of people eating in a restaurant, massive misunderstandings of political workings and international law, and long, drawn-out moments just focusing on people's faces again as they pull sorrowful expressions. Incredible that Moss was brought back to direct here...

Are the people who make this once great show in a game of chicken with Hulu or its fans, to see how bad they can make it before they get canceled or fans stop watching? I just wrote a review earlier today praising The Americans for making engaging entertainment without resorting to constant fights, chases, or emotional outbursts, but with Handmaid's Tale they've taken it to the extreme of hardly anything of note ever happening, and it has become so boring. Whoever is writing this is hyper-focused on conveying emotion via fascial expressions, sacrificing plot and realistic details in the process. You can't make a show that is 90% Wayne's World unnecessarily extreme close-ups of June or Serena's face, 9% dialog that sounds like the actors were told about the scene seconds before shooting it and had to improvise every word, and 1% stuff actually happening. This episode was awful. Remember that thing that happened in the past? Here's 5 minutes of June thinking about and her facial expressions as she gets emotional. Now here's 2 minutes of Serena thinking about it and her face as she gets emotional. Oh, and Season 4's absurd Canadian government behavior continues, & they hold prisoners in cushy resorts, letting prisoners meet with each other as they please or as it fits the writer's needs.

Season 1 was pretty good. Season 2 was ok. Season 3 it started tanking and the plot began meandering aimlessly. Season 4 was horrendous. Season 5 is looking abysmal. While I'm griping, from a past episode, I still can't believe the tank on a truck transporting milk would have interior lighting, or an interior liquid release valve.

This episode was really bad and I hope it's not a sign of what's to come. I'd decided to finally watch this show and binged watched it up to the end of season 4. I did notice it was becoming a bit of a slog to get through episodes, usually when too much focus on June, but I still stuck with it.

Now, first episode of season 5 and it looks like they've decided to double down on June with all the closeups, the faux emotions, etc. Maybe I'll come back later and try to finish but definitely need a break after how terrible that was. I understand she is the titular character but, for me, she is the weakest link on this show as there are some really good performances by everyone else.