If You're Not Already Watching "The Handmaid's Tale" Get In On It Now

Indie Wire-  It’s been too long — years, in fact, since audiences saw June Osbourne (Elisabeth Moss) as she fought to free the women of Gilead. The fourth season drops on Hulu April 28, and it’s time to catch up.

This upcoming fourth season will return the series to a leaner and tighter narrative, with just 10 episodes, three of which will be available to stream at launch and the others coming weekly. 

Showrunner Bruce Miller told IndieWire told earlier this year it’s impossible to guess where the show goes: “Don’t try to guess what happens,” Miller said. “That’s a fool’s errand. You will not be able to know what happens. That’s the beauty of the show.”

Compared to previous seasons, which clocked in at 13 episodes, this new season will be returning to the 10-episode structure of Season 1. “Some storylines just seem to shake out as a 10-episode story, in my eyes,” said Miller. It was a decision both Hulu and MGM supported.

I have zero shame admitting this show is my guilty pleasure. Season 1 I was kind of embarrassed to tell people, but after Season 2 I have been shouting from the rooftops about how awesome this show is. 

Season 4 kicked off a couple weeks ago with new episodes dropping every Wednesday night.

Back when it began, the storyline and plot seemed like a real sci-fi mind fuck. A totalitarian theocratic government that seized power via a radical religious revolution, exterminated anybody and everybody that opposed them, and enslaved fertile women that were still capable of having children and furthering the human race which had become decimated by worldwide infertility. 

Stay with me here.

They throw shit way back to Puritanical times. Ban television. Media of all sorts and pretty much all technology. Everybody dresses the same in simple uniforms, and it's all about the big guy upstairs.

Woman have zero rights. 

Anybody that speaks out or opposes is publicly executed.

Sounded like some really far out, fucked up dystopian shit back in 2017. 

You'd be watching it, thinking to yourself "imagine if this shit actually happened? This is nuts." And as far-fetched as it seemed, the writers are so fucking good, and the acting is so on point, that it was very believable. 

Then Covid swept across the globe, and countries really did shut down borders, governments seized powers and stripped freedoms, and citizens were all too quick to comply. I won't go so far to use the term brainwashed but you can start to see today how we're actually not that far away from a Gilead-type situation from being a possible reality. Which is wild to type but true.

(Fun fact- the show's epicenter is oddly enough Somerville, MA and Boston's surrounding neighborhoods. A lot of the scenes and references will definitely register with my Massachusetts people)

There are some amazing actresses and actors in the show also.

Its star, Elisabeth Moss, is a huge badass. 

Her character arc goes through the gauntlet from seasons 1-3 but again, the show's writing keeps you invested as a viewer and just when you think you can't stand her or find yourself starting to root against her, they pull you back in with the masterful backstory cut ins. Honestly, season 2 and 3's "flash back" scenes that show how and why the characters have evolved to where they are now might be the best part of the entire show.

Serena, aside from being played by a total dime, is one of the best characters in the history of television.

One entire season you want to watch her die a slow, miserable death, and then out of nowhere you're turned on your head and rooting for her like she's the tragic hero. 

Her husband, Commander Waterford, played by Joe Fiennes is also incredible. He plays a grade A dirtbag and makes it seem natural. 

There's a season with a regularly appearing Bradley Whitford as an old man where he steals almost every scene he's in and plays a total wildcard.

And I saved the best for last. The lady that plays Aunt Lydia is the most easily hateable character possibly ever. Just flat out scum of the Earth. 

Or so you think… Again, just can't say enough about the show's writing. It takes the main underlying theme of the show, how grief and trauma change people, and pushes them to do things they wouldn’t normally do, and poses it to the viewer with such an empathetic twist that puts your mind in a complete pretzel.

There's also a ridiculously eery scene filmed in a condemned Fenway Park.

Bottom line is the show is nails and if you need a show to start watching with your wife/gf this is the one. Thank me later.

Under his eye.