The Handmaid's Tale, Season 3: speculation, trailers and spoilers...

[SophieCatScribbles]

Here we go. Just how wild a ride will Season 3 be compared to Seasons 1 and 2?!
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WARNING*: EXPECT SPOILERS.

Here's some info about the new series from Digital Spy...

And the Season 3 Super Bowl ad...

And an interview with the gorgeously talented Joseph Fiennes about the new series:

Let the speculation and spoilers commence!

Thank you 7Days

I’m so looking forward to this but between this and Years and Years on BBC1, by Autumn I think I will just want the planet to stop spinning so I can jump off!

And God help me if season 3 starts as spectacularly as season 2 did.....

In season 2 I used to read the US reviews ahead of watching the UK episodes, so I knew what was going to happen. I found the episodes much more enjoyable (if that's the right word) if I wasn't on a knife edge wondering if June was going to escape that episode. I will plan to do the same this season too.

I'm disappointed to hear that she is likely back in the Waterfords house. I thought the dynamic between the three of them was very interesting, but by the end of season 2 I'd very much tired of the feeling of her being trapped there. Whilst I get that is the reality of women in these societies, from a viewer perspective I don't want to watch misery without end!

Completely agree, Hopelessly... We had enough horror and brutality - think a lot of women found it quite traumatic to watch those first two seasons. It was only the hope of escape and rebellion (and the romance of Nick and June) that kept a lot of us going. To be back with the bloody Waterfords again is just resetting the same starting point of that misery. Why? June back with the Waterfords, Aunt Lydia back and tyrannical as ever (or worse, if that's possible), and Serena back to being a repressive cow.

We know from the spoilers that there is some rebellion, collaboration and hope...but by god it looks like they're going to put us through the mill again. Maybe the more hopeful clips we've been drip-fed come later in the series... I can't bear to watch any of them be raped or tortured again 😕. That has been done quite enough. We get it. Men control the women, body and mind. Enough.

A ten-series arc (proposed by the creators I think 🙄 both men) would be horrifically drawn out, and would inevitably be self-indulgent by the writers - and a brutal, oppressive nightmare for the women watching and hoping. The world is unjust enough - we know this. We need hope, and for things to start to change pretty damn quickly this season or we won't be able to stomach it.

It's starting this Thursday on RTE 1 ( Irish national broadcaster). It's a double bill.
When does it start on Channel 4

I would be very interested to find out Aunt Lydia's back story. It was frustrating in season 2 that she appeared to be the cruelest character on screen, more so than the men running and benefitting the society! It would be good to show how she became so misogynistic, and that she isn't truly in power in Gilead, only within a narrow range the men permit her.

Yes there was too much torture which seemed meaningless plot wise, it felt voyeuristic to watch at times. The torture/ rape scenes fitted when they were plot driven or developed characters, eg Emily and Serena's surgeries, June being raped in the hotel, although they were upsetting they were shown to develop the viewer's understanding of the story (the hotel scene we learnt about Waterford, that he genuinely thought she was enjoying him). Some of the other scenes felt completely gratuitous and unnecessary though, if they had cut them the story would be unaffected, and I felt like I was watching a very different type of show!

My favourite season 2 bits were when the show moved away from the same old and had some lighter moments - the trip to Canada, Commander Lawrence (awesome), it felt that the series was moving on.

I binge watched the first 3 episodes v early this morning.

Is there a thread to discuss?

Ah found the other thread for US pace - nobody commenting on the x3 shown episodes yet!

@Aridane

Can you link to the Season 3 US pace thread, please? Is it a new thread or new posts on our old one? From S 2?

I'm going to start looking for it. I've watched 2 episodes and will watch the 3rd tonight.

Here it is - and I’ve asked MNHQ to change the thread’s title to make it clearer that it’s about season 3 and at US pace

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3600649-HBO-Handmaids-Tale

PS I remember you from our Season 2 thread which from memory ran to x2 threads. Let’s see if season 3 attracts as much interest!

Ariadne - you can discuss everything here! It's why the title clearly says 'spoilers'. This isn't a thread waiting for the UK showing to start :)

I've just read an Ep 1 review and it sounds interesting. Love that June gets found by Cmdr Lawrence...of all people out in Gilead that night!

I ended up starting a US pace thread with a spoilers warning.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3605041-Handmaid-s-Tale-Season-3-US-PACE-Spoilers-for-UK-viewers

Season 3 has begun on RTE 2 - Irish television last night with a double bill. I've recorded it and am psyching myself up to watch it

THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS

Well, episodes 1-3 were so interesting! I love that Serena is gradually coming round to things, and that the women are bonding a lot more. About time Serena got down off her high horse and realised the hell that they created.

I found this trailer for episode 4 - looks like Aunt Lydia really has turned monstrous 😕. Much more violent - thank goodness Emily is out of there or I don't like to imagine the torture Lydia would inflict on her.

Found this hilarious montage of the cast dances...brilliant stuff. Lovely to see Serena and Fred having fun!

Where have you found episodes 2-3?
I’ve seen episode 1 on channel 4?

I found them on a YouTube channel called The Handmaids Tale, where each episode is split into 4 or 5 parts. It's not the best quality, but I was desperate lol.

I found this interview with the actors who play June, Nick, Rita, Cmdr Lawrence and Janine from a few days ago...

Ah thanks Sophie! It’s annoying they won’t just release the lot I like to binge

I know! Drives you spare, doesn't it?!

We're all so used to on-demand tv series and binging on three years worth of a tv show in a weekend, it seems a huge hardship to wait a week between each episode. This season it'll make me want to chew furniture I think lol.

Excellent way of Hulu securing our money!

I just couldn't binge watch The Handmaids Tale.
It takes me all I can do to watch a single episode at a time.
I force myself to sit down and watch it - particularly the first season. It was unremittingly gloomy, sad and dark.

...

I know what you mean, Bean. One at a time is enough misery for a day.

In the SAG-AFTRA interview I posted below, Elizabeth Moss says that in this series they break June - she said that they had to break her to make her become the leader she needs to be. I groaned at that - don't like the sound of it. She was already thoroughly broken by the two previous series - I don't know if I can take something even worse for her. Especially if it's losing Nick (that's a wild, worse-case, no evidence to back it up, hope it doesn't happen kind of thought).

Moss did say "don't worry, she doesn't stay broken" but I just hate the thought of it. Bloody writers need to stop with the misery and realise that we need change now, and not change that involves 8 episodes of June being tortured in mental anguish...😕. I will have everything crossed.

Oh God SophieCatScribbles, I'm not sure I can take the "breaking of June".

Just watched episode 4, anyone else seen it yet?