What is it? The Handmaid's Tale, Season 1, 10 episodes on three discs from MGM Home Video
How much? $29.98, Blu-ray $39.99
When? Now
What's a handmaid? Short answer? A fertile woman who is forced to act as a child-bearing slave for an infertile couple.
After a second American Civil War, the United States is now Gilead, a Christian fundamentalist-led state where women are brutally repressed and put into rigid social categories. Thanks to disease and pollution, many women (and men, though Gilead society would never acknowledge that) are infertile. So, fertile women are trained to act as "handmaids" and bear children for high-ranked masters and their wives.
Whose tale is it? Offred's (Elisabeth Moss). Before Gilead, she worked for a publishing company and was a wife and mother named June Osborne but she and her family ran into trouble trying to escape to Canada. Now, she's a handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski). She belongs to Fred, so she's Offred (of Fred).
Offred has to be careful. There are government spies, called Eyes, everywhere, and the handmaids' overseer, Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), may care about "her girls," but she's also a fanatical believer in Gilead and unrestrained in doling out punishment.
But she does have a friendship with fellow handmaid Ofglen (Alexis Bledel), a former biology professor and who was also separated from her family and now is secretly connected to a resistance movement called Mayday. Moira (Samira Wiley), Offred's best friend from the old days, also makes appearances in the brothel where she's forced to work.
Our heroine struggles to remain outwardly compliant while also holding onto her true self and keeping hope of some day either escaping or seeing the end of Gilead and finally being reunited with her husband and daughter (O-T Fagbenle and Jordana Blake).
Offred's memories of the past and her biting observations of the present (kept to herself in interior monologue) keep her going and let the audience see how Gilead came about and how it might, hopefully, fall.
That all sounds very strange and disturbing. Oh, it is. Disturbing, that is. It's actually not as strange as you might think. The realistic nature of it, flashbacks to a very relatable past and the parallels to some of today's political rhetoric give it an air of believability that's chilling.
The series, based on the award-winning book by Margaret Atwood, does a fabulous job of creating a complex dystopian society full of repressive laws, government spies, victims and perpetrators -- though the dividing lines between the last two aren't always clear.
Is it bleak? Yes and no. Yes, it's pretty bleak. But the main thrust of the story is the power of the human spirit as the story is full of characters determined, in one way or another, to keep their true selves and to fight against the seemingly all-powerful status quo.
The acting, production design and storytelling are all top-notch. It's not a show for everybody, but it's definitely haunting and powerful.
Are there extras? There are two short features: "From Script to Screen" examines a particularly harrowing sequence from the first episode and "Hope in Gilead" discusses the power and relevance of the story as a whole.
New this week: The Coroner, Season 1; Outlander, Season 3; StarTalk, Season 4; Vice Principals, complete series
Next week: Claws, Season 1; Killjoys, Season 3; Mystery Science Theater 3000, Season 11
Style on 04/08/2018