Opowieść podręcznej

After the first season, I was basically satisfied. The theme was great, I enjoyed the story, and I was looking forward to the next season. Imagine my disappointment after that. Season 2 very quickly ruined everything I liked about the show and focused mostly on emotional blackmail and constant close-ups of Offred's face, which was torture. The development of the characters got stuck in a loop (the personality traits of the characters lacked any kind of nuance). Logic, atmosphere and pace of the story went AWOL, and after Season 2, I’m going to follow suit. (03.10.2018)

I have mixed feelings about the first season. I'm willing to say that Elisabeth Moss is a good actress. On the other hand, I also have to admit I'm not exactly thrilled by the sight of her. As if to spite me, there was a large number of excruciatingly long close-ups of her face, which I could certainly do without. Although it was obvious early on that this was a feminist thing, I didn't mind it in any way. I never thought women were supposed to stick to a well-trodden path between the kitchen and the bedroom. On the contrary, I quite understand the mood of the show, as some American conservative politicians would love to take women's rights back to the Stone Age. It annoyed me that the final two episodes, from which I expected the most, showed certain flaws. It was slightly disappointing. Anyway, my favorite character was Serena Joy Waterford played by Yvonne Strahovski, who was nice to look at. She was also absolutely convincing as a cutthroat bitch. (20.09.2017)

As usual, I skipped the preparation before the series and only briefly read the content, so it was a step into the unknown that I do not regret so far. The filmmakers have an interesting vision of the future in the country of Big Brother, first there was Panem, now Gilead has appeared, and as they say, it goes from bad to worse. After the first episode, I am quite satisfied, the series has a paranoid-depressive atmosphere and the villains have adjusted the Lebensborn program to their liking, so I am curious about the further development. (18.09.2017)

Thank goodness I'm not a chauvinist, otherwise the trash would already be flying here! The previous two episodes were only slightly influenced by feminism, but the third episode was fully saturated with it. Luckily, I'm a realist, so I realize that conservative congressmen would gladly vote for such laws tomorrow, so why not just go for it. (18.09.2017)

Similarly to the previous episode, this time it's also about a strongly feminist episode, but it doesn't matter, still better feminists than fundamentalists. I have a bigger problem; I couldn't get used to Elizabeth Moss even in the Mad Men series, and I have a problem with her now as well. She is a talented actress, but she has never seemed to me as an object of sexual desire. Every time I see her, I remember a frog. On the other hand, Yvonne Strahovski plays a dominant bitch (and she plays it very well), but I find her extremely likable. (18.09.2017)

And here it is, the vile sin always finds its way and in the Waterford's house, various forbidden practices occur. This episode has maintained an excellent oppressive atmosphere and a generally desperate mood, and that is good. (19.09.2017)

I have no idea about the author's experiences in life before the series, but she must have had a terrible experience with men because while watching this episode, I almost succumbed to the urge to auto-castrate myself because I felt embarrassed for being a man :D. But no worries, considering that I know how a considerable part of the male population in the USA feels about the fact that women were granted the right to vote in their time, I understand that frustration. The story is still interesting, Yvonne Strahovski is still excellent, only the Commander Waterford could be eliminated by some furious assassin because I really don't like Joseph unlike his brother. (19.09.2017)

The seventh episode was annoyingly descriptive, an average intelligent viewer surely could have guessed the course of events leading up to the first episode. So I spent three-quarters of an hour watching Lukas suffer, which was basically indifferent to me. (19.09.2017)

I simply cannot give this episode more stars because I was convinced the whole time that Offred is beautiful beyond words, but to me, it's like being handed a lemon and being expected to pretend it's sweet. No, I really couldn't believe the creators anymore. (20.09.2017)

The ninth episode returned to the development of the story and thus there was an improvement compared to the previous part. All events are heading towards a big finale according to all indications, I'm just afraid that the ending will disappoint me. Well, we'll see. (20.09.2017)

I gave the final episode four stars, although I had been considering only three stars for a long time. I was terribly annoyed by the victorious march home after a great moment of defiance, it looked terribly cheap and only the crowd's supportive shouts like "Yesss!" and "That's it!" were missing. The strong moments caused by Mrs. Waterford convinced me, she is the true ice queen and I am once again leaning towards the dark side of the force, Mirek Dušín forgiven. (20.09.2017)

I wasn't exactly thrilled about the first season, but I was satisfied. The second one, on the other hand, seemed like a blow to the head. With the exception of two episodes, the story was awfully stretched out, the creators forgot about the atmosphere that had been so great in the first season, as well as about logic, and bet everything on playing on emotions and filling the screen with close-ups of Elisabeth Moss's face. A crashing bore. (03.10.2018)

From the first episode of the second season, I have a lot of mixed feelings, with the worse ones prevailing. I had a feeling that all the attention was focused only on Offred/June, and this feeling was strongly supported by very long close-ups on her face. I don't want to criticize Elizabeth Moss in any way, but she is definitely not my type, so I wouldn't mind skipping these close-ups. Anyway, this time I didn't learn anything new, the episodes of the previous season seemed much more interesting to me. (01.10.2018)

And I feel the same way about it. I criticized the previous episode because I didn't learn anything new, and this time I only saw what I wasn't interested in at all. The Confederation of Political Prisoners should consider filing an official protest if this shoveling into the ground is being presented as forced labor, it degrades people who have experienced, for example, the Jáchymov mines. To sum it up, it was boring, the colonies were ridiculous, and the sex of the main character was terrifying. (01.10.2018)

Hmmm, so our level has really dropped. If I could empathize more with the fates of the female heroines, I would have to ask someone to hang a noose over a beam in the attic for me because I wouldn't be able to live with how disgusting we men are. The plot of the episode was very weak and the ending topped it all off. (01.10.2018)

Returning to Aunt Lydia and then to the Waterfords brought back a hint of the atmosphere from the first season, but I was disappointed by how much time the creators devoted to all those ceremonies before the birth of the baby. I've already seen them all once, so the strongest impression I took away was from a truly terrifying detail on Offred's face in one of the opening scenes. Similar shots appeared a few more times, so I'm honestly glad that I don't have a plasma screen where her expression could permanently sear into my mind and haunt me every day again and again. (01.10.2018)

The review of the fifth episode could have been higher for me because Fred's scheming intrigued me (even though that scoundrel pretended to read the newspaper and not listen too much) and the Solomon-like solution with which he got rid of Nick but also didn't get rid of him. The problem was that after that, the positives practically ended. The visits to the colonies were a waste of time for me (the collapse of a woman I don't know, Emily losing a tooth, the wedding of two women I don't know, the funeral of a woman I don't know, even though I've already seen her three times), Offred's situation bored me, even if that poor thing cut off her hand, I would probably still be bored because it would take forever and the static shots of her face would definitely be there, which always makes me worry that my DVD player froze. (02.10.2018)

So this was the first episode of the second season that I really liked. Finally, I got to experience the quality atmosphere of the first season. I also enjoyed the flashbacks because they didn't involve emotional manipulation and instead brought an interesting storyline concerning the Waterfords. Surprisingly, I wasn't bored by what was happening around Offred and Serena either. The ending definitely pleased me, although it's a shame that Ofglen couldn't shout some impactful anti-government slogan. (02.10.2018)

After cautious excitement from the previous episode, a heavy depression set in. So much could have been extracted from the conclusion of the previous part, but the creators chose to bury all of my hopes instead. The storyline with Cushing was the only one that was worth something, the rest just felt like unnecessary stretching of the plot. (02.10.2018)

If I weren't such a cynic, I would surely be delighted by the development of the situation around the sick child. However, I perceive it only as a manipulative game for more empathetic viewers. Moreover, I had a feeling all along how it would end, and yes, I was right. I reluctantly watched Serena slowly but surely soften, and that did not please me. I liked her as an icy bitch. I cannot fail to mention the hideous expression Offred had on her face after leaving Fred. Of course, it had to be a frozen shot again so that I could enjoy every detail. (02.10.2018)