To begin, I believe that most people visiting these pages are intelligent enough to tell the difference between those that are reviewing this series with honesty versus the ones who for reasons other than the viewing experience, wish to tear it down. As someone has already mentioned, the negative reviews are fraught with fear and the worst kind of delusion that exists: self delusion (the delusion a person hides behind and convinces themselves of in order not to see the truth).
The Handmaid's Tale is a series that presents what could happen were women's rights reverted or taken away. There is nothing in my previous sentence that is not true. Let me type it again. The Handmaid's Tale is a series that presents what could happen were women's rights reverted or taken away. Is it an extreme depiction? Let's study that for a moment. In a Puritanical society, the Bible was the sole authority. Puritans believed it applied to every area and level of life. The Salem Witch Trials are one such example of Puritanical beliefs in action. Were it not for historical documentation, you would have people negating those as well. So, as to the question of whether it could or couldn't happen, the people most decrying it and stating that it could not happen, are the ones that most believe it can. Don't let them fool you.
The Handmaid's Tale takes you into this dystopian future, and it has never felt more real. I had to pause it on a couple of occasions to catch my breath. No, it doesn't hit you over the head every so often with good scenes; the beauty of it is that it is equally haunting, strong and breathtaking in its entirety.
To grab from another review: "The echoes of resemblance to the United States' current political administration create another layer of exceptionalism. Make no mistake, this is a political work. But it makes its case in a way that, like George Orwell's 1984 reflect our world back at us in a mirror that is both familiar and perverse", and because of it, it is extraordinary.
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★★ Excellent
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