When this series started it had the original books material, but elevated it. The brutality and horror had a purpose specific to the experience of women. It was powerful and exceptional.
Now that it is moving away from the original material it just feels like typical TV. Drama and action to entertain without any real substance. This could be any series. The situations are no longer uniquely nuanced and skillful. The creator of the series did an excellent job of adapting the original material but it feel like the production team doesn't understand what made this amazing and unique in the first place. The perspectives is very much a male gaze and experience, despite much of the writing by women. It's ironic that that subtle influence isn't being explored or talked about (like the female producer of GOT and all the unnecessary female rape) with some of the characters like Fred and Marc being so abhorrent I actually skipped through their scenes. What's abhorrent isn't their character (although I seriously can't watch Fred), it's the stories' typical treatment of their characters as something to be tolerated, "that's the way the world is."
Ya, I see what's bothering me now. The first two seasons did an incredible job of illuminating what's wrong with the world and it's treatment of women through the lense of Gillead. Season three gave more action and horror but a lot of substance was missing. But it was still an interesting look into what Gillead was doing to June. But season four is pretty much "Gillead bad, rest of world good." With action and drama thrown in to make that simplified and tired plot point.
That thing in Chicago with the "ass, grass, or cash" guy that Janine "protects" them by agreeing to his sick-ass terms. Tired! Gross! And June greeting her revenge on Serena might be cathartic, but we already know Serena is messed up. Show us something surprising, something illuminating, even something hopeful. Revenge, shame, shaming, toxic interactions... without a deeper subtext it's pretty meh.
What would have been really surprising and interesting this episode would be Serena pulling out her usual bag of tricks and "teaming" up with Fred to make a deal with June to get Hannah out of Gillead. Injustice, conniving, June with a f'd up Choice to make. Can they or can't they? What's Marc going to do now with this? How would Luke react? How is Serena going to ditch Fred? Can Serena be redeemed? THAT would've been a really interesting plot twist.
I gave five stars because of the excellent portrayal of PTSD and how a "good" person like June copes with and even perpetuate traumatic abuse. The sex scene with Luke is heartbreaking. The cast is exceptional, just wish the writing gave them the kind of opportunities the first two seasons did. I hope they'll go back to some deeper and more nuanced writing but I'm not sure I'll keep watching that long.
