I feel obligated to watch this show, given all the praise, even though I have no idea what it's about.

I think "great" is more accurate.

It is indeed a great show. And it gives the creepy feeling of what might happen in real life if those with strange ideas of life "win" and take over the government and our lives

Warning-Spoilers.

It is absolutely brilliant! I struggled to watch through the first few episodes, as I was also reading the book. The reason I struggled was that it was just chilling. Once it started showing that she would indeed be fighting, and there were others who would join her, I was able to breathe again! I have seen that others have said it was an implausible story, but I found it the opposite. The world that is depicted before Gilead was very much like our world, but with slight differences. It was clearly after a war time, and the damage has caused many issues that have weakened the human race.
Since watching it, I have noticed that neighbors of ours are part of a "New church" that seem to share many of the beliefs of Gilead, which is totally freaking me out! I just Rewatched episode one after watching the series, and it's interesting seeing the look on Aunt Lydia's face as the girls were beating the man to death. There was a moment of fear, amongst her feeling of power, seeing how angry they were, what they could do together. My favourite line being from one of the last episodes, where June says "It was their mistake actually. They shouldn't have dressed us the same if they didn't want us to be an army". Just fantastic. I'm very much looking forward to season 2, I think it will be fantastic to see the extension of the story beyond the book. They've set up well outside of the central point of the story.

I'm very glad there is someone to talk to about this show. So hard without the old boards!

Great post and nw I want to go back and re-watch the first episode too. It is chilling and with all that is going on in our world right now it seems more plausible than ever... as your neighbors in their "new church" prove... I don't blame you for being scared...! I also love that line and the hope that last show gave me.

This series is more disturbing than any horror movie I've ever seen. I think the thing that makes it so disturbing is that this isn't some dystopic society 200 years in the future that's full of people that never knew differently. These are people that, a few years earlier, lived normal lives. They know how it was, and now all they know is this hell.