@Daddie0 said:

I am just starting this series, but the confluence of so many world views is bewildering. It is so easy to start to write off this show as implausible, but as so many here on this board have well said, it seems quite realistic in many parts of the world currently and if a narrow group were able to wrestle control in the US. Of course, it is obviously a cautionary tale, written (although I haven't read the book) in an era of great social change.

One thread that I'm already intrigued by is how controlling human birth drives the whole scenario. I'm intrigued, because all of the major world religions promote procreation to further dominion as a God-ordained call. Many have abandoned this reality of population control/influence, but there is something fundamentally true about it that I have seen at work in this life. I'm sure this might strike a nerve, but that is an undeniable--and indeed maybe the core--issue at hand in this series.

Anyway, I'm on Ep 1, so we'll see where it goes from here. Looking forward to many thought-provoking conversations created by the series!

You should read the book.

@bratface said:

You should read the book.

I'm gonna watch the show first and see how it goes. I'm far more of a movie person than a book person, and have lingering effects of novels such as 1984 from my childhood. :)

But I'll take it under advisement.

@Daddie0 said:

@bratface said:

You should read the book.

I'm gonna watch the show first and see how it goes. I'm far more of a movie person than a book person, and have lingering effects of novels such as 1984 from my childhood. :)

But I'll take it under advisement.

I say that because to be PC the writers have changed certain things that I feel were integral to the story.

One thing I'd like to mention, the 'government' wasn't controlling births in the way you think. Infertility was a huge problem & when a 'fertile' woman was found she was forced to become a 'handmaid'.

@bratface said:

One thing I'd like to mention, the 'government' wasn't controlling births in the way you think. Infertility was a huge problem & when a 'fertile' woman was found she was forced to become a 'handmaid'.

Gotcha. Actually, that's exactly how I was interpreting the show. For some reason the heavily armed guard under the bridge on their second shopping trip caused me to wonder what exactly they were protecting/defending. Then it hit me, the Handmaidens. They are the 'resource' that guarantees the future, even though they themselves feel/are trapped. In fact, the head mistress lady says exactly that, "You have no idea how blessed you are..." during orientation. Thanks for the heads up tho!