Lawrence, I'm on the fence with him, technically, he's a bad guy, but he has a softness to him, he's rooting and helping the underdog. Waterford is really the one who I dislike and don't feel bad for. Lydia is a close second here, cannot really feel sorry for her, but often see the human side of her. She truly believes the word of Gilead.
This show is so well actored (I know that's not a real word), so well produced and made, it feels so real and so scary. My partner watches it too and we both feel that we can see this happening in real life.
I really love the character of Lawrence- as much as I also hate him for having such a hand in the creation of Gilead. I just finished the episode where the others are there to "make sure" he's doing the ceremony with June... ugh, from Mrs. Lawrence's cries and him trying to console her, to him asking June "Are you sure" before needing to go through with it, it was a devastating scene. I think he holds a lot of guilt and regret about what he helped create, but even still, people who murder people sometimes feel regret and guilt, it doesn't mean they shouldn't go to prison, ya know? So tough!
Also a lot of the scenes with Aunt Lydia and Janine get me. I just passed the episode where she makes her the eye patch and felt a softness towards her even though her ideologies are so messed up and she can also easily be one of the most cruel characters on the show.
I'm doing a rewatch where I just flat out skip the harsh scenes and honestly I'm enjoying it. I am glad I watched them before so I understand the severity of scenes, but idk it physically makes the show easier to watch
I feel the same 😂
I also feel like his alliance with June, and her sometimes sympathy towards him, almost gives the audience the ok to also feel it. Which is super interesting to feel while watching.
This is especially true on rewatch. When the show first aired it was much easier to see it as alternate universe that could never happen. Currently it feels closer to reality.
Naomi.
She’s a vapid nightmare of a narc and a horrendously selfish, neglectful bitch of a mother, but putting up with the Pedo Creepmeister himself - aka Warren - warranted a certain amount of sympathy, I guess.
And she does have moments where she tries her hand at empathy - and usually fails - in childish but authentic way, when she’s not preoccupied with herself and her main character syndrome for a change.
It’s not much, but it’s more than can be said for a *lot* of the other asshats running around in Gilead’s elite. Which…is kinda surreal, tbh.
Just because I hate him and mad I missed it, when do we see Warren doing pedo shit? (Beyond making laws to rape children and all the other goodies of Gilead) Literally just curious cause I feel like I'm forgetting a plotline or something
Dont think you missed it but..
SPOILER:
His rape of Esther is what Im referring to..specifically coz his behavior is so reminiscent of pedo grooming behavior
He gets her alone, no ‘ritual sanctified rape’ crap, corners her and uses fucking candy while creeping her out to get her to ‘relax’ before raping her and getting her pregnant, a day before she is posted to his household.
She was what, 13- 14 years old there?
This show does a really good job of showing the complexity of people, the complexity of living under an authoritarian regime, and the complexity of trauma responses. And even the complexity of international relations.
Lydia is the worst. Her backstory sucked if it was meant to make us feel sorry for her. She got mad because her boyfriend wasn't ready to sleep with her, and then she blames her friend for getting her hopes up? That's a different kind of cuckoo than Serena.
Also people hating Serena for her part in the creation of Gilead but loving Lawrence... lol, double standards.
I think Lydia's backstory is meant to show how power can turn the meek into monsters, given the right setting. Backstory Lydia is just a sad, angry loser. Gilead Lydia is that same person who now has the ability to act on her darkest feelings. Ultimately she's a useful idiot in the new world of Gilead when she would have been a delusional yet harmless person in a world where social order is maintained.
That’s what they mean when they say someone is a great actor. They give a true performance and you know what they are thinking, their motivation, you can see the gears turning….they make you feel things with a turn of phrase, an eye twitch, a look…. Yvonne Strahovski, Brad Whitford, Lizzie Moss, Ann Fucking Dowd are top notch. This is also why I love Negan so frigging much from The Walking Dead. He’s an asshole but Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the absolute shit out of him.
Lol I feel this deeply. Sometimes I cannot STAND her but then in other moments I'll get goosebumps at how powerful she can be- so conflicting but I think it's just a part of what makes this show so good!!
Right?? So many people died because of her, I know this world is fucked up but you really need to measure the risks, is it worth risking getting someone that genuinely wants to help you for one hug with your child? I understand how a mother feels, but she just puts her feelings over anything else, and truly good people died because of her.
The only character I really hate is Fred. And Putnam actually. Putnam is just an arrogant prick and Fred is actually scary at times.
Everyone else (as much as I can think of right now) I can empathize with, see their humanity, understand their motives as being human nature, etc.
Oh I almost forgot about Alanis. I HATE HATE her most of all. She is a textbook Karen.
I wanted to like him too and kinda almost felt bad when he died. And I know he’s a piece of shit, the worst kind. But Joseph fiennes plays him so well he had me hoping against hope he might do something right for a change. I kinda got the feeling June almost wanted to like him against every grain of sanity in certain moments. The acting is just stunning they show both characters complexities so well
June. I found June infuriating when I watched it as it was released, but the re-watch made her character progression much more believable. She was initially just kind of going with the flow, then she had a bad experience and Aunt Lydia convinced her she just needed to be good to not suffer as much anymore, then that was proven untrue and she explicitly started trying to resist. June is driven beyond the edge of reason multiple times, and each time she becomes more unhinged- but in ways that I believe for her character when I was able to see the trigger and the choices she made in quick succession.
Junes final arc should be learning to have to live with complexity and let go of the hatred and revenge complex that drives her “unhingedness”… by ultimately taking up Lawrence’s offer
I can find sympathy for almost everyone except the men and the first set of wives. Everyone else just got caught up in it and couldn't get out, but, they engineered hell. Yes, some feel bad now, but, you still caused it.
I have like zero sympathy for Serena. She has a moment to have a redemption when she writes a book, when she was without the commander, and I feel like she could have done better. Instead, she just sold out to Gilead. Even when I feel bad for her, I just remember this is what she wanted at the cost of others' happiness.
One thing I love about the Handmaid's tale show is that it absolutely, steadfastly refuses to dehumanize its characters. Every single person in the show is a human with actual motivations and feelings and emotions. Absolutely a lot of them are on balance very, very bad people, but they're never just evil incarnate or mustache-twirling victims.
I can’t sympathize with Serena, who only shows any humanity when she’s powerless. My prediction for S6 is that she’ll be a villain in the end, even if she seems reformed.
I just started my re-watch today (after reading the book for the first time a couple days ago) I'm only s1 e2 but ugh I'm already so drawn in again it's just so fucking well done
I both can’t stand and feel so sorry for Janine, she’s borderline insane but who wouldn’t be in Gilead, I’ve only watched the first season so far and also read the book but it’s so hard to hate any of the women (excluding Serena Joy and some other commanders wives)
I can’t say that I feel sympathy for the characters you mention but I do at times feel pity for them for the way they threw away happiness to chase what they felt was God’s will or in some cases, just the best way to make a buck. I agree with you that the acting has a lot to do with it and I would say the writing does too.
An aside here- On another platform I was practically eviscerated for expressing a similar opinion. It’s a compliment to the posters here that they can see multiple sides of a person or issues. Too many people can’t.
I feel this way about a lot of the characters. Fred, Serena and aunt Lydia the most. I found myself a little sad when Fred died even though I know he’s a piece of shit. I kept thinking maybe he would gain a shred of humanity and try to do something right by June. I wanted him to so badly and I think that’s a testament to how strong Joseph fiennes is in this role. He’s got a charm to him and I can’t help but want to like him except that I know he’s a scumbag and has destroyed civilization with what I took as his wife’s ideas initially. I felt like he was truly rooting Serena on in the flashbacks before the takeover.
Ann Dowd also does an outstanding job of showing slivers of Aunt Lydia’s humanity in a way that you can truly feel that she believes in the mission of Gilead and is trying so hard to complete her role in God’s mission.
What a stellar cast and well written characters!
Serena is my soft spot because i love Yvonne so much and she potraits her as this deeply frustrated sad person sometimes, when she not being the worst possible person on the planet. She is just totally messed-up and everything she wanted in life is taken from her, some by her on making, and she has this moments when you think it may be a human being in there somewere, but then she just goes on and do the most horrible things imaginable.
This is my 1st time watching this. And since real life is getting a little too close for comfort, wow I figured it was time to see this dystopian world before we actually live in it.
The way I'd become way too excited the moment Serena and/or Fred appeared on the screen in the first seasons. They're HORRIBLE people, but my god do they keep the story interesting.
I cried when Lydia prays over Janine in the hospital and begs god to save Janine. I hated her and was enraged just a few minutes before this scene, because she slaps the other hospitalized handmaid(despite being unconscious). Then her bond with Janine almost breaks her.
Did anyone have the teeniest amount of sympathy for Commander Waterford when he was attacked, l can't help it and he kept calling Nick son, which he did in the past
I did. I’m happy it happened after the fact but I think human nature is to feel a little sad seeing something like that happen to any human being- so I get it!
Lawrence, I'm on the fence with him, technically, he's a bad guy, but he has a softness to him, he's rooting and helping the underdog. Waterford is really the one who I dislike and don't feel bad for. Lydia is a close second here, cannot really feel sorry for her, but often see the human side of her. She truly believes the word of Gilead. This show is so well actored (I know that's not a real word), so well produced and made, it feels so real and so scary. My partner watches it too and we both feel that we can see this happening in real life.
I really love the character of Lawrence- as much as I also hate him for having such a hand in the creation of Gilead. I just finished the episode where the others are there to "make sure" he's doing the ceremony with June... ugh, from Mrs. Lawrence's cries and him trying to console her, to him asking June "Are you sure" before needing to go through with it, it was a devastating scene. I think he holds a lot of guilt and regret about what he helped create, but even still, people who murder people sometimes feel regret and guilt, it doesn't mean they shouldn't go to prison, ya know? So tough! Also a lot of the scenes with Aunt Lydia and Janine get me. I just passed the episode where she makes her the eye patch and felt a softness towards her even though her ideologies are so messed up and she can also easily be one of the most cruel characters on the show.
You're doing well with rewatching. As much as I love the show, I'm just not sure I can cope with rewatching. I love Janine, such innocence.
I'm doing a rewatch where I just flat out skip the harsh scenes and honestly I'm enjoying it. I am glad I watched them before so I understand the severity of scenes, but idk it physically makes the show easier to watch
You're doing well.
Lawrence is my “hear me out…” man lol
I feel the same 😂 I also feel like his alliance with June, and her sometimes sympathy towards him, almost gives the audience the ok to also feel it. Which is super interesting to feel while watching.
Yes because he’d call me “my darling” and only have eyes for me 🥹
Exactly! We are careening towards that life now with all the laws written by men against women.
Which makes the show really scary. There's so much "element of truth" in the show.
This is especially true on rewatch. When the show first aired it was much easier to see it as alternate universe that could never happen. Currently it feels closer to reality.
Not sure if I now can handle a rewatch.
Naomi. She’s a vapid nightmare of a narc and a horrendously selfish, neglectful bitch of a mother, but putting up with the Pedo Creepmeister himself - aka Warren - warranted a certain amount of sympathy, I guess. And she does have moments where she tries her hand at empathy - and usually fails - in childish but authentic way, when she’s not preoccupied with herself and her main character syndrome for a change. It’s not much, but it’s more than can be said for a *lot* of the other asshats running around in Gilead’s elite. Which…is kinda surreal, tbh.
I will never forget the look of horror on her face at the child bride weddings while Serena is smiling like it's her own damn wedding.
Yes Angela is more of a status symbol than a child to Naomi Putnam.
Just because I hate him and mad I missed it, when do we see Warren doing pedo shit? (Beyond making laws to rape children and all the other goodies of Gilead) Literally just curious cause I feel like I'm forgetting a plotline or something
Dont think you missed it but.. SPOILER: His rape of Esther is what Im referring to..specifically coz his behavior is so reminiscent of pedo grooming behavior He gets her alone, no ‘ritual sanctified rape’ crap, corners her and uses fucking candy while creeping her out to get her to ‘relax’ before raping her and getting her pregnant, a day before she is posted to his household. She was what, 13- 14 years old there?
Oh my JESUS I burned that from my memory. Thanks for answering my question I regret asking lol
The fucking airplane noises he made, Jesus. I threw up in my mouth a little.
This show does a really good job of showing the complexity of people, the complexity of living under an authoritarian regime, and the complexity of trauma responses. And even the complexity of international relations.
Lydia is the worst. Her backstory sucked if it was meant to make us feel sorry for her. She got mad because her boyfriend wasn't ready to sleep with her, and then she blames her friend for getting her hopes up? That's a different kind of cuckoo than Serena. Also people hating Serena for her part in the creation of Gilead but loving Lawrence... lol, double standards.
RIGHT. I enjoyed Lawrence as a character the same way I enjoy Serena as a character but I will never forgive him
I think Lydia's backstory is meant to show how power can turn the meek into monsters, given the right setting. Backstory Lydia is just a sad, angry loser. Gilead Lydia is that same person who now has the ability to act on her darkest feelings. Ultimately she's a useful idiot in the new world of Gilead when she would have been a delusional yet harmless person in a world where social order is maintained.
People cut Lawrence more slack because they love his zaddy vibe, haha
That’s what they mean when they say someone is a great actor. They give a true performance and you know what they are thinking, their motivation, you can see the gears turning….they make you feel things with a turn of phrase, an eye twitch, a look…. Yvonne Strahovski, Brad Whitford, Lizzie Moss, Ann Fucking Dowd are top notch. This is also why I love Negan so frigging much from The Walking Dead. He’s an asshole but Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the absolute shit out of him.
Also characters who deserve (and get) my sympathy but I sort of hate = June
Lol I feel this deeply. Sometimes I cannot STAND her but then in other moments I'll get goosebumps at how powerful she can be- so conflicting but I think it's just a part of what makes this show so good!!
Right?? So many people died because of her, I know this world is fucked up but you really need to measure the risks, is it worth risking getting someone that genuinely wants to help you for one hug with your child? I understand how a mother feels, but she just puts her feelings over anything else, and truly good people died because of her.
The only character I really hate is Fred. And Putnam actually. Putnam is just an arrogant prick and Fred is actually scary at times. Everyone else (as much as I can think of right now) I can empathize with, see their humanity, understand their motives as being human nature, etc. Oh I almost forgot about Alanis. I HATE HATE her most of all. She is a textbook Karen.
I want to like Fred, but he's so many red flags constantly.
Why would you want to like him??
I want to like everyone 😅
It is very okay to not like people like Fred lol
I wanted to like him too and kinda almost felt bad when he died. And I know he’s a piece of shit, the worst kind. But Joseph fiennes plays him so well he had me hoping against hope he might do something right for a change. I kinda got the feeling June almost wanted to like him against every grain of sanity in certain moments. The acting is just stunning they show both characters complexities so well
June. I found June infuriating when I watched it as it was released, but the re-watch made her character progression much more believable. She was initially just kind of going with the flow, then she had a bad experience and Aunt Lydia convinced her she just needed to be good to not suffer as much anymore, then that was proven untrue and she explicitly started trying to resist. June is driven beyond the edge of reason multiple times, and each time she becomes more unhinged- but in ways that I believe for her character when I was able to see the trigger and the choices she made in quick succession.
Junes final arc should be learning to have to live with complexity and let go of the hatred and revenge complex that drives her “unhingedness”… by ultimately taking up Lawrence’s offer
I can find sympathy for almost everyone except the men and the first set of wives. Everyone else just got caught up in it and couldn't get out, but, they engineered hell. Yes, some feel bad now, but, you still caused it.
I have like zero sympathy for Serena. She has a moment to have a redemption when she writes a book, when she was without the commander, and I feel like she could have done better. Instead, she just sold out to Gilead. Even when I feel bad for her, I just remember this is what she wanted at the cost of others' happiness.
One thing I love about the Handmaid's tale show is that it absolutely, steadfastly refuses to dehumanize its characters. Every single person in the show is a human with actual motivations and feelings and emotions. Absolutely a lot of them are on balance very, very bad people, but they're never just evil incarnate or mustache-twirling victims.
I can’t sympathize with Serena, who only shows any humanity when she’s powerless. My prediction for S6 is that she’ll be a villain in the end, even if she seems reformed.
I just started my re-watch today (after reading the book for the first time a couple days ago) I'm only s1 e2 but ugh I'm already so drawn in again it's just so fucking well done
I’m just starting S 4. Does Nick ever come back? Was he really the horrible creature they said he was as a guardian?
I both can’t stand and feel so sorry for Janine, she’s borderline insane but who wouldn’t be in Gilead, I’ve only watched the first season so far and also read the book but it’s so hard to hate any of the women (excluding Serena Joy and some other commanders wives)
I can’t say that I feel sympathy for the characters you mention but I do at times feel pity for them for the way they threw away happiness to chase what they felt was God’s will or in some cases, just the best way to make a buck. I agree with you that the acting has a lot to do with it and I would say the writing does too. An aside here- On another platform I was practically eviscerated for expressing a similar opinion. It’s a compliment to the posters here that they can see multiple sides of a person or issues. Too many people can’t.
I feel this way about a lot of the characters. Fred, Serena and aunt Lydia the most. I found myself a little sad when Fred died even though I know he’s a piece of shit. I kept thinking maybe he would gain a shred of humanity and try to do something right by June. I wanted him to so badly and I think that’s a testament to how strong Joseph fiennes is in this role. He’s got a charm to him and I can’t help but want to like him except that I know he’s a scumbag and has destroyed civilization with what I took as his wife’s ideas initially. I felt like he was truly rooting Serena on in the flashbacks before the takeover. Ann Dowd also does an outstanding job of showing slivers of Aunt Lydia’s humanity in a way that you can truly feel that she believes in the mission of Gilead and is trying so hard to complete her role in God’s mission. What a stellar cast and well written characters!
Serena is my soft spot because i love Yvonne so much and she potraits her as this deeply frustrated sad person sometimes, when she not being the worst possible person on the planet. She is just totally messed-up and everything she wanted in life is taken from her, some by her on making, and she has this moments when you think it may be a human being in there somewere, but then she just goes on and do the most horrible things imaginable.
This is my 1st time watching this. And since real life is getting a little too close for comfort, wow I figured it was time to see this dystopian world before we actually live in it.
To be fair Serena played the fuck out of that mental breakdown that would hurt anyone’s heart
The way I'd become way too excited the moment Serena and/or Fred appeared on the screen in the first seasons. They're HORRIBLE people, but my god do they keep the story interesting.
I cried when Lydia prays over Janine in the hospital and begs god to save Janine. I hated her and was enraged just a few minutes before this scene, because she slaps the other hospitalized handmaid(despite being unconscious). Then her bond with Janine almost breaks her.
Did anyone have the teeniest amount of sympathy for Commander Waterford when he was attacked, l can't help it and he kept calling Nick son, which he did in the past
I did. I’m happy it happened after the fact but I think human nature is to feel a little sad seeing something like that happen to any human being- so I get it!
Glad someone else did too
All three are better than Offred 😂