Agnostic.com

2 9

Handmaid's Tale 4. Pretty bleak, but I don't mean that as a put-down. I just wish June had killed Lydia when she had the chance. Wondering if the June/Lydia dynamic owes anything to The Wizard of Oz. But Lydia's more dangerous than the Wicked Witch of the West. The latter character's evil is evil for its own sake; evil is its own reward for her. Lydia's is the evil of a True Believer, one who really thinks her maleficence is in the service of a righteous cause. And she has a government behind her. Someone like Torquemada can hurt and kill a lot more people than someone like, say, Jeffrey Dahmer. I suppose it's ironic that in real life Elisabeth Moss is likely something of a True Believer herself, given her adherence to Scientology, but that's another story.
It might be strange to say, but I sort of envy June. In her world, there actually is a resistance movement to be part of. I'm sure it would be mistaken to think that guerrilla war is preferable to more conventional forms of political endeavor. But with the former, you at least know that its practitioners are serious.

****Another thing about this season of THT is that no one ever turns a light on and there's always this heavy mist in the air. At least after June gets to Canada. I realize it's intentional—some kind of mood-setting symbolism—but it's heavy-handed. It makes the look of things more dream-like than realistic, and the whole point of the show, it seems to me, is that it is realistic, i.e. U.S. political culture could quite plausibly give rise to something like Gilead.

AlanCliffe 6 June 15
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

2 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

0

Have you read The Testaments? It reconciles some questions about the motives and actions of Lydia. I listened to it on Audible. The voice of Lydia is read by Ann Dowd. It's odd to hear her sound human at times in this sequel book.

Haven't read either of the books, but they're on my list.

0

Letting Lydia survive is just scriptwriting to continue the stories options. The show has become less socially relevant, and more action oriented.

Agreed about Lydia. Not sure about relevance-versus-action.

You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:671776
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.