Review of The Handmaid's Tale

You can't argue with the power of the original story, and first series, but I'm not convinced subsequent series aren't an attempt to cash in on success. I started watching the second series but have actually stopped. That doesn't mean I don't miss some of the continuing powerful aspects - Elizabeth Moss is always intensely watch-able, and in the Commander and Aunt Lydia we have two of the most loathsome characters ever created on the small screen. Aunt Lydia is especially hard to forget. The most evil of women, the scriptwriters loved her character so much they made her appear in so many situations we start to lose track of likelihood. She is in many ways the embodiment in Gilead of the Daleks in Dr Who. She pops up in all sorts of totally implausible situations, looks almost quaint and cute at times, and then lets everyone see the coldness of her heart and the little alien mind within. She even moves a bit like a Dalek, and often carries a Dalek-like electrical prod.