The Handmaid's Tale is a Hulu exclusive TV series whose first episode aired back in 2017 and ended earlier this year after 6 seasons and 66 episodes. 666! While at a whole, this series was one of the most heart wrenching, emotion bringing, thought provoking on any streaming service, it was also, and maybe just in my opinion, one of the most frustrating shows to watch, mainly because of the actions and thought process of the main character, June.

I'm going to explain this in an easily explainable way, without getting too far into the world or politics of the town, Gilead. In a world where woman are rounded up and help captive, depending on who their spouse is and whether they are fertile or not, there are various roles for women in fictional Gilead, otherwise known as, IRL America. There are 4 main ones that this show dives into. You are either a Commander's wife, which is the wife of one of the men responsible for this woman hating world, an Aunt, which is a woman who works for the Commanders and trains the most fertile women to be Handmaids, which is the 3rd role where those women who have been deemed fertile, are set up as maids and sex slaves for the Commanders to get pregnant. The 4th role is a Martha, who is essentially a maid/babysitter/servant and is 1 rank higher than Handmaids.

This show follows the main character, June, from the normal world that existed before women were round up and kidnapped from their families and significant others, to the new world of Gilead and her role as a Handmaid. The other thing to note about the handmaids is, if they had children before being kidnapped, their children were taken away from them and placed into a school system where they just might end up as a Handmaid as well. Naturally, June wants to prevent that from happening and get her back. Now this is where the frustrating part comes in.

During the majority of the seasons, June has multiple chances to not only get away, but to get away with her child. She consistently chooses the hardest way and after a while, it gets old. June is standing at a plane, ready and able to get away from Gilead and try to get her daughter back but...no wait, she's sending the plan off without her! Hold on, June is about to get away by sneaking in a car and hiding in the truck, oh...never mind, June got out of the car and is running back to where she was escaping from. 1 time, I get that, she doesn't want to leave the other women in Gilead behind. 2 times, ok, I guess she really believes in no "man" left behind. 3 times, 4 times, ok, do you even care about your husband or child? Oh wait, she was sleeping with one of the Commanders who was helping her from the inside. IDK, this doesn't seem like super important things to worry about when you are kidnapped from your husband and your daughter is being raised to think this world is normal. The amount of times I screamed at the screen when she kept choosing everyone else over her daughter and over reuniting with her husband was in line with the amount of times I breathe throughout the day. That's how often I wanted to just turn off the show, don't watch the new season and just be done. 

However, this show knows how to leave you wanting more and not just because of the story or the characters. The acting is superb, especially be Elizabeth Moss, who plays June, and Yvonne Strahovski, who plays Serena Joy, the main Commander's wife, who June is the Handmaid for. Their dynamic on-screen is magical, the history between the two characters might just be the deepest I've seen in any TV show. Ups, downs, understandings and misunderstandings, June and Serena's relationship will take you up and down this emotional rollercoaster. Some of the extra side stories, I could do without. However, building this world takes time, takes backstory and also takes some outer perimeter characters to properly tell the dark truth of Gilead.

While this show is 1000% worth the binge watch or all 6 seasons, just know that you might want to take a step back from this show once in a while because of how emotional this series can make you. You'll be sad, you'll be happy, you'll be mad and frustrated, but at the end of this show, you'll also be thanking Hulu and the creators of this show that this exists, because it is one hell of a ride.