Review of Offred

The Handmaid's Tale: Offred (2017)
Season 1, Episode 1
3/10
Might have good ratings, but the first couple of episodes are painfully slow
14 July 2019
Never having watched the show before, I picked it up because of its ratings. I'll continue watching it to see if it picks up later on, but so far I've been nothing but disappointed and can only conclude that I've wasted 3 hours watching something which could and should have been cut down to no more than 30 minutes.

Why?

Because we spend at least the first three episodes almost exclusively on world-building. The plot barely moves *at all* save for a few minor interactions which, again, could've easily been cut down to 30 minutes. The show so far is full of long pauses between every single spoken sentence which are supposed to add to some form of perceived atmosphere, but mostly only succeeds in dragging out every scene way past the point of boredom, painfully drawn-out scenes of systemic oppression and flashbacks which attempt to display the characters' confusion, fear and despair as the world changes around them, yet fails to do so convincingly.

The people posting positive reviews of the first couple of episodes must've either been drunk while watching them or only rate them based on the show in its entirety rather than the episodes themselves. I hope the pace picks up asap , or I'll die from old age before a week passes in the show's timeline.
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