It’s not that strange when you consider that after that first attempt to sniff them out in the pilot, he probably actively suppressed that instinct. Not being able to let go of his work was what was ruining his relationships, so he tried not to think of the Jenningses in that way anymore. And being so absorbed in his…

Look at other countries like Gilead, they don’t generally last. They either get too aggressive and are defeated in war, or the built-in instabilities tear them apart.
The sense I got in the book though was that Gilead only comprised a part of the US. They secured the east coast, but were still fighting over other parts…

I couldn’t watch that episode without looking at a map and searching for spots where she could have crossed the border. Emily should have gotten in her car and driven north straight from the airport. It looked like this happened before the US turned completely into Gilead. She could have driven up into Maine and found…

Obama won’t have much of a legacy left by the time Trump is done with this country. The slew of conservative judges with lifetime appointments the Republicans are pushing through at an unprecedented rate are going to rip every bit of progressive legislation of past and future administrations to shreds for the next 30…

Well of course, it’s speculative fiction we’re talking about here. But what’s happening in Poland and Hungary is especially significant. To complacently sit here and go ‘we’re not as bad as...’, is missing the point that progress and liberty are not guaranteed. You can look at any number of signs in the US and…

The whole thing feels like a fever dream. It doesn’t make sense in any way, and everything is so over the top that it becomes operatic.
It’s entirely awful, but in a such a specific way that it functions as a cultural artifact; a memorial to mid-nineties blockbuster crappiness.

Everyone involved in this movie had nothing but utter contempt for it.

It’s almost amazing how cheap most of that movie looks, tv shows these days have better production values, than the slap dash approach of Batman Forever.

There’s a very distinct parallel there with Harry Potter, or rather the very common theme of the young protagonist finding out they have a special destiny. Rory gets to leave the commoners behind and go to the special schools, with the special people. It’s to the show’s detriment that they never really questioned this…

Let me put it this way: there would be statues of Mike Pence in Gilead.

I think it’s part and parcel with the show’s rather soft and naive approach to its Christian rightwing zealots. They have no trouble showing you the abuse and oppression, but as an organisation the republic of Gilead is rather freefloating. Atwood was a lot more direct about how Gilead related to the religious right.…

One shudders at the thought of Teddy Roosevelt with a twitter account. His maniacal tendencies would lead to some interesting news cycles.

Is there anyone in America more fulfilled than Mitch McConnell?
Here’s a man fast approaching his 80th birthday, he could be spending his days golfing, pretending to be deaf to annoy waiters, and boring his grandchildren with interminable stories, but instead he’s happily working to keep this country a dysfunctional…

It’s a very mixed show, but it’s also unlike pretty much anything else on tv.
They shot the 3rd season last summer, so who knows what’s going on. It doesn’t look like Amazon has a lot of confidence in it though.
It feels to me like all the rather niche-shows that they started out with in 2015 are cancelled or on their…

I’m guessing that the series announcement for this will be immediately followed by the cancellation of Man in the High Castle?

Small moment, but ‘Sheriff! You are violating my territorial bubble!’ is one of my favourite lines.

It’s a very specifically nineties movie, from the husband with the Elvis obsession, the casting of actors like Jake Busey and Ermey. I feel it also contains al lot of Peter Jackson’s mannerisms and flaws; the combination of grossness and sentimentality, using New Zealand as a stand in for somewhere else,…

Actually they may have been fine, the 1987 crash didn’t actually cause a recession. It’s weird, I think in our post-2008 mindset we’d expect a market crash to have a devastating effect on the real world economy. But I do imagine they’d have taken a hit from it.

In my mind Stan follows Oleg into the park, is hiding behind some bushes when he recognises Philip meeting him, and then in sock, does a comic pratfall out the bushes, rolling down the hill straight towards Philip and Oleg.
But seriously, you don’t make those two friends and neighbours, and then not do anything with…

Oh god, right. Black friday is coming. I wonder if they’ll deal with that.