I know what you did. You stayed up until Hulu dropped the first two episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 last night, and you.are.exhausted. I understand, but I’m here to tell you, it’s not going to get better as the season wears on. Get ready to be, like, super done. Here are all the reasons that The Handmaid’s Tale is hyped up to exhaust you.

You Cannot Binge This Sh**

Unlike when Netflix drops a show, Hulu (and other purveyors of fine premium television) refuse to satiate our appetites and give it all to us at once. Sure, last night you got two episodes instead of one, but get ready to wait (and wait) a full SEVEN days, until the following Wednesday, to get the next installment. In the meantime, you will have to talk to people about theories, read spoiler threads on Twitter, and think-pieces from everyone from Vice to the New York Times about it. If ever there was a time for instant gratification, it’s for super tense television.

 

!!!THE THEORIES!!!!

Speaking of think-pieces, season 2 is heading into uncharted territory, and we all know that means that every armchair blogger on the internet will feel compelled to tell us Where Things Are Headed with June and Emily and Moira. Last season ended with June being pulled into a van, abductors unknown. This is how the novel ends, so it’s also the end of anyone’s foreknowledge about what happens. Is she being rescued or headed towards a greater punishment? Well, I’d like to just watch it play out, but someone somewhere has definitely already tweeting their theories at me.

It’s All So Fraught

When we read The Handmaid’s Tale for Boozy Book Club years ago, I didn’t love it. I haven’t rewatched the video, so I don’t even remember why I didn’t like it. I do remember someone commenting on YouTube that I browbeat Bekah into agreeing with me though. AS IF I COULD. But I did like the first season of the show. Everyone was talking about it for good reason. And even though I fully believed that Claire Foy deserved all the awards season wins over Elisabeth Moss, I didn’t begrudge her for it. She was great.

But everything in this show tries SO HARD to be relevant. The original book was written in the 80s, but they double down HARD on the modern, impending doom to all of us due to religious fundamentalism and the downfall of democracy. There is no reprieve from the parallels. No sense that this fictional future is just that … fictional. Invented. Extreme. And with all that try, I get tired.

 

All that to say, I’m totally watching it.

What exhausts you about TV that everyone is talking about? Are you watching The Handmaid’s Tale?