The Handmaid's Tale (TV Series) Heroic (2019) User Reviews

June's madness is justified

[dunstonchiesq · 7/10 · 18 July 2019]

If you got bored or slow, I guess that's the point of this episode. We are in June's POV anyway thus we got to have an insight or slightly feel her way into madness. It's impossible for June to not get crazy for what she has been through. This is the episode where she snapped and I think this episode effectively portrays that. It's not always the content's job to entertain.

Opportunity Lost

[ttgttg · 5/10 · 17 July 2019]

The moment June didn't get into the back of that van with Emily and baby Nichole last season is proving to be the unraveling of The Handmaid's Tale's great run as a series. This season 3 could've been about how June negotiated the return of Hannah while living in Canada. It could've been about how she used what she learned to help other countries take down Gilead. Instead, we have these slow and empty episodes that have yet to lead to the hope of June taking down Gilead from the inside.

While this episode sticks the knife deeper into the heart of the pro-life hypocrisy of valuing the unborn over a woman's own life, it still fails to reveal how June is any closer to achieving her goals or confirming that she will never achieve them. The more I watch, the more I wonder, why in the hell didn't June go to Canada when she had the chance? I hope I'm not still asking that same question when I reach the end of this season.

Purposeful and Powerful

[sjensen-65700 · 7/10 · 17 July 2019]

What people don't seem to understand is that not every episode or tv show needs to be packed with suspense or dramatic scenes to be considered good. This episode is quiet and impactful. We see a change in June in her interaction with the doctor. Something has shifted and the trajectory of the show, and June's values, has changed. While it may not have been the most exciting episode by any means, this episode wasn't just "boring filler". It was impeccably written and intentionally placed just like every other episode.

3x09

[formotog · 7/10 · 3 June 2020]

I thought it was decent although I get why people are getting tireless. There were things I didn't like about this episode such as the constant use of that silly song and June once again getting away with it. But her descent into madness was pretty nicely done and I think it's been a long time coming, this was just the tipping event. She should really have an infection though seeing as she was impaled with not one but two contaminated instruments but whatever. The doctor was a nice addition and the type of character that gives you hope for Gilead in a way. Also, scenes like where Aunt Lydia gave Janine an eyepatch are just brilliant. I couldn't help but smile and once again had to remind myself of who exactly it is I'm smiling at. Yes the episode dragged but it gave some nice character insight and we now have June's absolute purpose in motion.

Mid 7

One of those shows you will never forget

[alexandra-sesovici · 10/10 · 31 July 2019]

My first review ever on IMDB but I just couldn't let all these negative reviews steal the show's depth and power. This episode was one of the best of this season. The repeating song, June's thoughts, the excruciating light and slowness in that hospital room, they all made me understand and live every second of this painful world of Gilead. If you think this episode was terrible, please, just stop and listen to what's happening around you. I guarantee all you hear are your thoughts and your life's repeating song.

Better than reviews...

[vincentmasonry · 7/10 · 30 July 2019]

This episode really shows June's decent into madness and her getting her empathy and purpose back. Her mean girl mentality the episode before caused this tragedy and we needed to see June her out of that state. If this episode didn't happen everyone would wonder how she got her head back on track to save the children of Gilead.

Rarely I've seen something so boring on TV

[stoicaradu-80013 · 1/10 · 18 July 2019]

This episode is the equivalent of watching water dripping from the kitchen tap.

I love this show

[wanderwoman77 · 9/10 · 18 July 2019]

There are a lot of reviews complaining about how slow-moving this episode was but I loved every second of it. It was tense, chilling and captivating waiting to see what June would do to get herself out of the insanity that was living in that room. The powerful exchange she had with the doctor made it all worthwile.

Yes, it is somewhat painful to be stuck in that horrid, sterile room for the whole episode but I think as a viewer, we need to endure that suffering with the character. We are there with June every step of the way and there are very few shows that can truly acheive that level of involvement from the viewer.

Love this show!

Learning to lose traction....

[lowfreq13 · 6/10 · 19 July 2019]

It's quite unfortunate when a show begins to spin wheels.... There's no movement. Just spinning. The same look.... They've really lost it. Is this the episode where they've jump the shark? I'm losing hope.

Filler episode

[tequila3434 · 3/10 · 17 July 2019]

This has been the worst episode of the season. This is a filler episode. Nothing interesting happens, the plot doesn't move forward. It's very dull and uninteresting. You could skip this and not miss anything.

One of the best episodes of the show

[sonofhades · 9/10 · 4 August 2019]

I fear many people fail to appreciate the effort the show put here. It showed the full and relentless control of the state over their minions. If someone decides that you need to stay at a location, isolated from normal contact. It showed that not all subjects of the realm are willing to participate in the cruelty, but are powerless to stop it. There was a lot of food for thought.

I am not surprised that the younger generation does not understand this. This episode would be a bummer to watch while you have a smartphone crying for your attention at the same time.

I loved the attention to detail, the clinical environment in the hospital room, the small gestures other handmaids tried to provide comfort to June. The difficulty in standing up after long time spent on your knees and the bruising it would cause. I felt the orderly was providing June and exit (suicide) when he showed where the scalpel was put. Everything the characters did seemed deliberate and played out to perfection.

All in all, this was an episode that actually provided us with a good script, solid directing and excellent playing by all actors involved - Janine's actor did splendid job with her part. On top of that the sound... you could literally hear the train of thought leaving June's station with sanity on board. I would go nuts with the beeping sounds from the life supporting machines myself.

It was pretty close to perfection, but the recovery at the end was a bit too fast imo and that leaves this at 9/10 instead of full 10.

It had its moments

[morganamelle · 6/10 · 17 July 2019]

I do not usually write reviews on here, but I felt the 5s and lower were not justified. Though I do agree all the close ups of June's face and the slowness of certain scenes has been getting on my nerves as well. Still, this story was not without its merit. Another user wrote that an episode does not have to contain mass amounts of drama, violence, etc. in order to be important. While this was not the best episode ever, I saw its worth. I think it was necessary to push the story forward and to finally give us a fully weak June, which we have never seen before. She was the Janine of the episode and it was important for us to see she is a person just like everyone else and she can be beaten down at times, too. The ending is what is most important in the episode, so, if you feel like skipping this one, at least watch the last 5 minutes.

Usually love the show but...

[senatejay · 4/10 · 17 July 2019]

This episode took what should have been 10 minutes max and stretched it into an entire episode. Its the first time the show has made me feel bored .

Meh

[kirbie-34481 · 18 July 2019]

I mean Elizabeth Moss is incredible but even this was a bit much. like can we move on now? Def felt like a filler. Not hating like others, but def not a very entertaining episode. Elizabeth always acts her ass off, but when she can't be that entertaining for a full hour.

Heroic

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 29 August 2019]

It was good, but it insisted on itself far too much. It was clear this was supposed to be a showcase of Elisabeth Moss' acting and instead it just alienated viewers by not giving us the kind of drama we watch the show for.

Slow doesn't mean bad

[JSC-2 · 9/10 · 22 August 2019]

Cannot agree with those who rate this episode lowly because it was "slow" or "uneventful". It was an episode of June's internal mental and emotional journey, unravelling and rebuilding. The show is about her path, and some of that involves introspection. When watched in the broader context of the season, a great addition, and some fantastic work by Moss.

The episode we needed - 6 episodes earlier

[petrow-31308 · 6/10 · 19 July 2019]

What I liked: + Camerawork again. I cannot overstate the praise of the work the crew puts into filming the scenes. Full glass room, with lots of reflections and tricky light conditions, but they still did a spotless job. + Finally, June faces consequences. And halfway through you even start to feel sorry for her. A refreshing change after the previous episodes. + Editing. The jump-cuts between the various lighting conditions really helped in portraying June's descent into madness, the "skipping" of time, as her mind and sanity starts to crumble. + Whoever cast Rose's actress. For that tiny scene in the end, she was an excellent choice due to her striking resemblance to Eden from the previous season. Tells almost without words what happens to the innocence in Gilead. + Music and sound editing. It was constantly great throughout the show, but here they did a really memorable job, on par with "Women's Work", where Janine sings to her baby in the end. It was the second time I watched the credits, because of this.

The downs:

• Stupid writing still present. Speaking of vows of never doing harm... Someone attempts murder with a scalpel she normally couldn't get. How did she get hold of it in the first place? You really don't need Sherlock Holmes for this mystery, just common freakin' sense. And if you have it you won't throw said scalpel back into the bin, just so she might give it a go again!
• You have guards at the doorstep of every commander's house. You have guards on the street. You have entrenched HMG posts on riverbanks. You have two armed guards for each aisle in the supermarket. Where you don't see a single guard present? Inside a hospital, where the most valuable subjects are being kept in their most helpless state. And don't tell me about infections. They let someone stay in an ICU 24/7 with open wounds right beside a comatose patient, and allow to have numerous visitors (Janine among them with an active infection).
• We had asphyxiated baby last week, now we have pre-born baby, nearly dying. That still didn't fill out the misery porn quota for this episode, so what about showing June getting her finger skewered by a discarded needle? Oh, gosh, it will be such a powerful symbolism of hurting herself while trying to hurt others! The audience would not get it otherwise!
• The obligatory up-close face**** screen-time. You know what our viewers like and help their immersion in the story? Seeing Elisabeth Moss staring awkwardly straight into the camera from the very beginning.

The sad:

• It was a by-the-books barrel episode. Nearly zero outside scenery, and 90% of the episode is being played out in a single ICU room, just so they can cut costs. It's all cool, and it ended up giving June some new, long-awaited drive and resolve after the disappearance of her daughter. Also, it channeled her frustration and rage from lashing out to quasi-innocents to lash out against those who did her real harm. It is one of the most meaningful episode in terms of character development in the season so far. The only problem is that you should have given it to her (us?) a good 6 episodes ago. June stayed in Gilead to save her daughter. It all went awry, now she decides to go all out on revolting. Cool, but that had already been hinted in S1 - " They should never have given us uniforms if they didn't want us to be an army." Almost 2 seasons are gone, and we're still standing the same place where we started. Patience is a finite resource, especially for series viewers.

And we have a bunch of hanging story in the air, from Nick to Nicole, from the Waterfords to Emily, from Hannah to Joseph Lawrence, and so on. And I have serious doubts if we'll see anything close to a satisfying closure for all these.

Bored

[aya_saadoon · 2/10 · 18 July 2019]

Nothing new just June being hero untouchable and staring all the time, what is happening to the show anyway!!!

An intense and fundamental episode

[stormyjc-471-515246 · 8/10 · 5 August 2019]

I believe this to be one of the most fundamental episodes of the season. We see June finally cracking under the intensity of Gilead brought to a head by the claustrophobia of being made to stay in the same room to pray continuously for someone she considered a traitor. After a discussion with a doctor and his selective morality, June realises that she can not look at the Gilead patriarchy as monsterous and inhumane when she herself has nearly become a monster in attacking Mrs Waterford and wanting to end another handmaid's life in what she sees as "the right thing to do". She realises that to maintain her humanity and morality, she must trust in her love for her fellow handmaids and force change from within for their childrens' future.

OOOH Hell is a place on earth....

[Jamiec523 · 7/10 · 18 May 2023]

And its known as Gilead.

This episode was quite interesting as we see how close to the mental edge June is. In some ways this is a filler episode but I feel it's the foundation necessary to build the house that represents June taking action to begin bringing the punishment that those responsible for Gilead and those who support this oppressive regime deserve.

As this is my first time watching this series, I have no idea what's going to happen next but I feel like I can hear a ticking time bomb in the background with each passing scene. Each episode is brilliantly acted out and this episode is no exception to that fact. I hope the time is coming for Gileads turn to be brought to their knees.

Whats going on with this show ?

[galpazarbas · 1/10 · 17 July 2019]

Repeated close ups, millions of visual effects, same stare for over long periods...As all the other comments said, they are prolonging the show as muuuuuch as they can for money. I couldnt stand 20 mins , wont be watching anymore.

Slow is fast and fast is slow

[mariarammstein · 10/10 · 30 January 2020]

A beautiful episode where seemingly nothing happens, while everything changes. June losing and finding her mind, back to planning.

You're losing me

[geraldjoe-53992 · 2/10 · 18 July 2019]

I watched most of this episode in fast-forward and it was still slow. I have loved this show, but if there are anymore episodes like this I may have to call time and move on.

Superb

[tammyrich · 10/10 · 28 August 2019]

I was riveted. The use of Heaven is a Place on Earth is brilliant! Yes, we all have different tastes but I don't understand what the low markers want? This has never been a fast paced story. It is beautifully handled and shows her strength in that she keeps going!

Slow, Dull, and Boring

[xxxNomadicxxx · 1/10 · 17 July 2019]

Worst episode of the series. It was a complete filler episode and not a good one.