The Hulu series made its first major departure from the original novel by Margaret Atwood in episode six. I’m not ideologically opposed to Bruce Miller and Company doing this; after all, the novel was written over 30 years ago.
However, I have to ask whether this departure takes away from the believability of the series. What happened in this episode is, the rulers of the Republic of Gilead get a state visit by the Ambassador of Mexico. This is important to the theocrats, because they need Mexico’s help in getting out of the economic mess they’ve made for themselves.
It turns out that the Ambassador is a woman, played by Zabryna Guevara. She asks the theocrats some pointed questions about the role of the Handmaids (or sex slaves, ceremonial rape victims, take your pick), and creates the impression that she might be sympathetic to the plight of the Handmaids.
Later on in the episode, however, it turns out that the opposite might be the case.
P.S. The IMDB entry implies that there will be more than one season of the series. I don’t like this idea. I liked the way that the 1990 movie (with Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall, and Faye Dunaway) ended, which is significantly different from the way the novel ended. The important thing is, this story should have an ending of some sort, rather than dragging on indefinitely.