18 Best TV Episodes Of 2017 (So Far)

4. Late - The Handmaid's Tale

Despite being an adaptation of a novel from 1985, Hulu's take on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale managed to feel painfully relevant in 2017, and in the process delivered arguably the best brand new series of the year thus far.

While it was pretty faithful to the source material, the TV format offered the chance to expand the scope beyond Offred's point-of-view, and in Late that was used to an horrific end.

Elisabeth Moss shines, as she does throughout its first season, in an agonising hour of television. In flashback form, we get to witness the take over of the United States by Gilead, which happens not with one big bang but in a much quieter and scarier way. In the present, Offred is punished for the 'crime' of not being pregnant. Moss is able to convey so much with just her face, and she does a great job of selling the confusion and then fear of her character, while Yvonne Strahovsk rises to the challenge of channeling a far more menacing side to Serena Joy.

The star of the episode, though, is Alexis Bledel. Not known for giving much range beyond a variation on Rory Gilmore, she excels here in a wordless performance, as unspeakable acts are committed against her. The final moments in particular are among the most technically brilliant, memorable, and downright awful of the year, the sort that will haunt you long past the credits, and one hell of an artistic achievement from Bledel, writer Bruce Miller, and director Reed Morano.