SNL’s dystopian rom-com, “Handmaids in the City,” is dark satire

What: A sketch that portrays The Handmaid’s Tale like a breezy romantic comedy.

Who: Saturday Night Live and guest host Amy Schumer.

Why we care: The Handmaid’s Tale is not an easy watch. It takes place in an America where women are subjugated by men, but the residue of the collapsed modern world is still everywhere, just beyond reach. What makes the show especially uneasy viewing is the fact that we’re watching it in Trump’s America. You might take in an episode and then turn on the news to see a gloating abundance of white men in the White House Rose Garden, celebrating a ghastly healthcare victory. This week’s SNL, however, featured one sketch that deftly played around with the experience of watching The Handmaid’s Tale in 2018.

“New Hulu Show,” as the sketch is officially called, presents a hybrid of Handmaid’s Tale and Sex and the City, a dystopian rom-com designed to make Margaret Atwood’s ideas sound more palatable. “As I waited for the girls in downtown Gilead, I was starting to feel like an Uptown Gal-ead,” Amy Schumer’s Carrie Bradshaw surrogate says. “And I couldn’t help wonder: Are women allowed to do anything anymore?”

It’s the show that will have viewers asking, “Am I more of an Offred or an Ofwarren?” and it calls to mind what The Handmaid’s Tale would look like if instead of a warning, it was more of a welcome wagon.