History Awesome / TheHandmaidsTale

* The only good feeling one can get from watching ''Other Women'' is after seeing the Commander's Wives fetishize being pregnant and act like they are giving birth rather than their handmaids (who are there), is [[KickTheSonOfABitch seeing Aunt Lydia scold Serena for smoking because "it's bad for the baby"]] is extremely satisfying.

* When the Handmaids are commanded to stone Janine, none of them likes it. Led by Offred and likely inspired by the Second Oglen's outburst, they refuse to, despite being warned there will be punishment for this. And the handmaids' PowerWalk afterward.

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!!Meta
* The show practically sweeping the 2017 Emmys, winning 8 awards out of 13 nominations (across 11 categories), and taking every category it was up for on the main telecast. Further achievements included:
** The show winning Best Drama Series in what was considered ([[http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/2017-emmy-predictions-complete-odds-all-categories-news-937514860/ at least according to odds at Gold Derby]]) to be a slight upset against ''Series/StrangerThings'', which had won 5 Emmys at the Creative Arts Ceremony (including Casting). Margaret Atwood herself joined the crew onstage for the Best Drama win, to great applause from the audience.
** The fact that the Series win made Hulu the '''first ever''' streaming platform to win either Drama Series or Comedy Series in Emmy history, when, until then, it appeared that the honor might go to either Netflix (which had ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'', ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', ''Series/StrangerThings'', ''[[Series/TheCrown2016 The Crown]]'', ''Series/MasterOfNone'', and ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt'' in contention over the years) or Amazon (which had ''Series/{{Transparent}}'').
** Elisabeth Moss finally (in the eyes of many) winning the Primetime Emmy after years of coming up short for ''Series/MadMen'' and ''Series/TopOfTheLake''. Her wins for Drama Lead Actress and Drama Series were her 8th and 9th career nominations. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her mother for teaching her to be a "fucking badass".
** Ann Dowd winning Supporting Actress for a Drama Series (another surprise, as the race was seen to be between Thandie Newton in ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' and Millie Bobby Brown in ''Series/StrangerThings''), giving Dowd her first bit of industry recognition in over 30 years of work.
** Reed Morano's victory for Drama Directing making her the first woman to win the category since Mimi Leder for ''Series/{{ER}}'' in 1995.
** Alexis Bledel's win for Drama Guest Actress helped to solidify the sense of SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct that had built around her performance. Additionally, it meant that the show had managed to take ''all three'' female acting prizes in the Drama categories.
** Showrunner Bruce Miller finishing out the Drama Series speech by encouraging everyone to pursue further activism against things they see as wrong.
--->'''Miller''': Go home. Get to work. We have a lot of things to fight for.
* The fact that Yvonne Strahovski, Ann Dowd, ''and'' Alexis Bledel got nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2018 Emmys.

* When Aunt Lydia starts viciously beating Janine for asking to become the Putnams’ Handmaid’s again, June throws herself in the way, very much aware that even if Lydia refrains from hitting her too, such a public act of defiance may well mean her execution. Luckily, even the upper echelon of Gilead see it as a MoralEventHorizon, and Lydia is left to pathetically apologize for the scene and run away weeping.

* A small one in Ofmatthew's final rampage: the person she finally decides to shoot is not June. It's ''Aunt Lydia''. Underneath all of that brainwashing the woman knew who her real oppessors were and hated them.

* After Lawrence is finally forced to go through with the ceremony with June due to government supervision, June looks Fred in the eye and says "At least it wasn't you." He actually seems hit hard by it.

* June is spotted by Commander Winslow at Jezebel's while arranging for the children's transport, and he decides to take a turn with her himself. June retreats back to her usual MadnessMantra of being outside her body and treating it like nothing more than a job...but then suddenly decides she's had enough of this shit and fights back hard against one of the highest ranking members of the Gilead government. And finally she manages an exceptionally fitting end to the man when she stabs him over and over with the pen that created so many horrible laws against women, eventually getting his lung and leaving him to pathetically crawl toward her and beg to live for his children's sake. But of course this is the exact wrong thing to say to June, who finishes him off by bashing his brains in with a statue. And the kicker is that the Martha who finds the scene is one of the women she freed at the start of the season and helps her escape, after which the ''whole'' staff is happy to erase every piece of evidence and dispose of the body in the incinerator.
** This same episode features a fantastic gambit by Tuello and Serena to lure Fred into Canada and charge the son of a bitch with ''every'' single crime he's done under international law. The kicker is that a soldier holds Fred at gunpoint; from the look on his face, he feels as helpless as the women he's tortured, and it's cathartic as hell.

* Luke and Moira get to see the Waterfords brought low as they deliver Nicole for an agreed hour-long visit. Moira gives Serena a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how no amount of good deeds will erase the bad things she did and she's the real "gender traitor" (and she then suffers the indignity of being reminded her deal with Tuello includes not being allowed to call herself Nicole's mother), while Luke just punches Fred in the face and shouts that they're not done as the guards drag him out.

** June enacting her plan to get kids out. Not only does it work without a hitch (with Rita making it to safety as well), June shows that she's not lost the ActionGirl chops she had when she took down High Commander Winslow by managing to get a Guardian at gunpoint and ultimately killing him once she gets what she needs out of him, in a bloody ''satisfying'' subversion of SwordOverHead. And she does all this with a bullet in her back.

** Elisabeth Moss finally (in the eyes of many) winning the Primteime Emmy after years of coming up short for ''Series/MadMen'' and ''Series/TopOfTheLake''. Her wins for Drama Lead Actress and Drama Series were her 8th and 9th career nominations. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her mother for teaching her to be a "fucking badass".

* In the season finale, June and a group of other Handmaids (and possibly Marthas) finally get their glorious revenge on Commander Fred Waterford, chasing him through the dark forest and subjecting him to a Particicution, [[LaserGuidedKarma the execution method he helped devise and impose upon them]].

* In the season finale, June and a group of other Handmaids (and possibly Marthas) finally get their glorious revenge on Commander Fred Waterford, chasing him through the dark forest and subjecting him to a Particicution, the execution method he helped devise and impose upon them.

* In ''A Woman's Place'', Offred makes the decision to [[spoiler: tell the Mexican ambassador ''exactly'' how awful the life of a Handmaid in Gilead is]], fully aware of the terrible risk she's taking, and under the belief that the ambassador's attendant may be a supporter of the Gilead regime. After all the effort Gilead goes through to take away women's voices (and the extremely unconvincing charade they've put up to downplay this fact in front of the ambassador,) Offred is at long last able to use that voice to undermine it.

* Serena Joy's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Fred, after [[spoiler: she finds out about his secret meetings with Offred, whilst he blames her for his infidelities. She also doesn't hesitate to tell him that Offred's pregnant, but the baby isn't his and will never be due to his stupidity and sterility.]]
* Offred telling off Serena Joy after [[spoiler: Serena not only takes her to where her and Luke's daughter is being held and doesn't allow Offred to see her, but also threatens her life if anything happens to Offred's unborn child or if Offred steps out of line.]]
-->'''Offred''': [[spoiler: What is wrong with you? ''What is wrong with you?'' How can you do this? You're deranged. You're...you're...you're fucking evil. You know that? You are a goddamn motherfucking monster! Fucking heartless, sadistic, motherfucking evil [[CountryMatters CUNT]]! Fuck you, Serena! You are gonna burn in goddamn motherfucking hell, you crazy, evil bitch!]]
* After Commander Putnam is brought forward to the Commanders for his extramarital affairs with Janine and promises to run away to Canada with Janine, [[spoiler:which lead to her BungledSuicide]], one of them reveals to Commander Waterford and the others that Mrs. Putnam came forward and asked that he received the ''harshest punishment possible'', which the viewer then discovers is that he gets his left hand surgically removed. It's grim, but it's also satisfying to know that even the Commanders can't always get away with their unspeakable behaviour.
* When the Handmaids are commanded to [[spoiler: stone Janine]], none of them likes it. Led by Offred and likely inspired by the [[spoiler: Second Oglen's outburst]], they refuse to, despite being warned there will be punishment for this. And the handmaids' PowerWalk afterward.
* As Offred's [[spoiler:being taken away by either The Eyes or Mayday]], The Commander and Serena are losing their minds and constantly asking where their pregnant and abused Handmaid is being taken to, only to be ignored. Serena angrily confronts Offred, only to be met with a silent and defiant smirk. Offred has no idea [[spoiler:if she's being saved or being punished]], but after everything she's been through at the Waterford house, she's going with a smile on her face.

* The Season 2 premiere has this little, glorious CallBack: [[spoiler:Serena Joy comes in to see June when she's getting a gynecological exam, and angrily tells her not to screw around again. June, knowing she's nigh untouchable by Gilead and by her respective Wife, just snarls, "Don't get upset, Serena. It's bad for the baby," in a magnificent IronicEcho to what Serena Joy had frostily told June during her powerless FreakOut at the end of Season 1.]]
* The final scene of the Season 2 premiere: [[spoiler:After Nick comes through and helps June escape, she burns her handmaid clothes, cuts off her hair, and even slices off the top of her ear to get rid of the tag injected there. Throughout it all, Elizabeth Moss fully sells the weight of the liberation and we end with another narration describing all her physical attributes, ending with "I am free."]]
* Emily [[spoiler: watching as the Wife in the Colonies dies a slow death by her poison. She tells the Wife, no, she helped her husband commit rape and doesn't deserve forgiveness or compassion for that.]]

* After Offred [[spoiler: gets captured and sent back to the Waterfords and has her spirit crushed in numerous ways, eventually she throws herself out of a window in a suicide attempt. When she wakes in the hospital, she realizes her baby is still alive despite her attempt and heavy vaginal bleeding. Her baby’s will to live reinvigorates June’s fighting spirit and she promises to make sure her baby doesn’t grow up in Gilead.]]
* At the end of "First Blood," [[spoiler:Ofglen suicide bombs a meeting of the entire upper government of Gilead, just like the way they took out the American government by an armed coup.]]

* June savoring the [[spoiler:feel of a pen, finally feeling that she can wield an amount of power over Gilead. The visual click is also a tribute to the late Ofglen.]]

* June finding the strength to [[spoiler: ''parent'' Hannah when they're suddenly reunited for 10 minutes. Instead of becoming mad or upset when Hannah pulls away from her, June allows her to be angry and validates it. She tells Hannah to obey her new parents and enjoy her life while reminding her that she and Luke love her. Despite everything Gilead has put her through, June's maternal instincts are still intact.]]

* [[spoiler:Eden and Isaac choosing to FaceDeathWithDignity, rather than renounce their sins and go back to being obedient citizens of Gilead. Eden, in particular, deserves mention. This is a fifteen year old girl about to be executed via drowning (which is ''not'' a quick and merciful way to go), and she doesn't cry, plead, or beg. She simply looks at the man she loves, and [[AsTheGoodBookSays recites a famous bit of scripture]]... and, unlike most of Gilead, she doesn't take it out of context for her own agenda. When Eden cites the Bible, she gets it ''right''.]]

* In ''[[Recap/TheHandmaidsTaleS2E13TheWord The Word]]'', Emily [[spoiler:stabs and viciously attacks Aunt Lydia. After two seasons of Lydia going consequence-free from her actions, it's deeply satisfying seeing the shit kicked out of her.]]
* [[spoiler:Offred's retaliation slap to Commander Waterford. He so desperately deserved it.]]

** After [[spoiler:Waterford's smarmy suggestion that Offred could stay in the house without Serena Joy and try for another ''male'' child...]]

* When Fred attempts to intervene in [[spoiler:Offred and Holly's escape,]] [[PapaWolf Nick]] confronts him and holds him off, coolly telling him that it's "safer inside." When Fred attempts to protest, Nick reveals the gun on his belt, and Fred backs off, realizing that he's not the one in charge, both because of the gun ''and'' the fact that Nick is an Eye.
* [[spoiler:Before June escapes she takes the time to carve "nolites te bastardes carborundorum" on the wall of her bedroom in big letters for Fred to find when he goes looking for her and the baby.]]

* The beginning of Season 3 has Serena Joy telling Fred, flat out, [[spoiler:that she allowed June and Holly to escape.]] When he asks why, she delivers the most vicious glare at him and has a perfect reminder for what he'd done to her earlier on:

* The only good feeling one can get from watching ''Other Women'' is after seeing the Commander's Wives fetishize being pregnant and act like they are giving birth rather than their handmaids (who are there), is seeing Aunt Lydia scold Serena for smoking because "it's bad for the baby". [[KickTheSonOfTheBitch Ohhh Burn]].

* Emily [[spoiler: watching as the Wife in the Colonies dies a slow death by her poison. She tells the Wife, no, she let women get raped and doesn't deserve forgiveness or compassion for that.]]