History NightmareFuel / TheHandmaidsTale

* We find out early in the season that Mexico and Gilead are trying to form trade relations--but while Mexico will be supplying Gilead with crops, Gilead will be supplying them with ''Handmaids.'' To better their chances of the deal going through, Gilead makes all the Handmaids look like they're women who stepped up for their country and are happy living there. June finally manages to talk to Ambassador Castillo to tell her the truth: all Handmaids have been forced into sexual slavery, and they are beaten, raped, and mutilated on a daily basis. She ''begs'' the Ambassador to help them, or at least not traffic them...''and she refuses.'' Mexico's population crisis is so bad that even after learning what the Handmaids suffer, they will ''still'' be traded like cattle. While Canada has become a safe haven for Gilead refugees and tries its best to help those trapped in the country, Mexico has decided to ''profit'' from Gilead's terrorism.

* The whole concept of being a Handmaid. You're separated from your loved ones, and if you have children, they've given away to be adopted by other families. You're forcibly indoctrinated (including such charming little exercises as the one shown above) and then passed around the upper echelons of the military as a brood mare. Your very name is taken away from you, to be replaced with the designation of whatever man currently owns you, e.g., Offred, Ofwayne. You're raped periodically once per month, with the Wife of your owner effectively holding you down. You're blamed if you're not fertile, even though it's most likely the ''men'' who own and use you that are sterile, and the Wives resent or even hate you regardless. If you don't manage to get pregnant in one of three "assignments", you're declared defective and packed off to the colonies to die of radiation poisoning or slave labor. If you ''do'' actually manage to get pregnant ''and'' carry the child to term, it's removed from you except for feeding times and, as soon as it's weaned, you're bundled off to ''another'' family to start the whole miserable process all over again. And while you're given a sop of never being sent to the colonies if you bear a live, healthy baby, there's always the possibility that the baby's a "shredder", born with a mental or physical defect that only appears later. ''You will never be safe.''

* The second season starts off by the handmaids being blindly taken to Fenway Park to be put in the gallows, which turn out to be fake in order to scare the handmaids into submission. Everything they experience in the training centre is a form a psychological torture in order to punish them for disobeying.
* The punishments for disobeying, include the psychological torture. In addition, they are made the kneel in the rain, each holding a heavy stone. Next, they are lined up inside the cafeteria in a straight line and made to listen to Alma's screams. Alma gets more punishment than the others. Because Aunt Lydia cannot punish June, due to her condition, she uses the next unruliest Handmaid. The others are lined up in the cafeteria of the Red Center ForcedToWatch, as she and Aunt Elizabeth drag her screaming and kicking into the kitchens, where she handcuffs her hand to the stove and turns on the gas, her screams filling the entire cafeteria.

* June hides out in the old Boston Globe building, where everywhere she looks there's signs of a mass slaughter of the staff, including a long wall full of bullet holes and bloodstains.

* A snippet from the book.

** Now factor ''this'' in -- they were talking about ''[[BlamingTheVictim a 14-year-old girl being gang-raped]]''.

* Nick hearing Rita's screams of horror and [[WhamShot running in to see the]] [[DrivenToSuicide previous Offred's body hanging from the ceiling]]. What makes it even more terrifying is that [[MoodWhiplash the scene almost comes out of nowhere]].

* The opening of the season finale, ''Mayday'', flashes back to a point soon after June was captured on the way to Canada, showing the absolutely hellish processing of numerous terrified, confused women. The elderly and disabled -- including children -- are herded off to be brutally killed right away. The survivors are shouted at and abused, stripped and examined, and are transported in meat trucks.

* The story of Esther Keyes. Forced to marry a Commander, who, upon realizing he couldn't "perform," passed her around to other men to be raped over and over in hopes of getting her pregnant. Note that Esther is a ''young teenager.''

* All the torture June undergoes to try and get her to confess where the other Handmaids are. First, she's waterboarded, then she almost has her fingernails ripped off, then she's locked in a small box for an indefinite amount of time. All while this is happening, the TortureTechnician is smiling, polite, and ''enjoying every second of it.''
** In another attempt to break her, Beth and Sienna are forced to stand on the edge of a building--so either June condemns her fellow Handmaids back to sexual slavery, or she watches two innocent women die. Beth is killed first when she tells June not to say anything. Commander Stans pushes her off the ledge, and we hear her terrified shrieking as she falls. Sienna and June share one last tender moment, Sienna silently affirming that she won't blame her for not telling...and then she, too, is pushed over.
* Gilead's last attempt to get June to talk, and the one that finally breaks her: ''threatening Hannah's life.'' June refuses to believe it at first, as Gilead only cares about children, but Lawrence retorts that Gilead cares about ''power.'' All they want is to enforce their values onto people and keep order, and children are just a means to an end to them.
** June is then shown Hannah in a glass box, affirming Lawrence's warning. ''That's'' how far Gilead will go just to get the Handmaids back. June can only give Hannah a broken smile as she tries to comfort her, and finally confesses where the other Handmaids are. And Commander Stans is smiling all the while.

* As cathartic as seeing Serena being in the same position as June when the latter was a Handmaid, her situation at the Wheelers’ residence is ripe with many red flags. Deprived of ''any '' contact with the outside world and not being allowed to conduct her duties as Gilead’s cultural ambassador, she is scolded for any attempts of stepping outside and being unnecessary coddled. It even got to the point of the Wheelers trying to hook her up with her gynecologist, much to her dismay. After everything in that household, it’s no surprise that Serena took the option of witnessing June’s (eventually foiled) execution as an escape opportunity from this…very eccentric couple.
** To show how even more AxCrazy Mr. Wheeler is, he’s revealed as the one behind June’s and Luke’s capture at No Man’s Land. He’s very determined to kill off June, and he would’ve succeeded had it not been for Serena’s insistence of being there for June’s execution.

* As cathartic as seeing Serena being in the same position as June when the latter was a Handmaid, her situation at the Wheelers’ residence is ripe with many red flags. Deprived of ''any '' contact with the outside world and not being allowed to conduct her duties as Gilead’s cultural ambassador, she is scolded for any attempts of stepping outside and being unnecessary coddled. It even got to the point of the Wheelers trying to hook her up with her gynecologist, much to her dismay. After everything in that household, it’s no surprise that Serena took the option of witnessing June’s (eventually foiled) execution as an escape opportunity from this…[[Sarcasm very eccentric couple]].

* As cathartic as seeing Serena being in the same position as June when the latter was a Handmaid, her situation at the Wheelers’ residence is ripe with many red flags. Deprived of ''any '' contact with the outside world and not being allowed to conduct her duties as Gilead’s cultural ambassador, she is scolded for any attempts of even stepping outside the world and being unnecessary coddled. After everything in that household, it’s no surprise that Serena took the option of witnessing June’s (eventually foiled) execution as an escape opportunity from this…[[Sarcasm very eccentric couple]].

* Although doubling as a [[MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the Marthas at Jezebel's, the fact that they were able to dispose of Winslow's corpse so thoroughly evokes cleaning crews in organized crime... and the lack of hesitation with the steps they take strongly suggests ''they've done it before''.

* Although doubling as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the Marthas at Jezebel's, the fact that they were able to dispose of Winslow's corpse so thoroughly evokes cleaning crews in organized crime... and the lack of hesitation with the steps they take strongly suggests ''they've done it before''.

** Now factor ''this'' in -- they were talking about ''[[BlamingTheVictim a 14-year old girl being gang-raped]]''.

* The whole concept of being a Handmaid. You're separated from your loved ones, and if you have children they've given away to be adopted by other families. You're forcibly indoctrinated (including such charming little exercises as the one shown above) and then passed around the upper echelons of the military as a brood mare. Your very name is taken away from you, to be replaced with the designation of whatever man currently owns you, e.g. Offred, Ofwayne. You're raped periodically once per month, with the Wife of your owner effectively holding you down. You're blamed if you're not fertile, even though it's most likely the ''men'' who own and use you that are sterile, and the Wives resent or even hate you regardless. If you don't manage to get pregnant in one of three "assignments", you're declared defective and packed off to the colonies to die of radiation poisoning or slave labor. If you ''do'' actually manage to get pregnant ''and'' carry the child to term, it's removed from you except for feeding times and, as soon as it's weaned, you're bundled off to ''another'' family to start the whole miserable process all over again. And while you're given a sop of never being sent to the colonies if you bear a live, healthy baby, there's always the possibility that the baby's a "shredder", born with a mental or physical defect that only appears later. ''You will never be safe.''

* The entire nation of Gilead is a CrapsackWorld of unrelenting Nightmare Fuel. In summary: almost the entire U.S. has been taken over by extremist Christian totalitarianism. Women are considered second-class citizens. All gay and lesbian people are considered "gender traitors" and sentenced to death. If you commit a crime and are killed for it, your body is hung up in public. The [[FateWorseThanDeath worst punishment]] is being sent to the Colonies--where you will suffer a slow and painful death from infection and exposure as you are forced to clean up a wasteland. Due to the population crisis, all fertile women have been forced to become "Handmaids"--their sole purpose is to bear children. If they were married or already had children, they will be ripped away from them. Once a month, they are raped by the Commander who owns them, while the Commander's Wife holds them down as part of a "Ceremony." Once a Handmaid gets pregnant, the baby will be taken from her once it's weaned and she will be shipped off to her next Commander. If she fails to get pregnant for so long, she's sent to the Colonies. Handmaids are named after their Commanders--"Offred, Ofglen, Ofmathew"--because they are no more than property now. Women are not allowed to read--if one does, she will lose a finger, or her whole hand. Handmaids are "trained" by Aunts--if they step out of line, they will be tortured and mutilated. All while this is happening, Canada has become a safe haven for refugees, but the number of people looking for their wives, sisters, and daughters that were taken from them is in the ''thousands.'' And other places, like Mexico? ''They do not care that this is happening.''

* The book only made references to how the takeover happened. Here, flashbacks show it and it is nothing short of horrifying to see women bluntly told they can no longer hold jobs or have their own money. The fact most see it more as an annoyance at first is worst as they have no idea of the horrors that are coming.

* The possibility that the doctor was sincerely trying to give her the best chance he could might be even more horrifying than him being a predator; it says a lot about how hideous the situation is when a genuinely good guy's options to help a woman in June's situation are limited to making an offer which would be utterly repugnant in any sane society.

* The punishments for disobeying, include the psychological torture. In addition, they are made the kneel in the rain, each holding a heavy stone. Next, they are lined up inside the cafeteria in a straight line, and made to listen to Alma's screams. Alma gets more punishment than the others. Because Aunt Lydia cannot punish June, due to her condition, she uses the next unruliest Handmaid. The others are lined up in the cafeteria of the Red Center ForcedToWatch, as she and Aunt Elizabeth drag her screaming and kicking into the kitchens, where she handcuffs her hand to the stove and turns on the gas, her screams filling the entire cafeteria.
* June is forced to listen alongside. As she was being rebellious, the Aunts took her to a prison room, where another pregnant Handmaid, Ofwyatt was chained up for being DrivenToSuicide by drain cleaner, with the implication that she'll be killed after having the baby. June knows that if she acts up, she'll end up like her, and is forced to eat the lunch Aunt Lydia prepared for her and act as though nothing happened. We also don't see it but the implication was that all of the handmaids but June were burned like Alma, so they all had to listen to her being tortured knowing it was about to happen to them, as well.

* During the marriage the men have no idea who they are marrying until after the vows have been said and the rings placed on the fingers. It certainly would have not have been what they signed up for... or even more horrifyingly, it's ''exactly'' what some of them signed up for.

* June is DrivenToSuicide and falls out her window the night that Nick marries Eden, as now she feels she has nothing to live for. She is found by Nick, heavily pregnant and her lower abdomen covered in blood. Nick's fear: the woman he loves is pregnant with his child, but is mentally broken and so gone from life that she decides to take her own life. Only, that also entails taking the life of the child you both share.

* The drowning. Execution method of two teenagers in love. It looks almost like everyone is at a swim meet as it is held in a old swimming pool. The juxtaposition of the location and what is happening is chilling.

* The revelation that Handmaids in DC have their mouths wired shut is as horrifying to the viewer as it is to June. Some scenes suggest its not done as a punishment. ALL Handmaids and Marthas seem to have their mouths wired shut. It really doesn’t help that the mouth covering clips each give a loud ‘SNAP,’ like shackling. ''Aunt Lydia'' is horrified to see that this is what they do to their Handmaids. Even worse is when Commander Winslow tells Fred that the "ring and veil" may go to other areas in Gilead as well. There is no apparent reason for this whatsoever than to just be ''that much more cruel'' to the Handmaids.
* Serena despite getting a finger amputated for the ‘crime of reading’ doesn’t seem to really seem to care about the fact that ALL the Second class women in DC have had their mouths wired shut. Not only does she want to raise a female child in THAT environment, but there isn’t really anything protecting Second class women outside DC, or the Gilead wives either.

** Esther's CreepyChild behavior is extremely unsettling, especially watching her instantly turn into an icy, brutal Commander's Wife the second June hesitates. Then she later forces Janine to eat the pork of Mr. Darcy, for no other apparent reason than a powerplay. June talks her down from it later, but it seems that Esther is not too different from Serena Joy: so overcome with the stress of her situation that she uses her authority to lash out at others.

* All the torture June undergoes to try and get her to confess where the other Handmaids are. First she's waterboarded, then she almost has her fingernails ripped off, then she's locked in a small box for an indefinite amount of time. All while this is happening, the TortureTechnician is smiling, polite, and ''enjoying every second of it.''

* Gilead's last attempt to get June to talk, and the one that finally breaks her: ''threatening Hannah's life.'' June refuses to believe it at first, as Gilead only cares about children, but Lawrence retorts that Gilead cares about ''power.'' All they want is to enforce their values onto people and keep order, and children are just a means to an ends to them.

* Aunt Lydia's reveal of the new plans for the Handmaids. They can't afford to kill them, especially now that so many children are gone, but they also won't put up with their insubordination any longer. So where are they going? To a "Magdalene Colony"--a place where they will do menial labor day in and day out, where their Commanders and their Wives will come once a month to perform the Ceremony. Once they have a baby, they will return to their work and do it all over again. As if Handmaids weren't already treated like cattle. June immediately dons it a "breeding colony."
* The last scene of the third episode. On their way to the Magdalene colony, the Handmaids--June, Janine, Alma, Brianna, and a few others--make one last break for it. They break out of the van and take off running for the tracks as a train barrels toward them, smiling and elated. Then one of them is gunned down. Then another. June and Janine make it to the other side, and June looks back at Alma and Brianna...just in time to watch them be '''run down by the train.''' June manages to get a hold of herself to encourage a sobbing Janine to keep running. For now, of all the Handmaids that fled to the Keyes' farm in the first and second episodes, ''only two are still alive.''
* The entirety of the ReasonYouSuckSpeech that June delivers to Serena Joy, which ends with a ToThePain threat. The twisted, hateful expression on June's face as she screams in Serena's face is absolutely haunting. While undoubtedly offering some [[CatharsisFactor catharsis]] for all the shit June has been put through, it's also genuinely terrifying, as it shows [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil just how far gone June is at this point]]. Hurt people hurt people, indeed.

* The very end of episode 9 when June lashes out in anger when Tuello decides to cooperate with Fred Waterford to locate Hannah's whereabouts. As June screams, the music intensifies before completely cutting off to the end credits. What is playing during the end credits? No ironic pop song, no background noise. ''Just a steady scary low-ambiance until the end of the episode...''
* Commander Waterford's execution in the season finale.

* Offred doesn't know what happened to [[AdultFear her husband and her daughter]], especially considering that before the rise of Gilead, the reader learns that a crazy woman tried to take Offred's baby daughter from Offred's shopping cart when Offred had her back turned to get something off the shelves. ''Yikes''.

* June is DrivenToSuicide and falls out her window the night that Nick marries Eden, as now she feels she has nothing to live for. She is found by Nick, heavily pregnant and her lower abdomen covered in blood. Nick's AdultFear: the woman he loves is pregnant with his child, but is mentally broken and so gone from life that she decides to take her own life. Only, that also entails taking the life of the child you both share.

** Now factor this in -- they were talking about ''a 14-year old girl being gang-raped''.

: Now factor this in -- they were talking about ''a 14-year old girl being gang-raped''.

* June giving a sobbing Serena a drawn-out TheReasonYouSuck speech, ending with one of the most embittered ToThePain threats ever televised. The close-up on her face as she screams at Serena, twisted in hatred and rage, is absolutely haunting.
--> '''June:''' Do you know why God made you pregnant? So that when he kills that baby inside your womb, you will feel a ''fraction'' of the pain that you caused us when you tore our children from our arms. ''Do you understand me? '''DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?'''''