History Heartwarming / TheHandmaidsTale

* Aunt Lydia hitting her knees beside the bed of a poisoned Janine and pleading to God not to take Janine as punishment for the things she herself has done. She admits to her poor choices, her violent fits of temper, and swears she'll do better. It's the first truly Christian thing she's done in a very, very long time.

* The Keyes farm itself - the escaped Handmaids listen and dance to music, and two Guardians actually kiss.
* The flashback to when the Handmaids clasp hands and share names at night at the Rachel and Leah Center - doubles as a TearJerker, considering the scene prior.

* When Moira finds June, she is adamant about helping her escape Gilead, going against what the NGO is supposed to be doing. June is her best friend, and she won’t leave her behind.

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* Despite everything OfMatthew/Natalie put her through, June comes to her senses and reminds herself that Natalie was a fellow BrokenBird who suffered plenty. This culminates into her decision to make peace with a braindead Natalie at her bedside, and sings "Heaven is a Place on Earth" to her as she takes her last breaths.

* Offred welcomes Emily back in Gilead by whispering her true name, prompting her to bravely do the same to a passing Handmaid named Brianna. Brianna is relieved by this newfound kinship and does the same to other Handmaids in the store, and they all follow suit in solidarity.

* [[spoiler: June and Moira manage to escape the reeducation centre and get to an underground station, trying to get to Boston -- but while Moira, in the guise as an Aunt, is asking for which train they need to board (the signs were removed because women are not allowed to read or write), June, as a solitary Handmaid, is quickly cornered by soldiers. She nods and smiles to Moira as a sign to get on the train and escape.]]
* After June [[spoiler: has her feet whipped bloody for her escape attempt, the Handmaids at the centre each give her a piece of food they saved during lunch.]]

-->''Praised be, bitch. -- [[spoiler:XOXO, Moira]]''

* TheReveal that [[spoiler:not only did Luke make it to Canada, he's been searching tirelessly for June and Hannah... and Moira, too. He considers June's best friend to be part of the family. Moira's so moved when she hears this, she nearly cries.]]
* When [[spoiler: Moira]] meets up with Luke in Canada, it turns out he had an alert set up if she appeared... because she's marked down as family to him, even though they're not related. This is clearly a connection she needed, since she'd been left alone in a strange land looking lost and bewildered while being inducted into the refugee center.

* When ordered to [[spoiler: stone Janine to death as punishment for attempting to kill herself and her daughter, the other Handmaids are horrified and refuse to hurt her, fully aware that there'll be consequences. Furthermore, it's the Second Ofglen, the one who most wanted to stay out of trouble, who's the first to speak up for Janine]].
* [[spoiler: Upon June's arrest, Rita's first instinct is not to wonder what June has done but to give her a farewell hug, knowing that she could be going to something terrible for all she knows. This makes it clear that she valued June as a person rather than a baby vessel.]]
* [[spoiler:June trying to talk Janine down from attempting suicide is deeply sad, but also touching. June promises that one day, the regime will fall and then she and Janine and all the other women will all be able to go out drinking and dancing. June and Janine may have had their differences, but it's clear that in this moment, June truly empathizes with her and wants to help her believe that things ''will'' change for the better.]]

* June [[spoiler: arranging a memorial for those who perished at the Boston Globe. She even recovers her faith to pray for those who are lost.]]
* While coming to terms with her trauma, Moira [[spoiler: finally has a moment of joy when Erin, a former Handmaid who was rendered mute by trauma, lets out this quip: "Blessed be the Froot Loops."]]
* After losing her relationship with the other handmaids, being abandoned by Mayday, [[spoiler:and watching Nick get married in a mass marriage ceremony, Offred throws herself out of the window in an attempt to commit suicide out of sheer despair. When she wakes up in the hospital, she discovers her baby is still alive, despite heavy vaginal bleeding throughout the episode and said suicide attempt. This revives June’s fighting spirit and she softly vows to make sure that her baby will not be raised by the Waterfords, let alone in Gilead.]]

* Commander Lawrence seems like a weird guy, but the Martha in his house is missing an eye and straight up swears at him, and he refuses to participate in the Ceremony with Emily, painting a picture of someone who cares about his household and has earned their loyalty and respect. It seems like he takes in rebellious "troublemakers" in order to give them safety and some freedom, perhaps to atone for creating [[AFateWorseThanDeath the Colonies]]. [[spoiler: He even orchestrates Emily's escape from Gilead, and it's heavily implied that he's part of Mayday or an underground network of dissenters, or he is trusted enough by the Martha in his household that she was willing to let him in on the plan to smuggle June and her baby out of Gilead. Either way, he seems like a [[ALighterShadeOfGrey much better person than the other commanders.]]]]
* Serena [[spoiler: saying goodbye to baby Nicole/Holly after June tells her that the baby doesn't have to grow up in a place so cruel to girls and women. Serena does the motherly thing and gives her baby up in hopes of a better life, and the action earns June's respect, to the point that when passing the baby to Emily in the escape vehicle, she says the baby is named Nicole, the name Serena gave her.]]
* The Marthas of Gilead have [[spoiler: an underground network, which Rita uses to help June and her baby escape the Waterford home and hopefully leave the country entirely. Numerous Marthas shepherd June along to her escape vehicle, and you get the impression that there are a lot more rebels in Gilead than previously thought.]]

** When Emily first visits her wife Sylvia, she asks if their son Oliver remembers her. Sylvia takes Emily to his room [[spoiler: where pictures of Emily and Oliver are all over the room, there's a drawing he did of her as a superhero escaping Gilead, and Sylvia reveals he was so excited to see Emily he begged to stay home from school. And when Oliver does come home, once he gets over initial shyness he takes to Emily immediately, and also respects her limitations in terms of being overwhelmed by it all.]]

* Commander Lawrence seems like a weird guy, but the Martha in his house is missing an eye and straight up swears at him, and he refuses to participate in the Ceremony with Emily, painting a picture of someone who cares about his household and has earned their loyalty and respect. It seems like he takes in rebellious "troublemakers" in order to give them safety and some freedom, perhaps to atone for creating [[AFateWorseThanDeath the Colonies]]. [[spoiler: He even orchestrates Emily's escape from Gilead, and it's heavily implied that he's part of Mayday or an underground network of dissenters, or he is trusted enough by the Martha in his household that she was willing to let him in on the plan to smuggle June and her baby out of Gilead. Either way, he seems like a [[ALightShadeOfGrey much better person than the other commanders.]]]]

* After everything that has happened, between the loss of their fellow Handmaids and their confrontation in the train milk container, it is ** Janine ** who secures the safety of herself and June by choosing to do sexual favors for the Rebel leader, sparing June from degradation and making sure she eats some bread.

* After everything that has happened, between the loss of their fellow Handmaids and their confrontation in the train milk container, it is **Janine** who secures the safety of herself and June by choosing to do sexual favors for the Rebel leader, sparing June from degradation and making sure she eats some bread.

* After June is [[spoiler: maimed for her escape attempt, the Handmaids at the centre each give her a piece of food they saved during lunch.]]

* Offred [[spoiler: arranging a memorial for those who perished at the Boston Globe. She even recovers her faith to pray for those who are lost.]]

* After a rather awkward moment where Serena Joy tries to chat with a mute Ofglen, June talks aloud with the Handmaids about the old days, since June has become comfortable enough to know that Serena Joy would condone talk of the old days. For a while, it transcend all the Gilead class pretenses and Serena feels at ease to join into the conversation, even if she gets uncomfortable quickly. At the end, the Handmaids happily assemble around June to feel the baby moving within her.

* Emily and Janine come back from the colonies and June is delighted to see them. It kicks off the handmaid's telling each other their real names.

* After Serena insists that Offred will be kicked out immediately after her baby, Offred doing her damnest to prepare for a future where she won't be in her baby's life. She first asks Rita, who is scared but will try to do her best. When the agreement is set, Offred whispers, "Found someone."

* Isaac and Eden's little exchange of "hi" before kissing. In a society that has him beating handmaids with the butt of a gun and her looking forward to a life of cleaning the house and bearing children, for a moment, they're simply kids with an awkward, mutual crush. It's a moment that feels very far away from Gilead.
* Eden consulting Offred on whether she should pursue love. Unaware what Eden plans to do next, Offred like a big sister tells Eden that it's all right to find love in this horrible society. This is also a small indication that Eden very much sees Offred as a person.

** When Emily first visits her wife Sylvia, she asks if their son Oliver remembers her. Sylvia takes Emily to his room [[spoiler: where pictures of Emily and Oliver are all over the room, there's a drawing he did of her as a superhero escaping Gilead, and Slyvia reveals he was so excited to see Emily he begged to stay home from school. And when Oliver does come home, once he gets over initial shyness he takes to Emily immediately.]]

* Baby Holly Nichole and her godmother, Moira, have a strong bond, and despite not wanting to, Moira respects Luke's decision to take his stepdaughter to see Serena Joy. Before she leaves the baby for the supervised visit, however, she bluntly calls Serena out on helping Fred rape June, informs Serena that Fred raped her (Moira), too, and ends by saying, that heterosexual Serena who willingly helped create Gilead is the true traitor to their shared gender rather than lesbian her who had to do bad things in order to survive. June wanted her baby to be with her husband and best friend, and it's made clear her faith in them was not ill-placed.

* Commander Lawrence reading to all of the children hiding in the basement.

* The Marthas joining June to throw stones at the Guardians to ensure the kids pass through safely.