History NightmareFuel / TheHandmaidsTale

* [[AFateWorseThanDeathThe Colonies.]] [[spoiler: They're used for cleaning up nuclear waste until they die from the radiation poisoning. It's basically gulags. At one point Moira tells Offred that her mother ended up there (she saw her in a propaganda video) and when Offred expresses relief since she thought her mother was dead, Moira simply says "She might as well be. You should wish it for her." Also hinted is that "the Children of Ham" (black people), who are supposedly sent to "national homelands" (a la South Africa) may in fact be suffering extermination]].

* The Colonies. You ''really'' don't want to be [[AFateWorseThanDeath sent there]]. [[spoiler: They're used for cleaning up nuclear waste until they die from the radiation poisoning. It's basically gulags. At one point Moira tells Offred that her mother ended up there (she saw her in a propaganda video) and when Offred expresses relief since she thought her mother was dead, Moira simply says "She might as well be. You should wish it for her." Also hinted is that "the Children of Ham" (black people), who are supposedly sent to "national homelands" (a la South Africa) may in fact be suffering extermination]].

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* [[spoiler: The drowning. 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.]]

* Emily's assignment to Commander Joseph Lawrence brings the show into a whole new realm of Gothic horror, with a bravura performance from Bradley Whitford making both her and us constantly question just what kind of person Lawrence is, and if he might snap at any moment. And then there's the way his own wife is terrified of him and calls him a monster to his face for being the one behind the prison at the Colonies.

* The way Serena screams “Offred!” in “Holly” at the top of her lungs.

** Just the fact that in the description for "The Last Ceremony" it was given a Warning beforehand. No episode of the series has gotten that so far. In a show featuring female circumcision, rape, slow death via radiation poisoning, suicide, the almost death of an infant, and among other things, this episode received a ''warning'' in the description.

* For disobeying, the Handmaids are subjected to much punishment, chief among them Alma. Because Aunt Lydia cannot punish June, due to her condition, she uses Ofrobert. The Handmaids are lined up in the cafeteria of the Red Center ForcedToWatch, as she and Aunt Elizabeth drag a screaming Alma into the kitchens, where she handcuffs her hand to the stove and turns on the gas, her screams filling the entire cafeteria.

** 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.

* The whole concept of being a Handmaid. 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 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 with three successive households, 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.''

* Fred [[spoiler: raping June in "The Last Ceremony" while Serena holds her down in order to induce labor. What makes it absolutely chilling is the fact that June has never fought back in the Ceremony before, and here actually tries, which includes screaming for help and fighting Serena. Their looks sell it all. If it's that hard to believe, Serena Joy and Fred Waterford both crossed the MoralEventHorizon.

* Fred [[spoiler: raping June in "The Last Ceremony" while Serena holds her down in order to induce labor. What makes it absolutely chilling is the fact that June has never fought back in the Ceremony before, and here actually tries, which includes screaming for help and fighting Serena. Their looks sell it all. If it's that hard to believe, Serena Joy and Fred Waterford both crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]]]]

** In the same episode [[Spoiler: Nick and June are spotted by Guardians after Hannah - now Agnes - leaves with her Martha. Nick tells June to stay inside while he talks to them, and he ends up being beaten and taken away, leaving a heavily pregnant June in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere and in the freezing cold, no less.]]

* During the diplomatic meeting with Canada, Fred mentions he wants to get the Canadians to agree to expel the refugees from Gilead, [[DoesThisRemindYouofAnything referring to them as "illegal emigrants"]]. [[spoiler: While it ultimately doesn't come to fruition due to the Waterfords being forced out of Canada after Luke, Moira, and Erin release the Jezebel letters]], the idea that Moria, Erin, Luke, and others who've escaped Gilead being forced to return after how welcoming Canada was to them is spine chilling.

* During the diplomatic meeting with Canada, Fred mentions he wants to get the Canadians to agree to expel the refugees from Gilead, [[DoesThisRemindYouofAnything referring to them as "illegal emigrants"]]. [[spoiler: While it ultimately doesn't come to fruition due to the Waterfords being expelled from Canada after Luke, Moira, and Erin release the Jezebel letters]], the idea that Moria, Erin, Luke, and others who've escaped Gilead being forced to return after how welcoming Canada was to them is spine chilling.

* Serena Joy being given a schedule with only illustrations in Canada. Why? Because women in Gilead were not allowed to read- even though they were out of Gilead territory, even though Serena Joy was an educated professional before the takeover.

* The way Waterford slowly takes the heavily annotated Bible and reads from it before [[spoiler: whipping Serena with his belt]]. How many other awful things have little blue tags that Gilead uses as justification? There are a lot of tags...

* The fact that the entire premise -- a takeover by religious fundamentalists, the utter loss of rights for women -- ''is inspired by true events.'' UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} had been developing into a modern, secular country over the 20th century, but made a complete turnaround after the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Since then Iranian women have had to live under a barrage of restrictions, including laws about how they dress, though thankfully they still have access to education.

* The way Waterford slowly takes the heavily annotated bible and reads from it before [[spoiler: whipping Serena with his belt]]. How many other awful things have little blue tags that Gilead uses as justification? There are a lot of tags...

* The way Waterford slowly takes the heavily annotated bible and reads from it before whipping Serena with his belt. How many other awful things have little blue tags that Gilead uses as justification? There are a lot of tags...

* June discovers she's had vaginal bleeding, and desperately tries to keep the possible miscarriage secret even as the problem becomes steadily worse to BodyHorror levels. This includes waking up in the bath to find the water is completely red.

* The line-up of ''child brides'' and a building of people applauding the mass marriage. Even Rita notes it's off and tries to rationalize it.

* The entire last act of "Other Women" gives us the moment we hoped would never come: June is broken. After a parade of all the other people who've suffered on her behalf, she gives up and retreats fully into the personality of a smiling, simpering Handmaid, with even her internal narration only repeating her inane comments about the weather. There's nowhere to hide from the realization that the story's hero is gone.

* 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.