Based on the novel written by Margaret Atwood over thirty years ago, The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu isn’t afraid to punch us in the gut. In truth, the show is so relevant that it’s actually extremely uncomfortable to watch.
There are many moments in the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale that are so disturbing because they seem so real, but I’m only limiting myself to five because if I didn’t, the list would be upwards of 100.
So, here are (only) five moments from The Handmaid’s Tale that are way too real.
1. Whose fault is it? Her fault
In a flashback at the red center, where they train potential handmaids for duty, one character named Janine confesses to being sexually assaulted as a teenager. Aunt Lydia, their handler, asks her group of girls who is to blame for what happened to Janine.
The handmaids raise their red arms in unison, point accusatory fingers to Janine, and chant, “Her fault.” If that is not an allegory for the victim-shaming that is still so prevalent in cases of sexual assault, then I don’t know what is.
When people ask victims of sexual assault today, “What were you wearing? Did you have a lot to drink?” what they are really asking is, “Whose fault is it?” And what they’re really saying is the answer is it’s your fault.
2. A group of men sign new bill into law. What’s wrong with this picture?
The show takes place in a country where female reproductive habits are governmentally regulated to such a degree that it’s virtually impossible for women to decide when and how they get pregnant. Did I mention it’s called Gilead and not the United States? Really, in The Handmaid’s Tale they are one in the same.
It’s not overtly stated, but I can’t help but notice the abundance of Y chromosomes in any scenes involving Gilead’s lawmakers. I need only remind you of that photo of President Trump signing an anti-abortion executive order last January featuring lots of white men and nobody else. No matter your beliefs about female reproductive rights, representation is important.
3. The shunting aside of Serena Joy
One of the most fascinating characters of the show is Commander Waterford’s wife, Serena Joy, played by Yvonne Strahovski. She’s married to one of the most powerful men in Gilead, but she’s a woman, and that means she has very little power.
Serena Joy was the one to come up with the idea of handmaids in the first place, and yet, she resents her handmaid the most. She helped create a society whose regulations she thought wouldn’t affect her daily life, but they do, and now she can’t do anything about it.
Serena Joy is a cautionary tale that even though you may think an issue doesn’t affect you now it may become one of the biggest issues of your life.
4. The fate of Emily and her lover
By far one of the most disturbing images in The Handmaid’s Tale occurs in episode 3, “Late”. In Gilead, homosexuality is illegal, so as lesbians, Emily and her lover are arrested. Because Emily is fertile and fertility is a rare commodity in Gilead, she isn’t given the death sentence.
She’s handcuffed and gagged, unable to defend herself at her own trial, and watches her lover be strung up and hanged as the van she rides in drives away. There is so much to unpack in this scene, not to mention the allusions to violence against the LGBTQ community that still happen, but Alexis Bledel’s vivid blue eyes speak so much even though she’s not allowed to speak at all during this episode.
If that weren’t enough of a gut-punch, there’s the final scene. To cure Emily’s sinful sexual impulses, they’ve performed female genital mutilation on her body without her consent. As the realization of what happened dawns on Emily, we are reminded of “cures” like conversion therapy for LGBTQ individuals, and that female genital mutilation is still practiced in many countries today.
5. This will all be normal
Offred’s introduction to the red center and her new role as a handmaid is brutal, to say the least. She is brainwashed and witnesses disobedient handmaids chastised with cattle prods.
All the while Aunt Lydia soothes her by saying though it seems strange now, “Soon this will all be normal.” Although we do not live in Gilead, we wonder along with Offred how things that are just part of normal life now like school shootings were once extraordinary.