Top 10 Most Intense The Handmaid's Tale Moments

One of the most divisive points of “The Handmaid’s Tale” comes in the season two finale, when June hands baby Nichole over to Emily and stays behind in Gilead. While this ensures a better future for Nichole, it initiates a chain of events that results in a disastrous one for Fred Waterford. After a series of pleas and negotiations for Nichole’s return, Fred and Serena meet with Mark Tuello, the U.S. official who’d earlier approached Serena in Canada. Desperation easily clouds their judgment, as Tuello deceives them into following him across the border into Canada. Once there, he reads a laundry list of the Commander’s war crimes and places him under arrest, to the absolute satisfaction of everyone watching.

Although “The Handmaid’s Tale” is an adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel, the series exhausts the book’s narrative by the end of the first season. For its follow-up, the show’s writers take things into their own hands and drive us down a path of total brutality with this opening scene. Aunt Lydia devises a wrathful plan to teach the handmaids a lesson after they disobeyed her in the season one finale. The handmaids are rounded up, threatened with barking dogs and forced onto gallows, while Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” plays hauntingly in the background. It’s a spine-chilling scene that’s not made easier by the reminder that Gilead would never get rid of all its handmaids.

The third episode of the second season finds June hunkered down in the Boston Globe while she gears up to leave Gilead. She is found by a man named Omar, who reluctantly takes her to his home when he learns that their safehouse is compromised. After Omar and his family fail to return from church on time, June runs from their house and finds her way to the airstrip where she is loaded onto the plane, bound for Canada. Just as we think all might finally turn out well, the plane is intercepted by Gilead’s guards and June is ripped away from the prospect of freedom.

In the season one premiere, the handmaids are assembled and made to beat a man to death for raping a pregnant handmaid and killing her baby. June leads the charge, kicking down the unfortunate man without thinking twice. This exact scene is mirrored in the season finale, with Janine kneeling in the man’s place. Charged with the crime of endangering a child, Janine is sentenced to death by stoning, at the hands of her fellow handmaids. June once again steps up to the plate, only this time, she defiantly flouts the orders and the other handmaids follow suit. Although her actions are certainly not without consequences, it’s a captivating way to show just how much June has grown over the season.

In the aftermath of his arrest by the Canadian government, Fred Waterford decides to cut a deal for his release in exchange for information about the inner workings of Gilead. This deal enrages June, who somehow manages to secure a prisoner exchange instead - Commander Waterford for twenty-two Gilead women. Fred is arrested before he can board a plane to Geneva to sign the deal, and finds himself in No Man’s Land staring down a malevolent June. At the beckoning of her whistle, June is joined by Emily and a host of other women who had suffered greatly because of people like Fred. The women chase the high-and-mighty Commander through the wilderness like a terrified animal, stripping him of his dignity, and eventually, his life.

The law in Gilead forbids women from reading any written material - not educational books, not grocery lists, not even the Bible. June tells Serena that in Gilead, Nichole will never be able to understand God, as she won’t be allowed to read His word. This thought overwhelms Serena so much that she decides to raise it up before the Council of Leaders. To everyone’s surprise – and outrage, in the case of Fred – Serena brings out a Bible and reads a passage from it. Her punishment? A life without her left pinky finger. The moment not only makes her realize that the world she helped create cares nothing for her, but it is also instrumental in her decision to let Nichole go.

Ever since June made the decision to remain in Gilead at the end of season two, the question of whether she would ever reconnect with her husband has lingered in every viewer’s mind. This episode finally answers such an inquiry. After Moira smuggles June onto the CERA boat, they successfully make it into Canada regardless of a few hiccups along the way. June and Luke reunite for the first time after years of being torn apart in Gilead. She tearfully apologizes for not being able to rescue Hannah, but Luke is just happy to see her again. Together they can fight to save Hannah and take down Gilead.

Prior to this episode, there have been multiple escape attempts by June that were either impeded or abandoned so, naturally, our hopes weren’t too high for this one. When June and the other handmaids from the farmhouse are recaptured, they are bundled into a van with Aunt Lydia, bound for a breeding colony. At a railroad crossing, the driver steps out to answer nature’s call and June sees an escape window. She grabs the cattle prod from Aunt Lydia and the other handmaids make a run for it. While June and Janine successfully make it past the crossing, the other handmaids aren’t as lucky - with two of them getting swept away by the passing train and the others being gunned down.

Granted, every instance of the ceremony in Gilead can be classified as sexual assault, but this one was particularly cruel. June begins to have contractions and is rushed home to initiate the birthing ritual. However, it turns out to be a false alarm, disappointing everyone present, especially the Waterfords. After the series does its best to humanize Serena in the preceding episodes, she takes several steps back into depravity by convincing Fred to induce June’s labor in, we quote, “the most natural way.” It’s an extremely graphic scene that is obviously more of a punishment than a procedure intended to induce the child’s birth.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Eden & Isaac Are Punished For Infidelity, “Postpartum”
They’re Publicly Drowned After Their Clandestine Affair Is Discovered

Moira Finds June, “Chicago”
The Two Have an Emotional Reconnection

The Guardian, “Pigs”
Mrs. Keyes Confronts Him on the Farm

The Protestors, “Late”
June & Moira Join a Group Protesting the Formation of Gilead & They Are Shot At

Natalie’s Breakdown, “Unfit”
June Ostracizes Natalie From the Other Handmaids, Leading to a Fatal Encounter

The first season of the show is filled with many shocking moments that introduce us to the cruel dystopian world of Gilead. One such moment comes at the end of the third episode, not even with our protagonist, but with the handmaid formerly known as Ofglen. When her romantic relationship with a Martha is discovered, Ofglen is arrested by the guards, swapping her handmaiden robe for a prison jumpsuit and a sturdy muzzle. Both women are tried and found guilty of “gender treachery,” resulting in the Martha being executed right before Ofglen’s eyes. After she wakes up in a blinding white patient room, we find out her real name is Emily and that she’s experienced the unthinkable.