What part of Handmaid's Tale traumatised you the most?

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I love a well made TV show. I wasn't finding anything and, despite my natural aversion to the concept of HMT, I watched it to satisfy the need to see a good show.

Here are the moments I wish I had never seen. Interested to know what you found the most upsetting part.

1. Emily being taken with that other lady to be punished for being gay. Other lady was just unceremoniously strung up and hanged in seconds.
2. What happened to poor, poor Janine. When that bloke got ahold of her and just beat her and kept her prisoner.
3. When June's daughter said to her 'will I ever see you again?'
4. When Janine's child was given back at the end.

I think the power of The Handmaids Tale is that despite featuring horrendous violence against women I don’t think it ever loses it’s impact. It reminds me of Schindlers List in that the acting and directing was superb. Usually in TV/film containing violence throughout there’s the risk it just all blurs into one and the human stories get lost. Handmaids Tale doesnt let you normalise what’s happening, even though it’s that society’s new normal.

The mouths being wired - whether "voluntarily" or enforced. It just brought forward women having no voice to the fore.
Remember that nothing in the original book had not already happened and Margaret Atwood said the same about the series.

Esther's whole story upset me. Also Eden and her boyfriend 😭.. I'm almost at the end and didn't expect it to have such an impact on me. I don't think there's one episode I haven't cried during! I will be rewatching it but not for a while.

This is why Sherri S Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country is so good. Harsh but a possible antidote to THT

I rewatched the whole series before binging the last series and yes, it is a violent portrayal of a totalitarian patriarchy but it is also a reminder of what can and does happen to women. Underneath it all though is solidarity, strength, allyship sometimes in the most unlikely of people and hope despite everything that happens.
Definitey a cautionary tale and why we can never relax with how things are currently.

It has been my totally favourite programme since it’s been on. But I generally cannot cope with scenes of torture or violence at all. In anything. In order to watch it, I had to google what happened before each episode- to prepare myself. And then I didn’t watch or fast forwarded through some scenes. The ones I really remember are the gallows scenes. And Eden’s story.

I kept watching I think because of the characters and their fight back. But I also find the back story of the origins of Gilead fascinating. Particularly when you compare it to things happening in the world now.

I had a friend who tried to binge watch the first 5 series. I swear it really got to him and put him on a proper downer. He had to give up during series 4

i advised him to have a break then go back to it. He’s not managed it yet

Probably the acting. Awful

The gallows scene for me to - the Kate Bush Womans work music and the sheer mind fuckery of it still haunts me to this day. The acting was bloody amazing.

I don't know how you can say that - all the shit on TV these days the acting was sublime.

I just didn't enjoy it at all. I think my judgement was clouded by Elizabeth Moss and Joseph Fiennes

Yes, I agree with this. The thin veneer of normality, and how little encouragement/leeway is needed for people to drop it.
And as a pp says, along the same lines, when Luke shrugs off June having her bank account frozen. The lack of thought, or imagination – how would he respond if it happened to him?

All the torture and bloody stuff is horrific, obviously, but it's these insidious 'small' things that I found – find – the most troubling.

Okay so I'm onto S1 E8 and I hate to feel like im judging, but I can't wrap my head around the affair June is having with Nick. Surely it's NOT worth the punishment that would happen if they get caught? She has a daughter to think about and I'm sorry, I've been raped and the thought of being raped by one man and then going and consensually having sex with another in the matter of hours/days boggles my mind. Surely she would be sore, traumatised, have PTSD, her privates would be bruised, potentially damaged from no lubrication in the rapes.
I can't imagine being in this situation at all and like I say I hate to feel like im judging, she's just looking for happiness anywhere she can it's a horrendous situation. But I think sex would be the very last thing on my mind in that life!
Anyone else struggle with this story line?

I am finding the whole show quite traumatic, as advertised x

Edit to say this sounds a bit harsh against June. It's been over 10 years since I was raped but I still sometimes can't be intimate with my OH, the flashbacks, the sounds, the feel of sweat and flesh. I end up a wreck. It has taken me years and years to get to a semi okay place about it x

I never struggled with that storyline, I think she dis-associated as much as possible during the monthly rapes.

Babies and children being taken from their mothers.

@dapsnotplimsolls even if she disassociated, she would still be physically sore and bruised. Surely then any sex would be painful rather than enjoyable?

Guess it's just me but I can't wrap my head around it at all. Maybe because I've been raped and my experience is tainting how I watch this a little. Crazy.

I clicked on this thread as I have never watched an episode, and I had no idea what the series was about so I was just curious. Now I feel horrified.

Is this a Netflix show?

I think judging how women behave after they've been raped is a matter for them and them alone.
I'm so very sorry for what you've been through.

@Foolsgold74 I did say I felt awful feeling like I was judging a woman in that situation as I have no clue how I would behave. I also think my own experience is tainting my view of the show, which I'm aware of and trying to separate the two. I just found myself recoiling and cringing and honestly felt like my own PTSD was effected when she started sleeping with Nick. Awful show, so hard to bloody watch but so important x

@LondonLady1980 yeah it's a netflix show, adapted from a book. I had never seen it before this thread either x

June's hopelessness the first time Serena walked her to Nick's quarters.

I read HMT many many years ago. I also watched the TV show. I remember a scene in the book (not sure if in the TV show) where the main character tries to use her bank card in a shop and it doesn't work. This is at the beginning of the culture change. It's a simple scene that packs a punch. It makes you think how easy it is to control people with simple means

Yes it's in the show, right at the beginning. It's a pivotal moment.

No it’s a HULU show, shown in the UK on channel 4

@Clearinguptheclutter aww I assumed it was netlfix, even though I'm watching it on prime 🥴 I'll blame baby brain haha