The Handmaid's Tale

Set in a future where women are legally oppressed, this show contains many violent scenes and images. A family is attacked by faceless rifle-bearing soldiers who chase them into the woods; a small child is ripped from her mother's arms and carried away screaming while the mother is knocked unconscious. The bodies of three hooded men hanged for their religious, medical, and sexual activities are shown at length, including their discolored, decomposed bare feet. A woman is punished for insolence by being shocked with a cattle prod before being dragged away; later, she is seen with a bloody bandaged face, crying. Women are forced to have sex with high-ranking men and, if they resist, punished by being forced to clean up toxic waste where their skin will "peel off in sheets." A man who has supposedly raped a handmaiden, killing her unborn child, is beaten and kicked to death by vengeful handmaidens; blood spurts and later we see his still body covered by a bloody sheet.

"Handmaids" must submit to a formalized sexual act called a "ceremony" in which they lie on top of a wife while the husband has sex with the handmaid; we see thrusting and hear heavy breathing. A woman who tells a group of others at a training center that she was sexually assaulted is slapped and told it was her fault by the other women. Rape, pregnancy, body parts, and bodily functions are all referenced but not glamorized; the institutional rape handmaidens must endure is made to look shocking, ugly, and devastating.

Cursing includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "bulls--t," as well as other iffy language: "sluts," "that sucks," "he can’t hardly get it up."

A woman is briefly shown in a flashback smoking a joint and offering it to another character, who declines due to her responsibilities. Characters at a party drink beer out of red plastic cups.

Parents need to know that The Handmaid's Tale (based on Margaret Atwood's novel) is the story of a potential future in which oppressed women are forced to be child-bearing "handmaids" for infertile high-ranking leaders and their wives. Expect many violent, sexual images that could be very disturbing: A screaming child is ripped out of her mother's arms by rifle-wielding soldiers, a rebellious woman is struck with a cattle prod and then dragged away to have one of her eyes removed (offscreen, but we see her bloody bandages later), people hanged for "misdeeds" (including being gay) are shown at length, women punch and kick a so-called criminal until he's dead, and more. Women are punished in a variety of awful ways, but perhaps most upsetting is the "ceremony," in which handmaids have sex with their "masters" while they lie on top of the wives. This institutionalized rape isn't glamorized, and it's upsetting to watch. Strong language includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," and more. One character is briefly shown smoking a joint and offering it to another, and characters at a party drink beer out of red plastic cups. This is completely distressing material, but parents may still want to watch with mature teens to answer their questions and discuss any similarities Gilead has to our own reality.