The Promo For Next Week's 'The Handmaid's Tale' Episode Will Give You Full-Body Chills

The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 has been a slower burn than the first season. Unlike Season 1, which seems to turn around and punch viewers in the face with another moment of horror every episode, this year has taken it's time to get to the extreme moments of inhumanity. This past week was a creeping hour of dread as Offred slowly bled through her pregnancy, suggesting she might be losing the baby. But The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 episode 6 promo seems to suggest things will turn out OK, at least for now.

Update: The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 Episode 6 will air on April 23 and the show will not be taking a brief break.

For those who find Hulu's site a bit hard to navigate, please note: The Handmaid's Tale main page isn't very clear about when episodes premiere. So far, there's been a new episode every week since April 25, when Season 2 debuted. But due to the Memorial Day holiday, Hulu is taking the week off next week in debuting new episodes. The Handmaid's Tale's next episode, which is entitled "First Blood," premieres the week after, on May 30, 2018. Please stream accordingly.

Also, for those looking for The Handmaid's Tale promos, they're a little hard to find. Unlike HBO, who puts the "Next Time Trailer" at the end of the streaming episode, Hulu doesn't bother. They do have promos for next week on the site, but you have to go to the series' main page on the Hulu site to find them. (They also don't put them on YouTube, making them harder to find outside the Hulu ecosystem.)

Anyway, here's the trailer to check out. It's the first 30 or so seconds of this video.

Our opening scene shows Offred in the hospital, getting an ultrasound. It looks like she and the bay are going to be fine, though Serena Joy's words about being the best mother she can to this child adds an air of doom, dimming any relief fans might feel about this.

Then it's on to Nick's wedding night, which, as viewers saw, was delayed by his finding Offred. His new wife makes it sound so appealing "I know what's expected of me." Great.

Then a flashback to before Gilead, when this was still America and Serena Joy was still allowed to go out in public and have a career. From the shots, it seems like this is a scene on a college campus where she's been asked to speak amid protests, not all that unlike Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos* went through last year. Except Milo backed out. Serena Joy stands her ground and gets shot in the abdomen for it, perhaps explaining why she's infertile.

(*I looked for a female example only to discover most right-wing women who speak at college campuses in this day and age only go to friendly spaces or aren't chased off in the same way. Despite Handmaid's making Serena Joy into a firebrand, it turns out this kind of grandstanding where one intentionally goes to piss people off is a dude thing to do.)

Meanwhile, Captain Waterford is still having a terrible time at work. He's got some sort of major project he's working on, and his bosses seem highly dubious he's capable of pulling it off. From the shot of him standing on stage, it seems whatever the event is, he's got it well in hand eventually. Or maybe he's faking it, the same way he seems to be faking it everywhere else?

And what are those Handmaids in a row in the back? Are they standing outside or inside? Fans will find out in two week's time, when the series returns to Hulu on May 30, 2018.