The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 7 opens with a massacre – but Janine suffers a worse fate

But episode 7 opened with armed men storming the women's dressing room, rounding them up and gunning them all down without hesitation. Well, all except Janine, who was spared.

"You don't have to do this, don't do this!" she begged before they opened fire. And for a second, her words appeared to have resonated with them.

"Wait," said one of the guards. "Not her."

She was then dragged away from her friends, their collective screams filling the air, before the remaining women were then promptly and routinely slaughtered like cattle.

It was a supremely violent moment, and one that will likely stoke the ire of the show's critics, who have long accused The Handmaid's Tale of showing too much.

Did we really need to witness that scene? Or would the echoes of gunfire from behind a closed door have been sufficient?

Let the debate commence.

But Janine, while spared, had not been saved.

It was later revealed during a conversation between Aunt Lydia, who thought she was dead, and a new Aunt, played by D'Arcy Carden, that Commander Bell had taken her as his Handmaid.

And after her initial confusion, Lydia was thrilled.

"Oh, thank God!" she cried. "Oh, thank God. Thank God. Praise be. Praise be!"

But Bell, who was first introduced to us in episode 4, is a particularly odious character who is certainly no safe haven.

He claimed Janine as his own whenever he stepped foot inside Jezebel's, which was more often than not, treating her like his own personal sex slave.

Yet, the brothel offered her some opportunities to slip away from him, such as when Commander Lawrence made a rare appearance, or when Bell was forced to attend to matters elsewhere.

Now, that is no longer the case. Now, Janine belongs to him, in the eyes of Gilead anyway, and until June can dismantle the cage and set her free, she is at his mercy, which Aunt Lydia, for all her initial enthusiasm about Janie's latest posting, appears to have grasped.

After requesting an audience with her, which Bell rejected on the sinister grounds that she is "not ready for public viewing at the moment", Lydia caught a glimpse of her standing at a window, her palm pressed against the glass.

Janine's face was swollen and bruised, and the light that had briefly returned both when Lawrence gave her the picture her daughter had drawn and when June informed her of Mayday's latest coup has been firmly extinguished.

She was then dragged away by a woman who appeared to be Bell's wife as Lydia watched on, horrified by what had become of her dearest girl.

But revolution is coming. Mayday have all eyes trained on Serena's imminent wedding to Commander Wharton, and this time, it feels different.

But will it be too late for Janine?

The Handmaid's Tale airs on Hulu in the US and will arrive on Channel 4 in the UK on 3rd May.

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