The Handmaid's Tale 4: Deep Dive with Kirill Smolkin

Why does a few seconds of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake instantly feel mysterious…or even unsettling?

Music scholar Kirill Smolkin joins us to unpack the famous “Swan Theme,” exploring its emotional power, its surprising afterlife in horror films, and why music boxes have such a lasting psychological pull.

Together we trace how these sounds shape our emotional responses and discover how all of these threads come together in The Handmaid's Tale. Once you hear the “Swan Theme” this way, you may never hear it quite the same again.