OK I figured I would just do a post because I got a few asks asking if I could write out my thoughts about Nick’s active involvement with June’s revenge vs. Luke’s push for her to let it go.

I’ve mentioned this before but I think it’s important to note that Luke and Moira are a unit now, they’re a team, they’re co-parents, they’re, I would argue, best friends, they’re family

and I think it’s important to note because Moira is emotionally dedicated to moving forward by letting the past go, she is doing all she can to build a life in Toronto

even when she’s angry about Fred and wants to send June to Geneva, it’s a palatable anger and a palatable response to that anger and when they find out about him being extradited to Gilead, her response is “Good, fine, whatever, I’m not wasting anymore energy on him” and Luke wants June to have the same response. He sees the work Moira is doing, he sees how communicative Moira has become, he sees how she helps the effort by working with nonprofits and raising money and contributing to The Fight in that way, 

and he wants June to do that. I wouldn’t have said this in 4x07 but I do think he wants her to be a palatable victim/survivor but of course, he wouldn’t see it that way, I believe he believes that telling her to let it go and move on is healthy because she’s not “stuck” in trauma. 

An anon said that Luke not being in Gilead so he can’t understand June is a copout explanation for his reaction and while I don’t think his behaviour should solely rest on the fact that he wasn’t in Gilead  – let’s also remember in the flashbacks while Luke offhandedly mentioned that the new laws were terrible and he did walk with Moira to keep her safe, he wasn’t with June and Moira at the protests

Sure, it could be inferred that he was with Hannah or he was at work but even when they discuss the laws, he’s flippant

and unaware

but I do believe the fact that he wasn’t in Gilead plays a significant part.

Nick has seen the way that Gilead and Fred and Serena have negatively impacted June:

He found her, pregnant and bleeding out, outside of the Waterford House: 

He has watched Fred and Serena play house with their child:

He has risked his life numerous times to keep June safe 

and he has had to keep June safe by doing morally questionable things that immediately hurt her in order to save her: 

He was forced to marry a fifteen year old girl because Fred couldn’t handle Nick and June having any sort of intimacy and through a series of different events Eden ended up dead:

It’s not only that he gets the context of June’s rage, I don’t think he simply accepts and supports that a way forward for June is through Fred’s death at her hands but he genuinely understands that, 

He genuinely thinks that’s right, he genuinely wants a part in his murder because of everything Fred put June through and Nick through, which is why there’s as such a strong sense of victory in his eyes when he takes Fred into custody

And Luke, living in Toronto for how many years, doesn’t understand the concept of killing Fred in the same context that Nick or June does, murder isn’t a viable option for him because he’s always lived in a different kind of society, under different kinds of laws and hasn’t had to do things and hasn’t had to lose people and pieces of himself in the way that these two have.

But I think another dimension to this is that Nick knows a different June than Luke. I mean this in terms of personality and behaviour. Nick knows a stubborn, active, rebellious, facetious, tenacious June

And these are qualities that he loves about June and he knows what would be enough  for her and understands her motivations and her morally ambiguous actions, he sees her and there’s some of these qualities in Nick himself, which we see in how he reacts and responds and loves June:

so there is a genuine, intimate understanding there that leads to them both planning and executing Fred’s death as a victory.

The June Luke knows is perpetually apologetic

and seems to always feel bad for not behaving in a way he can wrap his head around  

and she is worried that she isn’t good enough, that she won’t live up to his expectations:

and frankly, that’s a thread from their pre-Gilead relationship,

and while they were together long enough for there to be a sense of security for June, because of the way they got together, there’d been an undercurrent of insecurity

and he would make her feel better 

and it would presumably work

June pre-Gilead is facetious, yes, and the fact that she went to the protest shows that an impulse to do something active, particularly with a mother like Holly, exists, yes, but she doesn’t press an issue, she doesn’t really show the kind of stubbornness and fire that she has in Gilead (probably because she didn’t have to)

and, again, Luke was enough

so I think Luke kind of expected him saying “this is OK” and “I understand” and “let’s move on” and “Fred doesn’t matter” would have the same kind of effect that it did pre-Gilead, he expected her being in Canada and the promise of him and them to be enough but, June is not that June anymore, their relationship isn’t that relationship anymore, she’s a June that needs the victory she found with Nick.

Does any of that even make sense? Lol. I feel like I was all over the place, so sorry for that, but those are my thoughts!

Thanks to: 

@colleenwing @pegsccarter @splitscreen @nickblaine @ben–solos @vahkarian

do you understand me?

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June on the other hand has become an extremely morally gray person, but it's out of trauma and ultimately from a good place. It didn't start as her being a shithead who didn't care about the suffering of others, it was desperation and trauma. Even now we see her struggling with survivors guilt and seeing herself as a bad guy because she didn't WANT to do a lot of what she's done, but she needed to. It has been selfish at times yeah, but a lot of it was to survive and try to do what needed done.

Serena is unchanged. She has caused June so much agony, and June is rightfully appalled by her, but in her selfishness she cannot accept letting June get the better of her. She will sacrifice it all to get freedom and a happy life with no consequences, and to spite June.

June has changed as she has become numb to a lot of the suffering. The flashbacks are a sign she's harboring lots of guilt and trauma and the enormity of it is starting to hit her. She feels she cant leave without Hannah because that's always been how she's coped with everything; by reminding herself why she started this all in the first place. But at the same time, she is so used to making these split second decisions without really considering the full risk and scope of what might happen because thats how she has lived for so long and she feels like if she stops to think about it for one second she's done for.

They're the same, but on opposite sides of the spectrum. Two angry, chaotic, impulsive people, but one started out motivated by contempt and the other was pushed into that motivation.

Reflections on The Handmaid’s Tale 4x07

[Spoilers ahead for episode 4x07, “Home”]

Hero: a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great.

Villain: a bad person - or a character in a book, play, film, etc. - who harms other people or breaks the law.

(Definitions from Cambridge Dictionary).