#commanders

This episode was HEAVY. There was a lot of emotion and drama and death.

It was tense and heart wrenching to watch June react to both her lover’s death AND her close confidante and friend’s death (I think she did see Lawrence as a friend despite his flaws and his crimes). Still, I don’t think there could ever have been a different end to this chapter of the story other than Nick and Lawrence dying.

The Nick character that was created in the show HAD to die like he did. It was necessary. As June’s mom said, the guy was a nazi. Just regret without any accountability or change does not make a difference. You don’t get to commit the atrocities that Nick has, say, “my bad, I didn’t mean to.” And then get to walk away like nothing happened.

(Side note: any creative fiction depictions I have seen that make redemption WORK, never remove consequences. The characters typically go thru a process of realization, regret, accepting consequences/responsibility, actively changing, and then redemption).

No one should get an award for being the least murderous of the nazis. Besides that, Nick only ever helped when June was involved. He never made any moves towards redemption without that metaphorical carrot being dangled in front of him. June loved him, yes. To an extent, I think he loved her as much as he was capable. But “love” is not the same thing as redemption. It cannot erase the crimes or the atrocities committed. Both of Serena’s husbands “loved” her and they were horrible people, both undeserving of redemption and undesiring of it. Nick is nothing more than a grown man that let himself be manipulated by a fascist regime and willingly stepped on whoever he had to in order to climb the ladder of power.

Especially in THIS current political climate, there cannot be any glorification of this shit. Nick’s character dying was justice. The entire point of this story is that there CANNOT be a “good” version of gilead. There is NO such thing as an “innocent” commander.

Tv show Nick, with how his character was written, portrayed, and depicted….he had it coming.

And Lawrence? He at least TRIED to redeem himself, and in a way, his death WAS his redemption. Unlike Nick, who only wanted to save himself and June, Lawrence wholly regretted his creation and tried with all his power to change what had evolved from his blueprints. Then, when he failed, he accepted the only way to make things right was to DESTROY what he had created at the cost of his own life.

Lawrence died because of his selflessness and I think his first wife would have been proud of him.