#tht s6

So, why June could not forgive Nick for Holly then? You know their daughter? Or at least for everything he's done for June?

And honestly, for what exactly should Nick be forgiven in the first place! It's just so infuriating !

They are basically doing a 180 arc of Nick with him still not stepping up to Gilead but even worse, following his father in law into the dark side, after him and June said they love each other in the present. Lizzie and max speak about Nick betraying June mid season and June not letting her love cloud her judgment anymore and finally see him for who he really is, a commander in Gilead.

I mean if they wanted to achieve a fail final GOT style, I think they are succeeding… I know we have to wait and see but I’m really disappointed with this storyline. But Lawrence on the other hand will help fight Gilead…

Yes, I was commenting on the Reddit thread.... *super long post and spoilers incoming*

Overall, I'm not surprised. They've done this since season 2. If they completely scrap Nick's Testaments characterization in favor of redeeming Serena or Lawrence I will be big mad. But why would they rewrite Luke's character to be like how he is in The Testaments but not Nick's? The answer is I think they are still pushing Nick to be underground and I think we could still have a NickxJune endgame or an ambiguous she chooses no one.

Before diving into the press notes, let's look at what we have so far:

Max is listed 4th on the cast list, in front of Ann Dowd. The season synopsis says he will face tests of character. This to me implies a big increase in screen time

Both Elisabeth and Max chose the bridge kiss as their favorite show moment

On the giant billboard, Nick is shown right beside June. Luke, Aunt Lydia, June, and Nick are also all in a group together, which to me is the characters who make it out alive to be in the Testaments.

The season summaries for seasons 1-4 were Nick heavy with his rebellious acts while only the season 5 was Luke heavy

In the fan tweets video they have O-T read a fan wish about June and Nick ending up together

The trailer is pretty Nick heavy like the season 4 trailer

Now the press notes:

June's character description: It does not mention Luke, but does mention Nick. "Over the course of the series, June becomes a completely new person, a person who does find her voice, an angry voice, a powerful voice. She’s a different person than she was. A lot of the romance with Nick is because of that. They are two people who understand and share the burden of Gilead’s tyranny."

This is reaffirming that Luke is included in June's past, Nick is her present. Back in the day we compared Nick and June to Katniss and Peeta, and this is almost verbatim what Jennifer Lawrence once said about Everlark.

Nick's character description: "I think some of the edges fray on Nick this season. His moral center is actually shifting. He has been quite selfless for much of his life, especially in this dynamic with June. And so maybe his gas tank for that is starting to run out. He’s speaking up from himself a little bit more and sometimes in quite misguided ways"

For seasons I think Nick has been a fuse waiting to blow. He was manipulated into joining a cult, survives in said cult, meets the love of his life and makes her his north star. Everything he does is for her but that is not sustainable and is uneven. Part of what I love about June and Nick's relationship is that he soaks up all of her stress and desires. But what is his outlet for that? When you take June away who is Nick? Where is his moral center if he is not acting out of love for one person? He has to figure that out this season if he actually wants a future outside of Gilead. If June ends up with him now, you would have a long list of people saying it's not good enough. So Nick needs to do more than be seen as good because of his connection to June.

"There’s something in Wharton’s masculinity that Nick has been searching for. One of the things that this season explores is the notion that a lot of these men in Gilead have broken relationships with their fathers. I think Nick sees in Wharton a mentorship that he craves. This season is the first time Nick’s been tempted by the dark side on a fundamental level, primarily because of that relationship."

Look I love Nick but by anyone's definition he's a war criminal with daddy issues. And that's fine because he's a fictional character and it's nuanced. He's nowhere near as responsible for Gilead as Fred, Serena, and Lawrence are. But he is still complicit. He's a Commander now, and he may still have ties to the Martha network and friendlies and Mayday, but he is not operating a secret operation out of his house like Lawrence that we know of. Being complicit as a driver is different than being complicit as a Commander. You go from being a cog in the system to upholding the system. The show has repeatedly driven home that Nick and Lawrence are good but flawed men. But if June is to truly choose Nick and end up with him, he has to turn away from Gilead for himself. Not to protect her, Nichole, and Hannah. And I don't think Nick has done that kind of work yet. At least not the show's version.

Now for his daddy issues. I think Nick is morally good, but even in earlier seasons he thought Commander Pryce was a good person. He looked up to him and trusted him. But Pryce was still a founder of Gilead who designed and upheld the system. When Pryce died Nick started depending on Lawrence. It makes sense that he would be drawn to Wharton. He's messed up from losing his family before Gilead and craves acceptance and stability and a paternal figure. It's how he got manipulated into the SOJ in the first place.

I don't think Nick could go underground at this point, even if he is working with Tuello. He's not ready. He has to work through the issues that got him into the SOJ, and that might mean he backslides. Healing and doing internal work is rarely linear and I doubt it is linear in a totalitarian regime.

So while I can't see him turning June in, I can see him ruining the rebels' plans by abandoning his agreement with Tuello. I can see Wharton taking advantage of a distraught Nick and having him kickoff the Return Baby Nichole campaign 2.0. Because Nick might not trust systems but he trusts people. And trusting the wrong people got him roped into Gilead.

So while yes it may suck for us fans of Nick and I don't trust the show to do it well, but I can see the writers thinking that Nick's path in season 6 involves backsliding. Because his history can suggest that. I will also add that when I first read The Testaments and was reading so fast, I interpreted Nick being underground as a commander on the run/rumored to be dead for protection almost like a myth. Not an active resistance operative. The show could easily go that route where Nick backslides and then redeems himself when he realizes his mistake and goes on the run vs officially joining Mayday.

Luke's character description: Doesn't mention June, just Hannah.

Tuello's character description: By the end of Season Six, a lot of the alliances that Mark had hoped for have fallen apart. Lawrence may be Mark’s only last, desperate hope to retaliate for all of Gilead’s many atrocities.

I could see Nick's betrayal being to Tuello and by extent of that to June, not him betraying June herself. It also makes sense that Nick makes a choice in the Jezebels episode after he sees June in disguise, and she hears about it two episodes later.

Elisabeth about Luke: "He is ready to go. So as soon as Mark gives him that opportunity, he doesn’t hesitate. June is furious with Luke’s choice. She’s trying to keep everyone safe, and Luke signs up for this most dangerous of missions."

What about that says June is choosing Luke?

Elisabeth about Nick: "In this season, we see Nick and June together for the first time in quite a while. Finally, they can talk about things that have been left unsaid. They finally admit that they love each other now, not just in the past but now."

Praise be we're getting extended Nick and June scenes. We're getting them talking like an actual couple and confirmation that they are the people they would choose to be with. Hopefully they discuss his role in the takeover and his history, because as one of the EPs said years ago, because June and Nick only have fleeting moments they try to keep it light when they see each other and they push down or forgive the bad. They NEED to have an actual discussion that fans see if an endgame is going to be possible. Or else they will be a resentful conflict avoidant couple.

"But then, toward the end of this season, Nick betrays June’s trust. It’s the biggest thing that’s ever happened to the two characters. It’s inevitable in a way. June has been shown over and over again that Nick is a member of Gilead’s hierarchy and will abide by their rules. But, she just doesn’t listen. Love clouds her judgement. Now, finally, she is able to see who he is and what he’s capable of. It’s devastating"

She says towards the end of the season, not at the end. So there is time for Nick to redeem himself before it ends.

Love clouds all of our judgements. We love Nick as a character so we see the nuance and we know his backstory as a resistance member in the novels and how his season 3 scenes were cut and that he was originally going to get Hannah out. But the average viewer doesn't. For better or worse, the show made Nick a commander in the system with a shady past. For him to go underground they have to address it and rectify it, not avoid the direction a great deal of viewers see him going in.

We love Nick for how he supports June and that he is a complex character. But he has been capable of bad things in Gilead by "following the rules." Would disobeying them get him killed? You could argue yes. But his character as written in the scripts is one who finds a way to do things for June within Gilead's official and unofficial rules. And after season 2 he's also bombed Chicago, killed commanders, married a high commander's daughter, supported starting New Bethlehem and probably a bunch of stuff offscreen. June hasn't seen that, but we have. And we chose to see through it and love him as a character anyway. But June has to do the same.

About it being inevitable, Tuello implies Nick has had multiple opportunities to leave Gilead. But he never did. Why? I think of what June said to Lawrence about "how long did you think it would be until they came for you?" The longer Nick stays in Gilead, the more likely it becomes he ends up betraying June in some way, either by active choice or association.

Also, we don't know what his big betrayal is? Why freak out about it yet when season 4 hyped up him capturing her and him being married as betrayals. Because that season also got us great Osblaine scenes that ended on a high note.

In a glass half full look, maybe seeing June distraught over Nick will be super angsty and amazing in a way so painful it's great.

O-T about Luke and June: "they are united as a couple to save Hannah. On the road to that mission, they sometimes have to make sacrifices. They have to sacrifice intimacy, home life and romance"

Nothing about this says happy rebel couple in love.

"It’s difficult for Luke to see June and Nick together because their connection is palpable. These are two people who are deeply energetically connected. They have a dynamism that he and June lack. Also, Nick is a man of action and, so far, Luke has not been.... And Luke definitely feels that when he sees Nick - so handsome, so confident, so strong. Max plays Nick with so much nuance and charisma that you totally understand why June is drawn to him. But, of course, Nick is still a commander in Gilead."

We're getting Luke, June, and Nick together!! Luke realizing that June is in love with Nick!! Luke realizing that they have something he and June will never have!! I've prayed for times like these.

"Luke is going to love June forever no matter what, although Luke fears that she might end up with Nick. I think he understands their connection is eternal, and he might have some uncertainty about how it’s going to ultimately play out."

So, so far Elisabeth has mentioned June being angry at Luke and in love but betrayed by Nick, and O-T has mentioned June and Luke not having romance and Luke coming to terms with June ending up with Nick.

It sounds to me we are getting the dissolution of June and Luke's romance, and an angsty high stakes faux-lovers to enemies back to lovers June and Nick arc.

Max on Nick and June:

"I don’t think that Nick has ever had any apprehensions about Luke... He’s often been quite compassionate toward Luke. I think he recognizes and understands that the situation is painful for both of them."

King shit.

"I think his relationship with Rose definitely factors into the changes in Nick’s relationship with June, but time is honestly a big part of it. We’ve spent a long time with these characters and in turn, they’ve been in these relationships for a long time, and relationships evolve, and resentments grow, especially when there’s so much external drama and chaos. I think it’s understandable that we would start to see the edges fray on this dynamic between June and Nick."

Just like I said earlier. Nick has been selfless towards June for pretty much the entire show. How long can that selflessness go unreturned, especially if he feels that every time he makes an effort to save her she is causing havoc again to try and save Hannah or bring down Gilead? And that brings Nick and June to two different pages.... June trying to bring down the horrible system Nick lives in BUT WON'T LEAVE because he has family obligations, daddy issues, and a low self esteem. A turning point would have to come eventually.

And Max's description might sound bad, but edges fraying just means uncertainty. It doesn't mean ending. The only reason Nick and June have been stable across seasons is partially because distance makes the heart grow fonder. They can push aside the bad when they are together and wish for each other when they are apart. I believe 100% they can be a couple in the real world, but to do so they need to rock the boat a little bit.

It looks like this season will let them face some hard truths so they can actually move on to the other side. S1-2 they were I think as much of a couple they could be, but s3-5 they've just been in a purgatory limbo of not being able to see each other or discuss anything. Because of how deep their love is they still hold a candle for each other, but they've been holding that candle while metaphorically moving farther apart.

Warren Littlefield about the love triangle:

"June’s married to Luke but she’s in love with Nick. She’s having Nick’s child, but she still loves Luke."

Even a producer knows that Nick is who June is in love with. Luke she still has love for, but she's no longer in love.

CONCLUSION

Obviously I'm using this to comfort myself because of how much I wrote. But honestly, when I read through the press doc for the first time I didn't read it as the end. As much as I would love for Nick to join the resistance midway through, I can see why the show is not taking that path. They are choosing to go with the storyline they've been building for seasons to (hopefully) get to Nick abandoning it all in a huge, dramatic, finale way.

But this doesn't have to be a bad thing. I read the press doc as an opportunity for June and Nick to actually overcome the challenges that have been keeping them apart.

And nothing about the character descriptions says June is choosing Luke. It says her and Luke are only bound by Hannah, and she and Nick are in love but drama is keeping them separated.

(Yeah I said it. And I'll tell you why.)

In the very bittersweet context of being in the middle of the final season, and with the knowledge of all the press notes/directional spoilers out there ramping up to the finale, I’ve been thinking a lot about The Handmaid’s Tale as a a whole. What it’s about, at its core, and what would accordingly make for a truly satisfying ending. Margaret Atwood’s novel, of course, has presented a disturbing and brilliantly crafted political commentary and cautionary tale since its debut in 1985: the bleak but ultimately hopeful story of an ordinary woman’s survival trapped in a cold and cruel extremist regime where human rights (and particularly women's rights) are a thing of the past, made possible by environmental ruin and the everyday apathy of ordinary people. The show is that too, of course. It’s also at it's core a story of loss, perseverance and ultimately revolution. But moreover what weaves all the themes together in a truly compelling way: I think at essentially the very heart (fittingly), it is a love story. Not just in the most obvious romantic sense, but on so many broader levels. It’s a love story of parents and children, of family (born and chosen), of human connection. It’s a love letter to the perseverance of the human spirit, the ability of the heart to expand and evolve, the triumph of light over dark in the soul and in the world at large. And dancing at the center of it from the very start (and enduring against incredible odds) has been Nick & June: yes, the very epitome of epic, passionate romance with a capital “R”, but also on a deeper level, the symbolic and tangible embodiment of all of the above.

I’ve also been reflecting a bit on some of the things the show’s writers and producers have been saying about the ending and the last season in general, like how it has been “crafted with viewers in mind more than ever” and focused on “delivering a rewarding conclusion for the audience.” They’ve also hinted at a purposeful harkening back to the very first season and touching on all the seasons in between. All of this would have me believe they are paying close attention to staying consistent with the repeated motifs of the show, and striving for satisfying, full circle cohesiveness AND catharsis in the end. With this in mind, I wanted to go back and explore how the ever-present and echoing theme of love is depicted through the words of the characters themselves. Namely here, a trio of major power players since the beginning: June, Nick, and (in the opposing corner) one Mr. Fred Waterford.

…

June:

"What else is there to live for?"… "Love." - 1x05 "It’s lack of love we die from." - 3x05 "Nichole, she was born out of love. Her father’s a driver named Nick… he helped me to survive." - 3x05 "It’s too dangerous” "No it isn’t… at least someone will remember me… at least someone will care when I’m gone. That’s something." - 1x08

June believes in love. This is made clear from the very beginning and is one of the core tenets of her character. It’s not a “nice to have” and it’s not something she’s able to separate from herself, even in Gilead, a place where love is essentially forbidden, where it should feel impossible. It is framed by her as essential to life itself, like water or oxygen. It’s what she credits her very survival to. Moreover, she believes that love is worth dying for, it’s that vital to her. If June stops fighting for love, stops believing in the power of or perhaps even the very existence of love, who is she then? How depressing and devoid of hope would that ending be? Sure, the June we bid farewell to at the end of 6x10 will inevitably not be exactly the same June we met in 1x01, but given the consistent through narrative, we should expect this core value of hers to remain steady, if not indeed grow in conviction.

...

Nick:

" Love is patient, love is kind... Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." - 2x05

It’s fitting that it’s Nick who reads this passage in the show because perhaps more than any other character, Nick’s love throughout has been the very epitome of the verse. We’ve seen his actions play it out literally line by line. Nick knows his Bible verses. He picked this one for a reason, his (barely) coded Hail Mary message to June: I’m still here, this isn’t over, please don’t give up on us. Nick believes the words he reads to her, believes them to his very soul, and he continues to show it in his efforts season after season, demonstrating the constant and undying nature of his devotion. It’s notable that in fact, the full 13:8 verse reads "Love never fails, but where there are prophecies they will cease, where there are tongues they will be stilled, where there is knowledge it will pass away," emphasizing love as the one true thing that remains.

"I’m trying to keep you alive. You and our baby" - 2x02 “I’m trying to keep you alive" - 4x02 "I just want her to stay alive"- 4x03 "She changed you, she changed me" - 4x03

It’s Nick's love for June (and Nichole) that drives him more than anything else, and we see the real, tangible reverberations throughout the story. June and Nichole are safe, alive and free (at least in part) because of his love. Nick is changed because of this same love. And June’s love saves him from a life lacking in meaning, purpose and true connection. If Nick fully turns to "the dark side", if he becomes somehow irredeemable (particularly in June's eyes), it would negate in the cruelest and most nonsensical way all of this, and in one fell swoop rip to shreds the hopeful rainbow of his cumulative character arc.

...

Fred:

"Love isn’t real. it was never anything but lust with a good marketing campaign" - 1x05 “Every love story is a tragedy if you wait long enough." - 1x05

Fred on the other hand, scorns the idea of love. His cynical, contemptuous views are presented as the antithesis to June's quite early on. In rose-glass tinted flashbacks of early life with Serena, we see glimpses that this may not have always been the case, but what was once their love story has indeed turned to tragedy: corrupted into a bitter, twisted thing under the weight of the monster they created together. In the present, he does not believe in love and the selfish callousness of his actions (in stark contrast to Nick) clearly shows it, over and over again. To Fred, 1 Corinthians 13 is just a silly meaningless little verse (of no more consequence than the vapid old fashion magazines he "gifts" to June) in the book that he uses, not as a guide or an inspiration, but as a weapon: a cudgel to wield for his pathological ego-driven power trips, no matter how many must suffer (including his once beloved wife), how many innocent lives it ruins or much how it blackens his soul.

...

If in the final episodes Nick were to be exposed as a “true villain”  who ends up burning June (and in fact his soul) in favor of “power and prestige”, then Fred will have been proven correct all along, and we (like June) will have been stupid to ever believe in love.

- If Nick truly decides to throw away everything he's done, everything he's held close to his heart even at his own peril all these years, to remain in a dismal teeter totter of emotional pain and privilege in Gilead;

- If June refuses to forgive, to endure, to truly fight for Nick as he's fought for her;

- If they truly flame out in epic betrayal and irreparable rupture:

Then we will know love has failed. And Fred was right. Love doesn’t save, it destroys. Love doesn’t endure, because in fact it was never even real to begin with. Love isn't the ultimate reason and purpose, but a tragedy. A lie. 

That's not the story. That CAN’T BE the story. Fred doesn’t win. He was so dead wrong that he is now dead and buried for it. He eschewed love a long time ago and it warped him into a depraved, cruel shell of a human with acts so heinous under his belt that we all cheered as he was hunted down and the flesh savagely torn from his body, because he deserved it. 

No, this isn’t The Debased Delusional Small-Weak-Man Commander’s Tale. This is not the story of how Fred was right after all.

This story is love endures all things. This story is love never fails. This story is love lifts us up, love saves us and gives us the will to fight. And that (someday) a child conceived in love in this brutal place and saved by the love of her parents will unite with her long-lost but dearly loved sister to burn it to the ground.

They may want the viewers to believe that it’s possible for Nick to be irrevocably lost for the drama of it all; for the shock of the reveal, the reckoning and the emotional payoff when the ship rights itself. And I’ll keep my clown makeup handy in case I end up being astonishingly wrong, but I just can’t see how they would so blatantly, not just blow up the story, but in doing so essentially erase the very core of the story we’ve been told up til now.

(just look at them, don't you fucking dare break up this family for good!)

Some endings fail the stories they belong to. And this one undid everything that came before it.

So we’ve finally received some S6 tasters in the form of trailers and press releases and having read and seen these I feel like a good old fashioned rant is in order. I’ll stick mostly to the Nick, June and Luke thing, because well that’s what most of you came for. Be warned, this will be absolutely brutal. If you haven’t seen the press releases or read The Testaments then just note there are spoilers in here. The first thing I want people to remember is that while the writers of this show have done a great job of setting up the transition to The Testaments, but in my time I have seen writers take a LOT of license with their source material. In this particular case, the show has been consulting closely with the author so that might lend some hope to the fact that it’s been respected. Atwood’s been a little intentionally obscure in parts of both texts, and it’s given the writers the ability to get creative. The Testaments DOES make mention of Nick and June (we CAN assume this regardless of the lack of names, as they’re referred to as the actual parents of baby Nicole), and one passage in particular where Elijah says to Daisy about her parents “They’re still alive. Or they were yesterday”. So either Elijah saw them both the day before TOGETHER, or he’s been running back and forth over the border. However, later on Nick’s referred to as maybe still being in Gilead, so yeah confusing. Apparently both of Daisy’s parents are “lucky to be alive” in The Testaments so I’m going to go out on a limb and say Nick escapes by the skin of his teeth. Having said that I didn’t like that sneaky “our baby” shit Luke pulled at the end of last season and writers may try to use it as some kind of weird assed loophole.

The end note in The Testaments does include him so it would be a huge violation to the actual text to kill him off. It all seems out of step with all the other elements that have been carefully laid out true to text as well. It IS mentioned in The Handmaids Tale that Nick was associated with Mayday and the trailers for previous seasons included him in the whole “we are Mayday” section, so I’m disappointed to see that show runners / writers SEEM to have back tracked here. Just be mindful that from day one we’ve seen Mayday agents, drivers and guards die; the manifestations of Nick in his many forms through the seasons. Characters often end up embodying the fates that they warn others of; Beth warned him that involving himself with a handmaid was a good way to end up on the wall (and we all know what happened to Beth). Nick told June TWICE that she could and WOULD die in Gilead. So maybe a few chants in the prayer circle for our young commander couldn’t hurt. Lets be crystal clear ALL of this is just speculation because well, as of yet just like everyone else, I haven't seen a single episode. The whole “shadow of death” phrase accompanied with a shot of Nick gives pause for thought. He’s been kicking around Gilead as the resident angel of Death for some time and make no mistake this particular shot was included to symbolize the threat of death, in particular to the rebellion. Once again, disappointing.

The press releases have stated that Blaine betrays June at some point this season but I have to say in terms of viewer acceptance, this is risky. It’s a HUGE vault to take from a character with moral grain with a deep emotional connection to the protagonist; to one that’s decided to throw all in against her, with a fascist regime he’s hated serving. These types of character transitions if not delivered properly are deadly to any sort of audience connection. If they don’t believe they are POSSIBLE, then their disbelief spreads to ALL of the surrounding characters and the entire storyline by default. If they want to 180 this character from “a good man in Gilead” to Voldemort, they currently lack the goods with which to back it up, and they don’t have much time to construct them. Seems like a fairly swift deconstruction of a character, from one who ran to June’s bedside and punched Lawrence in a room full of commanders, to one that would actually betray her. With a press release citing that without the love goggles, June now sees Nick for who he is and what he’s capable of, audiences NEED to understand that in the context of any love story, it’s hard, if not impossible to come back from that. After show runners have almost guaranteed the entire obliteration of his character in her eyes, their relationship may end up as nothing but a smoking wreck. One can only hope that love does truly keep no record of wrongs.

As always watch for character placement on screen, Blaine’s usually positioned to her right side to indicate worship, succession and the sharing of power. When he starts shifting, you’ll know the dynamics are starting to change. Minghella cited his relationship with Rose as a factor in his waning patience with June, and as somewhat of an innocent I can see her being sacrificed, to incite Blaine’s rage in the context of the story line. But the idea that he’d somehow be transformed into a cold dead eyed monster defies belief. Is this the SAME Blaine that smuggled letters? That cried over a dead handmaid? That brought her Fred? That ran to her bedside? Too often audiences simply swallow content they’re fed without question, well this season I’ll be expecting some plausible explanations. I have to wonder about the timing of daddy dearest showing up IMMEDIATLEY after Blaine’s relationship fell apart with Rose. No doubt Rose would have told him that it was Osborne who came between them and daddy may have decided to sever the two once and for all. It is true that Nick’s impressionable and I can see Wharton being cast as the evil presence who tries to break apart the two lovers by exploiting Nick’s desire for guidance. As Blaine once said “some men need to be led.” June is depicted in a red gown striding amongst an army of handmaids, the implication here being that she too is a commander and as such this season will see Nick and June go head to head, with Wharton at the leash. Will Gilead succeed in breaking them apart? Apparently Tuello ends up with only Lawrence as his ally which kind of pisses me off that he’s being rewarded with a redemption arc of kinds while Nick gets cast into the cold. We’ll have to wait and see but that WOULD be a very big fuck you very much, for all the struggles he’s endured to remain moralistically intact in the Hell hole of Lawrence’s making.

Now way, way, way up the back of The Testaments is mention of a handful of plots by commanders to off a bunch of the elite commanders that triggers the purges, and it looks like that’s where we’re going this season. I do think that a sizeable amount of handmaid’s will pay with their lives as a consequence. No revolution comes without sacrifice, it’s just historical fact so get ready for the carnage. It appears they’ve decided to paint Luke as a hero and Nick as a villain this season very possibly to show their ultimate true faces. I can't help but wonder how fair these journeys comparatively EVER were. If Nick was always doomed to fall by spending literally YEARS in the dark prison of Gilead, then how easy is it for Luke to shine having spent all of his time on the couch in a free country? To quote June herself “Gilead turns you into a bit of a cunt.” How fair has this comparison EVER been when one came from poverty and the other lived a comfortable life? While Nick has been damned for his choice to join the SOJ, the choices that Luke’s life initially afforded him, certainly made all the difference. I do wonder how fair it is to paint the vulnerable, targeted poor as ultimately villainous? Now Blaine lives in a large house surrounded by all the comforts that Gilead has ensnared him with, if he throws his lot in with Mayday, he burns his whole life down. In comparison the now transient Luke has literally nothing to lose and everything to gain by joining the Rebellion. Is the destruction of Nick nothing more than a demonstration of the corruptive society he has lived in for so long? By painting him as a villain are we acknowledging his trauma or even the rigged game that spawned him? If their plans are to send her back into the arms of her, up until very recently, sheltered and complacent hubby, I’ll want answers. Revolution can be a comparatively easy act when you don’t live under a regime for over a decade, when the fist doesn’t tighten constantly or corrupt you in increments. To Luke it would seem natural to kick against it, unfortunately for Nick he’s been “groomed” since day one with the final stranglehold of a Gilead wife and kiddy to keep him in line.

After seasons of representing Luke as a homebody who practically had to be extricated from his house in the burbs, even after someone ran over his wife right in front of it, they’ve now decided that Luke has actually been full of gun toting moxy all along. Yep, he’s suddenly going to run rampant all over Gilead with hand grenades and a machine gun….ridiculous. Last season we saw him go from “lets file paperwork” to Mr gimme a gun, in the space of ONE SINGLE episode, simply because Serena gave him some shit about Nick. Had the guy stayed in Canada and rallied with Tuello, I would have believed his character arc, but THIS is a bridge too far. I would have absolutely bought Luke as a Mayday strategist, neck deep in the paperwork he thrives on. I have to say, I am not loving this journey for him at all.

I’ve never before experienced a show try to persistently foist a character on audiences as they have done Luke. Most of the audience didn’t like him, the feedback on social media was pretty loud and the shows response seems to have been to simply include more content with the hopes that sooner or later audiences would relent and embrace him with open arms. Despite their best efforts, to quote the classic “Mean Girls”; “Fetch just isn’t going to happen.” and I don’t think it ever has. To be honest they not only haven’t been able to really endear Luke to the majority of fans, but they’ve had to work flat out over the last season to even remotely level the scores between these two men, basically by marrying Nick off and knocking up his wife. Comparative to Nick and June’s fiery romance, moments of intimacy between Luke and June felt like oatmeal through a feeding tube. Perhaps there’s a reason for this, maybe it’s intentional, like Miller said; June sees their relationship as “work”. Much in the same way they’ve intentionally built Nick and June to be far more romantic in nature, but as we keep being told again and again; it’s not exactly practical. At this point in the journey I don't know how many people are too concerned with practicalities; they've been dangling a bucket of candy in front the audience for seasons now, so the kiddies can hardly be blamed for wanting to stuff their faces.

I guess Nick’s character annihilation would make sense plot wise, because well, Luke’s so fucking boring that SOMETHING had to be done to sabotage Nick’s appeal. Ultimately their solution has been to virtually turn Luke into Nick with Luke sporting Nicks trademark black coats, ala season 1, (like we wouldn’t notice) and roiding him up with a gun and a few hand grenades. Similarly Nicks now in New Bethlehem in some cushy digs with a wife and kiddy on the way. But to quote Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale itself: “They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other. Nick for Luke, Luke for Nick.” June wasn't going for it then, and I'm not either.

There’s also the small matter of June’s right to choose. Death or betrayal in a love triangle is actually a violation of the element of choice by our protagonist. It reeks of sabotage. These outcomes subvert any ability by the protagonist to actually CHOOSE and instead determines, at least in part, the outcome for her. Unimpressed. It also calls into question writer intent. What exactly is the message here after 5 seasons of him “trying to stay out of trouble” and then finally growing the spine to stand up to Gilead? Is it to keep your head down and shut up while the fascist regime takes hold? If he betrays her, what’s the lesson here? Never trust anyone? Love is a lie? Evil triumphs in the human spirit? Redemption is impossible? Are audiences to be dragged through 5 and half seasons of heartbreak, just to have their hearts crushed once again? It seems particularly heartless to rope audiences fully back into this “Nick and June” love triangle only to cut it off at the knees. The fact that they’re resurrecting it, simply to butcher it completely speaks to a whole new level of cruelty. It’s all looking a bit Star Wars with Nick as the young Vader, right down to shots where he seems to emanate a red glow (please see below) to symbolize danger. But I do wonder, have they honestly waited until now to visit upon audiences a full demonstration of Gilead’s corruptive influences?

The press releases seem to have made a point several times of mentioning that he was a commander, while that’s true I do wonder how a “why thanks but no thanks” would have gone down when it was originally presented to him. There’s no debating that Nick signed up in the beginning for SOJ, but scripts showed that he was vulnerable, targeted and quickly disgusted by its machinations. So if this ENTIRE plot was designed to be a tragic cautionary tale of a lambs slaughter at the hands of a regime, I’ll be horrified at the lengths to which they’ve drawn it out. These maneuverings all seem so incredibly cruel that an audience could not be blamed for switching off and never coming back for any other trips on the long, slow pain train spin offs. Why would they? The pain of attaching to beloved characters only to have them utterly decimated is not something viewers tend to wish to revisit. Last seasons are tricky, there’s a lot of expectation wrapped up in them as writers attempt to bookend characters and yet leave their journeys open for a possible revisit. A good last episode on a good last season is an even rarer thing, and if the endings not done right, audiences are loathe to even start the journey. A bad last episode is like poison, and the thing that content creators don’t seem to understand is that and audiences don’t actually NEED an amazing battle with explosions and 3 separate endings….they just need good. An ending that can live beyond itself, just an act of redemption, throw in a hint of tomorrow and you’re all good. Seriously, it’s all we want.

GOT had a notorious fiery trash bag of a last episode and it’s not the only one. Films now run 3 hours long and it seems that somewhere along the way the editor either fell asleep or just went home. In the effort to always be better, bigger, louder and larger, creators will often shoot too high or go too obscure. Go too big and you can fall really hard, go too small and it can feel unfinished, do whatever you want despite audience feedback and they will fucking hate you and avoid any of your future offerings. With the Testaments in play that last one is a particularly bad idea, certainly writer integrity is important but audience engagement is key. It’s interesting to think of Nick and June, at the end of the day, being reduced to dollars and cents. Their audience participation has simply become so large that an unhappy ending between the two will literally cost the studio and streaming services a gazillion dollarinos.

It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen a couple dictate the direction of a series, determine its success or failure and consequently, the size of a studios profits. It's not unusual to see spinoffs and seasons get cancelled because a deep character connection has been dissolved and the audience has followed suit. I hate to think of one single plot twist poisoning the well of a beautiful and epic 5 season long love story. After watching seasons of painful goodbyes I really don’t have the stomach for another one and I grow weary of season finales that leave audiences hollow and despondent like a depressing 1970’s movie. It's worth keeping in mind that just maybe these show runners and writers NEVER anticipated the type of enthusiasm that they received for the connection between these two characters and they've consequently had to roll with it. Seasons later we have a PR machine cranking overtime, they drop a bit of controversy about this love triangle and sure enough everyone takes the bait. Let's face it, people have lost their ever lovin minds and the folks at PR central must be LOVING it. Nick and June’s romance all seems to have been a bit of a mish mash of Casablanca and Romeo and Juliet from the get go, and both of those ended up in a whole big bunch of fuck you to any hope of real happiness. Casablanca holds its place after 80 years as one of the most timeless tales of love and sacrifice for the greater good, and if these two see any sort of conclusion that doesn’t involve a blade or noose, I suspect that’s what they might be going for here. The fact that it was released around the time of the German invasion shouldn’t be lost on audiences either. It had a lot to say about sacrifice and courage in the face of adversity during war, specifically fascism. Regardless of the life lessons that writers and show runners are attempting to teach, after 6 seasons of drawn out heartbreak, this one is going to feel really, really unkind.

this is what I think about your love letter.