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glasskey · 2 months

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Nick & Lawrence Mixtape

Ever since June wreaked havoc in Lawrence’s household in season 3, he’s been hanging with our boy Nick. Welcome one and all to the season 4 and 5 Gilead Boss mix

Thank you for your service to Gilead.

Thanks to June’s shenanigans, Lawrence is now due to be executed, Gilead has politely sent Nick Blaine to say “Thanks ever so” before the final curtain call, but unwittingly they’ve also sent Lawrence his exit strategy. Nick may be crafty, but Lawrence is a true strategist. He’s a brilliant psychoanalyst, who took all of 3 seconds to realize Blaine was in love with Osborne and that there was no way on God’s green earth, that baby was Fred’s.

Nick had the audacity to hook up with a Handmaid, is sporting a rebellious streak a mile wide and yet SOMEHOW he’s still alive. It’s obvious to Lawrence that Blaine’s extremely cunning and very, very useful. Lawrence is a cynical and astute political animal, soaked in Teflon, with more lives than a cat. He’s the quick witted, dodgy “friend” who talks you into all manner of shit. While he conceived Gilead he’s not really responsible for the ritualistic bullshit that seems to have been constructed out of his theories. As a result he greets any of it with utter disdain, and it is this same hatred for the religious ceremony of Gilead that Lawrence can sense in Nick Blaine.

At first Nick appears compliant and servile but when nudged in his June Osborne Achilles Heel, Lawrence is surprised to find how malleable and resourceful the young commander can be. Blaine turns up touting not only a free ticket out of death row for Lawrence, but also a chance to regain his previous powers.

Lawrence realizes immediately what June always knew; Blaine is an invaluable ally masquerading as nothing more than the resident “fetch and carry”. These two immediately set up an enchanting marriage of convenience in which much political back scratching may take place. For the next 2 seasons we remained glued to our screens as we watched Lawrence use Blaine’s deadly abilities to precisely maneuver pieces across the board, pulling himself out of the noose and all the way back up to the top.

She is never coming back to you.

“You’re getting very comfortable here” Nick says to Lawrence, it’s not just his house that he’s referring to, it’s also his somewhat apathetic acquiescence with the powers that be. “She changed you, she changed me” Nick says reminding Lawrence of the newfound purpose that June brought them both. Here we see a bit of a battle of wits with Lawrence trying to convince Nick, June has lost her value now and Nick not so subtly threatening to kick Lawrence out of his house and possibly back to the chopping block, if he doesn’t save her life. While Lawrence thinks it’s “nice to want things”, Blaine isn’t playing; he wants what he wants and he fully intends to get it. “You owe me”, Blaine states not once but twice, refusing to be denied.

Here in the dim light, Lawrence and Nick strike a deal that echoes throughout season 4 and 5. Lawrence has already realized he simply needs to push the June Osborne button and the resourceful young commander will do exactly as he’s bid. Conceding to Blaine’s demands to merely keep June alive, is a small price to pay for what he knows is Nicks lasting loyalty.

“She is NEVER coming back to you, why would she?” Lawrence says. There’s a deep connection between Nick and June of liberty and rebellion and here Lawrence tries to convince Nick that freedom has forgotten him and it’ll be better for everyone if he just gets comfy right where he is. Let’s give credit where credit is due, throughout season 4 and 5 Lawrence almost gets away with it. As intelligent as Nick may be, he is consistently emotionally vulnerable and it makes him easy prey. There’s part of me that wants to believe that Lawrence isn’t entirely opportunistic, he’s been uncomfortably close to the noose because of June and there’s no doubting he’s kind of got a soft spot for Nick, at least enough to want better than a sharp drop at the end of a rope for the young commander. As a result Lawrence suggests he move on, and Nick having lost hope, gets married. Lawrence may have the best of intentions, and his observation that June’s love “fucks people up” is not entirely wrong, but let’s face it ultimately he has got to go.

In Fred’s absence Nick is sorely missing the father figure he constantly craves and without June he’s feeling somewhat lost. Conveniently Lawrence has become a tad lonely ever since June departed his gloomy abode, and consequently he takes Nick under his wing like some kind of cuddly Darth Vader. Despite the illusion of a buddy comedy gone Gilead, the reality was that this relationship signified Nick’s deepening commitment to Gilead and the widening chasm between himself and June. Lawrence, the Architect of Gilead encourages Blaine to set up a new life complete with a house in the burbs, a compliant Gilead wifey who lives to knit and make coffee, and a leg up in government. It’s the peaceful home Blaine always wanted, always searched for and yet, there’s something not quite right. It’s nothing but a cheap illusion, a mere shadow at best, and despite his best efforts to assimilate, he aches for his true family.

I’m constantly watching Blaine cling to a compromise, ANY answer no matter how painful, that doesn’t involve inconveniencing June’s life. Here we see him try and inevitably fail once again.

Would your heart glow?

Here they’ve come straight from a meeting where Lawrence did his darndest to secure a cease fire and get some aid to the border, naturally he was shocked to find that Nick didn’t help him out with that one. Lawrence is a touch miffed, and as a consequence it earns Nick a nice dry as fuck pay out to let him know that he’s been a wee bit cold blooded, and maybe, just maybe he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. Lawrence’s cute, cutting quip also made light of Nicks deep affection for June, casting it instead as nothing more than a school boy crush. As usual Laurence is being a bit mouthy here and he definitely knows that’s not the case, but his point is valid: The Eyes don’t see everything.

If Nick thinks that he’s got a beat on June’s whereabouts by simply relying on them as a source, Lawrence is here to tell him he’s sadly mistaken; his devotion to her is not some sort of psychic GPS. “Very funny” Nick replies with some well-earned derision, but as we all know he’s constantly making mental notes and he promptly follows up by checking with his Mayday contacts. She’s in Chicago and he didn’t have a fucking clue, worse still is that in no time at all Lawrence has made a deal that involves Nick having to bomb it, with no guarantees she or ANY of the refugees seeking aid will actually survive. Nick does his best to side step this one but it’s to no avail, and he’s left looking like he’s about to return his breakfast to the desk in front of him. It’s Commander Putnam in particular who sticks the boot in here, forcing him to get a wriggle on and bomb his girlfriend and a bunch of innocent civilians. Blaine’s chillingly precise look and almost audible mental note, made me wonder if it was primarily this that earnt Putnam that bullet in later episodes.

At least part of Nicks journey involves being a military commander and this was done precisely to demonstrate the progression from simple recruit to an aggressive higher power that can be manipulated for the purposes of war and accumulation of power. Throughout the seasons we see Nick fulfill his commitments to Gilead with increasing reluctance, as he begins his journey from Gilead stooge to rebel fighter. It’s an awesome and complex journey that highlights personal growth and the desire to change in the face of great adversity. The bombing of Chicago is one of those moments that’s meant to illustrate Nick’s personal loss amongst the civilian casualties of war. “It’s the cost of doing business” Lawrence says to a sickened and cornered Blaine; the sacrifice of others for the greater good, or at least Lawrence’s version of it….even if it’s June.

I've been grooming Nick.

Technically a Lawrence and June moment but I’d like to take a moment and embellish on exactly what Lawrence had been up to. “I’ve been grooming Nick. Not sexually of course.” Lawrence says to a gob smacked June.

No shit. He’s convinced him to marry a nice girl in the burbs, back up his plot for New Bethlehem and be his personal assassin to get it done. Lawrence is a master manipulator, he wants what he wants, and Nick is simply no match for his human puppetry. As a reward for his continuing compliance, Lawrence assures Nick that he and June will be together again. Lawrence intends to get New Bethlehem completed, he likes to cover his bets and he knows that his best chips in this game are Nick and June. If he can get the young commander to back him he’s sure to have June getting cozy in New Bethlehem in no time. I’m sad to say that in S5 we nearly lost Blaine to the forces of Gilead, he simply lost hope when he “tried to let go” of June. In the dark he clings to the smallest ray of light, Lawrence’s dream for a better version of Gilead, some semblance of freedom.

I was never more conflicted about Lawrence than I was in S5, the moments of sheer manipulation of these two for his ultimate goal made me absolutely livid, but I also applauded his attempts to at least try to improve the cesspool that was Gilead. He was determined to “wrestle a better future from an unchangeable past”, but New Bethlehem wasn’t ENTIRELY just Lawrence attempt to make amends, it was also his best effort to “Kill off America once and for all” as Tuello astutely observed.

Audiences wondered why Nick would ask June to go along with Lawrence’s plan and actually go to New Bethlehem, the truth is he was fucking clueless. By this point he was so far under Lawrence’s sway, he couldn’t see the wood for the trees. He’d managed to convince him that it was some sort of Gilead version 2.0 that the UN would immediately embrace with open arms, in which Blaine could live happily ever after with the love of his life. June was devastated, but let’s face it how could she have known that Lawrence had turned Nick from “a puppy” into his lapdog over the last year. Lawrence had already admitted to June that he’d used religious nut jobs as a delivery system to save humanity, so it should have come as no surprise that he would use the two lovers to bring New Bethlehem to fruition. Many years ago Nick Blaine dug himself a hole and sadly he just kept digging. You want to “stay out of trouble” in Gilead, you’d best pick up a shovel. The way he saw it; June had a family who loved her, a family to return to, so he let her go and got settled in the pit. Nick and June’s meeting in 5 09 was one of those moments that made it painfully clear, not only how much Blaine loves her, but how desperately he needs her.

You could have killed her.

“It wasn’t my decision” Lawrence yelps at Nick as he takes a vicious right hook from the young commander. Personally I’m not sure if I believe him or not, suffice to say he knew about it, he did nothing to stop it, he purposefully hid it from Blaine, and MOST importantly, he should have known better. June has left a trail of dead commanders in her wake and it was only 10 episodes prior that she and Blaine dragged Fred into a forest to die. Usually I’d be giving Lawrence snaps for his intelligence but it was just one episode prior that June had officially “broken up” with Lawrence, with the understanding that they were “Never ever ever, getting back together”. This was a massive blunder. We’re 5 seasons in, because the plot demands it June’s basically unkillable and the word on the street is always, ALWAYS keep your fucking hands off June Osborn. It tends to make Blaine a tad bit grumpy.

Nick Blaine is, for all intents and purposes, a trained assassin obsessively in love with the mother of his child. Lawrence knew this, he’d just spent the better part of the last 2 seasons pushing Nick’s patented Osborne key whenever he wanted him to comply. Why the actual fuck did he think he’d get away with it? At the start of 5 10 we saw a massive red flag, a verbal tussle between the two about Osborne, it was clear; she was the rock that would break them apart. Up until that point he’d been compliant but now Blaine was starting to get that look in his eyes; deadly, detached, focused.

Stupidly Lawrence had recruited a bagman and assumed it would make him immune from getting very, very dead. Lawrence spent the entirety of S4 and 5 trying to set up a cushy life for Blaine, it even looked like he might be able to lure his precious June back for him, but it was all for naught. As Lawrence so eloquently put it “Gilead’s gonna Gilead” and despite his best efforts, ultimately it did. In Ep10 S5, Blaine strides unresponsive past his pregnant wife, striking his mentor on his wedding day in a room full of commanders, protesting June Osborn’s assassination attempt. This singular act is a violent and decisive rejection of Gilead’s guiding hand, its binding social contract, its hierarchy and its influence. It is one massively definitive statement, all condensed into the space of 10 seconds. This scene transported me all the way back to S1 when June cried incredulously to Nick that she couldn’t believe she told the Ambassador she was happy. “You’re being too hard on yourself, you were in a room full of commanders” he replies. June’s first act of rebellion is to share her true name with the other Handmaid’s and it is at that point that she share’s it with Blaine. It is here he takes his first small step as a rebel when he chooses to keep her secret and never use her slave name again.

This blow and his march across the border marks the final step in his journey to true rebellion. Where previously his loyalties had been somewhat divided, he now belongs completely and utterly to June and Mayday. Throughout the seasons Blaine has constantly displayed a need for guidance from a father figure and it’s been interesting to note how the personality of this father figure changes over time as his loyalties shift and he regains his freedom. Waterford is cold and brutal, conditioning Blaine to be servile and militant. Lawrence is a cunning, political animal, who tutors Blaine in the Machiavellian like maneuverings of the Gilead upper echelons. Ultimately though it is Tuello, the gentle diplomat who will teach Nick his individual worth and offer him sanctuary. Season 6, I can guarantee, the Nick / Lawrence bromance will officially be well and truly over.

Next time we'll be looking at our love triangle and character themes. See you then.

#handmaids tale #june osborne #hulu streaming #june x nick #max minghella #nick x june #nick blaine #the handmaids tale hulu #osblaine #elisabeth moss #bradley whitford #commander lawrence #THTplaylists&mixtapes #hulu tv #tv series #tv

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sher-ee · 27 days

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This is terrifying.

Everyone should read Project 25.

People need to start taking what the GOP is saying and planning seriously and believe what they say they're going to do. You can be disillusioned with Biden and certain policies, but Project 2025 leaves little room for doubt just how bad things will get under Republican control.

We cannot let this happen.

#Trump #politics #november 2024 #GOP #Christian Nationalism #joe biden #president biden #save our democracy #handmaids tale #vote blue #republicans #america #this should scare everyone

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an-obsessive-soul · 1 month

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language is the most liberating thing we can use. it is inherently freeing; think of 1984 by Orwell and how Newspeak pushes language to its barest forms so people do not have a word for rebellion, much less understand what it can be. We express opinions, and we go against cruelty through our words. It is the most important and overlooked tool we possess.

if i am going to be transparent, the sexuality of language is liberating; we converse, and we can dig into the depths of each other through our words and our agreed-upon understanding.

language is the most interesting concepts because it is ever-changing. We've lost cultures not only through the temporal loss of language but also through oppressive loss. we are losing languages today! Irish and Welsh are being lost, and these aren't even their true names, they are the anglicised versions, which come from centuries of oppression, war, and violence. if you have cried at a book, smiled reading an article or laughed at a friends joke you have felt the power of language!

so please read, write, and speak. utilize the freedom we have from the words we know.

#academia #dark academia #the secret history #donna tartt #george orwell #handmaids tale #language #etymology #reading #books & libraries #bookblr

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osblaine13245 · 1 year

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This is how it played out in my head👆

I may or may not have been screaming: “It’s done! He’s had it! He’s on a war path! He will no longer be silent! He’s about to be fucking loud!” *punches Lawrence in the face* “That’s right! That’s the love of his fucking life and you better watch the fuck out! He’s not playing anymore!”

Anyone else?😂

#nick blaine #an absolute legend #unhinged #when i tell you i screamed #osblaine #i will go down with this ship #nick and june #nick x june #screaming crying throwing up #the handmaid's tale #june x nick #june and nick #handmaids tale #max minghella #elisabeth moss #osblaine endgame #the angst #the handmaids tale season 5

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bi-krama-dick-ya · 10 months

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tradwives be like:

heres my book about what we as women must never do.

1- write a book

#je pense #politics #tradwives #feminism #moi is reading #handmaids tale #feminist #tradwife #tradfem #traditional family #gender equality #womens rights #gender roles

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mytvjunk · 2 years

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June the comedian:

#the handmaid's tale #handmaids tale #the handmaids tale season 5 #no mans land #june osborne #offred #serena joy #elisabeth moss #serena waterford #hulu

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aishathetaurus · 2 years

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I said this in a much longer post, but I wanted to dedicate a post to it... but a lot of y'all's hatred towards Luke is just racism. You're racist.

The show's refusal to address race and y'all's obsession with Nick being with June is having an effect on y'all. I mean, you were racist before ever seeing the show, probably, but the show's refusal to just say it outright isn't helping. Its touched on in the book, but not so much in the show or movie... I'll solely address the lack of understanding towards Luke's circumstances and just... leave the whole Osblaine thing alone.

In the book, the racism is just as clear as the misogny. JUST as clear. You barely see black people (and nonwhite people in general, but I'm talking about black people and the book actually touches specifically on black people as well) in this setting simply because in Gilead black people are not allowed unless their ovaries are promising. Black women didn't become handmaids. They were just killed or sent to the colonies, and if they were lucky maybe they'd get to be a Martha. Its silly and naive to think the gendered slavery or horrids stopped at just forcing women to be bastardized surrogates when there's room for so much more horrendous realities, whether it was shown on screen or not. This isn't something you had to read the book to get a grasp on. Its just... heavily implied either way. This isn't saying much because there were few, but most black women we've seen on screen at once is when we saw Unwomen...

Some of us have noticed the few times the show has hinted to how race is being handled and how it affects everything. To some of us, even without those hints, its obvious... The racism of it all is implied actually. Its so implied, it almost, doesn't need to said. However, to most of you? You're oblivious, so it should've been said. Over and over, actually.

Luke is doing the best he can in a system that was literally built to go against him. Even the current system, where the focus is mainly on women, is built against him despite the fact he's a man... he's still black. Imagine the fear of living as black man of America... Now take all the worst parts of America and put them into their own country... Now imagine the fear navigating that... Imagine what the level of fear does to you... Again, this isn't something you'd have to read the book to wrap your head around... There's a lot of pressure on Luke not only as a man, but as a black person and he's clearly just very very scared, as he should be.

With all things considered, he's doing great. He's been doing great this entire time. He didn't ruin anything this episode, nor has he ever. He did what needed to be done. He didn't need permission or extra context. He has never had the time or space to pause, consider context, and be gentle with his wrongdoers the way people like June or Serena has... This being a hard time for women, doesn't erase the reality of how black people are treated. In fact, with so much freedom to treat people however, it just heightens the racism towards black people. Again, not necessarily something you needed to read the book to grasp.

Either way, Serena is a literal war criminal and a serial rapist that stepped foot out of her allowed space. Whether he called or not, immigration was coming for her ass, and he did the right thing by speeding up the process.

After being kidnapped AGAIN... calling immigration and the police on the woman that helped enslave, imprison, and rape his wife was the only option... How do you see that and then still rage? What else was he supposed to do? What are your expectations of him? Not just in this episode or the last, but this whole time... What the hell was he supposed to do as a black man? Try to save her and stick out like a sore black thumb and end up getting himself and June killed?? He's not Nick. There was no helping her. The anger literally doesn't make sense and its getting to the point I have to assume its simply racism.

The inability to understand his circumstances... How harshly he's judged... yeah...

Luke was just as "useless" in the book and 1990's movie, yet its only when it comes to the show, where he's portrayed as a black man, do I see any commentary on how truly "worthless" he is. Its interesting.

#luke bankole #june osborne #the handmaid's tale #handmaid's tale #handmaids tale #so annoying this nuance is missing from the show #its so annoying reading y'all's takes on luke having the understanding i have on how fucking scary it was to be black in gilead #even if i didn't read the book years ago #this is all information i would've gathered just from watching the show and really taking in every scene #just a reminder that majority of this show's audience are white women tbh #this isn't the original story but its the story now #luke in the original story didn't have to navigate any of this #but its the story now so...#anyway #a much needed race analysis #we cannot just pretend that him being black doesn't play a role in this story just because the writers weren't outright with it #its a story based on a real country that really had slavery and is actually violently misogny #if luke is gonna be black in the show then it has to be acknowledged when doing an analysis #it means something and it was a choice #black people played a role in the original story and it would be a disservice to ignore this reality now #especially when its been hinted at multiple times

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lesbianserenajoy · 2 years

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serena literally put together the biggest funeral gilead has ever done just so she could torture june with hannah. i’ll never get over how obsessed they are with each other

#serenajune #june osborne #serena joy waterford #the handmaids tale #handmaids tale

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smollshroom · 2 years

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Steal and repost.

#graffiti #poster #lgbt #roevwade #handmaids tale #margaret atwood #BLM #womens rights #abortion #pro choice #pro life #pink #art #illustration #digital art #stencil

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childofheresy · 1 year

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nolite te bastardes carborundorum, bitches.

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1

#the handmaid's tale #handmaids tale #hulu tv #tv series #cinema #nolite te bastardes carborundorum #offred #gilead #serena joy #nick x june #june osborne #luke bankole

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glasskey · 6 months

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Nick's Playlist

This one’s moody listen and it seems our rebellious hero, June Osborne, just can’t stop hitting that replay button no matter how hard she tries. It’s okay June, neither can we. Today I’m going to look beneath all the romance to try and decode our mutinous young commander. Welcome to our Noir resident bad boy playlist.

Everybody Breaks

This is possibly Blaine’s most famous line and it’s a confession, a warning and a prediction all in one. It sums up the Nick Blaine we first encounter and the one who ends up delivering that sweet right hook to Lawrence in the middle of his marriage festivities, yet somehow they’re a world apart……track 1; Everybody Breaks.

Nick’s realised something; June doesn’t seem to care about or understand the rules. Now the Eyes have been called and Nick thinks it’s time for a little Gilead truth bomb “it’s not about being tough or brave, brave isn’t a part of any of this……Everybody breaks….Everybody.” This is the first time we see Nick speak to June with an unmasked honesty, and while he may have intended to warn her, it’s now abundantly clear that Nick has some ghosts of his own. This is Nick version 1; afraid, alone, distrustful and broken. This is Nick resigned to servitude, to the inevitability that his cage means “it’s going to end the same way no matter what you do”. This is Nick, unwilling to step out of line, and yet here he is sticking his neck out making a bid on June’s behalf with the Eyes, to keep the wolf from the door.

While Nick may be full of reproach, he’s unintentionally told her something personal and as a result, the first chink in his armor appears. His warning to comply and resign herself to her inevitable fate is reflected beautifully when Blaine looks in his rear view to see her defiantly glaring back at him, she not only won’t be broken, but she’ll show him what real fighting looks like.

The cracks start to appear almost immediately, first he’s coming to her room alone, next he’s fessing up to being an Eye, then he’s secreting her away at The Boston Globe, before you know it he’s dragging her rapist out into a forest to die and finally in season 5 he’s laying down the law in a room full of Commanders. “Everybody breaks”……how little he knows at that point how prophetic that will be for him. June is for all intents and purposes, his breaking point.

I should've Just driven away with you.

Is it hot in here? Nick comes to June’s room with a handful of ice and instead of handing it to her he cups it in her hand and strokes it. This is one of those instances where touching hands is enough to raise the temperature by about 20 degrees.

This method of the intimate but almost casual touch is often used in period dramas where any type of incidental physical contact is a big deal and pashing someone is something you only ever do with your intended. June may have previously flirtatiously flashed a bit of knee but this right here is where it all begins, it’s the first time he’s actually touched her and it’s no coincidence that it’s the start of all their hand brushing. From then on all the hand brushing is like a secret message between the two, a reassurance of love and support.

From the second half of season 4 and most of season 5 all the hand brushing business was gone, granted there wasn’t much of an opportunity but that really was the point, the two lovers were separated. At the end of season 5 Nick visits June in the hospital and for the first time in almost 2 seasons we see him brush her hand and she stirs in her sleep, somehow she feels him there….here we go.

This sentiment of running away together, echoes throughout the seasons. These two are the very definition of “love through the barricades” and their impossible dream reveals the excruciating reality of war. This is the first time we hear Nick express his desire, it’s just a foundling idea of escapism with no solid destination at this point, but this “voice beneath the floorboards” grows increasingly louder and louder throughout the seasons. Here we see that Nick’s officially started to figuratively flirt with the idea of freedom, and as he walks out of the room he looks back at her and sighs, she’s trouble, the whole thing is trouble, but he just CAN’T help himself.

I'm just a driver

This is the first and only time we have seen Nick and Luke together and their exchange is gripping from start to finish. This few minutes provides us with an insight into how different and similar these two men are at their core:

Nick the portrait of stoicism, downplays his importance in everything, he’s wary and reluctant to engage, but he can’t leave Canada without sending June’s family word of her well being. Luke tries to be rational but he’s sensitive and becomes emotional, having said that, no one should blame him for his response to Nick’s news. The first and only time he’s laid eyes on Nick is when he was opening the car door for the Waterford’s, so as far as he knows they’re all in cahoots.

One might argue that Nick telling Luke that he and June are pals should be good enough and initially it is, but add to this the devastating news that his wife is now pregnant to the New wave version of Hitler, he understandably becomes a little emotional. It’s not an unusual reaction, in our everyday lives it’s those in closest proximity that usually bear the brunt of our frustrations. So why doesn’t Nick admit to the parentage of his own child? As horrifying as it is, a commander is expected by Gilead law to impregnate the handmaids, but what the fuck would a driver be doing impregnating his wife? It’s up to June to tell Luke about this and he knows it.

The first time Nick sights Luke he’s holding a huge picture of June with her family, for the first time Nick is confronted by the reality of her stolen former life. The three of them look blissful in the photograph and holding it is her enraged husband, Nick understands Luke’s love and grief all too well. He does the one thing he can do; brings news of her to her desperate, mourning family. At first Luke doesn’t seem particularly grateful, he’s gutted that Waterford is using his wife as a walking womb and pushes Nick out the door. Suddenly realizing that Nick is his only link to his wife and daughter, he takes after him with questions and a message for June.

The shot in the doorway is bathed in red light, there’s a certain sense of intimacy and closeness in this moment, reflecting the bond these 2 men share in the woman they both love. “You tell her I’ll never stop” Luke says, but unconsciously he speaks for Nick as well. Ever the enigma, Nick minimises his importance to June, referring to himself as “just a driver” and disappears into the descending shadows, but it won’t be long before Luke will learn the truth about the man he met that night.

I'm trying to keep you alive

Beneath the romance lies a deeply symbolic connection between Nick and June and despite its incredible importance, it’s one that’s easily missed. Ever notice how June is constantly bathed in a glowing golden light around Nick? Well that’s because June Osborn represents freedom, a breath of new hope, and in season 1 and 2 Nick Blaine falls deeply in love with the incarnation of his own liberty and that of his country.

While he sacrificed this dream for the sake of June and Holly’s freedom, and acquiesced to become the good little soldier throughout seasons 3, 4 and 5, his constant longing for freedom could clearly still be seen beneath the veneer. Nick Blaine was introduced as a character disillusioned by the political landscape of his country and deceived into a fascist dictatorship. He for all intents and purposes is the personification of the imprisonment of America’s masses, while June represents freedom and rebellion. Together these two conceive the embodiment of what will become the liberty of their country. Almost everything that Nick Blaine does and says, and the entire landscape of Nick and June’s relationship, can be reframed to match this analogy. If this is true, then the Nick and June endgame is a self fulfilling prophecy, for The Testaments tells us that one day Gilead will fall and America will be free. It is no coincidence that just as he holds Holly in his arms, his eyes filling with tears of joy and June tells him she loves him for the first time. This symbolic union is concrete evidence that Nick and only Nick could be her father, for Fred would NEVER have the capacity, nor possess the desire to give life to rebellion.

“I’m trying to keep you alive” Blaine says dressed from head to foot in military commander garb, June lies helpless on the ground and at the front lines a war is raging. In his heart he tries to keep the dream of liberty alive. June slowly rises to her feet, their eyes meet and a blinding light surrounds them. As he kneels in the van pleading with June to allow him to help her, he is literally begging for that dream of freedom not to die.

Ultimately the Handmaid’s must be given up for June to survive and freedom to prevail, like troops being sacrificed in battle for the greater good. Blaine understands sacrifice all too well, before he was Military fodder he was the Waterford’s whipping boy and before that he was the forgotten bottom of America’s working class. There’s not a day he’s lived that he’s known actual freedom and he’ll do just about anything to keep the one person, who gave him a glimpse, alive.

God is not to be mocked

Ever notice how Fred is always showing up to ruin all those special Nick and June moments? Well this is officially the last time that’s ever going to happen. You see dear old Fred’s about to have a very, very bad day (or night as the case may be) and it is undoubtedly one of the most satisfying things you will ever watch. Nick Blaine spends so much time standing in the shadows and playing fetch and carry, that people lose their ever loving minds when he finally steps up and becomes a bit of a boss. Just prior to June chasing Fred down like a dog and tearing him apart, comes one of the most gratifying Nick moments you will ever see. Nick comes and collects Fred from the border and gives him THIS look....

I think it’s fair to say that right there, Fred should have already known he was dead AF. Marching his belligerent former master through a cold dark forest, Nick delivers a vicious back hand across Fred’s whiny mouth sending him to his knees. It’s a call back to a slap Fred gave June in season 2 when he’d been helpless to act. Aside from holding his child for the first time, it was also the closest we ever saw Blaine to tears. In that dark forest it is not only June, but Nick who reclaims his power back from Fred. Fred has stolen his pride and laid claim to the woman he loves, and at last it’s finally time to make him bleed for it. When he kisses June in front of him he blatantly exposes Fred’s sense of control as nothing more than delusion, he’s been duped by the two lovers. As June comes over the hill towards them, she is surrounded by light and Nick stares at her with adoration.

“God is not to be mocked, whatever a man sows, so shall he reap” Blaine says, delivering his most notable “fuck around and find out” speeches to date. This entire scene is a stunning callback to the Noir sequence at the end of Nightshade, and it’s evident that here Blaine’s also speaking for himself, for throughout the seasons we’ve seen Nick sow the seeds of freedom again and again. Now he’s brought liberty and rebellion herself a blood sacrifice to feed the soil, she looks at him with love and thanks him…..inevitably these seeds must bloom.

In season 1 Nick attempted to sever ties with June, but this is season 4 and June is everything to him, she is the lover, the leader, the creator and the destroyer. Fred is about to find out exactly what that last one means.

I'm nothing

Easily my favorite track on the whole Nick Playlist, this is where Blaine finally crosses over and tells Gilead to go fuck themselves and IT IS AWESOME. Being the finale this was of course a stand out episode for season 5 and Blaine’s walk across the bridge was a huge season highlight.

It signified an incredible moment of growth for his character, the attempt on June’s life being the catalyst for change needed to push him over the edge, or the bridge as it were. Nick finally made the choice we always knew he would: he would prefer to die at the barricades for freedom, than live in slavery for the rest of his life. Tuello and Blaine finally strike a deal for June and Nicole’s safety and his eventual immunity, in exchange for becoming a government spy. Tuello and Blaine stand together looking in on June framed in the hospital windows like eyes, a sign of their burgeoning partnership. Nick gets 5 minutes alone with June, the hospital room is silent and ghostly and he watches her sleep. He strokes her hand and she gently rouses, it’s time to fight again.

“It’s best she doesn’t know I was here” he says and while Tuello acquiesces, you just KNOW come season 6, June’s going to find out and personally I cannot wait. Tuello has increasingly become the voice of reason in the last few seasons and there’s one thing he is dying to know, Why the Hell didn’t Nick run away with June when he had the chance? “She doesn’t need me. I’m nothing.” Blaine says to a visibly gob smacked Tuello. His face softens and his voice cracks just a little as he reassures the young commander “No you’re not Commander, not to her.” June is his liberty and she has not forgotten him, one day he will be free.

“You will never let her go will you” Rose asks Nick, having witnessed his act of dissent in a room full of commanders, “I can’t…I tried, I really tried” he sighs. In The Handmaid’s Tale, freedom and true love are the highest rewards, for Nick and June these are intimately intertwined. Where 4 09 had left me a crushed wailing mess, 5 10 gave us a glimmer of hope and it came in the most unlikely of places. In storytelling, one hallmark of earning the reward of true love is to humble yourself before it entirely, to fight for its namesake with no expectation of reward. When Blaine signed Tuello’s contract and said those two words; that is exactly what he did.