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Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers STRANGER THINGS (2016 — )

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How it started vrs How its going Stranger Things, S01E01 vrs S5 Teaser

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- He can't sacrifice his position because then he can no longer be useful.

- But I believe his heart is in the right place.

#Max Minghella, the man that you are 🫶

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genuinely pisses me off that the people who wrote this show are so inept and cowardly that they wanted to make nick some kind of villain without ever fully committing to it

you're gonna make a lovestruck sad boi deus ex machina save your main character's ass for 6 seasons and then in the last episodes say "nvm he's evil"? and rob us of an Actually Evil Nick?? (not the same as the Offscreen Implied Allegedly Probably Evil Nick some viewers are apparently into)

now the show's over and we're just stuck with Schrodinger's Nick

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Maybe I hadn't been playing this character correctly the whole time.

I still cannot move over the fact that they made him believe he was playing Nick the wrong way this whole time... Imagine, playing a character for 9 years and feeling like this...

#Justice for Max #JusticeForNickBlaine

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But this guys gonna choose the wife he doesn’t care about over June? Ok……. You’re wrong, but ok. lol

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Disclaimer: I’m not sure if this topic has already been discussed (feel free to point it out if it has!), because I only started sharing my thoughts online and in the osblaine community this season.

And here’s something I’ve been wondering:If Serena hadn’t interfered, would June and Nick have developed a romantic relationship?

Personally, I think the answer is yes.

Let’s start with the book—June kisses Nick and wants to sleep with him even before they’re forced to by Serena. There’s desire there from the beginning. After they finally do have sex, she feels guilty and ashamed, like she betrayed Luke. But even then, she wonders—would it feel different if she knew Luke was dead? That line alone tells you how emotionally complicated and real her feelings were.

Now, turning to the show—you can feel the tension between them from early on, but it really peaks in that unforgettable scene after June gets beaten and Nick brings her ice. The sexual tension in that moment is off the charts. They're standing so close, barely saying a word, and yet the air between them is thick with want. They practically kiss in that scene—you can see it in the way they look at each other, how charged the silence is. That wasn’t just a fleeting attraction; it was something raw, emotional, and completely undeniable.

And finally, no matter what’s going on around them—whether they’re trapped in Gilead, fighting to survive, or torn apart by war and manipulation—you still see that bond. Even when they’re separated, the emotional thread between them never really breaks. That, to me, is the core of a real romantic relationship: not just passion, but something that endures through distance, trauma, and time.

So yeah—even if Serena hadn’t been the one to set things in motion, I still believe June and Nick would’ve found their way to each other. Their connection wasn’t just a product of circumstance—it was real, and it would've happened regardless. Maybe they wouldn’t be endgame, maybe the world wouldn't let them be. But they would’ve had something honest—mutual support, deep understanding, and the space to figure out what they could be. Or at least, they would’ve had the chance to try. And that matters.

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It drives me nuts when Anti-Nick people say he only helped June because he loved her —like that’s a flaw or a reason to be killed off?? Be serious.

Oh selfless ones — how many of you are risking your life for strangers?

The truth is: love is the most real reason people change. Most won’t bend, adapt, or take a bullet for just anyone—but they will for someone they love.

Which is also why that plane scene may drive me insane forever. It's AU level insanity. If that’s my guy on that tarmac, I don’t care what it takes—I’m getting his ass off that plane. Whether I die or not. And that's not even factoring in the baby daddy of it all. There is just no universe where June does that.

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NICK BLAINE - GOOD, KIND & BRAVE *and no one will convince me otherwise

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At this point… some of you (thank you ♥️) keep telling me there are signs in the episode, that June still deeply loves Nick,that she’s suffering, and that all the lines spoken around her are actually about him that everyone sees how much she’s hurting, but she’s in denial, wearing her metaphorical white coat, and her psyche is protecting her.

That it’s easier for her to say, “he deserved it” than to admit that she let the man she loved die.

And maybe… maybe that’s true. Maybe I just need to gather some strength and finally watch the finale.

But fuuuuck— this is still not the ending I wanted.

What I wanted — was closure. I wanted her to finally say it out loud. To own it. To say:

“Yes, I loved him. God, I loved him.”

“It was something beautiful.”

“I’m forever grateful to him — he saved me, with his love, his warmth.”

“But in the end, he stayed in Gilead. Maybe he chose it, maybe he couldn’t escape.”

“We lived in different worlds. We never had a chance.”

Even that would’ve been enough. But instead, we get this image of her as a coward arrogant bitch in denial

Because let’s be real: people don’t fall out of love that fast especially not when someone dies.

In fact

When someone dies, it rips you open. You mourn. You grieve. You forgive. You remember only the most important parts. That’s how the mind works. You don’t just erase the love you feel it stronger. You realize how much they meant to you.

So yeah, I just… I hate this direction.

If he had to die, then his death should’ve been the catalyst for June’s realization. It should’ve been the moment where she finally accepts the truth: that she loved him deeply. Like omg that hurts so much I can’t deal with it. I’m lost and empty

Because she did love him. Let’s not rewrite history now.

❗️❗️❗️She cried every single time someone said his name. She cried when she thought he was with another woman. She was always ready to kiss him, always pulled toward him.

So no I don’t accept that him stepping onto that plane was some kind of giant betrayal that broke her love. Especially when she knew he had a wife and child in Gilead.

She’s forgiven so much worse. She’s forgiven people who raped her, beat her, threw her on the floor, stole her children, spat cruel words in her face.

And now we’re supposed to believe she draws the line at Nick (staying for his child)? Because she imagined some cruel life he led?

No. Absolutely not.

People don’t judge others for the lives they imagine they had. They judge what’s been done to them directly. And Nick never hurt her. Not once.

What did he do? Drive some commanders around? Sit in a few council meetings? There’s not a single on-screen action that justifies hatred. What did she imagine him doing?

Even the one thing people and writers throw at him, the Mayday plan he didn’t give the order, he didn’t know the women would be killed, he didn’t shoot anyone.

So yeah. I’m disappointed. Because I truly expected that this show — finally —would say it. Would make it canon. That she loved him. That it mattered.

Instead, they threw us more bones. More hints. Like they always have.

And yeah, once upon a time, that was fun. All the clues, the meaningful glances, the loaded silences.

But now? In the final chapter? That’s not enough. That’s not closure. That’s cowardice (of the writers to begin with)

They were too scared to give us the truth so they covered it in silence and her denial. Again.

And I’m just so tired.

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My THT review, wherever I can post it

Season 1 and 2 of this show are some of the best tv ever made. Dark and haunting, stark yet real. Characters are complex and layered and there is a hint of love through flashbacks and two very talented actors that gave you a sliver a hope.

Seasons 3 and 4 are excellent. They move the story forward for characters we were invested in. Love and struggle continue to guide the characters as they find their way through and sometimes outside of Gilead.

Season 5 is good. It looses a little focus as characters are so spread out. Less intense. But you care now, about these characters, and hang in there to see them get a good ending.

Season 6 took 2.5 years to arrive and feels like a complete departure. Characters who navigated complexity are reduced to good or bad, based on choices made today, not over 5 seasons. A show that has claimed to be feminist falls into the "women good, men bad" mentality. Season 6 flies in the face of the books intentions and message. So I recommend the books, then watch through 5 and then let it go.

#feminism is more complicated than that #good and evil is more complicated than that #this show used to know that

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If June and Nick will be together at the end, this photo will live rent free until the end of my days. 😂

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I’m sorry, the only thing I saw in the recent episode of the handmaid’s tale was Nick getting piss drunk and looking like he’d rather be literally anywhere else.

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Nick Blaine in S06E08 of THT:

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I'm thinking again of the Nick and June hug in the most recent episode and his confession about his belief that June is sometimes the only good thing in his life, and there a few different things about it that hits me really strongly.

The first is how he basically collapses into her arms, barely able to hold himself up or together. He is clearly breaking after everything he's been through recently and he needs her love and support so badly. We almost never see him like this- 2x05 is the closest that sticks in my mind and 4x09 also falls here I think. It is a rare day that Nick is not able to keep his composure and S6 we see him fraying more and more.

Then there's June face. She isn't soft and mushy like she normally is around him. She looks clearly surprised and worried as he hugs her and tells her she's the only good part of his life. Which reminds me a bit of 2x09 where she senses that something isn't right with Nick after he returns from Canada- she pretty quickly picks up on something not being right and worries about him. It's really not like June to openly worry about Nick with him right there with her, that's generally something she does when they aren't together like we saw in 2x03 or 4x09. As Nick is becoming more and more emotionally vulnerable, sharing his feelings and his heart with more than ever before and really showing her just how hard things have become for him, she is realizing just how hard things are for him and how much he is suffering away from her. And that hurts her.

Lastly, the mention of June specifically as the only good thing indicates he must pretty frequently feel like Holly isn't part of his life at all and because of that he feels that she can't even being a good part in it. He clearly loves Holly very, very much, and he dreams of being her father and a family, but having only held her once and seen her up close twice in two years, it's no wonder that he doesn't feel like she's part of his life. Add in him having a baby that he clearly doesn't want and I imagine that though feelings are even stronger as he yearns for the child he wants, worries about how she'll feel about him having another child with someone that's not her mother, worries about how he'll parent this one, and feels guilty that he doesn't want this baby or see himself as good to them.

All in all, this episode really hammered home just how difficult and tragic things have become for Nick. And it's really just the tip of the iceberg.

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I think the most irritating criticism of Nick is that he rose the ranks to become a commander. Like as if it was a savvy career move.

like… I didn’t realize he had a choice?

He didn’t want to marry Eden.

He didn’t want to leave for Chicago.

He may like his wife but he would never pick her over June.

He didn’t get a choice. Because no one gets a choice in Gilead.

Comply or die.

Blend in or end up on the wall.

I do think he did the best he could with the situation in front of him.

Well, why didn’t he leave?

Going MIA?? as a COMMANDER? Even if he could swing it, June keeps ending up back in Gilead. She un-kidnapped 80+ kids. He says Gilead has a target on her back!!! He’s out here trying to figure out who’s trying to assassinate her. Punching Lawrence at his wedding.

Maybe he could have gotten himself out if June had actually left with Emily like she was supposed to.

But Nick was never leaving without confirmation that she was across the border and safe.

But none of it matters because you cannot remove the Hannah of it all from the equation. The June that exists in Gilead is inextricable from the kidnapping of Hannah. Which means Nick is tied to Hannah, too.

That’s his bonus daughter dude. Argue with the wall! I know I am 😭😭

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Me to everyone blaming Nick now: