penelope1597

[penelope1597]

Bruce Miller in 2019: “If you look at it from a slightly different direction, June is learning that even a nice guy could've done horrible things. And that gives her permission to be a nice person who does horrible things."

So, all of a sudden we’re supposed to forget all the horrible things June did while she was in Gilead? It looks like they were erased and/or forgotten. She was elevated to the status of savior or Gilead’s version of Katniss Everdeen, while Nick is a monster at the same level of Fred? Since when is she morally superior to everyone else, and in a position to judge Nick so harshly? Why is Nick held to a different standard than the rest of morally grey people in Gilead or the ones that are straight up evil?

[penelope1597]

I still can't believe that DUMPSTER FIRE of a TV show validated so many shallow af people, online bullies, performative "activists", and fucking terfs on this app and on the Internet in general. By far the WORST thing about that embarrassment of a show, an absolute Fuck You to Atwood's source material, and her message.

[penelope1597]

THT Showrunners do The Hunger Games:

KATNISS offers a handful of night lock berries.

Peeta shakes his head. “There can be only one winner, and it’s me.”

He shoves the berries down Katniss’ throat and laughs as she foams at the mouth and goes limp.

Show runners do interviews telling the fans they shouldn’t have trusted Peeta. He was always just out for himself.

[penelope1597]

I’ve seen some incredible and well thought out takes on this ending asserting that Fred pretty much won.

And I agree completely.

But also— I have a thought to add to that.

Serena won, too.

Serena is an incredible villain. Just the worst person. Completely delusional and despicable all the way to the end.

So why not relish in the fact that, as writers, they helped bring to life a character who’s not just dynamic, but a realistic rendering of a very specific type of woman running around the political sphere currently? What reason could you have for saying outright she’s one of us? When even to the end she’s not affected by compassion or empathy, but by her own discomfort.

And beyond that— beyond the realism or redemption— on her own she’s just such a rich, evil character. Why not lean into that? Why not look at her relationship with Gilead?

Because Serena’s great tragic toxic romance wasn’t with Fred or Wharton.

It was with Gilead— the place she wants to be in more than anything.

The place she created.

The place she runs to time and time again, no matter how much it rejects her or she attempts to change it.

And at the end of it all, I would have liked to see her stand by it. The thing she gave everything up for over and over again.

Serena and Gilead vs Nick, June, and Rita.

Just like the first season.

The woman who used Gilead to entrap, coerce, and beat them. The woman who brought Gilead into their homes, into their beds.

The woman whose best attempt at change was not to abolish handmaids but to give them a place to go post menopause.

I want that woman to be forced to look at herself by the three people whose lives she directly affected on a daily basis.

The woman whose actions were fueled by jealousy and bitter hatred. Whose actions intended to tear them apart.

Whose actions made them a family— a mother, a father, and a godmother.

For that family to stand in front of her and say you don’t get to win. You don’t get to keep what you tried to take from us.

That’s what I would have liked for them.

But instead they villainized Nick.

Which isn’t just a devastating cliff dive from a character built over 5 seasons.

It unravels everyone else, too.

It undermines June’s judgement. It undermines Rita’s. It demeans the love and hope the three of them found in a place that was determined to snuff it out. In a place where Serena reigned with isolation and cruelty.

Nick’s sudden villainy isn’t as much a betrayal as it is yet another way that Serena wins. That Gilead wins.

And redemption without the journey of releasing her beliefs isn’t a redemption. It’s a validation of Serena’s choices.

Serena fucking won.

And June held her hand while she did it.

[penelope1597]

I seriously need the “this was not a love story” “you missed the point” “Nick made his bed” people to just stop. 

I have watched every episode of the show some of them multiple times. I know what the point of the show is. I know the story is bigger than June and Nick’s relationship. I know that Nick wasn’t necessarily the best guy and he did shady things to survive. But none of that excuses the terrible writing. Because when your actors response to his arc in the final season is that he must’ve been playing the character wrong for five years something went very wrong.

You don’t get to just change the framing around a character and his actions in the final season and say oh he did terrible things off screen to explain the sudden turn . The fact is that every other character……even the characters who committed horrible acts on screen multiple times got a chance at redemption. June pleaded with Serena, Lawrence, Aunt Lydia, and even Wharton to choose better but she never even gave Nick a chance.

Yall say Nick made his bed and maybe in some circumstances that is true but how do you explain the writing for Serena fucking joy who “made her bed” 10x and is always given a chance to do better.

Why are we ridiculous and told that we don’t understand the story for simply wanting the character of Nick to have the chance at redemption that every single character, including the people who actually built the system got? The writers do not get to say Nick doesn’t deserve redemption because he was part of the crusade, but then hand out to redemption to the man who came up with the concept of the colonies that was used to murder countless women.

I am a shipper but I didn’t need Nick & June to end up together. I didn’t even need Nick to survive the show. I just needed the story that I invested years into to actually make sense

[penelope1597]

I don’t even know where to start. Let’s break down the writers’ intention first, and then I’ll analyze it.

Out of all the possible outcomes, this was honestly the worst on, not just because it’s the one we didn’t want, but because it’s the shallowest. They used Nick, and the fans’ love for him, just to create a shock twist. What were they trying to say? That someone who survives within Gilead could never deserve a normal life? Maybe I even agree with that idea in theory. But the way they executed his death was awful.

They never actually showed Nick doing anything wrong on-screen. All the moral ambiguity was off-screen. And there was always a possibility they’d twist it last minute to reveal he was a villain. But from the perspective of emotional manipulation? This was brutal.

This is what’s known as a “shock for the sake of shock” a writing device where the creators deliberately go against the logic of their own story just to trigger an immediate emotional reaction: surprise, grief, rage, disbelief. It can work if the twist is emotionally and narratively earned, but most of the time, it ends up as narrative betrayal.

Here’s what defines this kind of twist:

-It contradicts everything we know about the character, making the audience feel tricked.

-It destroys emotional investment, because the entire journey we followed with the character suddenly doesn’t matter.

-It lacks narrative honesty instead of letting us witness conflict, transformation, or consequences, the story just drops death like a fact, not a resolution.

-It denies catharsis, we’re left with no space to mourn or reflect because the character is killed despite the story, not because of it.

What we have here: they wanted to make a statement about morality or the system, sacrificing the character for the message, forgetting that this character already means something deeper to the audience.

At its core, this is emotional exploitation of the viewer: build up an iconic love story, layer it with emotional depth and meaning, and then simply say forget it, he died like a dog, and this isn’t even a tragedy, it’s a lesson.

That’s why these twists don’t just make fans sad. they make them feel betrayed.

The Handmaid’s Tale has always been a show about extreme cruelty, but also about resistance, hope, and the idea that good can prevail. And here, they gave us the most intimate, beautifully filmed scenes of love, Nick’s love for June, their bond, his sacrifices and then had him die like a dog. Meanwhile, characters who did far worse things Aunt Lydia, Serena, Lawrence get redemption arcs and walk away cleaner than Nick ever did.

They did all of this to shock us. To hurt us. And the worst part is, they didn’t even let us mourn him properly. Because in the final scene, we’re not even supposed to feel sorry for him. They framed it like he chose the wrong side, that he somehow deserved what happened. And that is just… vile.

Calling this a “love letter to fans” is pure mockery. Especially knowing how they carefully baited us all season giving us beautiful scenes, emotional intimacy, suggestive dialogue. It wasn’t in our heads. It was crafted. And now they call this heartbreak “a gift”? That’s sadism. That’s Gilead-level manipulation.

Nick ends up being framed as the one true “bad guy,” despite everything we know and love about him. Despite his arc, his humanity, his pain. And they didn’t even give him a meaningful death.

So I ask was it worth it? Was this really the story you wanted to tell? And calling it a “love letter” just adds insult to injury.

The whole episode was stuffed with scenes that felt rushed and absurd, with cartoonish logic. And no execution, especially in a brutal regime like Gilead’s, would end the way they portrayed that hanging. Not without real consequences. Not without blood.

So they really want us to believe that Luke and a bunch of handmaids just magically took out a group of armed guards and no one got hurt? That’s honestly laughable. It was childish. The way it was filmed like a playground fight scene.

But what they clearly wanted to show is that Nick was the man who picked the wrong side, and so he “deserved” what he got. All while keeping everything vague and off-screen.

Honestly, I don’t even know how to comment on this anymore. What I do know is that they used the fans, played with us, and mocked the very love story they carefully built. They knew they had created a huge emotional fanbase around Nick and June. They gave us fairytale visuals, Disney-style parallels, deep, intimate moment, all to twist the knife at the very end. That’s not drama. That’s emotional sadism.

And that’s all I really have to say. There won’t be any more videos. I can’t even bring myself to rewatch their scenes anymore. It feels tainted now.

I used to think Peter Quinn’s death was the worst one out there, meaningless, undeserved. But at least he died a hero, trying to save the President of the United States. It didn’t make much sense, sure, and Carrie forgot him way too fast. But at least he wasn’t punished by the narrative.

Meanwhile, Nick’s death? It was framed as something he deserved. because he stayed in Gilead, even after his father-in-law murdered those girls. As if that proves he was never going to change. As if none of his sacrifices ever mattered.

What did they even accomplish with this twist?

Sure, they got their shock moment today, but for most fans, for the majority of their loyal base it’s now unpleasant to even rewatch the show. Rewatching June and Nick’s scenes feels hollow, painful, or even meaningless. And I genuinely don’t understand who does this to their own story. They had something beautiful they could continue to profit from , emotionally, artistically, even financially through rewatchability, legacy, and fan engagement. And instead, they burned it for a one-time shock payoff in season six.

And the worst part? This could have been done beautifully. If they wanted to show tragedy, if they wanted to show how trapped he was they could’ve done it emotionally, meaningfully, powerfully. But they didn’t. They just used us, their most devoted viewers to create a “twist.”

Like, yeah, what’s the most shocking thing they could possibly do?

Serena betraying someone? Obvious.

Lawrence switching sides? Expected.

Aunt Lydia doing something cruel? Nothing new.

But Nick? Nick dying like a dog, stripped of dignity, labeled a villain, denied both love and redemption that’s the twist no one saw coming. And yes, they were right. no one predicted it.

But at what cost? They destroyed the emotional core of their own show just to surprise us for five minutes. Now the rewatch value is gone. The emotional resonance is gone. The love story they crafted and framed as sacred is gone.

All for what?

It doesn’t make any fucking sense. So yeah, this is where we’re at. I don’t know what else to say, guys.

[penelope1597]

The most painful thing is:

— Love was always the heart of the show. June constantly said she survived for love.

— Nick embodied that love. The kind that is quiet but acts. That rescues, accepts and waits. That never demands. He was her freedom, in a world where everyone else wanted to control her.

— But in the end, they leave her with Luke, a man who pressures, controls, and manipulates through guilt. Not a partner, not love, just someone who looks “right” on the outside but is empty inside.

— And Nick isn’t even given a chance to fight. No inner strength, no honest resolution, no scene where he speaks his truth. They just cast him into silence and death, as if the love he lived by meant nothing.

This isn’t just a plot twist. It feels like the show betrayed its own message. That it’s not ideology that saves, but love. That even in darkness, you can choose light, if someone truly sees you. But in the end she didn’t see him. And now they’re telling us he never deserved to be seen. Sad

Not the uplifting message

[penelope1597]

Yeah, at this point I’m not even surprised anymore. I fully get what they’re trying to say with this whole arc (but it’s a very bad writing) . First that he was always weak and kind of a villain. That he was only good with her, but outside of that, he’s bad. Because he literally said it himself. We just “missed” a few moments, which were offscreen apparently.

All the side characters who spoke badly about Nick? Turns out they were right, and that’s the “truth” the audience is now supposed to accept.

And yeah in the end, he chose darkness, and she let him go into that darkness. The message is: he’s the monster. I’m not.

So when the plane explodes, she looks at it and thinks: he was the monster. And I’m the good one.

The end.

Fuck off.

[penelope1597]

Imagine that scene in The Testament—Holly asks, 'Where's my dad?' and the answers go something like:

'I'm very sorry, but your mom bombed him.'

—or—

'Well, your dad was a Nazi, so… it was the right thing to do.'

—or—

'He made a choice.'

LOL. What a beautiful adaptation of the book!

[penelope1597]

The Handmaid’s Tale—Season 6, Episode 9

Spoilers + Full Rant: Nick Blaine deserved better.

It's been hours. I’m not over it, and honestly? I don’t think I ever will be. These are my thoughts on the second-to-last episode of The Handmaid's Tale. Just my opinion.

CW: mentions of character death, abuse, and assault (including references to rape). Please read gently. Take care of yourself.

Nick’s downfall, if we can even call it that, wasn’t earned. It wasn’t thoughtful. It wasn’t the slow moral descent of a man corrupted by power. It was maybe three episodes of rushed choices, forced betrayals, and a character assassination that feels like it was written for shock value, not truth.

After six seasons of restrained love, quiet sacrifices, and impossible choices, they (writers and cast) threw him away with no warning and expected us to accept it.

But I can’t. I won’t.

Nick Blaine was not “just like the other Commanders.” No matter how badly the writers wanted to draw those false parallels in the final episodes, we know who he was. Having June and Serena both say, "You're just like the rest of them," was not only inaccurate, it was completely unjustifiable.

He wasn’t Fred. He wasn't Wharton.

Nick wasn’t a man who reveled in power or used Gilead to abuse women. He was a man caught in a system he never asked to be part of. He tried to survive, yes, but more than that, he was one who loved. One who tried to do good inside a world built to crush it.

Let’s talk about Serena Joy. If Serena can be "redeemed" after being an architect of women’s suffering—after holding June down to be raped—if she can cry over a baby and suddenly be positioned as a symbol of complex womanhood, then Nick Blaine deserved the chance to live.

And Aunt Lydia? Who mutilated girls and said it was what they deserved? She’s being reimagined as morally gray, too.

But Nick? Nick, who gave everything to help the woman he loved escape—he gets a bomb. No closure. No voice. No grace.

Let’s not forget why Nick did what he did.

He killed Guardians because June, Luke, and Moira needed help.

He shared Mayday plans because June put him in a situation where he had to choose between death on the wall or betrayal. And from what we’re shown, Nick didn’t know or even think that those women would die. Just like June didn’t think that asking for his help over and over wouldn’t come with consequences eventually.

Then June just let him get on that plane. She didn’t warn him. She didn’t stop him. After everything. After all the quiet love, all the protection, all the things he never asked for in return. She let him die believing she hated him.

And I’m supposed to believe that’s justice?

This is June’s story. I’ve always supported her rage. Her choices. Her trauma. And I always will.

But what they did to Nick. What the writers did to that love story. That wasn’t just cruel. It was narratively dishonest.

It twisted years of slow-burn connection into a last-minute complicate-by-association arc that Nick never deserved.

And for what? Shock value is all I can think of.

One more corpse to stack under June’s story?

I’m not mad because Nick was perfect. I’m mad because he wasn’t, and that’s what made him real. He was scared, restrained, and loyal. He loved June so deeply, he disappeared into it.

And they killed him off like he was a plot device.

Nick deserved redemption. At the very least, he deserved the truth. And I will never forgive them for denying him both.

I am heartbroken about Lawrence. But it made sense. Nick didn't.

That’s my rant. I will be watching the last episode next week.

[penelope1597]

This is fucked up, guys. Here’s what we uncovered today and what we finally realized. Read this.

Luke, at some point, becomes the embodiment of the very same mechanisms June has been fighting against all this time.

Only he doesn’t do it in a Commander’s cloak or with a whip, he does it wrapped in softness:

“I love you,” “I just want to protect you,” “I take care of Nichole” “I waited for you.”

But in reality:

— he weaponizes guilt so she constantly feels unworthy (like they do in Gilead)

— he emotionally claims the child, completely erasing the biological father (like they do in Gilead)

And no this isn’t a coincidence. This isn’t “just how it turned out.”

Luke isn’t a villain in the obvious sense. He’s something much scarier: a good guy who, without even realizing it, continues to reproduce the exact same system.

And that is the most dangerous form of patriarchy. 🚩

[penelope1597]

This is just bad writing

This. Should've. Happened. Sooner. And why are you "idealizing" and "romanticizing" him anyway? For what reason would you be doing this? No, you changed what you wanted to do in the final season to be shocking.

If Nick was always That Guy then we should've seen him do shit with the Eyes that went beyond rounding up commanders. We should've seen or have a hint of that the Martha a part of Mayday and who warns him about falling for June, play him as some sort of double agent. Why are the Marthas meeting him in season 4 so he can ask them about June? Would they not know that he's actually That Guy?

No, you can't have it both ways. It can't be All Men Are Bad In Gilead. Nick Was Always A Villain. He's A Nazi. He Was A Part Of The Gestapo. You Should've Seen This Coming. And also, but his and June's love was this amazing thing and he really does love Holly, and June will tell Holly about Nick and how her parents loved each other and loved her So Much. Why would you tell your daughter this if her father was a fucking Nazi? THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE.

[penelope1597]

I don’t care what the anti osblaine or anti Nick people have to say to justify this utter shit show. Max’s reaction to this season being “oh I must have been playing Nick wrong for 5 seasons” is just proof that they completely wrote the character differently in s6 to making the ending work and that’s BAD writing. If you have to change the core of who a character is to make the ending work then it’s the wrong ending.

[penelope1597]

The Handmaid's Tale has always had pretty serious issues with racism and classism, but I think it seldom feels starker than it does in this season where two upper class white people, the two very people responsible for creating Gilead, are given more rebellious activities and more chances at "redemption" than a working class man of colour and victim of childhood abuse who was taken advantage of and manipulated by the previously mentioned people.

What kind of message are they trying to send exactly? Saying that vulnerable young men are worthless and irredeemable when they make mistakes and are manipulated and taken advantage of by a powerful few who are hellbent on dividing society as much as possible for their own gain and then saying that the people that create that very system are the victims? Well it's more than a little troubling and upsetting.

This season really went and told us that Andrew T*te and Phyllis Schlafly were the real victims, not the countless people whose lives they've ruined through their manipulation and greed.

I'm just shocked and bewildered by this messaging. It embodies the worst, most toxic elements of internet "feminism". No wonder humanity is going to the damn dogs.

[penelope1597]

Episode 6 - "Love Letter"

To say the recent bust up of Nick and June was seismic would be completely underselling it. From the beginning these 2 were no ordinary tv couple and this break up has a litany of facets to it, making it far more complex than most. I’ll be honest the mechanics that were employed by these writers left me vacillating between nauseous and enraged ever since it occurred. For those lining up to criticize the emotional investment in this romance, stay with me. I’m not arguing whether or not associated issues of fascism and patriarchal power are legitimate, my beef is HOW and WHEN these were made, why the fuck it wasn’t done earlier and WHY they dressed this character and connection up as something completely different.

These last few weeks have been a flood of what I can only term “damage control” in the press due to the episodes of The Handmaids Tale regarding Nick and Junes break up. Clearly the writers underestimated the audiences attachment to the couple and complexities involved in breaking them up. They clearly underestimated the brutal response that they would receive at trying to villainise one of their fan favourites in the final hours, and they deeply underestimated the anger which would be levelled not at the character but at themselves for it. Years of experience should have told them that sudden changes / reveals in beloved characters, in the final hours are received poorly. This type of character change was similarly lambasted in GOT, and for some strange reason they had not learnt. These writers also misjudged greatly the intricacies of this romance, and the consequences of the mechanics that they used to bring it to a close.

The writers and show runners bear full culpability for the audiences devotion to these two and the ensuing tsunami of disappointment at their break up. They bear the entirety of the blame for the damage that has been done and the anger they have received. They used every possible mechanic to construct an exquisite and epic love story, fanned the flames of it’s popularity right up until the last possible moment, dragged it out for ratings and then ended it in possibly the most callous way I’ve ever seen. They cast the participants as star crossed lovers separated by the regime for 5 years and then tried to swiftly rewrite the underlying mechanics of their relationship entirely in the final season. They used the slaughter of vulnerable women as an excuse to sever a relationship with a brutal finality, under the guise that it was a statement about soft fascism. By placing the murder of these women at such a quintessential moment in the series history, they lost all hope that any constructive dialogue would be undertaken about these women’s sacrifice for patriarchal power. They stole away its space as viewers became fixated on the seismic occurrence between the two after years of waiting. How could the writers be so shortsighted? We’d been told that this relationship would be brought to a “satisfying conclusion” during the course of this season, is this what they meant? I was horrified. In the following weeks writers then had the audacity to act surprised that audiences would feel angry and betrayed by a needlessly drawn out love triangle and the accompanying press that had baited them for years. What the fuck did they think was going to happen? These people either knew what they were doing for years, or they entered into this season having changed course radically. No matter which way you slice it, the method of this take down, made them look either incompetent, ignorant, cruel or all of the above. I think about the pages and pages of romantically laced PR released by writers and show runners to actively encourage the belief in this union and I feel physically ill that they would actually construct something so emotionally manipulative.

Lines of dialogue used by characters during the final analysis of this relationship, contained references to the fact that they’d reduced the character of Nick and Nick and June’s relationship to one of simple necessity, lust and physical attraction. This was after years of firmly establishing a loving, emotional connection with a fully fleshed out character. It turned the writers exercise in “enlightenment” about soft fascism, into a pointed thinly veiled accusation of superficiality. Fans of the two who were ENCOURAGED to believe in the genuine nature of both this character and their relationship, were now being accused in the most underhanded manner, of being nothing but pathetic “fan girls”. For years writers had delivered Nick and June’s love story as one of “love between the barricades”, but they were now suddenly stating that both the protagonist and the audience were blind to soft fascism as long as it came in attractive packaging. It was the equivalent of luring the audience with a genuinely beautiful love story and then accusing them of condoning fascism, simply because they had been naive enough to BELIEVE them and become entangled in it. The fact is, you don’t get to package something up like a Hallmark greeting card, and criticise your audience for appreciating it, when you decide you want to rebrand the whole thing. It is little wonder that audiences were seething with indignant rage.

From season 1 we’d been told that Blaine had forsaken his own happiness to care for his family, was loyal and caring and was manipulated and targeted for this regime. We’d been told repeatedly in the press that he was a “good man” riddled with regret. A Blaine that was made to perform heinous acts (often at June’s behest or for her benefit), surveilled and entrapped. A Blaine that had endangered his own life to help others, a man who had to sneak around for the chance to HOLD HIS OWN CHILD…… and I was now being asked to believe that this same man had full autonomy all along. Writers had constantly labeled Blaine the only “Good man in Gilead” with Tuello calling him an “honorable man” in the final moments of season 5. NOW I was being asked to accept that he’d actually been an ambitious ladder climbing fascist the entire time, refusing to leave, dripping in Nazi war spoils. A free man does not have to marry a child bride while the woman he loves watches on. That's just not a fucking thing. I always enjoyed Blaine as the noir drenched assassin, slipping into no mans land covertly to visit Osborne, trade intel and slaughter the odd foe. But this weak, pathetic, greedy, dutiful yes man was just a sad shadow of his former ambiguous complexity. After seasons and seasons of building him to be nuanced, writers reduced him to nothing more than a 2 dimensional, egomaniacal, self indulgent, spoilt brat and claimed he’d just been keeping it well hidden all along. Fucking please.

The sudden twisting of Blaine’s acts of sacrifice into one’s of selfishness defy belief. Suddenly everything he’s ever done has been simply to possess her…..including helping her escape….twice….and that file about Hannah….which he never thought he’d give to her in person. I mean at least make this shit believable. Instead of the “good man” we’d been led to believe Blaine was for the last 5 seasons, I was now being asked to believe that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to save his own skin. Worse still, the writers actually thought it would be believable that Osborne had the right to judge him for the death of any innocents on the path to survival. Excuse me? In season 2 June demanded Blaine sleep with his 15 year old child bride, because “I can’t lose you”. While Eden had given consent, she was a minor and technically this constituted rape at Osborne's behest, for the sake of keeping Blaine alive. In season 4 when Osborn poisoned a swathe of commanders at a Jezebels, she was well aware, from former experience that Gilead would clean house. She did it anyway. She handed over the handmaids to ensure Hannahs safety, even though the idea that a High commanders daughter would actually be sacrificed was utterly ludicrous. The audacity of Osborne now stomping her feet self righteously, forsaking Blaine after previously ordering him to rape and murder for her, was absolutely unbelievable. June has more blood on her hands than most and quite often the casualties of her personal war are innocents. The multitude of Marthas and Jezebels killed in the course of Osborne's crusades caused a Martha to warn Blaine in season 4 “you’re better off without her, everyone who helps her ends up on the fucking wall”. He’s ignored repeated warnings not to get sucked into cyclone Osborne and doubtless he’ll end up paying the price. In season 2 Blaine recited Corinthians to Osborn as a reassurance that he loved her, in season 4 he recited The Armor of God to her to give her fortitude as she underwent torture. At the end of episode 7 Osborn recited Psalm 23 as a pointed message about having the fortitude to kill Blaine. It’s just one in a swathe of examples of how writers have made a swift about face in this character relationship, and I for one will not sit idly by and have it fed to me as though it was some sort of pre determined natural progression. I remain unconvinced that Blaine would have ever chosen Gilead above June, and I’m basing that opinion on years and years of plot lines, character information, and press releases that were FED TO ME by the writers. I am not alone. I also don’t believe that spilling the beans to Wharton about Mayday’s plot when cornered and terrified, constitutes making a free autonomous choice about loyalties. Um no. That’s like saying that coercive control equals full autonomy, and that's just not a thing I’m afraid. Nick Blaine is by nature a planner and honestly, I’m a bit fucking sus about the whole thing given that Blaine had passports and papers all good to go for he and Osborne to leave permanently……call me crazy but fleeing the country doesn’t really scream loyalist. He also dropped everything on the one day he was meant to get up and perform for Gilead, in 6 03 to come running to her. The fact was he chose her, and ultimately she’d chosen him too, they were a breath away from leaving, but yet again Gilead fucked them.

June returned to Luke after the horrific incident in episode 7, having had her autonomy in the decision between these two men completely stripped from her by a mans actions. Once again nothing more than an archaic love triangle. In episode 6 she was a breath away from dumping said hubby and running off with Nick, and any “Team Luke” fans should actually be pretty pissed off, that the best that these writers could serve them was some paltry left overs after everything with Nick went sideways. It was also all a bit distasteful and pathetic that she practically crawled back to him in the same episode, after an ugly and humiliating confrontation. In front of a room full of strangers Luke had yelled at her for being “in love with a Nazi”. Ironically not several episodes prior Luke had called Nick “bro” and hugged the man for saving him. Now he was actually berating his wife for trusting and loving a man who had cared for and ensured her survival for years. I was stunned by the hypocrisy and quite frankly I was just utterly confused as to what the writers message was. Was he a fascist or not?

The majority of the audience have not viewed this marriage as a realistically sustainable nor healthy bond for years. Despite the writers efforts to reconnect them, most audience members have viewed their efforts as less like rebuilding and more like constant attempts to resuscitate. The fact that Luke and June had failed to discuss June still being in love with Nick for years, did nothing to testify to the health of communication in their marriage. These writers seem to be confused between what exactly they are trying to depict; a thinly veiled reflection of reality or a fictional scenario, because in the real world the chances of June and Luke’s marriage being intact, statistically are absolutely fucking zero. You combine the loss of a child, separation for nearly a decade, the love for another partner and deep trauma, and the math is clear. In reality Nick would not be running to and fro across the border either, he’d have been discovered and shot by Gilead for being a traitor years ago. Luke and June’s marriage is a rampant fantasy legitimised as somehow an actual reality, if it has merit, then so too does the scenario where Nick and June get to run away to Hawaii, and that’s been painted as a complete daydream.

In the end if the writers intention is that June be alone, I’ve no doubt it will be framed as her “finding the strength to stand alone”, but given that these two relationships are being whittled down to such pathetic options, it’s hardly a “feminist” outcome to give her little recourse.

After the disaster with Nick it seemed unbelievable that the actual Architect of Gilead was then paraded out to scold her for her poor judgment. Ironically he seemed pretty buddy buddy with the person who’d admitted involvement in the death of his beloved Eleanor (oops there’s another body Osborne). June composed herself and joined forces with THE most complicit individual in the construction of Gilead, responsible for the murder and enslavement of millions of women, happily rearranging her plans without hesitation. This not only put a gaping hole in the protagonists (and writers) reasoning for cutting ties with Blaine, but also proved his point entirely and almost immediately, about her not giving a shit about the dirty side of patriarchal power, as long as it served her purposes.

Meanwhile Mayday and Luke, not 15 minutes earlier, having unleashed scorn on Osborn for being stupid enough to trust a commander, allowed Lawrence to calmly stroll into their camp and were now gathered around detailing their next super secret mission to him. The SAME commander that had foiled their attempt to retrieve Hannah in season 5 and told June point blank that he wasn’t giving her daughter back. The SAME commander who had told Blaine that it was okey dokey if they took pot shots at her. This was a fucking joke right? Osborn seemed happy to selectively kill commanders leaving Lawrence as the last man standing, but what did she think Lawrence was going to do with New Bethlehem? Was she actually naive enough to think that he wouldn’t go straight back to his old world building ways? Did Holly’s words “They’re all like that!” just apply to Nick when scolding her naivety about the nature of commanders? Exactly how selective was this messaging to audiences going to be? This character arc of Blaine’s feels personal, and how could it not when he seems to be being held up to an entirely different moral standard than all the others in the room? I couldn’t help but suspect that the entire thing was simply a manipulation to correct previous character construction, while disposing of a contender in a love triangle of their own making, who was persisting to dog the writers.

If the characters relationships weren’t consistent, why on earth would I believe that character constructs were? Particularly when all of a sudden out of the blue the writers were claiming the right to cite character information that they’d neglected to mention for years. If the character construct of Blaine, a central character in the protagonists life, wasn’t consistent, who’s to say any of the others were? Why would audiences accept these schizophrenic maneuverings as cannon? I watched as the audiences disbelief rippled outwards, calling into question all of the characters and their plot lines and inevitably causing the 4th wall to crumble. Suddenly they wanted answers, and as well they might.

What’s to say that Naomi wasn’t about to suddenly sprout horns and start running around her parlour room giggling manically? Perhaps Serena could start inviting June and Rita over for scones and tea…..oh hang on. Apparently Luke came out of jail magically transformed from essentially a bookworm to a wannabe revolutionary. Certainly it’s very valid that he actively wants to be involved in the retrieval of his daughter but the fact is for the last 5 seasons the man never dipped toe over the border. He had to be extricated from his house in Canada under threat of arrest, still refusing to take the impending threat from Gilead seriously even after his wife was run over right outside the front door. Now suddenly he’s tinkering with explosives, something he has no experience with and shown absolutely no aptitude for. I would have bought it if they’d just given him a chart, a map or some authority to delegate because by nature he’s clearly a very capable strategist. It would have also gone a long way to establishing him as an individual with some inner strength, instead of merely June’s shadow. Now here we have Nick vaulting from dark guardian to a self interested traitor lurking under the protagonists nose…despite all evidence to the contrary….for 5 long seasons. Yep, sounds legit.

Minghella recently gave an interview stating that now he felt as though he’d been playing his character incorrectly all along given his current transformation. It’s extremely telling that the actor themselves has been completely blindsided by last minute character developments that re alter their perception of the character they’ve inhabited for years. The character that they were given meticulous direction for throughout the last 5 seasons. The evidence of which lies in detailed scripting notes for the entire world to see. I don’t believe these writers when they say that this was always their intent to deliver this transition all along, and neither should he. I don’t know how emotionally invested he was in this character but I do know that if you feel that after years of effort and work, you should have done your job differently, it must fucking hurt. I’ll say this right now, this won’t be any failing on his part. If they planned it and didn’t entirely fill him in on character aspects, then it’s on them, if they changed his character in the final hours, then it’s on them. A large portion of the audience seem to feel betrayed and I wouldn’t blame Minghella for feeling the same. Like any actor would, he’s dutifully towed the line about what “a bold and interesting choice” this all was, I think that’s being incredibly kind, which seems on brand. A self confessed romantic, he stated that he’d always viewed the romance as a source of light but now he viewed it under a more nihilistic lens. This really was the most polite way I’ve ever heard anyone say that something beautiful had been turned it into a smoking fucking wreck. The image of Blaine and Osborne holding their child together at the end of season 2 and in 4 09 will be burned forever into my psyche. The shot of them standing in that golden window naming their daughter, dreaming of a better life, is forever suspended in amber. And I’ll be fucked if I let them snatch it back, all the while mocking me for ever believing any of it was real. Not on my watch. If they wanted me to see a weak willed, duplicitous, monster, then they shouldn’t have draped him in loyalty, love, righteous justice and yearning for years. They built him over 5 seasons, and now they want to hastily reconstruct him over 10 short episodes? Well it’s too late. These writers should have known better than to simply think they could rewrite history and get away with it. Personally I’m not surprised that fans circled the writers like a bunch of vicious handmaids at a Salvaging. I’m not debating whether or not Nick has benefited from patriarchal power. He has, that’s just a fact. You’re a man in Gilead, you benefit, it’s a patriarchal society…..and so is ours….which is kind of the point. See the difference here is merely in degrees, and we’re having a mirror mashed into our faces. Just a shame that they failed to truly establish that image of him in earlier seasons, in fact they made pains to edit out parts of his persona and instead constructed a portrait of the dark, romantic protector. Now they’re wondering why people are confused. The fact was that he’d moved well beyond his role as merely a driver and an eye, a simple cog in the wheel, and was now acting as the hand that turned it. He’d been a commander for years, yet writers continued to label him as “a good man in Gilead”, insinuating that he was the exception to the rule. Now in the final season they wanted to undo this entire image, giving the majority of the audience whiplash. They wanted to backtrack and say “we know we called him a Good man in Gilead for FIVE SEASONS, but here’s all this other shit we forgot to tell you about”. It’s just not good enough. Suddenly the writers were screaming phrases like “Nazi” and “fascist” about a character they themselves had painted as extremely benevolent throughout the years, opening fans of the duo to online “Pro fascism” criticism, when they’d simply been following the writers own cues about the character for years. What the actual fuck?

This relationship has established itself as a thematically timeless love story, over 5 seasons and now they expected audiences to detach from that in the space of 4 short episodes. In the process they have also in effect poisoned this entire, beautiful love story that they worked so hard to construct right down through the seasons, making rewatches excruciating if not impossible. They were like a port in the storm and with this one act, they took it all away leaving nothing but death, darkness, betrayal and PTSD. I also sensed that writers would not be content with the brutal severing of this relationship, they were seeking to convince audiences that Blaine’s love for June had never actually been genuine. Instead it had been a selfish desire to posses her, much like Fred’s. Blaine stood up and declared in episode 6 08 at Serena’s wedding that Rose’s child was his “mine own child first and forever”, effectively relinquishing his parentage over Holly. I was disgusted. These writers would not be content until the last vestiges of this union were dead. This cold severing of any parental bond served the writers as a "deal breaker" for the relationship. With Blaine now having disowned his own child, writers would be guaranteed that the audience saw him as a monster and easily hop on board with the protagonist trying to kill the father of her child, whom she’d loved for years. This will of course be presented to the audience as “a final test of strength” but it’s not, it’s a disturbing depiction of domestic violence being justified under the guise of righteous justice. At the beginning of the season the writers and show runners had claimed this season was “for the fans” but they knew full well that at least 80% were invested in this character and duo and THAT is entirely on them. I don’t know how they convinced themselves that the majority of fans would want to see these two broken up because they couldn’t have been clearer about it for years and years. Fans have also been begging for Blaine to be moved underground for years as well and I seriously doubt that’s ever going to happen. So no, it’s not for the fans, it’s for the writers. The writers who’d fucked up and decided at the last minute to try and fix their mistake. It’s for the writers, so they could console themselves in the last few short episodes that they did their duty of pointing out the soft fascist in the room after feeding their audience the very opposite of it for years. It’s for the writers so hell bent on covering up their mistake that they want to erase it entirely by rewriting history. I have no doubt that they thought they were being “edgey” and clever by having the two pitted against one another this season, but let’s face it, it has simply served to highlight some serious fundamental shortcomings. This is not a “love letter”, this is not even the apology they owe their audience for this incredible campaign to gaslight them, this is more like a finger in the mail. I'm a pragmatist so I actually never expected the two of them to end up together, but neither did I expect this absolute annihilation of their relationship and ridiculous character assassination in the eleventh hour.

[penelope1597]

Luke: When love becomes about possession, not partnership.

(OK, let me get on my soap box, because enough is enough.)

The writers cannot seriously want this sorry excuse for a marriage to be endgame. It reeks of default, obligation, and emotional resentment. ICK.

It’s not about love anymore. It’s not even about survival. It’s about ownership.

And it’s not just unromantic — it’s disturbing.

💬 “Don’t be in love with a fucking Nazi.”

Let’s start here.

That line wasn’t about Gilead. It wasn’t about right or wrong. It was about punishment.

Luke said it to shame her. To weaponize her guilt. To take everything she’s been through — and everything she still feels for Nick — and twist it into something grotesque. To humiliate her into submission.

And the worst part?

It worked. June shut down. She folded. She defaulted back into silence.

Not because she believed Luke —but because she didn’t feel safe enough to push back. That’s emotional control.

💢 This isn’t about resistance. It’s about jealousy.

Luke frames his rage as political, but let’s not pretend.

This isn’t about Gilead. It’s about June being in love with someone else. Has always been in love with someone else.

Luke isn’t fighting for freedom. He’s fighting for ownership. He’s trying to stake a claim on June’s heart through shame, fear, and obligation.

But you can’t shame someone out of a love that has survived everything. And you can’t bully your way into being someone’s peace.

🧊 Luke is not the safe choice. He’s the easy one.

June isn’t with Luke because she chose him. She’s with him because she’s exhausted. Because she’s lost so much and Luke is the one who’s still standing.

But that’s not a relationship — it’s resignation. And Luke knows it.

That’s why he lashes out. Because he can feel her heart pulling away, and instead of loving her through it, he tightens his grip.

“That he’s this savior that you’ve been pining for ever since you got back.”

That’s not a man mourning lost connection. That’s a man who feels entitled to her love and is furious she won’t just hand it over.

💔 You don’t win love by being the last one left.

What’s heartbreaking about all of this is that Luke still thinks he’s fighting for something real.

But it’s not real. Not anymore.

Because if June was ready to leave with Nick, if she said “yes”, if she kissed him like he was her only truth — then everything happening with Luke right now is just noise.

And if Luke had any real respect for her, he’d let her go.

But he doesn’t.

Because Luke isn’t trying to be chosen. He’s trying to win.

And love isn’t a game.

Luke doesn’t need to be a villain to be the wrong choice. He just has to keep confusing control for care. Guilt for intimacy. Presence for love.

Because love isn’t just about showing up — it’s about seeing the person in front of you. And Luke has never really seen June.

He sees who she used to be. Who he wants her to be. Not the woman who broke and bled and found love in the ashes.

And if this story ends with her choosing that version of comfort — the safe lie over the dangerous truth —then it’s not just Nick who loses.

It’s her.

Because staying isn’t surviving. And choosing someone out of fear of being alone isn’t love — it’s another kind of silence.

And June Osborne was never meant to go quiet.

[penelope1597]

Not Everyone Has to Be a Revolutionary (and Why That’s Okay Especially for Nick)

I need to scream this from the rooftops because people are seriously losing the plot. I’m so fucking tired to read this. That he’s a nazi and we all missed the signs ugh

Why does everyone expect Nick to be the main, active revolutionary? Why does he have to sacrifice himself for the greater good to prove he’s “a good man”?

HE DOESN’T. And that’s not a flaw, it’s literally what makes him beautifully human.

Look at the characters who are fighting Gilead:

• June is burning with rage. She lost her daughter. She was raped and tortured. Everything was stolen from her. In Gilead, she still has friends like Janine and wants to free them. Also, she comes from a mother who was an activist, she grew up around protests and was part of them from a young age. Her core values are rights and freedom. Of course she’s fighting.

• Luke lost his wife and child. Hannah is still there. He was left powerless. His whole identity collapsed, he wants revenge. (Also he wants to prove June that he is worth something because he feels she doesn’t love him the way she used to😏)

• Moira was enslaved, dehumanized. She has every reason to fight with everything she has.

And others.They are fueled by personal trauma. Their war is personal.

And Nick?He’s not driven by revenge, because Gilead didn’t destroy him the way it destroyed others. That doesn’t mean he supports it, he’s just not a soldier in someone else’s war.

He doesn’t trust politicians. He doesn’t want to be someone’s pawn (he is so sick of it because once he trusted them “once you get in bed with the government it’s not so easy to get out). He fights for love, not ideology.

And his greatest strength?

LOVE.LOYALTY.SACRIFICE FOR ONE PERSON.

He saved June over and over.He broke rules.He risked his life.He was ready to run away to live a quiet life with her. (Even though it’s really risky for him because he’s a commander after all, a war criminal)

That is also powerful.

And guess what? June believes in love too. She btw values it the most. She’s the one who said:

“People die from lack of love.”

Telling Fred that love is worth living

“You grab love wherever you will find it” etc

She is grateful to Nick for exactly that. For keeping her alive when she was drowning. Only love saved her. “He helped me to survive” ♥️

And now people wanna cancel him because he’s not on the frontlines with a machine gun? (Or on the wall 😀) just for some women or ideology?? Because he values a single life, June’s, more than the idea of a revolution?

Are you kidding me???

That’s not weakness.That’s just a different kind of strength.

Reality check:

Only about 5% of people in real revolutions actually fight on the frontlines. (Thanks, historians like Charles Tilly & Eric Hobsbawm.) The other 95%? They resist in small ways.

I get it. The Handmaid’s Tale is a story mainly about revolution. It’s about resistance, fighting the system, burning it down.

But not everyone in this world wants to grab a gun and start a war. Some people like Rita or Nick are just trying to survive. And help their family. (Why everyone is ok with Rita but for Nick it’s different?)

And that’s not weakness. That’s realistic and human.

Nick is the guy who risks everything not for politics and power, but for love.

Honestly, I think what Nick really lacks is focus because he loves June too much. He’s so scared of losing her, of something happening to her, of her dying…(“she’s not coming back to you. - I know, i just want her to stay alive 🥹)

And her obsession with revolution? It only makes that fear worse. He’s not thinking straight, he’s spiraling, because everything in his world revolves around her.

He shouldn’t be punished for loving her more than he hates the system.