Why June Selected Nick Over Luke In The S4 Finale
Warning: Incorporates SPOILERS for The Handmaid’s Story season 4, episode 10, “The Wilderness.”
June Osborne made some huge choices in The Handmaid’s Story season 4 finale, and one in all them was successfully selecting Nick Blaine over Luke Bankole. It was anticipated that June escaping Gilead to Canada can be dangerous information for anybody wanting her to finish up with Nick, however that is not fairly how issues have performed out throughout The Handmaid’s Story‘s Nick and June season 4 arc. A contented ending for June and Nick stays extremely unlikely, particularly after the occasions in The Handmaid’s Story season 5. Nick stays entrapped inside Gilead in a cell, and it is laborious to see any likelihood of him getting out alive. On the identical time, although, June and Luke have struggled to make issues work since she arrived in Canada, and the occasions of the season 4 finale, “The Wilderness,” which noticed June and different Handmaids kill Fred Waterford, solely served to exacerbate issues in that regard.
June killing Fred was one in all The Handmaid’s Story‘s largest season 4 moments, however it’s not the place that storyline ends. Within the closing moments of season 4, June says goodbye to Nichole and tells Luke she’ll be leaving. For his half, Luke appears to be like utterly damaged by what June has finished, and she or he herself is leaving as a result of they want distance from one another and have completely different paths to stroll proper now, reasonably than being in any authorized hassle for Fred’s demise (no less than because it stands, although that would change). June killed Fred out of her personal thirst for revenge, and whereas it was additionally a call made with Nichole in thoughts as a result of it is about ridding the world of harmful males like Fred and the programs that uphold them, it additionally put Nick earlier than Luke, giving him a key function in Fred Waterford’s demise in The Handmaid’s Story and displaying what he provides June that Luke would not. The Handmaid’s Story‘s Nick and June season 4 ending, due to this fact, makes excellent sense.
June Left Luke As a result of He Does not Know Her Anymore
Luke loves June and desires to grasp and assist her, however there’s a big a part of her that he would not know. It is that a part of June that drives her to kill Fred, and it is that which Nick really understands and appreciates higher than anybody. For so long as June is on a quest to carry down Gilead, save her daughter, Hannah, and overcome her trauma, then it should at all times be troublesome for her to be with Luke, whereas she is going to at all times be drawn to Nick. He’s the one who can ship what she desires within the season 4 finale, and in addition the particular person she would belief to take action.
It had beforehand felt as if the June and Nick season 4 romance ended with their assembly on the Maria Magdalena Academy in season 4, episode 9, “Progress,” which felt like a goodbye, however it appeared extra clear their fates will stay entwined for some time longer, as seen in The Handmaid’s Story season 5 when he visits June on the hospital. The pair share a kiss earlier than Fred is chased to his demise, which additional highlights simply how a lot they perceive each other: it is an in any other case darkish second and signifies how Nick understands this facet of June due to his personal experiences in Gilead and his empathy with June’s place.
Why June Had To Decide Nick In Handmaid’s Story Season 4
Actress Elisabeth Moss has additionally supported the concept the Nick and June season 4 storyline is inevitable, telling Elle: “She desires to be with Nick. She’s in love with Nick.” This underlines June’s pondering in The Handmaid’s Story season 4 finale: whereas Luke can provide her so many nice issues like a protected, completely satisfied household life, Moss herself admits that June belongs with Nick. She has been modified an excessive amount of by Gilead, and she or he and Nick share one thing completely different. Nick’s final purpose stays intentionally obscured by the present’s storytelling since he has to proceed serving as a Commander in Gilead and hasn’t at all times finished every part to assist June, however it appears that he’s shifting extra absolutely to her facet.
Nick is the one with whom June feels real electrical energy, though she cares for and loves Luke, and the Gilead commander can be the one who can provide her what she desires. Killing Fred is a selection that June makes regardless of figuring out it’s going to have main penalties for her relationship with Luke, and it is also one which brings her nearer to Nick as soon as once more – nevertheless fleetingly – additional cementing them because the present’s main romantic pairing.
In the end, The Handmaid’s Story‘s Nick and June season 4 storyline illustrates that whereas June technically had a selection in who to be with, Nick was at all times destined to win out. Luke and June shared a real connection as soon as. Nevertheless, primarily based on the trail of revenge that June is at present on and the methods her trauma has modified her, Nick is the choice that makes probably the most sense for her character. Being with Nick permits June to proceed on her present trajectory, whereas selecting Luke would have meant shifting previous Gilead and looking for a semblance of the peace she knew earlier than. The Handmaid’s Story season 6 may permit June this improvement finally. Nevertheless, for now, she’s nonetheless deeply embroiled within the battle towards Gilead and has a seamless entanglement with Nick.
Nick And June’s Happiness Is Brief-Lived
The Handmaid’s Story‘s Nick and June season 4 arc did present a glimmer of hope for the couple, however that has all however been squashed by the occasions of The Handmaid’s Story season 5. For starters, Nick and June have solely been in the identical room as soon as since her escape from Gilead. Whereas Nick tries his greatest to maintain June protected from inside Gilead’s partitions, now that he is a Commander, it did not cease June from being run over and shot at. The try on June’s life main as much as The Handmaid’s Story season 5 finale noticed her within the hospital with Mark Tuello. He kisses June on the brow, however she does not more than stir. The personal dialog between Tuello and Nick reveals why Nick did not escape Gilead with June, as Nick states, “She has individuals who look after her. She doesn’t want me. I’m nothing.”
Clearly Nick is referring to Luke right here, however nonetheless, his emotions of affection for June are uncomfortably delivered to the floor once more by his pregnant spouse Rose, who accuses him of by no means getting over her. He would not inform Rose that she’s flawed, reasonably, he breaks down saying that he tried to let her go, however simply cannot. Additional, Nick actually will get himself in hassle when he punches Commander Lawrence at his wedding ceremony for the most recent assault on June — a misstep that ends with Nick locked up in a cell. Sadly, June and Nick are extra separate than ever going into The Handmaid’s Story‘s last season, however hopefully, they’ll by some means discover one another once more.
