Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 10, "The Wilderness."
June Osborne made some big decisions in The Handmaid's Tale season 4 finale, and one of them was effectively choosing Nick Blaine over Luke Bankole. The two love interests in June's life have long represented the split in her story: Nick was very much her present in Gilead when she was forced into being Offred, with Luke representing her life before she was captured, but also, seemingly, her future. It was expected that June escaping to Canada would be bad news for anyone wanting her to end up with Nick, but that's not quite how things have played out across season 4.
A happy ending for June and Nick remains incredibly unlikely, even with The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 9 showcasing them as the Hulu series' main love story. Nick remains entrapped within Gilead, and it's hard to see any chance of him getting out alive. At the same time, though, June and Luke have struggled to make things work since she arrived in Canada, and the events of the season 4 finale, "The Wilderness," which saw June and other former Handmaids kill Fred Waterford, only served to exasperate things in that regard.
June killing Fred was one of The Handmaid's Tale's biggest moments so far, but it's not where that storyline ends. In the closing moments of season 4, June says goodbye to Nichole and tells Luke she'll be leaving. For his part, Luke looks completely broken by what June has done, and she herself is leaving because they need distance from each other and have different paths to walk right now, rather than being in any legal trouble for Fred's death (at least as it stands, though that could change). June killed Fred out of her own thirst for revenge, and while it was also a decision made with Nichole in mind, because it's about ridding the world of dangerous men like Fred and the systems that uphold them, it also put Nick before Luke, giving him a key role in Commander Waterford's death and showing what he gives June that Luke doesn't.
Luke loves June and wants to understand and help her, but there's a large part of her that he doesn't know. It's that part of June that drives her to kill Fred, and it's that which Nick truly understands and appreciates better than anyone. For as long as June is on a quest to bring down Gilead, to save her daughter, Hannah, and needing to overcome her trauma, then it will always be difficult for her to be with Luke, while she will always be drawn to Nick. He is the one who can deliver what she wants in the season 4 finale, and also the person she would trust to do so.
It had previously felt as though June and Nick's meeting at the Maria Magdalena Academy in season 4, episode 9, "Progress," was a goodbye, but it seems more clear their fates will remain entwined a while longer. The pair share a kiss before Fred is chased to his death, which further highlights just how much they understand one another: it's an otherwise dark moment, and signifies how Nick gets that side of things because of his own experiences in Gilead, as well as knowing June's.
Actress Elisabeth Moss has also supported the idea that June belongs with Nick, telling Elle: "She wants to be with Nick. She’s in love with Nick." This underlines June's thinking in The Handmaid's Tale season 4 finale, which is that, while Luke can offer her so many great things, including a safe, happy family life - Moss herself admits that June "should" be with Luke - she has been changed too much by Gilead, and her and Nick share something different. Quite what Nick's ultimate goal is remains to be seen, since he has to continue serving as a Commander in Gilead and he hasn't always done everything to help June, but it seems he is shifting more fully to her side. Nick is the one who June is in love with, even if she obviously cares for and loves Luke too, and he's also the one who can give her what she wants. Killing Fred is a choice that June makes despite knowing it'll have major consequences for her relationship with Luke, and it's also one that brings her, even briefly, closer together with Nick once again, further cementing them as the main romantic pairing of the show.
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June 22, 2021 at 12:20AM
