The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Can’t Bring Itself To End Hopes For June & Nick’s Happy Ending Together

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 3.Now in its sixth season, eight years after it debuted, The Handmaid’s Tale still can’t let go of June Osborne and Nick Blaine. It might seem a little odd for a show like The Handmaid’s Tale, which deals with so many powerful themes and storylines around women’s rights and the subjugation of them, to invest so much in what’s now a love triangle (along with Luke Bankole) and, in the case of June and Nick, essentially a “will they/won’t they” relationship.

In a sense, that’s emblematic of how the show has changed since it overtook Margaret Atwood’s book (which only covered the first season), at times veering more into being a dystopian soap opera (not necessarily a criticism). Certainly, Elisabeth Moss and Max Minghella remain great as major parts of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s cast, and their chemistry is part of why the June/Nick story has largely worked. And after The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 3’s ending, while the show itself nears its endgame, it’s clear there’s a lot more to come with them.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6, Episode 3 Had Two Chances To End June & Nick’s Story

The Show Can’t Quite Bring Itself To Have Closure

Initially, it seemed like The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 was giving up on June and Nick. When they talk in episode 3, just before heading in to rescue Luke and Moira, the conversation is headed in the direction of June decisively choosing Luke. Nick even says as much, and June herself half-agrees, explaining that “[Luke] waited” for her. That could have been the end of it right there, but she then walks it back slightly:

Nick: “I’ve lost you, over and over again.”

June: “I’m here.”

That itself, in isolation, could’ve been her simply trying to reassure him. With Nick stuck in Gilead, or now part of Commander Lawrence’s New Bethlehem, he’s seemingly got no chance of escaping, while she is outside of it, so maybe there’s no need to fully break his heart.

But then at the end of the episode, Nick tries to say goodbye, and she won’t let him, insisting it’s just “see ya later.” It’s an intimate moment that speaks to the closeness and endurance of their bond, and while it does speak to the pain each would feel in saying goodbye, it also signifies that it’s not going away just yet.

Why The Handmaid’s Tale Isn’t Giving Up On June & Nick

There Are A Few Reasons To Keep It Going

It makes sense, really, that The Handmaid’s Tale would keep June and Nick going until the very end. It’s a storyline the show has invested in, and that viewers have invested a lot in; whether someone is Team Nick, Team Luke, or Team No One, as trivial as it could come off as when the stakes of the series are so high, it is part of how the show is consumed. The show looking to maintain that investment, and pay it off in the biggest way, is understandable.

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But there are deeper reasons for it, too. Hannah’s potential escape from Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale is a defining story, and something June cannot truly give up on. Nick is entwined with that; not just as someone who has tried his hardest to get Hannah out, but he is June’s closest link (that she can communicate with) to Gilead, and thus a tether to her missing daughter. That’s not an easy thing to just walk away from.

Similarly, June’s own feelings for Nick are, presumably, extremely complicated. She says that Luke is part of her, but so too is Nick. That’s not just because he’s Nichole’s father – though that’s a major factor – but that he was the one who was there for her in Gilead. Just as Nick cannot be what Luke is or know June in the same way, the opposite is true for Luke. And with that comes what Nick represents, and what love is: hope. For herself, for Hannah, for Gilead to be defeated, and that’s why June and Nick can’t be over yet.

Will June & Nick End Up Together?

The Odds Aren’t In Their Favor

There is clearly a fondness for June and Nick, and teasing the possibility of them being together, not only among viewers but among the writers of the show. And so I don’t think it’d be accurate to say there’s no chance they end up together, but it does seem like a very slim one.

There’s obviously a much bigger picture of June’s story: Canada, the United States, and Gilead, that needs to take precedence anyway, but it’s also hard to imagine this having too happy an ending (and not solely because The Testaments show is happening).

The characters have been through so much that, hopefully, some of them get what they deserve, but it wouldn’t feel true to the show for it all to work out OK in the end. It probably needs to be more bittersweet, and that may be where Nick comes in. His and June’s romance will more likely be doomed, whether that’s him dying or simply unable to escape his life in Gilead/New Bethlehem.

Hopefully, before then, he’s still able to have a big impact on The Handmaid’s Tale and June’s story, whether that’s helping her, Nichole, or Hannah. They actually should get to say goodbye and have a proper ending. It’s just hard to imagine it being them together.

The Handmaid’s Tale releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.

The Handmaid’s Tale

7/10

Release Date

2017 – 2025-00-00

Network

Hulu

Showrunner

Bruce Miller

Directors

Mike Barker, Kari Skogland, Daina Reid, Reed Morano, Floria Sigismondi, Jeremy Podeswa, Kate Dennis, Richard Shepard, Amma Asante, Christina Choe, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Bradley Whitford, Dearbhla Walsh, Liz Garbus

Writers

Kira Snyder, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, John Herrera, Jacey Heldrich, Dorothy Fortenberry, Marissa Jo Cerar, Lynn Renee Maxcy

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  Elisabeth Moss

  June Osborne / Offred / Ofjoseph

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