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nickblaine · 1 year

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season 4 script summaries

previous script summaries: season 3, season 2, season 1, seasons 1/2 cont’d also, check my tht scripts tag for gifs, excerpts, and more details

good news! there are no deleted Nick/Osblaine scenes in season 4. i’ll just be summarizing the subtext that is written into the script and comparing differences to the onscreen version.

before i begin:

• everything described here is from the official scripts that are archived at the Writers Guild in Los Angeles. • the scripts i read are final drafts. there is no “writing in the margins.” everything described here is from dialogue and script direction that was used on set during filming. (you can see an example of what these scripts look like in the 4x07/4x10 links below.) • the library has strict no copies/photos rules in place which is why i can only summarize what i read. • anything in italics is a direct quote for the sake of clarity. • feel free to ask questions and i’ll answer to the best of my ability. my private notes are pretty detailed, but if i need to do more research i may save the answer for a future library visit. • please do not share this post without my permission. thank you in advance for respecting my wishes.

4x01

In prison, Nick is very aware of the Guardian in the room and can’t speak openly because of it. He speaks in code to warn Lawrence that he’s going to be executed and thank him for helping June. This establishes a pattern of Commander Blaine using Gilead code to communicate, as seen in several future scenes.

4x02

When June sees Nick at the farm, she knows immediately that he is there to arrest her.

It’s implied that Nick asking where the Handmaids are is code to June so she knows they are okay. (This is confirmed in the next episode when he does it again.)

June spends a good minute considering shooting the Eyes in a blaze of glory and making this her last stand. Nick “jerks her attention away from the decision” by saying “don’t” and telling her that he’s trying to keep her alive.

The scene ends with June saying “fuck you” before the Eyes swarm her, but this line wasn’t in the final cut.

4x03

In the van, June is “stung by [Nick’s] betrayal.”

Nick can’t speak freely to June because he assumes there are eavesdroppers. He uses code to “pass along news” to her that Mrs. Keyes is safe and the Handmaids are still free. June finds this news a relief.

Nick asks where the Handmaids are and when June doesn’t give him an answer, he actually warns her in a low voice (uncoded) that she isn’t strong enough to take what the Eyes will dish out if she doesn’t turn them in. This wasn’t in the show.

When Nick quotes the bible to her - “June hears this for what it is -- an honest wish for the woman he loves.” But Lydia “breaks the connection.”

Moving onto the Nick and Lawrence scene... I want to be clear, Nick does not expect Hannah to be used against June. This is not present in the script at all. All he asks of Lawrence is to get June to talk before the Eyes kill her, with no expectation of how it’s done. He is only thinking of keeping her alive.

Also, throughout the Nick/Lawrence scene, Lawrence thinks about Eleanor a lot. “Some women just don’t want to be saved” was a direct reference to her. Lawrence compares Nick’s love for June to his love for Eleanor, and is struck by “the simplicity of [Nick’s] wish [to keep June alive.]” But he really believes Nick needs to just let her go, like he had to let go of Eleanor. This is why he refuses to help until Nick threatens him.

Speaking of, Nick’s veiled threats are what makes Lawrence decide to take him a little more seriously.

The scene where Hannah doesn’t recognize June was written to be much shorter than what we saw onscreen. Hannah was actually supposed to be muzzled, and just the sight of her crying through the muzzle is enough to shake June into giving up the Handmaids.

The meeting on the bridge was scripted a little differently than what we see onscreen. Lizzie's directing softened the scene quite a bit.

June is muzzled, and being transferred to the Birthmobile on foot when Nick joins her side, whispering apologies as he walks with her. She ignores him until he says Hannah is safe at home. June stops and starts breaking down crying. Nick reaches out and touches her shoulder, “letting his finger trace the skin of her neck.” June reacts by embracing him. The guards try to pull them apart, but Nick just gives them a look. “He’s a Commander,” so the guards stop and let her go. Nick removes her muzzle and she cries about Hannah being scared of her. There’s a line here that I love, I have to quote in full—

“NICK: She loves you.

June tries to believe this.

NICK: I love you.

This, June believes.”

June then realizes she may never see Nick again and kisses him goodbye. Very little script direction here, it’s simply described as “just one long moment.” Then the guards lead her away.

Also, it says in the script that Alma and Brianna are hit by the train because one of the Handmaids was shot and they both reached back to help her as she was falling, causing them to miss the opening before the train hit. Janine was just dissociating and humming songs to herself the whole time, not as upset as we see her onscreen.

4x04

I just want to note here that the script confirms Janine’s current age is 23. After she changes out of her Handmaid uniform, “she looks like the 23-year-old kid she is.”

4x05

June spends this whole episode irritated at Janine and Stephen’s relationship because she feels like she failed to protect Janine, which is part of a recurring theme of June feeling like a failure throughout this season. Janine has to remind June by the end of the episode that she doesn’t need saving, and June is only trying to do so to make herself feel better.

There is no scripted response to Lawrence’s “would your heart glow” line. So Nick’s laugh was entirely unscripted lol.

The script specifically refers to Lorraine and Reese (the Marthas) as Nick’s “black market contacts.” As we know from s1, Nick has always had a connection to Gilead’s black market.

When Lorraine goes off on Nick about June, she and Reese expect a scolding from him because it’s “a suicidal way for a Martha to talk to a member of the Eyes.” But Nick just apologizes on June’s behalf, surprising them both.

In the show Nick says “I care about her” but in the script it was: “She’s all I care about. In the world.”

The Marthas are “surprised by his vulnerability, but Lorraine stays icy.” Her scripted response was actually supposed to be: “Swipe left. You’re better off without her.”

Reese hangs back and offers help to Nick because, as she says to him, “I loved someone in Gilead once, too.”

In regards to the council meeting - if I’m understanding correctly (because the scripts are kind of vague and more focused on the soapy aspects of the political standoff in this episode) - Lawrence’s goal is to get sanctions lifted, but when the council turns him down he shifts his plan to get on the council himself so he can pursue his reformation goals unopposed. This is why he agreed to bombing the ceasefire that he proposed in the first place.

Not much is said about Nick’s reaction to ordering the bombing, besides the fact that it catches him off guard and he “looks shaken by his orders to bomb June.“

4x06

When Moira confronts June trying to abandon ship and tells her that Luke never gave up on her after all those years, there was a cut part of that line where Moira said: “[Luke’s] a good guy. And he handled it pretty well when you had a baby with another man.“

4x07

Click here to read the full script that is available to the public.

4x09

When Luke suggested they ask Nick for help with Hannah, there’s not too much script direction, but there are a few interesting lines. When she says Nick would do anything for her and Holly, Luke finds that “both hurtful and hopeful.”

June is floored that Luke “is encouraging a meeting with her former lover? It’s incredibly strange. And also enticing.” It also says she had “put her relationship with Nick behind her. Locked it away. Now Luke has opened the door again.”

When she agrees to meet with Nick, Luke is described as “pleased, yet uneasy.”

As June heads off to see Nick, she and Luke are both “on edge.”

There was actually a cut moment between them and Mark before she leaves. After Mark tells her his officers will be nearby, he gives her a panic button FOB to call them if she needs help. This makes Luke freak out a little. He tells June she’s not going unless it’s safe. She doesn’t like that and insists she can take care of herself. Mark explains that while he has used this location for meetings before, he “can’t vouch for the party involved” because - in Mark’s words - “[Nick] does have a history of violence and allegiance to Gilead.” But June shuts both men down with: “He’d never hurt me or Nichole. I vouch for him. Completely.”

Once June is in the car, she exhales. “There’s no facade to put on for Luke, now that she’s alone.” She looks back at Holly and says, “Okay, we’re off. Excited to see your Dad? Yeah?“ then she smiles at Holly and says “me too.”

When she finally sees Nick, “their eyes lock. They’re both tentative. Unsure. It’s amazing to be together again, yet it doesn’t feel real.”

Nick is described as “almost overcome, so happy and relieved to see June alive and healthy.”

When they move inside, Nick tries to help June with the stroller and he’s described as “awkward” lol.

As we see in the episode, June is moved by Nick’s folder of Hannah intel. After this, “her official mission has been accomplished. She can leave. She doesn’t want to.”

The kiss has very little direction, as usual it’s all Max and Lizzie’s chemistry that makes it so good. “They can’t resist. They kiss, with longing and passion.” Then they move apart “both knowing they shouldn’t go any further.”

Nick was supposed to hold Holly “with love and wonder” per the script, but they couldn’t because of Covid protocols. It does say Holly loves her doll, though.

Their goodbye was also much different in the script. June simply buckles Holly up in the car, tells Nick she can’t thank him enough, and “tries to keep it together.” Nick tells her “keep yourself safe, and be happy.” They share a final look before she gets in the car and leaves.

On the drive home, June is just described as “[getting] emotional, but keeps moving on.”

Nick is described as “stoic, but drained by the experience” before he puts his wedding ring on.

When June returns home, Luke is “relieved” that she returned to him. June collects herself and “she has so many more steps to take, but she’s trying her best to move forward.”

4x10

Click here to read the full script that is available to the public.

#rae.txt #the handmaid's tale #the handmaids tale #osblaine #nick blaine #june osborne #janine lindo #joseph lawrence #luke bankole #holly blaine #mark tuello #moira strand #tht scripts

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nickjunesource · 1 year

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Hi! I have always wondered if June has ever talked to anyone about Nick and her feelings. Earlier in the season, Moria gives her a look when June is asked about if Nick would go to Jezeblels. Do you think the look was because Moria knew from June that Nick wouldn’t be there or if she was curious herself? At the end when Nick says ‘I’m nothing’ and Tuello says ‘not to her’, do you think Nick is surprised that Tuello knows of June’s feelings for him?

Hey! Good questions.

We don't think that June has really talked to anyone about Nick and her feelings aside from the tape that June sent Luke in 3x05. The absence of such a conversation looms very heavily in many of June’s scenes ever since she arrived in Canada. You can feel the unspoken words there. That is absolutely done deliberately in our eyes.

Answer under the cut due to length:

The absence of such a scene is very notable because it shows that June still feels like she's unable to be honest because Moira and especially Luke would just not be able to understand. June is a very different person now than she was Before and it's clear that they would not be able to understand her, including her relationship with Nick. Not talking about him is the easier choice and so she locks her feelings away, deep in her heart. Plus with how impossible it feels for June to get to be with Nick ever again, bringing him up would be very painful and so she avoids that pain by avoiding bringing him up and the feelings she has.

Furthermore, a lack of honesty with Luke specifically is a very consistent part of their relationship, as seen through the flashbacks and current time. So that continuing on shows that their relationship is still an uneven one and that June is making particular choices in an effort to manage Luke's emotions and bend herself to be the old woman that he used to know.

Interestingly, as we've seen, Mark Tuello very clearly has some ideas about June's feelings. We think that comes from a combination of him hearing June's tape and her testimony, information from Serena, and his own observations about how June reacts whenever Nick is brought up. June isn't very good at hiding her feelings anymore and Mark clearly picks up on that, especially as June doesn't make an effort to try to hide how she feels in his presence unlike when she's around Luke and Moira. Additionally, Mark only knows the current June and so it's easier for him to see just how deeply she feels for Nick and how much he truly means to her than it is for Luke and Moira who knew her from Before and who have certain expectations that make it harder for them to see.

As for Moira, after June came back with the file on Hannah that Nick compiled she tells Mark Tuello "You've got a good man in Gilead to help you now." Additionally, Moira knows that June would not be the kind of person to trust Hannah's safety with Nick if he was not a good person. For Moira, who is a good judge of character, this is enough information for her to know that he wouldn't be the kind of man who goes to Jezebels.

We do think that Nick was absolutely surprised when Mark said that. Nick's statement of "I'm nothing" indicates that he believes that he no longer has value in June's life and therefore she would have no reason to act like she loves him when they are not together; that she would have moved on, become happy, and forgotten him. So to hear that she cares about him when they're apart and that other people know about it when it's been a secret for years must have been very surprising and moving to him.

#the handmaid's tale #nick blaine #osblaine #june osborne #mark tuello #moira strand #s4 #4x09 #s5 #5x10 #asks #tht s5 spoilers

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