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The Handmaid's Tale season 6 brings an end to some of the show's major character arcs, and the most satisfying was that of Commander Nick Blaine. A character defined for so long by divided allegiances to June Osborne and to the system of Gilead, Nick's arc in the final season provides a definitive conclusion that is fitting for the character.
Having been one of the first cast members, his departure is both narratively meaningful and thematically in line, determined by the decisions that he made and the allegiances he could never truly fulfil.
The penultimate episode ends in the deaths of a number of high-rank Gileadean Commanders, including Nick and Joseph Lawrence, when their plane explodes in mid-air. The event, tragic as it is, is the only possible ending for a character trapped in a perpetual battle within himself.
To put it simply, Nick’s storyline in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 ends fittingly as he sacrifices himself in a doomed mission, proving his loyalty and love for June one final time.
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Who was Nick Blaine in The Handmaid's Tale season 6?
Up until The Handmaid's Tale season 6, Nick Blaine was a complex character. His past as June's lover and the father of their daughter Nichole has been replaced by him being a Commander who is married to Rose, a woman chosen by Gilead's institutions.
During the course of the season, Nick continues to tread a very thin line between complicity and resistance.
While outwardly devoted to Gilead, secretly he aids June at critical points in time, proving that his loyalty to her still goes very deep.
Nick's role in the regime becomes increasingly unstable as others start to doubt his loyalty.
His high status aside, rumors regarding his past affair with June and his dealings with Commander Lawrence put him under further scrutiny.
His relationship with Rose is strained by these suspicions, especially as she comes to understand he's still emotionally tied to June.
The Handmaid's Tale season 6 finds Nick attempting to satisfy more than one side, his daughter, his wife, his Commanders, and June.
But as the season goes, it becomes apparent is that he can't continue this balancing act anymore.
What happens to Nick in The Handmaid's Tale season 6?
Till The Handmaid's Tale season 6 episode 9, Nick gets involved in more and more risky political games. Early in the show, he helps June gather vital intelligence connected to Mayday's mission.
When High Commander Wharton finds out about his involvement, Nick is cornered.
Torn between keeping up his cover and safeguarding his family, he ultimately goes against the Jezebel's operation, resulting in the deaths of the women in the operation, a moment that disassociates him from June.
By the end episode, Nick is lonelier than ever. He officiates Wharton and Serena's wedding, where a sedative-enriched cake causes a mass slaughter of Commanders by their Handmaids.
As things go awry, Nick's pregnant wife Rose develops complications and persuades him to take a flight to Washington, D.C. with other surviving Commanders.
Rose feels that this demonstration of allegiance is the only means to save their unborn child and ensure their future in Gilead.
In a palpable pause, Nick gets on the plane. June, concealed in the surroundings, sees him leave but decides not to act, vaguely sensing that doing so would invalidate the entire mission.
The plane then explodes in mid-air, taking with it all passengers on board, including Nick, Lawrence, and Wharton.
Why it was a fitting end for Nick in The Handmaid's Tale season 6
The death of Nick in The Handmaid's Tale season 6 is appropriate because it addresses his deep-rooted inner struggle. His whole life has been caught between the cruelty of Gilead and June's rebellion.
Though his deeds tended to be ambiguous, his intentions always were related to love, towards June, and then to Rose and their child.
But he never fully belonged to either of them. He remained in Gilead far too long, thinking he could fight the system within, and paid the ultimate price for that hesitation.
This conclusion also serves to underscore one of the fundamental themes of The Handmaid's Tale season 6: the individual cost of living within a totalitarian society. Nick was never able to escape fully the machinery of Gilead.
While some, such as June and Serena, manage to escape or to rebel more consciously, Nick is bound by obligation, shame, and emotional attachment.
His death provides a tragic but necessary resolution to a character whose passivity spoke much more loudly at times than his acts of resistance.
Additionally, his last minutes on the plane, sitting silently next to Lawrence and inquiring about whether June is alright, confirm that even in the end, his mind was on her.
The short conversation between Nick and Lawrence was:
"She told me to give all this up… You should've listened to her"
This is a glimpse of what might have been. Nick had several opportunities to depart Gilead, to select a different path. But he didn't. And in the universe of The Handmaid's Tale season 6, indecision has fatal repercussions.
Taking Nick out of the picture also opens the door for The Testaments, the follow-up series already in production.
Interested viewers can watch The Handmaid's Tale season 6 on Hulu.
