‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Why Nick and June’s Bridge Scene Is So Confusing
Season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale premiered on April 27 with three new episodes. But there was one scene in episode 3, “The Crossing,” that left fans scratching their heads.
June (Elisabeth Moss) and Nick (Max Minghella) meet on a bridge and share a significant emotional moment. But there is one aspect of that scene that doesn’t make much sense.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale.]
Nick and June reunite under dire circumstances in season 4 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
The fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale picks up with June and the other handmaids just after they helped dozens of children escape to Canada. The women make their way to a Mayday safe house, which turns out to be a farm run Esther Keyes (McKenna Grace), the 14-year-old wife of a senile Gilead Commander.
But when Esther kills a Gilead agent who raped her, other soldiers come looking for him. Esther buys the handmaids some time.
June decides to leave that night. But before their journey to the next safe house, she visits her Mayday contact at the Jezebel brothel and helps her poison dozens of Commanders.
Upon her return to the farm, June finds that all the handmaids have fled. And waiting for her is a team of Gilead snipers and Nick, who then brings her into custody with the promise he’ll try to keep her alive.
The two share an emotional moment on a bridge
In season 4, episode 3, of The Handmaid’s Tale, June is interrogated by a Gilead lieutenant (Reed Birney) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) for information on the handmaids’ new safe house. After enduring several methods of torture, including seeing Hannah and witnessing her friends get killed, June gives up the handmaids’ location.
Aunt Lydia tells June that she and the rest of the handmaids will go on to live in a breeding colony. But before June gets on to the red bus that will take them there, she is met by Nick on a bridge.
The two stand a distance between the handmaid bus carrying Aunt Lydia, and the Gilead transport that brought June there. Nick tells June he loves her, and the two hug and kiss before June leaves for the bus.
Why some ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ fans find the Nick and June Bridge scene confusing
Nick and June’s kiss on the bridge was an emotional moment. But what some fans of The Handmaid’s Tale found confusing was the fact that they kissed in plain sight of Aunt Lydia and the Gilead soldiers.
In past seasons, it was made clear that only Commanders were allowed to be intimate with handmaids. And any other man who did would end up on the wall — Gilead soldiers included.
So why would the two make their romance so public? It could be because Nick has a higher station, giving him more clout and freedom to do what he wants. But as one fan points out, the idea doesn’t make much sense.
“[Nick has] so much power he can request to meet with Gilead’s ‘public enemy number one’ on that bridge?” the Reddit user wrote. “So much power that he can fully make out with her in front of others with zero fear of consequence?? But NOT enough power to help June or the others escape.”
Hopefully, as the season continues, the show will reveal more about Nick and his place in Gilead, giving fans a little more insight into how he got away with revealing his romance with June.
