Gilead has been a black box for years. We don't know how decisions are made, where the power lies. The more we know, the more we can do.
What if I brought you someone who would talk? A Commander. An Eye.
It seems unlikely that kind of person would... be cooperative.
We won't be able to do business with Mr. Blaine.
I don't think you know who Mr. Blaine is. Or who he was. Our research indicates he is not to be trusted.
No, there's been... There's some kind of mistake. I will talk to him.
He's left for Chicago. Some people are not to be dealt with.
What did Nick do? Before he was a driver?
How did he serve Gilead? Tell me.
He was a soldier in the crusade. We wouldn't be here without him. All this time you spent together and he never mentioned anything.
Have you ever thought about leaving Gilead?
You mean go somewhere where I could get mood stabilizers instead of herbal tea?
Joseph would help you. You could leave together. He wants you to be... safe. He loves you so much.
Joseph is a war criminal. He can't cross the border. He would be... jailed for the rest of his life. Or... killed.
You've risen fast, while somehow managing to help June. That takes talent. To fly under the radar like that.
Just trying to stay out of trouble.
Wouldn't you like to see your daughter in person rather than asking about her?
I know you got a complicated past. But America can be a very forgiving place. If you make amends, gain us some visibility, play your part for a while. I'd like to help you and your daughter. If you'll let me. We could help each other.
I offered to help him when I was in Gilead, if he'd help us, but he turned me down.
What, to be your inside man in Gilead or something?
At first, but then, eventually, to be our man here. With immunity.
Yes, but he can still have that. Maybe you could persuade him. Nick was an Eye. He's a Commander now. Someone like that defecting from Gilead... Big impact.
Now that we've fulfilled our end of the bargain, I have some papers for you to sign. They outline our agreement.
If it was up to me, I'd take you at your word.
Not sure how much my word is worth right now.
I'd call you an honorable man. I look forward to working together. You have the gratitude of the United States government.
I'll keep my end of the deal. You just keep her safe.
I will do everything I can.
I believe the idea of Nick leaving Gilead never occurred to June or to Nick until season 5 with Tuello’s offer. After the Waterford house burned down and especially after June gets to Canada, they both live in whatever stolen moments they get, and after that there’s just the continuation of their separate lives. Nick believed June would go back to her life and that his daughter would grow up safe away from Gilead (and him), that he has no choice but to stay in Gilead and that he has nothing to offer June. He probably knows that because his involvement with the SOJ if he were to leave Gilead he would be tried as a war criminal. When he talks to the Swiss they aren’t willing to deal with him, but Tuello is and offers him a deal despite his complicated past. I’ve always wondered why were the Swiss unwilling to deal with him then but now it’s seems it’s fine. Could it be that then he was just promoted to commander and his information wasn’t important? He still would’ve had access to military actions and that info could’ve helped the resistance in Chicago. Tuello does mention that Nick has risen through the ranks so maybe that is why they’re willing to work with him now or maybe they just don’t have access to anyone that high up. Interesting though that since the conversation with the Swiss and where we are now, I think maybe a year has gone by. June also didn’t think Nick being out was a possibility and we see that in her reaction when Tuello tells her about Nick not taking the deal. It would be in her best interest if Nick stayed in Gilead (Hannah) yet we see that what mattered to her was that he had said no. She wants him out and close to her. She even tells him to bring Rose because she doesn’t care how it happens, she just wants it to happen. I think this is important to know exactly how June feels about Nick. It’s subtle but it’s there.
Every time I think about the scenes in episode 306 I try to make sense of what is being said and what we have been given. We know Nick joined the SOJ so therefor he had to have been in some way involved with the take over - we just don’t know to what extent. I keep thinking that if he was so instrumental he wouldn’t have been a driver for years. Bruce recently said in an interview Nick chose to be a driver. I don’t think he had many choices. I assumed it was be a driver or a patrolling guardian/military police. After all Nick wasn’t a founding father and he was working class when he joined the SOJ, it made sense for him to be kept as working class once Gilead settled. If he would’ve excelled in the military Gilead would’ve left him in the military, he wouldn’t have had a choice. What Serena says to June makes sense but not how she’s framing it. Without soldiers Gilead would’ve not become, just like it wouldn’t have become without her ideas and without men like Fred and Lawrence. Gilead would’ve become if Nick joined or didn’t join. Whether he called the FBI (if he knew about the take over) or not (the FBI was already keeping tabs on the group). He could’ve made it out or he would’ve gotten caught and forced to comply. In episode 310 we find out Lawrence and pretty much the Commanders couldn’t really leave Gilead and that would’ve included Nick, especially since June had already found out about Nick in episode 306. I know the episode doesn’t really give us a hint as if June related that info with Nick but I can assume at some point she must’ve thought about that. After this she doesn’t see Nick again until season 4, her only chance to ask him to leave would’ve been in 409. We don’t see them talk about it (I keep believing they live in the moment and they both think they have no possibility of a life together). She didn’t know Fred had made a deal, until after she gets back from seeing Nick and what happened with Tuello for me was a clear call back to what Nick tells her in episode 303 they’re politicians they have their own agenda, they don’t care about us. After that there’s the phone call jn 503 and their meeting in 509, where the possibility of him leaving was now a reality, but his obligations had changed making that possibility once again complicated/impossible.
In 502 when Tuello offers Nick the deal he doesn’t even think that would’ve ever been a possibility and while some people think he said no, he clearly says I’ll remember that. It’s definitely not a no. Nick doesn’t trust politicians, he has new obligations, knows how dangerous it is, probably think Lawrence’s plan to fix Gilead will work and like he tells Tuello in 510 June doesn’t need him, she has people to care for her. Aside from that in 503 all possibility of helping June with Hannah (also not explored in the season but I find it extremely odd they would add a Rose/MacKenzie connection and not use it) became an impossibility and probably taking the deal vanished when MacKenzie sees him talking to Tuello. That’s also why he can’t really move when June asks him to in the phone call and why she begins to understand that Nick made a life in Gilead (just like she’s trying in Canada) even though neither of them are happy. I see this as a breaking him away from his line in 409 and I’m here to do what I can.
As calculating and strategic as we have seen Nick throughout all seasons, knowing he could’ve lost June and that he couldn’t protect her was what it took for him to take the deal we all wanted him to finally take. He didn’t take it because he wanted to end Gilead - even though we know he wants to better it because he doesn’t agree with the atrocities it commits. It was all about her safety. He pretty much sacrificed his own safety (nothing he hasn’t done before) for hers. I wonder how they will push him in season 6. Was this enough for him to understand that Gilead can’t get better and it has to end? Because it’s something that in a way June also has to understand. She can’t get to Hannah unless Gilead falls. She has to let Hannah go in order to fight for her and this kind of aligns them in a similar path like we saw them in season 5.
