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nickblaine · 2 years ago

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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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birdyisanightingale · 4 years ago

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THT S4 Theories...

Right, we’re diving in baby... This is going to be an analysis of all the new clips from the teaser trailer.

So first off, we have guardians in what appears to be quite a grand building (circular window), which sort of reminds me of the church they had the mass dedication thing in. Having a security clamp-down is no surprise given what Mayday just pulled off, but having them in the church may suggest a large group of people that are being ‘guarded’. My thoughts are that it’s some sort of mass prayer to return the children that’s also being used as a ‘lets-see-who-looks-guilty-and-rough-them-up-for-intel’ type thing.

Next up we have this group of images from what appears to be the same scene (lighting, costume, injury makeup is consistent). This looks like it’s set directly after the girls find June in the forest, or maybe a few days later considering June is able to walk. Another reason to believe it’s slightly later is that they’ve lost a handmaid; in the final scene of S3, June can be seen carried away by six handmaids (three on either side) but in this scene there are only six of them including June. The usual faces can be seen (Janine, Alma, Brianna) so I’m not worried about a major character death prior to this scene, but it does suggest they may have run into some trouble before getting to this farm.

Which leads me onto my next point: I think this farm is going to serve as their base of operations for continuing Mayday (potentially owned by Mrs.Keyes - Mckenna Grace - and her husband?). They’re clearly in some sort of barn in this scene dressed as Marthas - no doubt this is probably a cover to keep them in hiding (nothing says conspicuous like blood red!). Quick side note: there is seven of them again in this scene so hopefully that means that someone just had to run an errand or something (or, more interestingly, one of them could be acting as a spy now that they appear to have given up being handmaids altogether). There is also an argument between June and Alma in this scene where Alma suggests that they should just leave, which is fair enough considering they have a rare chance of escaping a totalitarian regime of rapists, but June insists that “these women deserve to be helped” - the word women suggests she’s moved her sights from saving children to Handmaids and Marthas now or maybe even the women at Jezebels! That would make a particularly interesting escape as Gilead couldn’t make it a national high-profile search because technically ‘a place like that would never exist in Gilead’...

The ‘squad’ also appears to have picked up a guardian? I have two theories on this: 1) This is the Guardian who was meant to be at Hannah’s school the day June went with Eleanor and he has been working with Mayday and the Martha network for a while. 2) The distinct lack of Nick in S3 was because he was off on the front lines finding soldiers of his own, a new breed of double-agent eyes, to join Mayday. We know not all Guardians/Eyes are pious because of the gay refugee guardian that was processed by Moira, so it’s only logical that there are way more out there. It might be Nick’s way of ‘atoning’ for being a part of the crusade.

Man oh man, this scene gave me chills. First of all, the injuries suggest Lydia has potentially been roughed up by some guardians - most likely in the aftermath of the escaped children. We can’t really see much of the background besides these lights which could suggest a lot of things; she could be in an interrogation setting, she could be in a salvaging (although unlikely as she would be a huge asset in the search for Mayday), she could be in the colonies (again unlikely), or she could have be being held hostage by Mayday and she’s talking to one of the other Handmaids about June. I quite like the last option because she’s using biblical language just like she did at the red centre to try to manipulate them, particularly Janine. Which leads me to my geekier thoughts on this scene: she calls June “beyond redemption” - the bible says that no one is beyond redemption as Jesus embodied salvation. So this is the moment where we can finally plainly see that Lydia isn’t doing this because she truly believes in the religious foundation of Gilead (even though that’s what she may tell herself), she’s doing it because she’s a blind follower of Gilead. Gilead isn’t a religious state, it’s a totalitarian oppressive regime and they are not the same thing.

This appears to be some sort of interrogation/arrest of Lawrence (the evidence is he’s being escorted by two guardians). Again, we can’t really tell much from the background, it’s definitely not something we recognise. My best guess we be that it’s either an eye ‘black-site’ or a room from the old red centre (it looks run down like a public school). It’s also probably likely that this is happening after the Mayday children escape - it would make sense that he would be questioned pretty quickly as June was his handmaid. The language he uses in this scene seems very pivotal - like he’s been pondering it for a while which is consistent with how clever he is - but it suggests that he’s talking to someone of importance, someone who he deems to have the intellect to understand what he’s saying. My guess would be maybe Nick or one of the other commanders; leadership is a bit slim-pickings fro them at the minute with Fred incarcerated, Winslow ‘missing’ and Lawrence as a suspect which may make Gilead’s response to Mayday quite sloppy (no doubt something Lawrence is implying in his ‘next few weeks’ comment).

I’ll be honest, I have absolutely no idea what to think of this (It was barely half a second worth of footage, in my defence!). There is some guy walking behind at about the same pace she is walking which suggests they are both walking towards the same thing. Considering Moira’s been working with refugees, I would assume it’s something to do with that. Maybe a Gilead wife has arrived as a ‘refugee’ and that’s going to be a side-plot? Or maybe she’s in the detention centre where they’re holding Fred and Serena and she’s about to rip into Serena? Who knows.

Anyway, that was LONG but those are my thoughts - please comment and leave your ideas! Blessed be the fruit loops, bitches x

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