nick & june

Hey! Glad to hear from an Osblaine, even if this blog has gone pretty quiet as of late.

Wow, 2 years! Hard to believe, eh? Time is moving far too quickly.

As time passes, we are feeling a bit more optimistic about Osblaine and Nick. We think that with this being the final season that Lizzie & co are smart enough to see that the romance and Nick are key parts of a great show. We also think that with the long, long, longgggggg hiatus that the marketing of the show is going to go hard on Osblaine as the shippers are really good at making a lot of noise, something that this show is going to desperately need in a crowded market after such a long time between seasons. They can't market Osblaine genuinely heavily without the actual content to back it up. In hindsight it makes a lot of sense why there was essentially no Osblaine (aside from that fantasy kiss that was clearly thrown in to give us a bone) in the marketing of S5.

Furthermore the ratings for S5 were really bad. On Rotten Tomatoes it's sitting at a paltry 20%. Metacritic is at 5.2. Imdb has a S5 average of 7.8 and has 4 of the lowest rated episodes in the history of the show. That's unsustainable, especially if they want The Testaments to succeed. It's clear to us that things need to change and part of that change involves looking at what makes the show successful. Those things are (in no particular order): Lots of Osblaine, Nick, and June and the squad kicking ass and taking names. What doesn't result in success for the show? Luke, Juke, and June playing submissive housewife in Canada.

With that said, we have no confidence whatsoever that S6 will ever be as good as S1 or S2. We strongly suspect that S6 will be very similar to S4 in terms of Osblaine content, only with a more present Nick. As much as we want to see something as glorious as S1 and S2 again, we can accept something more like S4.

We can understand where that is coming from, especially in this past season. Unfortunately the show seems to really reduce June's love for Nick and uphold her love for Luke even though the relationship is dysfunctional and should be over. It's very frustrating to watch. We know that she loves Nick very deeply, but they're just not good at showing it, especially not in s5 where she spent most of the season living some sort of ridiculous fairytale with Luke.

There are really significant but small moments that do emphasise just how much June really does love Nick, like in 5x10 of her asking Mark Tuello to tell Nick that she and Holly are ok. There are a few moments where we catch June thinking of Nick and we see her reactions plain as day- she stops breathing and gets visibly emotional. Those moments are far and few between, and we think that the show would improve a lot if we got more of those small moments. There are so many ways to do this, but currently we only see June's love for Nick if she's interacting with Nick himself or with Mark Tuello. For example Rita is right there- she knows Nick and she would miss him too and is a safe person for June to talk with, but she gets sidelined more than any other character. There's also Holly- any moment of her talking to her about Nick would be great, but we've only seen this once. This show just isn't very creative and it causes problems, including with showing June's love for Nick.

They do a much better job of displaying Nick's love for June. We see his love constantly and in many situations with many characters- from June to the Waterfords to Joseph Lawrence to Rose. While we get that June's situation is more complicated as she loves Luke too and is in Canada while Nick is in Gilead, there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to how June acts. We truly believe that she loves him a lot and loves him deeply, but we need more time to see it and better scenes as well.

This is the tweet in reference:

We're not impressed with this either! It is absolutely disgusting that this show continues to ignore how horrifically Serena treated June. It's very frustrating and upsetting that this is constantly downplayed and that they are attempting to redeem this woman who has done so many terrible things. We can't qwhite put our fingers on why Serena's horrific abuse of June and her constant selfish and remorseless actions get brushed aside on an all-too-frequent basis... There were plenty of better responses to the op's tweet that the show's account could have chosen- June and Nick, June and Janine, June and Moira, even Nick and Joseph Lawrence all have great chemistry that don't pair together a remorseless abuser and her victim. Fortunately many of the responses to this tweet are critical, so you are not alone in feeling angry about this. We absolutely understand if anyone decides to stop watching the show because of things like this- how the show handles and markets June and Serena is completely unacceptable.

We totally understand, it has been disappointing to see what they've done. The first two seasons and season four were absolutely beautiful, while seasons three and five were horrendous to say the least. Really sad to see a show drag a wonderful ship around like that. It does happen all the time, but Osblaine is particularly special and so it feels even worse to see their love and all its potential squandered.

While the post season 5 interviews were not great and did emphasise that point, we do want to really stress that those interviews were done long before they even began outlining and writing the sixth season, so they weren't talking about anything that would be set in stone. Look at the interviews from after the seasons from s2 onward- the following season is typically very different from the preceding end of season interviews. That gives us every reason to hope that Osblaine will have a strong comeback in this upcoming final season.

It is a major bummer that s5 really deemphasised June's love for Nick and had her focus on Luke and live a fairytale life. It was clearly a filler season with a completely unnecessary plot between June and Luke. When June said "give me 5 minutes and I'll go" at the end of 4x10, it should have meant to leave and go join a Mayday group, not have pancakes and mimosas with the squad before heading home. All that time in Luke's house made for a really bad season that few enjoyed. This show is strongest when June's love for Nick is most visible, like we saw in s1, s2, and s4. We do think though based on how things ended in 5x10 that the show has no choice but to have June and Luke be apart for an extended period of time as their stories are clearly set up to go in vastly different directions. And with that comes the everlasting hope that Nick and June will have a good number of scenes together. Their stories feel like they're bound to intersect with how things were set up at the end of s5. Both enmeshed in the resistance, both effectively ending their marriages, both in extremely dangerous positions that will eventually force them underground. It really feels like the perfect building blocks for them to have a strong season together, similar to what we got in s4.

Fantastic points! They really are more honest with each other and it's one of the best parts of their relationship. Honesty is key to having a good, healthy relationship and so we love to see that emphasised with Osblaine. Even in a situation that is really, really hard, like Nick telling June that Rose is pregnant, they are still honest. When watching June and Luke together it's very frustrating to see that neither of them are truthful with the other exactly for the reasons you describe. They are constantly on edge around each other. It's not a nice or healthy way to live, and it's clear that neither of them are right for each other.

We totally see what you mean when it comes to chemistry! Lizzie and Max have a natural presence with each other that translates extremely well for all aspects of Nick and June's relationship. It creates a sense of trust and ease between Nick and June that further emphasises how well they work together as a couple. We're very fortunate that we get to witness some of the best chemistry in the industry. That lack of chemistry between OT and Lizzie does come across as forced and in turn emphasises at this point how forced June and Luke's relationship is. They don't have that same natural ease or trust, showcasing how they are not right for each other as they just don't understand each other. And it feels particularly stark when you compare those relationships. Chemistry and lack thereof can really add to a show and we see that here with both couples.

Hey! This is in reference to this ask.

It wasn't a recent interview, it was one that was done on the 8th of November, right after 5x10 had aired.

This certainly isn't our favourite interview out there, but we also see it as a pretty typical marketing ploy on Lizzie's end and so we're not worried about what it says. We don't like it, but we don't take much stock into it either. At the time the interview was released they hadn't even begun planning out s6 and so whatever was said isn't indicative of what will happen.

We wouldn't be shocked if the ending to the love triangle was an unsatisfying one, where no one really knows the choice that June made and where all options are possible. We feel pretty confident though that the show will not end with a definite Juke ending. In our view it's the least likely ending of them all. Based on the way s5 ended and the way things were set up, it's unlikely that June and Luke will have much time together in s6. June is on the run and dealing with resistance stuff, and Luke is in jail and will be dealing with legal matters. While they'll likely meet again at some point, those two stories are at odds with each other and so mercifully we don't think that they'll spend much time together.

We do understand why the Osblaine community is feeling pessimistic at the moment as s5 was terrible and this show has burnt us twice with how poorly Osblaine has been treated. It's easy to lose hope, but we do feel cautiously optimistic that s6 will be an improvement and will give us similar quality content to s4 which had a good amount of Osblaine and more realistic Juke content. S5 feels like a pretty obvious filler season at this point and we're finally on to a season where they can't use a dead marriage to fill up episodes.

We agree completely! We really did not like how Luke talked to June at several points in s4 and s5. There's a lot of patricharal characteristics with Luke that really come to light when we see him and June together. That scene is a big example! There is a huge difference in the ways that Nick and June disagree with each other versus how June and Luke disagree with each other. The former is done in a much healthier and more constructive manner while the latter comes across as a lot more angry and toxic. Just another point of proof that Osblaine is the far superior couple.

It really is an unfortunate interview, but we're genuinely not worried about it. Because this interview occurred right as 5x10 had just aired, the main goal of it was to promote the season and emphasise what they were doing during it. Because that season was all about Juke and June being a wife to Luke, Lizzie's interviews reflect that (along with saving Hannah). Looking back on her interviews at the end of s4, Lizzie was more focused on resistance/fighting back, Hannah, and Nick which was more reflective of the content that was in that season. Lizzie's interviews change like the wind blows. She's not a reliable source as she's inconsistent. Further, at the time of that interview they hadn't yet started etching out what they want to do for s6 and so what she says here isn't an indication of what they'll be doing in the season.

Thankfully with how s5 ended there is no longer any time for June to constantly prioritise Luke and his feelings as she did so for half of s4 and all of s5. There are way too many plots to wrap up rather than wasting endless hours of June playing house. She's got work to do now.

While we really hope that there isn't a June and Serena season coming, we would not be shocked if that's the direction that they chose. Fingers crossed that they don't go that way because they've wasted way too much time on Serena and her conflict with June.

It did feel like the love triangle was put to bed in both s4 and s5, so we'll see what they do with s6. Hopefully it's very heavily focused on Osblaine. However their track record indicates that they'll likely stretch it out and leave everyone feeling unsatisfied with an open ending, so we're being cautious with our expectations.

You are 100% right and you should say it!

Funny how certain people really don't see it. White upper class Serena gets a lot of leeway for her past and current remorseless bad choices that Nick doesn't get for his past bad choices as a working class man of colour. Pretty telling.

In reference to this ask.

The interview was from November 8th. So immediately after 5x10 had aired and in the midst of them still going very, very heavy on the Juke marketing. This would be prior to them writing the earliest draft of s6 or even having a general idea as to what would be happening in the season. So while we're not fans of this particular interview, we're not concerned by it.

Asdfghjkl, very fair point, Anon! That certainly fits Luke to a t and we can imagine a possible s6 reunion happening that way.

In reference to our s6 predictions.

Hey!

While we're not confident enough to say that s6 will be "the June and Nick show", we do feel very confident that it will feel more like s4 and less like s3 & s5. So a good amount of Osblaine, but not a huge amount. The scenes that we will get will be filled with love and longing and of course angst. Hopefully with some happiness as well- they deserve it! We'd love for things to get back to a s1 & s2 level, but we're not holding out hope for that sadly. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise us! It's certainly not impossible.

We're also dying to see them together and dying for some hot scenes as well! We've really been deprived and have suffered through s5 and this long break without them. It's still very striking to think that the last time we got a love scene was 2x02! And it's been almost two years since that glorious kiss in 4x10. We think that there's a decent chance of a good love scene for Osblaine, but we're currently sitting at about 50/50 as to whether it will happen or not. We feel very confident though that we'll get to see them kiss and that it will be a real kiss and not some strange fantasy kiss like we got in s5.

Hulu admitted in one of the replies that the purpose of the tweet was to stir the pot:

June and Luke posts will typically generate a lot of responses from unhappy Osblaine fans and so they post a lot of them right now as any publicity is good publicity in the marketing world. The more engagement on social media, the more promotion of the show and the more people watching. It's annoying but effective.

We understand how upsetting and worrisome this feels, especially after such a bad season, but we're genuinely not worried about this. It's just a continuation of the poor quality marketing they've done since the s5 trailer dropped (or actually as far back as the early filming days for any spoiler hunters out there). Hopefully come the filming of s6 we'll get some actual Osblaine marketing from them. They deserve to be featured a lot and we believe the show would actually benefit from it as well as Osblaine is very popular and is one of the most loved and talked about parts of the show.

It's very striking to think of! For Nick and June it's been over a year since they were last together intimately and for us as viewers 3x03 aired over three years ago! And when it comes to actually getting to see a beautiful love scene we have to go back to 2x02 which aired over 4 years ago! It's been way too long. It's very sad to think of. What a shame that they're wasting Max and Lizzie's chemistry like they are.

We're also really hoping that we'll get to see such a scene. Not just as a relief for our poor eyes, ears, and brains after that terrible June/Luke scene, but because it's clear that Nick and June both desperately need it. It'd be so good to get to see them be free together and to express their love for each other. Fingers crossed we get to witness such a love scene this coming final season!

No forgiveness is needed! We love angst as well and Osblaine is peak angst.

Those are great parallels for sure and it was a beautiful moment of cinematography. It was great to get a little throwback to the beginning of their love story.

We love that scene from 1x06 so much! How much it must have meant for June to hear those words from Nick after being stripped of her name and identity for so long. Such a beautiful and poignant moment.

Yes, it would be far too cruel for them to not get to see each other again! We're not sure at what point in s6 that will happen, but we feel full confidence that it will and we can't wait to see it.

We think that Lizzie is just playing the marketing game. She says whatever she's been directed to say about the season that's most current. So in s4 and immediately after it was all about June loving Nick and wanting to be with him and them understanding each other in a way that no one else does. During and immediately after s5 the focus was almost entirely on Hannah, Holly, and Luke. Lizzie's interviews change like the wind.

What Lizzie is basically saying though is that currently it's very hard for June and Nick to be together and that if they tried, they'd be putting themselves and others in a lot of danger, and so for the time being they have to make the really hard choice to not be together and to try and find happiness despite the heartbreak they feel. She just didn't do a particularly good job of expressing this point because the marketing unfortunately focused so heavily on Luke in s5. Lizzie should have said that Nick and June are still a family unit and that together as a family they're making the very difficult choice to be apart for now because it's the only safe option they have for themselves, their children, and respective spouses.

This interview doesn't worry us at all. We don't like it because of how it distances Nick and June as a family unit, but much of the press for this most recent season has been pretty terrible and is at odds with things they've said previously. They've had many negative reactions for this season and we think that they'll adjust accordingly for the final season.

Max is the only one who doesn't really play these marketing games, which is why we value his interviews so highly.

Thank you for your kindness! Alas we do not have a podcast and we have no plans at this current time to start one as we're unfortunately quite busy and wouldn't be able to devote the amount of time that a good podcast about Osblaine deserves. Thanks again for the kind words.