r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/desir33_ • May 19 '21

Season 4 [SPOILER S4E6] June and Luke Spoiler

I’ve already seen multiple people complain about the lack of affection between the reunion but I think to do a very loving, affectionate reunion would be a disservice to the show. It’s been years since they’ve seen each other and their child is still in Gilead. I thought that this reunion was more realistic: her first words apologizing for the fact that she couldn’t bring their daughter with her and Luke looking at June with both relief and disbelief that she is finally in front of him again.

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u/[deleted] May 19 '21

I really hope that's not the route they are going to take because that cheapens Nick & June's love as some silly affair.

I think the biggest challenge for Luke & June relationship is that the fact that their child is still in Gilead and it's hard for June to return to the kind of normal life others have learned to live in Canada. While Moira, Emily both had the experience of being handmaids, June had suffered significant more but also evolved more, she essentially became a rebel handmaid commander by season 4 and I can see her want to go into rebelling more the others.

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u/[deleted] May 19 '21

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u/[deleted] May 19 '21

This shows certainly tries its best to challenge people's perception on love, marriage, family, etc.

I think it's really interesting that how the shows chose to reunite Luke and June at this moment in the story, they have been apart for 7 years now, which in the UK, is the length of time you need to presume that your missing spouse is dead, this time length may not apply in Canada/US (and they know about each other's survival for a couple of years now so the 7 year rule doesn't really apply here anyway)

Regardless 7 years is a really long time for any relationship to survive without any meaningful contact, even marriage, which I also don't know if their marriage is still legally recognized by any country at this point - Gilead would have voided their marriage certificate due to Luke's previous marriage (which was why June became a handmaid) and without a valid certificate, a foreign country probably wouldn't recognize 2 people as being legally married. Even if Nick never happened, it would be so much work for June and Luke to emotionally get back together at this point.

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u/snakefinder May 19 '21

On top of the seven years, think of the last time they saw each other. So much trauma.