Everything We Know About Nick Blaine's New Wife In The Handmaid's Tale
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Did it hurt? When Nick pulled his wedding ring out in Season 4 and we found out he was remarried? Or how about in Season 5, Episode 1 when we found out his teal-wearing wife seemed nice? For many Nick fans, June included, it would probably be easier if she was hatable but just like Nick's first wife, Rose seems perfect.
In case you forgot, Nick Blaine was given a wife in Season 2, Episode 5 of "The Handmaid's Tale." Eden, played by Sydney Sweeney, feels rejected by her husband — who for many reasons isn't interested in her, including the fact she's 15 — and starts an affair with another guard on the Waterford property. Once the two are discovered, they are sentenced to death by public drowning. Nick, June, and the Waterfords were all there to witness.
But where Eden was a true believer in Gilead, Rose's introduction in Season 5, Episode 1 of "The Handmaid's Tale" makes her seem the opposite. Rose greets Nick when he gets home from Fred's salvaging. Not wanting to wake the Marthas, she makes him coffee herself, using a cane to get around — something Serena Joy uses in the book version of "The Handmaid's Tale."
Rose also appears to be incredibly understanding of Nick's connection with June. What's more telling about her character, however, is the fact that Nick doesn't hide June from Rose. Not only does he move around her like they're actually on an even power footing, but he trusts her.
Season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale has a new villain
After following June and Moria to the Canadian border in Season 5, Episode 3, "Border" takes a turn back to Gilead. Serena has joined Commander MacKenzie, played by Jason Butler Harner, and his wife — Hannah's adoptive parents — at their house in the days following Fred's funeral. Commander Joseph Lawrence, Nick Blaine, and Nick's new wife, Rose, are also there, making us a fly on the wall for an awkward but informative conversation that leaves the current power structure in Gilead less clear.
Commander MacKenzie is completely upfront with how much he knows about June Osborn. He trusts Nick and Joseph, but it's clear from the way he cuts into them during the dinner that he's looking for every reason not to. Joseph, it's pointed out, doesn't live like the other commanders: he never remarried and doesn't participate in the monthly ceremonies. As instrumental as he was in building Gilead, no current commander aside from maybe Nick would miss Joseph if he was put on the wall.
Speaking of Nick: MacKenzie is highly suspicious of Gilead's newest "rising star" because of his choice in bride. But since Nick and Joseph are the only other men in Gilead who know June — who he calls their "mutual adversary" — MacKenzie has no choice but to trust them and confide in them. If he's going to cut June out like the cancer he believes she is, he can't take her down alone.
Who is Rose Blaine?
During the dinner with Commander MacKenzie and his wife in Season 5, Episode 3, we start learning more details about who Rose is and how she and Nick ended up together. Nick might be High Command's favorite right now, but MacKenzie doesn't buy that this was a match inspired by love. Paranoid in a way that's normal for "The Handmaid's Tale," MacKenzie casually hypothesizes Nick could've married Rose just to get close to her father.
Rose, played by Carey Cox, is the daughter of someone called High Commander Warten who, besides a major player in Washington, D.C., we know little about. It's actually in D.C. where Nick and Rose meet, seemingly falling for each other — or at least agreeing to marry — only after "three mutually attended galas." To his credit, Nick does admit to MacKenzie that Rose is intelligent and that he actually enjoys talking to her.
MacKenzie either thinks highly of Rose, or doesn't consider her a threat at all, because he has no issue talking about Fred's real killer — and his plans for June — in front of Rose, his own wife, and Serena. As Nick, Commander Lawrence, and Serena speak with MacKenzie, it's clear no one has a problem speaking openly in front of Mrs. MacKenzie or Rose. With June's run-in's with Mrs. MacKenzie in the past, it makes sense that she's in-the-know.
But what's Rose's deal? Where did she come from and who, if anyone, is she loyal to?
These are the biggest theories about who Rose Blaine really is
If there's one thing we can trust about "The Handmaid's Tale," it is that we always get the answers to our questions. Patience is a virtue, as Aunt Lydia would say, but we still have two big theories about who Nick's mysterious wife could actually be.
What a lot of us hope is that Rose is part of Mayday. Mayday is who Nick worked with to try and get June and Nichole out of Gilead. Whether he's working for or working against Gilead, Nick's soft spot for June is something his wife, Rose, seemingly understands, respects, and supports. If she's not part of Mayday, why would she be so willing to risk so much?
The other theory is that Rose is an informant. We still have no clear idea of how the power structure of Gilead actually works, but Nick seems to be moving through it pretty fast for someone connected to major traitors. He's taking more chances these past few episodes for June than he has the past few seasons, though. Is it time for Nick to pay for his sins, too?
Since Rose helps Nick and June, the case seems pretty strong that she's part of the resistance. But we've been fooled by this show before and even from the few scenes we've seen Rose in, it's clear she has a hand on multiple chess boards, playing long games either with or against powerful Gilead men.