What did Nick throw into the fire in The Handmaid's Tale? His actions during season 6 episode 2 explained

The sixth and final season of The Handmaid's Tale is here, and it's already off to a mesmerising start. What are we thinking about New Bethlehem? As with anything that's an idea to come out of Gilead, it seems ominous - but just how beautiful is it?

We also need to talk about Nick. His character arc trailed off for a time, but he's back and a big part of season 6 - huzzah! As firm members of Team Nick, we need to know whether June will end up with Nick or Luke at the end of the series.

We also need to know what's going on with Nick and Tuello. After a meeting with Tuello in season 6 episode 2, Exile, Nick cryptically threw something into a fire - but what was it and why did he do it?

The following content contains spoilers for The Handmaid's Tale season 6.

What did Nick throw into the fire in The Handmaid's Tale?

Nick threw the SIM card for an encrypted burner phone given to him by Tuello, into the fire. Until this point, Nick had been working for Tuello as a Gilead mole, in return for June's continued protection.

When the pair meet for clandestine strategy talks, Nick instantly asks after June and Nicole, to be told they arrived safely in Alaska. Niceties over, Tuello passes Nick the phone, insisting on being handed information about Gilead patrols in certain areas.

Ominously, instead of supporting this and agreeing to offer up the information, Nick asks Tuello why he's willing to let untrained Mayday fighters, made up largely of civilians, take on elite Gilead armies.

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Nick insists Mayday is sending too many innocent people to their deaths, urging Tuello that they're simply going to be captured and killed by the Eyes. Tuello counter argues that he'll keep sending people to fight until there's nobody left, if that's what it takes.

Tuello tells Nick that if there's ever a time he can't answer to him, to call him back immediately. The meeting is brief, and the pair go their separate ways with Nick knowing what's expected of him - except a two-month time jump into the future sees him unceremoniously dump the SIM card for his new phone into the fire.

Why did Nick throw the SIM card into the fire?

Good question. Did he do it because his allegiance has shifted and he no longer cares about June? We don't think so.

The move to dispose of the SIM card came just after a serious chat with his father-in-law, Commander Wharton. During the conversation, Wharton hints he knows what Nick is up to with the resistance, urging him to make "good choices".

His wife Rose knows Nick is still in love with June, and is clever enough to guess he'll do anything to keep her safe - even work for the resistance.

Nick's unlikely to listen to Rose if she tells him to keep the heck away from Mayday and dropping Gilead in it, so he could've asked her father to have this quietly ominous word, knowing it'd have more impact. Knowing a bigwig commander knows you're in with the wrong side is going to really put the frighteners on Nick.

He knows June and Nicole are safe - that was his first and most pressing question to Tuello. He might think his work is done, and he'll cut his losses and return to the side of Gilead until he works out a plan B.

This doesn't mean Nick has necessarily broken bad or chosen Rose over June; at the moment, he's chosen to stay alive, and nobody can blame him for that. And we can't gloss over the fact that it would look to Nick like June has chosen Luke over him, and this would be a huge blow for him and make him want to withdraw from helping June any further.

However, without Nick's intel, Luke and Moira, who enter No Man's Land on a mission, get caught up in one of the patrols Nick should've reported back to Tuello. As a consequence, the pair gets stuck there, resulting in June leaving Nicole in Alaska to be cared for by Holly, while she also heads to No Man's Land to save them and find Nick.

We can't wait to see what Nick's next move will be when he finds out he's stuck between a rock and a hard place - his love for June when she shows up to find him, and begrudgingly helping her when it looks to him like she continuously walks away from him.