Fleabag is coming back! series 2

[HoraceCope]

And with Andrew Scott,
he is great
as is Olivia Colman

He is in a position of power because he knows she is vulnerable, and even though she isn't a believer, he has offered her support in his professional role of 'father' and counsellor.

I am hoping the character can come back from that because I like Andrew Scott and it will be boring if he is just another shallow awful man. However, I don't think they can get to the point where he has given up the priesthood and reached a point where he can have a healthy relationship with Fleabag in 2(?) episodes.

Does anyone know how he would be marrying the father and godmother? - neither of them appear to be catholic. I thought you had to attend a church to be married there.

Mouse "I like Andrew Scott and it will be boring if he is just another shallow awful man."

well, he did an excellent job with Hamlet, which is basically that

Right you've all made me rewatch it and taking on board everything that you say I think he's obsessed with her and that she is disturbing his peace of mind that he's found through his religion. So he is hitting the bottle.

When they're in the confession she says to him finally "tell me what to do father" there's a pause and he says Neil. So I think he's saying that he's not Father to her he's Neil. But she misinterprets it as she doesn't know what his name is. Then she says what? He says "Neil , just Neil". He doesn't want the distance that being a priest gives him he wants the closeness.

It’s all gone a bit Thornbirds hasn’t it. I hope he’s not going to guilt her.

Having done some forensic close analysis now the kids are at their dad's I am placing my bet that Hot Priest used to be a sex addict. This will help Fleabag to emotionally detangle herself in due course, because it means the sexual aspect of their attraction isn't about her, it's his weakness in general. The close connection and friendship is the special part.

I think he could be an alcoholic as well as his parents were. He seems as much of a fuck up as fleabag actually.

Incredibly easy on the eye however

in the vestry scene, he catches her in a tiny little 4th wall moment. It's here he realises she's playing to an invisible audience, and this is why she's not very good at answering questions. So he offers her the confession box as a means of removing the audience and giving her the ability to be honest.

Oh god, I don't know what I want to happen. He's SUCH a hot priest, he's wasted on a congregation. But neither do I want her to be a vocation wrecker. Far too invested in this.

“He's SUCH a hot priest, he's wasted on a congregation. But neither do I want her to be a vocation wrecker.”
Blimey-do much wrong with this!

*so

Explain, Bertrand?

Ah, I see.

I mean - I don't want her to blame herself for being a vocation wrecker, which would set her back a few steps.

He's definitely an alcoholic - he has bottles hidden out of reach. Looks like he'd maybe polished off a bottle on his own before Fleabag turned up.

I don’t think he asked her to kneel to exert power over her either. I’m a Catholic (albeit a lapsed one). At the end of confession you kneel to have your sins forgiven - the priest absolves you of your sins. I think he was going to give her absolution - take away her pain, not try to exert dominance over her. But then he got carried away by the intensity of the situation (and the booze).

So, is it normal to kneel at the end of confession, in the booth?

It’s quite a while since I’ve been to confession but I have a strong memory of kneeling throughout the whole thing. You would definitely kneel for the absolution bit anyway.

Its abuse because the power dynamic is inherant in the situation. She has been vulnerable opening up her deepest fears and then kneeling. And he is yhe one in a position of power/quite literally got her to that position of vulnerability. Its not that he nevessarily intended it.

Bertrand your response is interesting - I was also thinking that responses to this character and scenario might have some connections to how people feel about priests, churches, religion etc.

My brain sees a priest character and goes on "evil" alert.

I'm also wondering how they sort out subtitles for word play; next time I see a TV Q&A somewhere, I will have to ask. Really hope there's one for this!

But if he didn't intend her to kneel because his actual name is Neil then he wouldn't have expected her to be kneeling and he does drop to his knees when he goes to kiss her so he's kneeling as well at that point.

I'm not sure if I could have made that sentence any more confusing.

Menstruator not confusing at all. He wasn't surprised to find her kneeling because he told her to kneel. IMO

oh lawd, now using "in my opinion" is making me think of The Good Wife.

And as much as it was definitely abuse of position (both physically and emotionally!) It was as hot as anything and i dont half fancy him! confused!

Im really interested to see where it goes.

I know. Me too. Best series in ages.

Let’s pretend Fleabag is a man. He’s obsessed with sex. He uses women to fill the void in his life. He pursues a female priest because she’s unattainable and that’s something he’s never encountered before. He befriends her. She begs him to open up to her and divulges that she’s struggling. He sees that she values people that bear all and so does so in order to appear more appealing to her and get closer.

They then kiss.

Would you be hating on the woman for ‘manipulating’ him?

I very much doubt it!

ILikTheBred that does put a different spin on the kneeling bit - but I still also like the 'Neil' explanation.