Fleabag finale episode SPOILERS thread

[HotPriest]

Crack open a can of and join your fellow iPlayer stalkers here for discussion of the final episode of Fleabag. Spoilers totally allowed so no peaking if you haven't see the episode.

Hoping it's as good as we all want it to be. Should be live on iPlayer tomorrow about 9.30am

It's good to 'chew the fat '( as they say) about a programme you love. My friend and I are big ' this country' fans and often quote it in our emails to each other and I was over the moon when she said she likes this too and seen series one! We share the same humour.

Dh doesn't like the things I like comedy wise so they ' don't get it'! (Shame on them I say lol)

I still think it's a version of her mum. A construct of her, that Fleabag has created to fill a void, perhaps conflated with Boo in places. I do think she's meant to be like her mother, which is why Dad struggles with her. Grief, coupled with recognising perhaps some harder-to-love traits from his late spouse. Perhaps her mum got her, and they were close. Fleabag wants guidance that she now lacks (and forgiveness from Boo/to be seen to suffer).

God mother and the statue is interesting. Telling Fleabag that her mother is the model isn't a bad thing, but putting her "back on the shelf" is cruelly loaded, in that context. It highlights the level of control that Godmother feels the need to exert, imo. So many layers, so beautifully portrayed. Keeping mum nameless and faceless also works brilliantly for giving her mystery and keeping her firmly buried away at the same time.

I think the priest is troubled, but I don't think he's toxic or weak. I think he's only just staying ahead of his personal demons and I'd like his back story. I think that's another layer on the fox - it's a version of the priest being ahead of the wolves at the door. I think he's in a similar place to Fleabag in Season 1, with her struggle with her inner Boo.

Overall I think it's such a good show because you can interpret it in so many ways - we all have such very different takes on it and see such different stories.

Just sat and binged watched all of season 2. Oh my God. Genius.

The ' sexy art show' in series one is so funny.
The big picture of the god mum ' slightly to one side' is so pretentious. Olivia Colman really plays it well as this very flawed character.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/apr/09/fleabag-next-future-phoebe-waller-bridge

So she told Variety she wouldn't do another Fleabag before she was 50.

This fits in really well with my Sunday night TV show idea. Do you think I should send her a treatment and then we could collaborate?

@Wheresmyvagina there wasn't suppose to be a second series so I'm not discounting a third series or Christmas special at some point in the future.

I still maintain that a ' one off ' special is a nice idea. Has to be Easter or Christmas to fit in with the priest.

Worked for the office and car share. It would get the viewers and be popular I think.

@Janus

Hope you having a nice holiday
First scene - morning after - she strokes his back/neck and says 'I can't believe you did that'
Second scene - switches straight to wedding. FB and Claire see their Dad who says 'nice skirts' and asks if he has to say anything emotional. The girls discuss Klare going back to Finland It's fine It's fine It sounds like it's fine.
Third scene Olivia Colman introduces her little collection of people she is clearly not close to but thinks they are 'interesting'- a deaf guy, a lesbian, a bisexual refugee...then forgets FB's dad's name and introduces him as the love of her life to cover.
FB hands over a gift, is taken into the house with FB where she asks her if she has a 'show' planned and pass agg warns her spoiling her big day/says FB would rather her look after her dad than FB having to do it.
The gift is the stolen golden statue - Colman tells her the statue was based on her mother and goes to return it on the shelf.
Next scene - FB and HP next to the wall - she surprises him he thinks she's a fox. He is preparing the homily. 'we just need to get through this bit and then-' He then kisses her. 'i don't know what this feeling is' She asks whether it is God or is it her. He goes round the corner and she says 'fuck you then' (reprise to first episode)
Next scene - priest has got changed .Colman introduces Jake and FB to the priest - as 'unstable daughter who had a miscarriage. You know. You wee there'
Then Claire says it was hers and FB was covering for her and you have the scene between Claire and her husband in the house (Colman says whoever had the miscarriage to take it to the kitchen).

Is that enough - is that where you were up to? Let me know

count I enjoyed Crashing. Binge watched it. More sitcommy and was not well received when it came out but give it a couple of episodes, PWB plays a platonic best friend who clearly is into her best friend (who is now with someone else) but had never admitted she felt more for him, either to herself or to him. The gf tries to accept her as her bf's best friend from home but, rightly as it turns out, feels somewhat threatened. They all live in an empty hospital which they get cheaper rent for in return for caretaking kinda. Give it a go.

Sorry for errors/typos - was typing as I was rewatching

I'd like a one off special. More to check in on the rest of the crew than on Fleabag!

Strongly disagree with the idea of a 'special' - totally wrong for the tone of the show. But then I'm an Office special denier, I simply choose to believe it didn't exist and the whole thing ended on a realistically downbeat note.

For no other reason than it is Andrew Scott... Made me smile though.

The office special was good though!

thanks to pp for translation

Ruffle you and I are probably projecting. I wanted Fleabag to stay single, but I don't see her as being alone because she has her sister and she will certainly have friends. Losing Boo - okay I don't know how you get past that, but I lost a good friend about 20 years ago in a horrible accident, so I do know you "get past it" as much as you ever will and that it's always better to have had that fabulous bestie in your life.

But I think you said you don't like being alone, so I wonder if you and I are seeing Fleabag through our own eyes? Well, we probably all see characters through our own eyes on one level, then as characters on another level.

I still can't get past Jake getting in the bath with Clare though .....

sorry I haven't read the whole thread

but Sian Clifford's Twitter feed is so full of love today.

btw for those who might be interested, Andrew Scott is in Present Laughter at Old Vic this summer.

Rosa no actually i quite enjoy my own company up to a point.

I do think making those close emotional connections gets harder as you get older so yes, as someone who's a good 5 years older than FB it probably is projection to be yelling 'no!!' at the telly when people throw away something so precious.

Then again, i expect PWB felt a lot of pressure to cut the character loose in a non-cliched way so she could try & avoid being called 'Fleabag' for the rest of her life! and who can blame her?

Ruffle sorry, I must have got you confused with another poster.

I've just seen the clip from Victoria Derbyshire interview with Sian Clifford, Bill Paterson and the director. You can hear they all have a lump in their throat when they're talking about it.

twitter.com/victorialive/status/1115552737372934146?s=21

I keep coming back to the statue. When first featured in S1E1 it just seemed like a macguffin to show us FB’s impulsive nature and her difficult relationship with her father and godmother. When it reappeared in S2E3 as the replacement award we were carefully reminded of its existence before it was briefly placed in the hands of Belinda, who provided FB with the kind of older female guidance and wisdom that she was badly missing without her mother. Then it represented a genuine olive branch to her godmother before the absolute gut-punch that FB was drawn to it because it was a sculpture of her mother, who has therefore somehow been with her all along. That final scene of her drawing comfort and strength from it was unbearably moving and I’m absolutely exhilarated at the genius of it all.

Re: Victoria Derbyshire interview, obviously given my previous comments, I love Bill Patterson saying that he would suggest to the priest that he could become a high anglican!!

apologies again if I missed something obvious

a pp said this was set in North London, I really thought it was Sarf London? not a crazy obsessive Londoner

I miss it already

I hope she meets Natasha Lyonne while she's in New York - there are so many parallels between this season of Fleabag and Russian Doll it's actually quite uncanny:

The themes of grief, religion, friendship, loneliness, mental health, ghosts, substance abuse, family & daughterhood (if that's a word), sex as escapsim, different forms of love, & coming to terms with the past - (as seen from a female perspective)
are all direct parallels (even that first scene in the loo in Fleabag S2 e1) is weirdly like the repeated 'reincarnation' scene in Russian Doll.

I'd love to see what they could come up with together. They'd be my transatlantic female-perspective dream team.

a pp said this was set in North London, I really thought it was Sarf London?

Being crazily obsessive I did check this out. It's filmed all over London, but I don't think it is set anywhere specific. Some of the key locations are in North London, but there is also some filming in Twickenham and Hampton.

However, I think North London seems more likely as a setting for the family home. If they bought the house in the 80's/90's, East and South London weren't yet fashionable, and SW London I think would seem too suburban. (I say this as a loyal SW Londoner).

drawn to it because it was a sculpture of her mother, who has therefore somehow been with her all along

So many layers!

I wonder if I would have enjoyed this show so much if it had only been on broadcast TV. I think it really suits the streaming format where you can keep comparing scenes from the 2 series and rewatching and finding more.