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Fleabag finale episode SPOILERS thread

853 replies

HotPriest · 07/04/2019 16:42

Crack open a can of Gin 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

Fleabag finale episode SPOILERS thread
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Tinkoschminko · 13/04/2019 14:18

She sort of pushed him for an answer though didn’t she? There were moments when I felt like she could’ve drawn him in (he was absolutely expecting something akin to an I love you when he prompted
her in the morning) but she kept redirecting him to address his faith. She was acting as a catalyst. If he wasn’t absolutely certain, she wasn’t going to let it drop.

RosaWaiting · 13/04/2019 14:19

to be clear, I thought "kneel" might be his attempt at a power play the first time I watched it.

Then I watched it another time - actually to check the "Neil" theory and thought it seemed unlikely. By ep 5 I knew it wasn't a power thing of course.

such skill in this whole series.

Sisterself · 13/04/2019 14:23

Rosa - fingers crossed you can get to Chichester. I'm always scouting out of London places to move to. Chichester is moving up my hit list. Coast and South downs on the doorstep. Anyway, no more Chichester talk for fear of derailing the thread!

merrymouse · 13/04/2019 14:25

but she kept redirecting him to address his faith.

Which I think is right.

The only alternative would be him stringing her along while he continued to decide whether to be a Priest. I don't think it's reasonable to assume that he can make a decision that quickly, but I also don't think he should be keeping her waiting while he sorts himself out.

Tinkoschminko · 13/04/2019 14:30

I don’t think it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s why it reached a quick conclusion.

Freaking0ut · 13/04/2019 14:43

Watched Ep6 again for the second time last night. Found it even more emotional than first time. I especially found the part where she hugged the gold bust of her mum at the end very profound. Although she was stronger by the end of the series it made you think about what she has lost there in her mum, and how perhaps her mum would’ve been someone she’d have turned to for guidance in this situation. I also hadn’t noticed before that hp was crying as he turned away from her.
The other reason I found it very emotional was just thinking in general of people who love someone but can’t have them, for example if they have lost a partner.

RuffleCrow · 13/04/2019 16:16

If real I'd hope she could integrate the love and affection her mum clearly had for her into her own sense of self. Growing up I had literally one adult in my life who accepted me for who I was and loved me unconditionally. She's long gone but I still draw strength from the love she had for me.

RosaWaiting · 13/04/2019 16:24

Freaking I watched initially on a laptop - I think if you don't have a big TV etc, you could easily miss the tear on the face of the priest at the end.

re her mum, yes, when my dad died, I practically became a different person for a while. I can imagine that doing odd things might be a result of that, especially if you're quite an open person like Fleabag.

ComputerSaysMo · 14/04/2019 07:35

That’s a good point, Tinko - she does keep focussing on his dilemma to the exclusion of any other thing she could possibly do or say, doesn’t she? From the moment they wake, and then again when he’s trying to articulate what he’s feelings, she doesn’t reach out to comfort him or reinforce what he’s done. She questions it.

I don’t think this is quite right, though:

“The only alternative would be him stringing her along while he continued to decide whether to be a Priest.”

She’d already won quite an important first victory on that question. If they’d followed through on the confessional episode, when he was drunk and clearly acting spontaneously, it would have been a fairer point to bring up immediately the morning after. But as he’d come back and decided again when sober, the decision to keep testing it may indicate something else on her side - that she didn’t want him to choose her and leave the church.

That would explain why she was so accepting of him making that decision so quickly, too. She was looking for it. My personal head cannon is that she didn’t want the responsibility of him changing his life for her, so when the possibility arose she chose not to give it space to develop.

HoraceCope · 14/04/2019 07:36

i agree computer

ShowOfHands · 14/04/2019 07:50

I think she saw him in the same way he saw her and knew that he had chosen God even before he did. Self preservation wouldn't see her rattling on about their shared future when it was a non starter and at the bus stop, she was kind. She named it for him because she won't keep quiet about anything and she's learned to speak up about the right stuff through Claire.

ComputerSaysMo · 14/04/2019 07:56

...it’s also not very “old Fleabag.” S1 FB would have run with the affair for as long as she could whilst sabotaging it. S2 FB can admit the real connection she feels, but isn’t ready for what it could turn into and doesn’t want to take the risk.

So who knows, maybe one day she’ll be able to have a happy, settled romantic relationship with someone. Which definitely wouldn’t have much scope for being blackly funny, so will never be made. 😂

ComputerSaysMo · 14/04/2019 08:08

Ah, but “choosing God,” is a bit of a red herring, I think. There are lots of ways to serve God if you’re really committed to finding a compromise. I think the choice was more about preserving his status quo vs choosing dramatic, FB-driven change.

Serving God as a Catholic priest is an especially interesting choice in writing terms, because it makes his dilemma more like that of someone who is actually married to someone else. (If this was a Victorian novel he’d have a mad wife in the attic, wouldn’t he?)

So there was nuance there to be explored, and of course he might still have decided not to change anything (imagine if he had and then she dumped him). But she did seem to be driving at rapid closure.

RuffleCrow · 14/04/2019 08:28

That's because she'd already heard his wedding speech which made it clear (to her) which path he'd chosen. Hence why she had tears in her eyes all the way through it.

ShowOfHands · 14/04/2019 08:28

I think Catholicism is a whole different ballgame. It's not a religion where you compromise. The priest is an all or nothing guy. I know a Catholic priest. He could no more become Anglican than grow another head. He is Catholic. He serves only God or he gets out.

I think she was just healthy in the end and won't live a half life like her sister. He never committed. I don't see her heart as not in it, I see him as weak. And I feel endlessly sad. I thought in ep 5 when he said "we're going to have sex aren't we?" the pause afterwards was his resolution. The quiet "yeah" and "okay" were acceptance, the opening her coat was reverence, the shushing her a message that he didnt care about why or the past, decision made and then the pushing away of the camera was her accepting him. I thought it beautifully done. Then an episode later, he has turned away quite literally. He was jittery and confused and jumpy, the fox was back. I almost saw him as a different character from ep 5 to 6.

Tinkoschminko · 14/04/2019 08:47

Absolutely. Old Fleabag was all about the game - that’s why this was so wonderful. When she said I love you then prevented him from replying straight away and said, ‘Let’s just leave that out there on its own.’ Perfect. It wasn’t for a reaction. It was her quest moment.

HoraceCope · 14/04/2019 08:48

its interesting that in the morning after the night before she says "what have you done", not what have "we" done

she was his last temptation.

ThanksItHasPockets · 14/04/2019 09:14

I know that this seems a ridiculous thing to say about a programme which featured snogging in the confessional and a shagging priest, but I really believe that the script had a genuine respect for faith and vocation. Fleabag asked a lot of questions but she never ever mocked or ridiculed the priest for his faith. It isn’t a viewpoint that we are used to seeing in contemporary drama and I think it’s necessary in order to understand and be satisfied by the ending.

RuffleCrow · 14/04/2019 09:19

I agree Thanks. I see that as a sign of the show's modernity - i think we've moved culturally past the arrogance of materialism that pre-dates what we now know about the behaviour of sub-atomic particles and the fact that everything is just energy (life is changed and not ended) etc and the show reflects this.

ComputerSaysMo · 14/04/2019 09:41

Argh, I wasn’t going to comment on Catholicism but now I will anyway. BUGGER.

In any religion there are conservative and reformist factions. For example, a lot of more liberal-minded Catholics left the American church in the late 60s and 70s because they disagreed with the outcome of Vatican II, which included prohibiting the pill within marriages and condemned Catholic couples to procreative sex only. (My mother was one of them: she was very much of the “sex is what binds people together” mindset.)

There has been quite a bit of discussion in recent years about whether celibacy is really integral to the Catholic priesthood, mainly because seminary enrolment has plunged, there have been umpteen sexual scandals involving the clergy, and protecting the church from nepotism and primogeniture isn’t quite a big a deal as it was centuries ago. (There is a reason why Protestants don’t require chastity or celibacy of their religious leaders - they are not required by the Bible.)

Sooooo - given that, and the HO’s hints of past sex addiction, I am lead to believe the he has chosen his specific vocation (rather than choosing to serve in a less restrictive way) because he is buying into Pope Gregory’s view that all sex is inherently sinful, and is running from his weakness (symbolised by foxes), which he’s not actually dealt with. Hopefully FB is on her way to a stronger base for her future decisions.

Maybe he needs a free voucher for the therapist?

RosaWaiting · 14/04/2019 10:25

Computer agree, beautifully put.

I think the responsibility of someone "giving up" something major for you is horrendous - well, the feeling of responsibility - but in this sort of case, it would be even worse.

It also underlines the fact that Fleabag really wants to be single, but again, I appreciate I'm seeing that through a very personal lens.

HoraceCope · 14/04/2019 10:37

i wonder what Obama made of it ? Grin

merrymouse · 14/04/2019 11:00

I think the responsibility of someone "giving up" something major for you is horrendous - well, the feeling of responsibility - but in this sort of case, it would be even worse.

I agree, and regardless of what anyone imagines might happen after episode 6, I don't think they had reached a point where this would have been a reasonable decision for him to make at the end of episode 6 - but on the other hand the narrative structure demands some kind of conclusion.

RosaWaiting · 14/04/2019 11:03

I always wondered what Obama would think Grin

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