Love, Foxes, Healing and Fleabag

Deconstructing Fleabag Season 2

For years I despaired that network TV was not worth my time. They had stopped making “good” television years ago. Turns out I was watching the wrong networks.

Fleabag is some of the best television I have seen in ages thanks to BBC and Amazon. And Phoebe Waller-Bridge of course.

I mean can we just take a moment to appreciate how each season is only 2 hours long but we learn so much about all of these characters with such an economy of dialogue. This is a masterclass in show, don’t tell.

After having watched both seasons twice in one week, I found myself almost a little depressed. The endings of both seasons are gutting. For three days I didn’t want to do anything but read reviews, analyses, and watch YouTube clips.

Writing this post has been part of moving past this so I can get these thoughts out of my head and move on. That is how impactful this show is.

In this post, I am going to focus on season 2. There are spoilers. I am going to assume if you are reading this, you have already watched it all.

Season 1 drags us into the depths of the main character’s grief and guilt and ends with broken relationships all around her, especially with her family.

Season 2 shows our heroine on the mend, but still in need of repairing her relationships with her family. As season 2 begins, we are informed that this will be a love story. And what a story it is.

Spoilers Below

Is this the best 30 minutes of television ever?

The opening episode of series 2 is my favorite of the entire 2 seasons. And one of my favorite 30 minutes of TV ever. Almost the entire episode occurs at the dad’s engagement dinner and is filled with humor, passive-aggressive barbs, and drama.

We first meet the Priest here and he is at the very least intrigued by Fleabag from the start. When everyone is essentially ignoring her, he notices and tries to turn the conversation towards her. He attentively continues to fill her wine glass throughout the night.

When she goes out for a smoke break, he invents a smoking habit to strike up a chat with her. You’ll notice he doesn’t have any cigarettes of his own and we never see him smoke again.

Whether the Priest sees a potential kindred spirit as a friend for his lonely self, or just a woman who may need some help after having a miscarriage and a blowout with her brother-in-law, he sticks around after everyone else is gone and comes as close to giving her his number and saying “call me sometime” as you can get.

While most of their exchanges at the dinner table can be taken as rather innocent, we are clued into their attraction when they share an extended look and the godmother notices. The camera turns to her and her eyes dart back and forth between the two of them. It is the kind of look you give when you notice two people hitting it off. So of course godmother needs to turn the Priest’s attention back to her.

Sisterly love:

Much has been made of the relationship between Fleabag and the Priest, and indeed it is the central love story. There are many kinds of love though, and the show also explores love for God and familial love, specifically the love Fleabag has for her sister.

By the end, each of her family’s characters has found happiness, save the horrible Martin but since he gets his comeuppance, it is still a positive outcome for us the viewer.

The relationship between Claire and Fleabag slowly thaws over the course of the series until near the end of episode 6 Claire declares “you’re the only person I would run through an airport for.”

When Fleabag realizes the Priest in his homily is talking about love for God, she realizes it’s not going to happen for her, but entreats Claire one more time to go after Klare. She has already given Claire the push in the park that she needed to spend the afternoon with Klare earlier in the week, and gives her the final push at the wedding to go after him.

Restoring her relationship with her sister back to the best place it has been in years is important given the heartbreak that comes from her other love in the series.

But you didn’t really come here to talk about Claire did you? You want to know what’s going on with the hot Priest. In series 2, as if you didn’t know, Fleabag meets a priest who is set up to be the perfect foil for her.

Why is her love interest a priest?

Of all the people in the world to pair Fleabag with, why a priest? It certainly isn’t the first time we have seen a storyline where a priest is tempted by love. It’s nearly cliché.

Another of my favorite television series is Ballykissangel, a quirky Irish comedy from the 1990’s where an atheist pub owner and the new village priest fall in love.

As a plot trope, the pairing of a non-believer and a priest has instant tension built in and gives us the forbidden love story we all find so tantalizing and delicious. The Priest in Fleabag is no Father Clifford though. He swears, drinks too much (while gleefully proclaiming his parents to be alcoholics yet not seeing this in himself), and has a past.

For Fleabag, we need a character who loves her for who she is, not for her body:

• Despite having given up casual sex, she is not abstaining on principle, but rather realizes sex wasn’t filling the void she felt. She admits this to the therapist. It is no coincidence that the therapist labels her giving up of casual sex as abstinence which draws parallels to the Priest’s celibacy. She’s abstaining, and so is he.
• In season 1 she reveals it’s not so much the sex, but the moment when you realize someone else wants your body.
• She has used sex to fill the void in her heart and found it didn’t bring anything good. The priest also has turned to sex many times in the past, and uses similar language to conclude it didn’t bring anything good.
• He has a wit to match hers. Even his swearing and drinking is I think meant to humanize him to the point of making him her equal. He is a good person who is trying to live decently, but if he were overly perfect we wouldn’t believe she could fall for him.
• Both have demons in their past. Both have something following them. Fleabag has her camera and us; the Priest has his foxes.

While some reviewers have pointed to her seeking God in this season, and even the therapist asks her if this is what she is really seeking. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who not only plays Fleabag, but is the writer, admitted that she wanted to write about faith and religion and the character of the priest eventually evolved from that. So while love of God is a theme, it is more a part of the Priest’s story and not so much hers. At the end she still is an atheist.

Ultimately though, I believe we need both of them to be abstinent long enough for her to learn that she can love and be loved without resorting to sex.

• That she can be seen for who she is and not just for her body (see Season 1, ep. 1 where she says it’s not the sex itself, it’s the moment when you know someone wants your body that she loves).  

• And, that in the absence of her mother and Boo, she can find a new place to put her love.

The controversial confessional scene:

In reading other’s opinions on Fleabag Season 2 I was surprised by the generally positive response to it by Catholic publications. As a Protestant Christian, some of season 2 made me squirm.

It doesn’t offend me personally, but it seemed like his excessive swearing was in danger of turning his character into caricature. Yes, it is one way we see he is human and being a “cool, sweary priest” is one of the things that gets Fleabag’s notice in the first place, but to me it was over the top in a way that wasn’t believable. I mean even my sweariest non-Christian friends don’t talk like that. I did wonder if maybe he swears for her benefit, kind of like we might swear on the playground to be cool. He does seem able to turn it on and off depending on who he is with.

The confessional scene was the other thing that was uncomfortable and is one of the most discussed scenes of season 2. The only real problem the church has with the show and specifically the Priest’s character is that he is abusing his position of power with his relationship with her in general, and in the confessional specifically.

This is a valid point, and I am not going to dismiss it outright but I think it is helpful to see this scene in context, and I don’t really see that being discussed.

To dig into that context, we need to start at the beginning of the day that this episode covers.

Disturbing the Peace:

After trying on priestly garb, the Priest takes Fleabag to a Quaker meeting hall. Afterwards, he shares that he was thinking about how peaceful he felt, and then she made her awkward revelation about her breasts and then he was thinking of her body, which disturbed his peace.

They are about to part ways when he changes his mind and asks to go with her to the café. He doesn’t want to leave her company. This leads us to the guinea pig scene.

As a side note, in my internet wanderings, one commenter somewhere thought that the guinea pig Hilary might represent Fleabag’s heart or love. Hilary and the café is all she has left of Boo. She abruptly takes Hilary back when the Priest says he is just trying to help and she replies that he has played with her guinea pig long enough.

I bring this theory up because after spending time thinking about her mother’s funeral she ends up in the sanctuary of the church. Sitting in the pew, she recalls telling Boo she didn’t know where to put all the love she had for her mother. Boo tells her to give it to her, she wants it.

Now that Boo is gone, she is once again in a place of not knowing where to put her love. In the café, she has let him hold her guinea pig and love on it for a bit, then abruptly takes it back when he says the wrong thing.

This all has led her to the verge of a prayer. The therapist wouldn’t tell her what to do. The Priest has God telling him what to do and how to live (c.f. in episode 5 when he says if she wants someone to tell him what to do she should get a collar) but is avoiding her love. She is about to give God a try.

Then, in a reversal, he disturbs her peace, literally.

This is the one time she comes to the church not to see him. She expects him to be asleep, it’s past his bedtime after all. But the loud music interrupts her near prayer and she goes to investigate.

What she finds is someone who is in a state. There is an empty bottle of some sort of hard liquor on the table and he is desperately trying to get another bottle down from his stash. His peace is still disturbed from earlier in the day because he admits she was just in his head and then there she was. He is up past his bedtime, so obviously can’t sleep. He is drunk and in an agitated state.

He is not quite slurring, but definitely talking like a nostalgic drunk about random things like Winnie the Pooh and his plum colored robe. He accuses her of calling him Father suggestively, but she hasn’t. This time that’s in his head.

The confession:

He has been trying to get her to open up for a while and finally succeeds by getting her into the confession box. While Boo has already warned her not to tell him about her, she does confess that what she really wants is to be loved. But not just loved, loved in a way where she is in a way submissive to them. Not in any sado-masochistic way, but rather she says “it’s bad” likely because it is not a very feminist sentiment.

It is worth noting that the only boyfriend we have seen her with is Harry where she definitely wears the pants in the relationship. I didn’t even catch until the third watching that Harry tells the priest he used to be her girlfriend. Pair this with godmother’s statue of Harry without any genitals.

Priest’s response to the confession I don’t think can be explained simply. Beginning here, and culminating at the end of episode 5, I believe he decides to give her what she needs from him. It is not a completely self-less act though, he wants this too.

On another level, after confession comes forgiveness/absolution. When he absolves her with a kiss, which is what she needs in that moment more than any liturgical pardon, I don’t think it is meant to be more than that. But passions kick in and we already know he came into this moment without a clear head.

For anyone who dwells on his abuse of power, remember he is human and struggling with very real feelings and pretty drunk on top of that (not that drunk is an excuse mind you).  Let’s also not forget that he knows she has never really been looking for his spiritual guidance. She humors him like a girl listening to a mix tape a cute boy gave her even though she dislikes the music. But in the confessional she still outright says she doesn’t believe.

In a way, telling her to “kneel” is him taking on the role of telling her what to do, like she wants. Yet, before we read too much into all of this, let’s not forget this is TV and the drama and effect of it feels very forbidden. The dark, almost black and white cinematography as he rips open the curtain, the equally dark look on his face (can we take a moment to appreciate how fantastic Andrew Scott is in this role), the vantage point of the camera looking up at him from her kneeling position. It’s meant to make us uncomfortable. It is the turning point in the story arc so it should be the most dramatic moment.

Or it could be that her finally opening up to him was the pick that unlocked his chastity belt?

And then he gives in:

In episode 5, the Priest recuses himself of officiating at dad’s wedding. He and Fleabag have a conversation in front of her family that only they can understand. He tells her he is “in a bit of a state to be honest.” Everyone else thinks he is talking about his brother.

He then catches her privately at the bus-stop to ask her to not come to the church anymore. He says it seriously, but does he really mean it? The timeline of season 2 can sometimes be hard to discern. Given that she turns to the lawyer for sex after being rejected at the confessional and we find her waiting for the lawyer for the “second time within 48 hours,” we can guess a couple days have passed since the rejection.

The Priest shows up at her house to give her warning that he will be at the wedding after all and explains why he can’t be with her. This time we know he is sober, refusing a glass of water so he can keep a clear head. Yet, he ultimately gives up fighting and make a conscious choice to sleep with her.

This is clear headed consent on his part and in terms of his abusing his position as her priest, well, he may have tried but she never really saw him as her spiritual savior. She remains an unbeliever so his being a priest does not give him any power over her in the way some have suggested. This is just two people in love expressing that love.

One last thought on abuse of power

I don’t fully believe he abused his position because he never really was her priest. He may have convinced himself that was what he was doing so he didn’t have to admit the truth about why he keeps spending time with her.

If he did anything wrong, it was pursuing her in the first place. He is new to being a priest, but he is not new to being a man. He knows what he is feeling but he invites her company repeatedly thinking he can keep it platonic. Fleabag’s asides to us are usually quite prescient, and she declares they’ll last a week before succumbing. Presumably he feels this attraction too.

We need no other evidence than the church scene that starts episode 2. When Fleabag says “and also with you” at the wrong time, he notices her and is completely flustered. It takes several seconds to regain his composure.

You just don’t react that way for some random woman you want to take under your parochial wing. You react that way when you’re smitten. He should have recognized that and left her alone instead of talking, drinking, laughing, and hoping one day she would leave him alone (bench scene when he tells her their not going to have sex).

What do the foxes represent?

One of the big questions people have been discussing is what is the meaning of the foxes that chase the Priest? Many have theorized that the fox appears when his celibacy is threatened. I don’t agree with this theory, at least not directly. He is relatively new to the priesthood yet the foxes have been chasing him for years, including in train bathrooms and monastery rooms—both places where the risk for temptation is pretty low.

If we need to identify what the fox represents here are three possible interpretations:

Theory 1: In a variation of the celibacy theory, it may represent his doubts. It could be every time he is in danger of doubting his calling, he sees the foxes. He sees them in the garden right after telling her she makes him question his faith, and then proceeds to say he’s never felt closer to God. Cue Fox.

Behind the house at the wedding, he says he thought she was a fox, but she wasn’t.  At this point, he is unsure whether what he is feeling is for God or for her.

Theory 2: Stephen Colbert stunned Phoebe Waller-Bridge with his theory that the fox is the Hound of Heaven, from the poem of the same name by Francis Thompson. This quote about the poem lends credibility to that theory:

“As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.” J.F.X. O’Conor, S.J.

In this interpretation, God has been chasing him just as the camera in season 1 pursued Fleabag until she faced what she did.

In re-watching the ending scene, I don’t think he is entirely confident in his decision to stick with the church. He leans in slightly as if he might kiss her twice at the the bus-stop, and the last thing he does is tell her he loves her.

In this theory then, the fox chases after him at the end because he is still in danger. When he sees her at the wedding and says she is not a fox, he may have been expecting God because he is still undecided. What doesn’t fit as well with this theory is his fear (to the point of panic) of the foxes. I mean he is a fairly chill guy who freaks out about the foxes. He doesn’t seem so insecure in his faith that God chasing him would instill such fear.

Though Waller-Bridge clearly liked the theory, her reaction seemed more of an “Ooh that’s interesting, I like it” rather than “OMG you figured it out.”

Theory 3: The fox is an unresolved issue from his past. We have learned enough to know that he too has baggage from his past. He never considered the priesthood until later in life, and it may be an escape for him from something.

When he tells her in the garden that he has turned to sex as a solution “many” times in the past, he uses very similar language as she did to the therapist—it didn’t do any good. For him, God was a better solution.

This is my favorite theory.

In the end, I don’t think it matters exactly what the fox represents. We know that the camera following Fleabag comes about when there is something she needs to face (it follows her in season 1 until she faces what she did to Boo, and then she leaves the camera behind).

Waller-Bridge only came back with season 2 because she discovered a way to bring the camera back. That reveals the importance of this device to the storyline. Fleabag has gone through some healing and growth in the past year, but there are still some things she needs to resolve, namely healing her relationships with her family and discovering that she can be truly loved.

The foxes are the Priest’s version of a camera. He too has done some healing and found some peace, but as long as the foxes are following him there is something he is not fully facing. At the end of episode 3 of season 2  they both scream, presumably at a fox. This is right after the first time he notices her turning to the camera. That she sees the fox means they can see each other’s “cameras.”

There is reason to believe what haunts him has something to do with love. He tells Fleabag that the issue is not so much sex itself, but if he falls in love with her “my life will be f—ked.” This is pretty dramatic language to describe the ramifications of falling in love.

Seriously, when have you ever associated falling in love with totally f-ing up your life? Ok, maybe sometimes, but wow! For most priests what is the worst that can happen if you fall in love? You need to find a new job? This is what leads me to believe there is something unresolved. He may even be hiding from it within the safety of the church.

Whatever it may be, we need to remember though that the show is about Fleabag, not him. He is instrumental to the healing she goes through in this series, but it is not about him but what he does for her. The fox still chasing him then becomes a symbol that one reason he can’t choose her is because he still needs to work on something himself. And that gives us some hope for them.

Andrew Scott, the actor who plays the Priest has said in interviews that he feels his character has a deep love for her. Who would know his character better than him, other than Waller-Bridge herself? That kind of love is not the kind of thing that easily passes. He has been tempted twice during their goodbye and admitted to feeling the one thing he said would eff up his life. And then after he leaves, the fox follows him.

The Priest knows where she lives, where she works. He knows how to find her if he changes his mind.

Despite having spent over 900 words on the foxes, in the end the fox chasing him at the end gives us a glimmer of hope for them in the future. Whatever it represents, it means his story is not over. He doesn’t have the peace he thinks he does. She can leave the camera behind, he can’t.

Is there a happy ending?

I love ambiguous endings. The ending is perfect as it is, because for all the analysis here and elsewhere, the best art leaves something for the individual viewer to draw their own conclusions.

In this case, whether you believe they still have a shot at a happy ending down the road really comes down to the fox. If you believe like I do that it is something he still needs to work out, I think there is hope.  If he is hiding from this unspoken thing behind the walls of the church, resolving it could open him up to different choices.

If you believe the fox is the Hound of Heaven, then he will stay a priest and they will both move on.

I would like to think it is a “not yet.” There is a movement for allowing Catholic priests to marry, and if that happened I think he would be on her doorstep in a hot minute. No pun intended.

It doesn’t really matter though does it? A happier ending wouldn’t have made us cry and get depressed and write 4000 word analyses of it all. It’s perfect as it is. It feels true to their characters and Fleabag, Claire, and dad’s stories and relationships with each other do all feel resolved. There is some peace in that for her and for us.