Fleabag Season 2 Plot Summary
The most inspiring tales serve to motivate you as well as give you the drive to carry on. They leave you with lingering questions that allow you to feel whole instead of deficient; connected rather than alone. This encapsulates the storyline of the six-episode second and last season of Fleabag.
The incredibly gifted Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes and stars in this show which closely follows the exploits of a character we recognize Fleabag as she continues to process the loss of both her mom and her best friend, who passed away before the show began. In the first episode, Fleabag tells us, her closest friends, “This is a love story”, yet it’s not the kind of love story you might be used to from conventional, female-centric media.
The entire show revolves around Fleabag attempting to learn to accept herself despite the suffering she caused her closest friend before she passed away, and her attempting to appreciate herself more. Naturally, as we already discovered in the previous season, this practice for her is possible after she learns to cultivate loving, healthy relationships with those around her.
By the premiere of the second season of the series, Fleabag has already established her capacity for both consistently creating novel methods to end up making her own life much worse and for also wreaking havoc on the lives of those closest to her. Boo ends up killing herself in the first season’s most shocking revelation after discovering her boyfriend had been having an affair with a woman. Interestingly, that somebody had been Fleabag, but Boo died before she had a chance to learn of the betrayal, leaving Fleabag to curl up in her own guilt.
With very few flashback scenes of the two being together than in Season one, Fleabag’s shame over Boo still seems to be present but less intense here. In the series’ last few episodes, Waller-Bridge prepares Fleabag to address her fundamental issue: her unaddressed sadness over her mom’s death and her resulting animosity towards her soon-to-be stepmother. Of course, she continues to pursue dysfunctional relationships, and this time she hits the jackpot in terms of unavailable partners: a partner who’s already committed to God.
What is the significance of Fleabag breaking the fourth wall?
By breaking the fourth wall, Fleabag allows viewers to follow her psychological recovery. Throughout both seasons of the show, it is made clear that Fleabag breaks the fourth wall to divert herself from any situation she is within. She does this to deal with her emotions and explain them to the viewers.
The season starts with Fleabag speaking to the viewers directly. Fleabag is capable of handling situations and feelings that she would otherwise find challenging to manage, such as her family dynamics, her shame over her friend’s death, as well as her embarrassment by her sexual appetite. However, in season 2 Fleabag’s fourth wall bursts are less frequent than they were in season 1, which was a recurring theme.
Why do Fleabag’s fourth wall breaks becoming less frequent?
Fleabag eventually allows herself to enter into the most psychologically emotional bond she has had since Boo, despite struggles with her feelings for him and his devotion to God during their relationship. The fact that she was filled with love for her mom but nowhere to put it until Boo volunteered further, suggests that losing Boo added to her despair over losing her mom.
The audience is given Fleabag’s love after Boo leaves, but it is undoubtedly a one-sided and unsatisfying relationship. All of that shifts when Fleabag encounters the Priest and decides to express her love for someone else.
It’s quite a big step for Fleabag to be willing to let herself be vulnerable to the emotional closeness of loving somebody and having those emotions shared equally, and although Fleabag and the Priest’s bond does not really work out in the end because he chooses his devotion to God over his love for her.
She has showcased how she isolates herself from the people in her life by steering away from them in order to address the viewers. Fleabag seems to be more accessible with the Priest in season 2 though after he calls her out on her disappearance. He is able to bridge the gap Fleabag creates between her and other people. As seen in the ending, the Priest paves the way for closeness in other relationships, particularly those with her sister and her dad.
Does the show have a happy ending?
“This is a love story” makes reference not only to the Protagonist’s tale with the Priest, but also to the connection she shares with her family; including Fleabag’s feelings for her sister and dad, and Claire’s love for Klare. A few loose ends are elegantly tied by the end of the season and the show.
In order to tell a man, who is comically named Klare, about her feelings, Claire leaves her awful, alcoholic partner Martin and scurries to the airport. Furthermore, a touching conversation between Fleabag and her dad helps them better understand one another.
In the end, the season 2 climax features Fleabag waving goodbye to us before walking off into the dark while nodding towards the camera. It is similar to how the Priest left Fleabag just minutes earlier so that they could each seek more fulfilling relationships.
In what seems like a similar fashion, Fleabag pulls away from us, her viewers, in order to live a more fulfilling, social, and private life. The last sequence gives viewers faith that she is actually moving forward with her life in order to be capable of attaining contentment after a great deal of time separating herself from others. Her story has a lovely and inspiring ending, which makes the last sequence and the ending absolutely perfect.
Read More: Fleabag Season 2 Review