 In this family setting, Fleabagus looked at with a certain expectation. She's also looked at with disdain, with disappointment. As a person, she's been boxed in by her family. To her soon-to-be stepmother, a clear dislike, full of surprises, she says in the final episode. Claire calls her sister interesting, and the third. To her father, she's the daughter that he loves but doesn't like. Whether it's the dead best friend or a miscarriage, she's viewed and judged by these moments. No one sees Fleabagus normal, as a normal person going through life's struggles and traumas. It's probably why no one asks how she's doing, until the priest does, 45 minutes into their dinner. To me, this small interaction tells us so much about their relationship. And this tiny moment alone is such a jarring contrast when we compare it to the other man that Fleabagus has been with, not to mention their instant chemistry. In this small interaction, it tells us two important things. The first thing it tells us is that this is a man who is actually interested in her. He is someone who wants to get to know her, and he is someone who ultimately sees her. And we'll get to that second thing in just a bit. The priest does see her, first as just another person to get to know, and then as someone who might need a friend, after finding out about her miscarriage. In these introductory scenes, he is the cool priest, he swears, he drinks, and he smokes, and he too wants to be seen as normal. Phoebe Waller-Bridge mentions how the priest was meant to be a match for Fleabag, both for her intelligence and perceptiveness. These two nameless characters are walking two very similar paths in life. We are given only what we need to know about the priest, that he's had a turbulent past, and that priesthood has helped him find peace, and of course celibacy, in the same way that she is now abstaining from sex, to avoid making the same mistake she's made, and to face down the ramifications of what she's done, particularly taboo. Fleabag has finally met someone who is not interested in sleeping with her, and so she is forced to respect that, which in turn forces the two of them to truly get to know each other and to experience a friendship blossom into something more, something meaningful. We see the choices of love that each of these characters repeatedly make, Fleabag actively going to the church and watching the priest work in his field, helping him out at the garden party, helping him choose a new outfit, the priest taking Fleabag to places that he finds special, and marking pages in his bible for her. So now going back to that interaction from the first episode, the second thing that it tells us is that, in addition to being interested in her, he sees her disconnect, take the fourth wall, dissociate, whatever she is doing, he begins to notice it, and in that first interaction, he immediately pulls her out of it, and he keeps on noticing it, the priest tries to bring her back, always. He tries to ground her, to make her feel present in whatever moments that they share together, no one else in the series notices it but him. We all want to be seen by someone, not just looked at. We all want someone to be interested in getting to know our real character, and I think that's the nerve that the priest hits for so many watching, not just for Fleabag. Fleabag doesn't give herself to any moments anymore, even in what should be her most intimate and private moments, but when she finally does have meaningful sex with the priest, she forcefully pushes the camera away, longing to finally be present in a moment, without any distraction or disconnect needed. Fleabag has met someone who sees her, and who wants to get to know her beyond the performance, beyond the act. She's met someone who sees her as normal and multi-dimensional, someone who sees her for the inherent value that she has as a person, not just for sex, or for humor, or just for something else, someone who finally just cares for Fleabag. In saying that, I think it's easy to get lured into Andrew Scott's irresistible charm. He's the cool priest, right? The hot priest. He banters well with Fleabag, he swears, he smokes, he drinks. His chemistry with her is off the charts. The tension is so palpable at times, until we get to the fourth episode. At the cafe, suddenly he's trying to help her, he says. Maybe to make himself feel better, or to fulfill his duties as a new priest. When Fleabag finds him later at the church, he's drunk. Offers her another drink. He's still asking her questions. Why is he trying so hard to crack open Fleabag's hard shell? From a certain perspective, this is his own selfishness, and a perversion of his own power as a priest. He brings her into confession with a drink, and she begins to open up, and in her most vulnerable state, he gets her to submit to his true desires. It can come across as murky. At the same time, from the other perspective, look at the role that Fleabag plays in all of this. Fleabag makes it clear from the beginning that she doesn't believe in God, and in that, it can seem as though she views as trying to sleep with the priest as just another challenge. And so she disregards and disrespects his own journey, his faith, and his own sacrifices to get what she desires. Now she is trying to crack his surface. She drinks with him every time he asks, knowing that he comes from a family of alcoholics. Fleabag softens his shell in order to fulfill her goal. She opens up in order to get him to have sex with her. You can look at these episodes, this scene, these characters, and come to that conclusion that Fleabag has done terrible things in the past, that she's manipulative and selfish, trying to get a man to cheat on his own vows, on his faith, for her own benefit, and you can also come to the conclusion that he is the same. But I think what the series does so well is that it forces you to abandon this perspective. Now part of what makes this series so good is that these characters are so nuanced. They are both manipulative and genuine, all at the same time. They've all got their own agendas. Instead of looking at these characters as good or bad, the show asks us to view them as flawed individuals trying to do better, trying to be better, trying to know love. In Fleabag's confession, she says that she wants someone to tell her how to live her life. And in the following episode, the priest tells her that if she really wanted to be told what to do, she'd be wearing one of these, pointing to his clerical collar. I think this line tells us so much about the priest's deepest desires and motivations, as do many of his lines. It again propels the notion that their journeys are mirrored. Here's a man. He's not close with his parents. His brothers in jail, he has no friends. He's really lonely by his own account. And he mentions to Fleabag in the third episode that sex with him won't bring her any good, that he's been there many, many times. And the look on the priest's face as he says he's been there many times, to me, that's a look of regret. It's possible that he has been in her position before. And how did he get out of it? He decided to wear one of these, devoted himself to priesthood, to the church. As Wallerbridge says it, she has the camera and he has God. These are their crutches. From his own words, it seems as though the priest believes that forcing himself down to a life of solitude and celibacy will fix whatever problems that he has and once had. That clerical collar tells him what to wear in the morning. It tells him how to love and who to love. Knowing that clerical collar is a surefire way for him to live life the right way. For him to know where to put all the love that he holds. It's for that reason that I truly believe that his friendship with Fleabag in its intention was pure and I think he tried hard to keep that boundary firm. From his perspective, she was someone who just had a miscarriage and he was just trying to help out and gain a friend in the process. But again, people are nuanced. They have feelings. As she is relearning what a genuine love looks like this time romantically, I think he was too. In the script, every time she touched his arm, every time they met each other's eyes, she notices it. She feels these moments. And it scares both of them. Making the wrong choice and choosing to love the wrong person scares them. Fleabag says it outright in the confession. She's so scared. And he says it often. The priest tells her about the man who wanted to be a saint so badly that he castrated himself to stop himself. I think the priest was reaching that level of desperation. Priesthood is a last ditch effort for him and he grapples with that all the time. He tells her that he has doubts all the time. Like when he says that he believes God meant for him to love people in a different way. That he's meant to love one thing. He grapples with that when he says he was taught that if we were born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. And Fleabag also is searching for the right place to put her love, after she failed the person that she had given it to. While their bridge says that in the end, the priest and Fleabag have the same question. That they mirror each other's journey. The abstinence, the guilt, the over-reliance on their crutches, the fear of failure, the fear of love. As stated, the steps that they've taken sometimes feel identical. And to me, that question asks them if they are able to love once again despite what they've done. And are they able to stand on their own two feet without using the fourth wall or God as their shield? Can they be good people once again on their own? The final episode of this series ties all of its loose ends so perfectly. Even after the priest chooses Fleabag physically in the episode prior, his decision isn't final. The question isn't answered for him. As he's trying to practice for the wedding, he's nervous. When he kisses her, he questions the feeling. As he's giving his monologue, Claire says to Fleabag that there might be something wrong with her priest. Love makes you selfish, creepy, cruel, it's awful and painful. Is he describing what he's done in the past out of love or possibly what he's feeling right now? Is that monologue him grappling with his own decision, arguing with himself that love is indeed all of these terrible things and that it's hell and he's trying to convince himself not to choose it? Love isn't something that weak people do. And of course that leads us to his decision when responding to Fleabag's brave declaration of her love to the priest. And to it he responds of course, and that he loves her too. And though I don't think she needed it, his own declaration of his love was reassurance that this love was not unrequited. It'll pass was said for him as well, as this feeling will destroy him possibly even more than it might to her. I mentioned how Waller Bridge says that the Paramours have the same question. The restate, for me, that question asks them if they are able to love, to choose love once again despite what they've done. And are they able to stand on their own two feet without relying on their crutches? The priest has found peace in the church, the one thing that could stabilize him as he was slowly falling back into drinking and back into his old ways. The difference between Fleabag and the priest is that he doesn't have anyone to help him heal. He hasn't meant his relationships, but his faith has brought him immense peace. And so his answer to the question is no. When he says that love isn't something that weak people do, he was telling us that he is weak. He is afraid that he is not a good enough person to love again, to not hurt another once again, with the clerical caller he can't hurt others or himself anymore. In a perfect world, he would still be a man of faith, a man of God, and still be able to choose love. But he is not in a good enough place to find out if he can make those choices. Moreover, he is so, so afraid of making the wrong choice once more. Of being a bad person once more. He is still using God as a way to sort of treat the symptoms of his issues instead of tackling the root of his pain and his guilt and his problems, the root of why he cannot choose love. But he just isn't able to let that go. When he says that love isn't something that weak people do, he is telling us that Fleabag is so strong. One of Fleabag's greatest qualities we see shine in this season is her ability to love. Whether it was being there to help her father on both his wedding day and her mother's funeral, or the work she put into mentor relationship with Claire. Fleabag has answered the question with her final action of this series, pushing the camera away and walking on her own. She's truly begun healing. She was able to love, to say it, and to let it sit out there for all that that means to her. She now knows that not only is she capable of knowing love, she knows where she can put it now, and she knows how to love. And finally I think she knows that she is deserving of love, despite what she has done. I think the reason this line, it'll pass, can exist with the weight that it does, is because of what Fleabag has learned in this season, about love and about herself. That the only reason it'll truly pass is because she's arrived at a place where even though this response, this rejection of her love is world shattering and it's heartbreaking, she knows that she will be okay. That the courage to even try once more will allow her to be okay. As the priest walks away from the bus stop, the fox then slowly follows behind the priest. To me, that fox is the physical representation of his crutch. The fox is his camera. It'll follow him until he is able to heal and until he is able to choose love. That fox is God.