Fleabag: Every Girl Needs A Hot Priest

Before remarrying, Fleabag's father told her, “You understand love better than anyone else, and that's why you always feel so much pain.” The death of her best friend and her own monumental mistakes have left her life in disarray, with loneliness and nihilism becoming its central themes. Modern life has plunged her into relentless pain, where she drowns in introspection and can't escape.

Andrew Scott's Catholic priest is introduced as the officiant for the wedding ceremony. However, in typical Waller-Bridge fashion, he is anything but a conventional clergyman. His parents are alcoholic lawyers, his brother is a pedophile lorry driver, and he is foul-mouthed, rebellious, and alluring. The first episode concludes with Fleabag and her sister Claire sharing the same sentiment. "The priest is quite hot," remarks Claire. "So hot," echoes Fleabag with a trademark conspiratorial glance at the camera. We are left with a lingering suspicion that this particular man of the cloth might be intimately involved with at least one, if not both, of the sisters.

Many will be disappointed that Fleabag didn't achieve a traditional happy ending, as the Priest chose his devotion to God over a romantic relationship with her. However, she did find fulfillment in her personal growth. She thrives in the café, repairs relationships, and transitions from engaging in meaningless sex to allowing herself to experience genuine love. It's unlikely that Fleabag's next step, after leaving the bus stop, would involve indulging in reckless behavior like she might have done in the past. In the first series, such actions would have been understandable, especially given her recent loss of the man she loved.

While romantics might feel let down by the separation of Fleabag and the Priest, it's comforting to know that Fleabag will ultimately be fine. The Priest, who truly understood her, challenged her coping mechanisms and defenses, aiding her in overcoming them.

Before remarrying, Fleabag's father told her, "You understand love better than anyone else, and that's why you always feel so much pain."

Fleabag’s ongoing interactions with her audience serve as deep dives into infinite self-reflection. The death of her best friend and her own monumental mistakes have left her life in disarray, with loneliness and nihilism becoming its central themes. Modern life has plunged her into relentless pain, where she drowns in introspection and can't escape.

This is the absurdity and mystery that modern life brings. Fleabag knows best how to love, how to love life, and how to be herself, yet she experiences a profound malice and sense of nihilism that others haven't. She is the one who finds it hardest to discover meaning in this series. In contrast, those who have never cared about meaning, who have never truly enjoyed life, also endure the pain of existence and nihilism but can easily use the meaning provided by society to escape and immerse themselves. They set their life goals and reasons based on secular standards. For people like her sister and father, maintaining these standards acts like a deity, providing them with life's answers, even if these answers are fundamentally false.

The priest falls in love with Fleabag, becoming both her salvation and a source of confusion. I believe the priest’s role embodies a duality of divinity and humanity. He is an incarnation of God due to his priestly role, yet he is a man with desires and emotions, not entirely devoted to the divine. Fleabag’s psychological consultation in the second episode of the second season, in my opinion, is key to the entire series—the therapist asks her, "Do you want to fuck God, or do you want to fuck the priest?"

The series highlights many aspects of the priest’s divinity; every time he invokes God, miracles occur (a wine bottle falls, a painting falls). Initially, the priest approaches Fleabag through his divinity (as the minister at her father and stepmother’s wedding, representing God). We see that after meeting Fleabag, their encounters always occur in the church or during religious activities. The priest even gives her a Bible to help her overcome her life’s troubles.

However, Fleabag does not see the priest purely as a divine being. His simple command to "kneel" brings clarity. At that moment, in her mind, the image of God merges with the man she loves. She confesses her sins to the priest, and he, in the posture of God, saves her. God represents an omniscient, omnipotent figure who can decide how people should live (tell you how to dress). This is precisely what modern people pursue.

In their farewell exchange, the priest replies to the protagonist's "I love you" with "It will pass," a poignant moment I cherish from the series. Their relationship wasn't solely about being together; they understood it was transient. His statement at the wedding, "Love isn’t something that weak people do," underscores the profound resolution of their journeys: the priest, after experiencing human love, reaffirms his commitment to God's love, while the woman, having endured hardship, rediscovers love's true worth.