Through two seasons of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s masterpiece Fleabag, we became part of Fleabag’s life. As the audience, we were her closest confidants when she leaned into the camera to tell us her innermost thoughts. After season 2 ended, we can’t help but miss her and wonder if there will be a season 3.
We first met the titular Fleabag (Waller-Bridge, who also created and wrote the series) in season 1 when she was going through some dark stuff. Her mother had died shortly before the series started, but she coped. That is, until her best friend and business partner died accidentally when she tried to teach her boyfriend a lesson for cheating.
Fleabag struggles to keep their cafe open, take care of a guinea pig named Hillary, and find love. She tries to reach out to her family, but her sister Claire, father, and stepmother are too distant and self-absorbed to see how much she’s struggling—especially because she covers her pain with humor. (Same, girl.) Not only is her only confidant dead, Fleabag blames herself for the death as she was “the other woman.”
With season 2, some time has passed, and Fleabag’s got her life together … for the most part. She’s got the cafe turning a profit. In a major change from the first season, she’s sworn off sex since it caused so many issues for her. Fleabag also kept her distance from her family until a celebratory dinner brought them all together again. At that fateful meal, Fleabag’s world turns upside down because she meets (hot) Priest (Andrew Scott).
Lusting after Priest is Fleabag’s new obsession. For being so different on paper, the two of them get along perfectly. The hot Priest isn’t like regular priests. Besides being hot, he smokes, drinks, and has a wicked sense of humor. When they hang out, they have open and honest discussions. The tension between them builds until it breaks in some super sexy scenes. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from the “kneel” scene. But in the end, Priest chooses God over Fleabag (boo). Yet Fleabag is okay with that, she understands. The season ends on a hopeful note rather than a sad one.
So will we see more of Fleabag?
In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Waller-Bridge explained she wasn’t interested in returning for a third season. She explained:
“I feel like it’s done, but I do have a fantasy of bringing her back when I’m, like, 45 or 50. She went on the biggest journey over the past two seasons, and she started as someone who sort of hated herself and ended up as someone believing that she could love again and forgive herself. I have to respect that arc and let her go and live for a bit.”
As much as I would love to spend more time with Fleabag, I agree with Waller-Bridge. We nurtured and watched Fleabag grow into a person who knows she can live the life she wants to. She knows that she deserves love for who she is, not what she can give people. Even if we never have new adventures with Fleabag, we’ll always have the guinea pig-themed cafe and a shared love of a hot priest.
(featured image: Prime Video)
