5 times Fleabag broke the fourth wall and got a little too real

Created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag premiered in 2016 and came to an end after a run of two seasons. The show has now become a part of the growing pop culture discourse with fans never getting over the love story between Fleabag and Hot Priest.

One of the greatest aspects of Fleabag remains the protagonist, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, breaking the fourth wall every now and then to directly address the audience. This device has been interpreted in many ways, and it often seems that she is so lonely and friendless in her own life that she takes the viewers as someone with whom she can share whatever she is feeling.

Fleabag’s fourth wall breaks also highlight the performative side of the character as it seems that she is the most real when she is talking to the audience and for the rest of the time, she is just pretending to fit in, something she is not very good at.

It is only the Hot Priest, played by the brilliant Andrew Scott, who catches Fleabag looking at the camera and talking to the audience, asking her where she went. This unsettles Fleabag, as until now she had been able to carry on her quiet moments with the viewers without anyone ever noticing.

Her shock from being truly seen makes her break the fourth wall again, almost immediately, with the Priest again catching her doing the same. These are the moments that make Fleabag great and here are some of the best instances of Phoebe Waller-Bridge looking at the camera and talking to the audience as she bares herself to them.

The following article is based on the author’s own opinions.

5 moments when Fleabag broke the fourth wall

The first time Fleabag meets the Priest

The Hot Priest and Fleabag meet for the first time in season 2 as she is having dinner with her family. As everyone is talking among themselves, Fleabag looks straight at the camera and says, “no one has asked me a question in 45 minutes.” Immediately after this, the Priest asks her what she does.

While the Priest did not catch her right then in her conversation with the audience, the timing works brilliantly establishing the fact that this is the man who is going to change her life.

The first time the Priest asks Fleabag who she is talking to

It does not take much time for Fleabag to get attracted to the Priest and while he is not allowed to sleep with anyone because of his religious vocation, that does not stop Fleabag from going to his place to share a beer.

As the two are having a couple of beers outside the Priest’s house, Fleabag breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience, which is immediately caught by the Priest. He asks her where she went for a moment and as she says she was right there she again looks at the camera in visible confusion, which is again addressed by the Priest.

Fleabag compliments the Priest’s neck

As the two start bonding, in a moment of vulnerability Fleabag thinks she is talking to the audience when she compliments the Priest’s beautiful neck. However, the lines between her reality and pretense had started to blur by that time and while she does break the fourth wall in the same scene, the Hot Priest asks her what she meant by “his beautiful neck.”

Fleabag again has to lie about what she meant or why she said it or if she said it at all but it becomes clear at this point that her pretension does not work with the man and thus her real self, which emerges only when she talks directly to the audience is noticed every time by the Priest.

Fleabag says her cafe is doing well

In the episode where Fleabag meets the Hot Priest for the first time and he asks her about her occupation, she replies that she runs a guinea pig themed cafe and also mentions that the cafe is doing quite well.

Now, she does not stop at telling it to her family present at the table but also looks at the camera and mentions the same thing again to the audience. This shows how she is emphasizing the fact of the cafe doing well as it might seem unbelievable after the way viewers had seen her in the previous season.

Fleabag bids goodbye to the audience

As Fleabag and the Hot Priest realize that their love story is a doomed one, she goes her own way, alone. The camera follows her and she looks back, breaking the fourth wall one final time and nods, hinting that she would no longer talk to the audience the way she did.

The gesture works in multiple ways as it not only marks the end of the show but also highlights the fact that Fleabag is now somewhat of a changed person after her encounter with the Hot Priest and perhaps the performative part of her life is finally over.

She bids goodbye to the camera as she would no longer allow the audience to watch her life and how she chooses to live it. It’s the final goodbye and that’s what makes breaking the fourth wall so poignant in the scene.