The Netflix dark comedy Vladimir explores the distinction between reality and fantasy. While those lines blur and it’s hard to understand what is really unfolding, by the finale, the eight-episode series reveals its truth as a “do it for the plot” send-up of writers. Centered on an unnamed protagonist played by Rachel Weisz, who regularly breaks the fourth wall a la Fleabag, the erotic dramedy follows Weisz’s tenured English professor who becomes obsessed with a younger colleague. Her direct-to-camera confessions reveal her fantasies about Vlad (Leo Woodall), while her real life begins to unravel when her husband John’s (John Slattery) inappropriate relationships with younger students are exposed and escalated.
In its first episode, the Netflix original, adapted from Julie May Jones’s novel of the same name, teases Vlad’s inevitable kidnapping—but it’s not until the end that it’s revealed how he wound up being held hostage in a cabin. And while much of the relationship between Vlad and The Protagonist is via imagined hook-ups and flirtatious texting, it doesn’t fully take the plunge until the final episode. But how exactly do they get there? And what does it mean, given the show’s sleight-of-hand final twist? Read on to find out exactly what goes down in the twisted love triangle of Vladimir.
