Over eight episodes, Netflix’s adaptation of Julia May Jonas’ book Vladimir has played fast and loose with narrative, told through the perspective of Rachel Weisz’s nameless narrator either called “M” or “The Protagonist,” depending on who you ask. And in the finale episode, “Against Interpretation,” things go hog wild with — spoilers past this point — two characters possibly dying, and am ambiguous ending that will make you question everything. So what’s going on in the finale of Vladimir? Hey pal: that’s what this ending explained article is for.
To give the briefest of all possible recaps, M has been dealing with the fallout from her husband, John’s (John Slattery) transgressions with various students over the decades. The relationships were consensual and of age, but with rules and mores changing, he’s under investigation by the university. Causing things to spiral further, M strikes up a friendship and flirtation with Vladimir (Leo Woodall), a young professor who is dealing with his distant wife Cynthia (Jessica Henwick) and seems to reciprocate M’s yearning. Maybe.
After discovering that Cynthia and John are seemingly having an affair, M and Vladimir abscond to her cabin, ostensibly so he can write, but also so maybe she can bang him. Instead, deciding she doesn’t want their lovely time together to end, she drugs Vladimir. Then ties him to a chair “for his own safety.” And then unlocks his phone using Face ID and texts his wife to leave him alone because he knows about the affair, then dunks his phone in water. Honestly, who hasn’t accidentally done all this?
In any case, this loops us back to where we started in the premiere: Vladimir chained to a chair, M in her nightgown. And that’s when Vladimir wakes up and screams.
There’s a lot more there, but let’s not waste any more time. Here’s the recap of the finale, followed by the ending explained.
Vladimir Finale “Against Interpretation” Recap:
Things pick up right where we left off, with Vlad, terrified, waking up. But unlike what was perhaps implied in the premiere, M explains things — aka, lies about them both getting pretty drunk — and unties him immediately. She also explains that nothing sexual happened between them, and M also tells Vlad about the affair.
The next morning, M is feeling recriminations, and goes to text John and tell him she’s sorry. But Vlad is still there, much to M’s delight — though, and this is important later, she tells Vlad (who took a walk) that the back door is sticky, and he should go around to the front.
Immediately, M slips into caretaker mode, getting Vlad coffee and encouraging him to write. They have a smoke together, and Vlad confesses that he wrote something about Cynthia’s attempted suicide, and she threw it away because it was her story. This, if anything, should be an indicator to you of the theme of the episode, and the series: who gets to tell who’s story? In this case, Vlad thought that since he wrote it and thought it was good, it was him. There’s a good case to be made that it was not, and that’s what M realizes by the end of the episode.
But we’re jumping ahead. Vlad also knows that M wrote text messages to Cynthia because cell phones connect to laptops nowadays, and even suspects that M drugged his drink. But again, he seems non-plussed and goes out in a kayak. As for M? “He wants to stay,” she tells the audience, giddy as a schoolgirl. And then later, he even suggests they write together, which is an uncomfortable, foreign concept for our narrator.
Meanwhile, back at the university it’s time for John’s hearing — and I didn’t mention this before, but John and M’s daughter Sid (Ellen Robertson) is his lawyer. This is what M is avoiding, while Vladimir avoids the responsibility of his wife and child. The kicker in the hearing is the testimony of Lila (Kayli Carter), whose life seems to have actually been at least partially destroyed by her affair with John, but has been convinced by M — and Sid — to recant her accusations. So yeah, the accusations get dismissed, and John gets away scott free… But loses his daughter, who heard about his misdeeds, in the process.
Okay, in the cabin, things pick up in a big way with Vlad and M. As M goes to clean up dishes from dinner, Vlad comes behind her, caresses her back, down to her butt, then presses his fingers between her legs and tries to initiate a professor/student fantasy.
Er, oops. He thought she wanted a pervy high school fantasy. She wants what she’s been fantasizing about the whole series long, and wonders whether she made it all up. She says she’s going to bed; he asks if he should join her. Annoyed that the real Vlad is nothing like her fantasy Vlad, she sharply says, “Stop asking me questions.”
The point here is that she wants him to take her, and that’s what he does… Throwing her against the wall and kissing her, and we get flashes of all the times M imagined this was happening, now having it happen in reality. Which is when they f**k on the bed and M comes, immediately, the pent up anticipation too much. He doesn’t last much longer, coming inside her in under 30 seconds. At which point, the fantasy having become reality, she says, “You can go to the guest room,” and he says, “okay.” And as soon as she’s gone, she begins writing.
Which is when John shows up at the cabin.
Vladimir Ending Explained:
Vlad is pissed John has been having an affair with Cynthia. John just wanted to hang out at his cabin. And M is freezing, warming herself by the on-the-fritz heater by the fireplace.
But, here’s the thing: John isn’t having an affair with Cynthia, they’re writing together. John is writing poetry, Cynthia is writing a memoir (remember: telling her own story). But what really sets Vlad off is finding out they take drugs together when they’re writing, because Cynthia is in recovery.
He knocks down John, the latter explains she’s taking half an adderall, and that Cynthia wants to write so it can stop being about Vlad all the time. That’s not how he sees it, but of course that is again what this show is about… We’re all our own narrators, telling our own stories from our own perspectives. Vlad thinks he’s a selfless man who has given up everything, but is he really? Are any of us?
You might have noticed the title of the episode, “Against Interpretation,” and of course it’s ironic… Nothing is against interpretation. Nothing is set in stone. We’re all telling stories that are different from other angles.
Vlad goes to call Cynthia, while John explains that he won’t work again, but he gets to keep his pension. He won, but lost Sid. And he wants to revisit their agreement about having an open marriage… After all of this, isn’t it “a little sad” to be pursuing people twenty, thirty, maybe more years their younger?
Vlad, meanwhile, tries to continue where they left off, reaching into M’s nightgown and grabbing her breast. He tells her he wants to meet her at the cabin once a week, and that “you inspire me.” That there is the crux for M… Her life has been about John, and can’t become about Vlad now, too? Right? She wants to be the one inspired, not the muse.
Leaving John to get ready for bed, M takes her manuscript and explains that she thought this was all about desire; but it’s really about what desire does, gives inspiration. And the novel will give her options. It will give her “agency.”
Okay, so at this point, I’ll just state: the rest of this episode may or may not have happened. You likely noticed the not-so-subtle allusions to Lolita throughout this show, and though Nabokov’s protagonist Humbert Humbert is often called an unreliable narrator, he’s mostly an unreliable person… We’re seeing the story the way he sees it. Though M isn’t worse (she did not rape a child) legally, she’s more unreliable, and it’s the camera that’s (mostly) telling us the truth. That’s laid out plainly in the premiere when M goes to a faculty party with her “f**k you” salad, talking about how everyone loves it and it got eaten immediately. The camera pans over to show the uneaten salad, which is when we know very plainly that M is lying to us. She’s bringing us in as a confidant, but she’s not necessarily always telling the truth, either to herself or to us.
Here, we go from her writing to arch narration that seems to be out of her book, as the heater sparks and sets the cabin on fire. John and Vlad run for the back door, which you’ll remember is stuck. M sees her manuscript, and has a decision to make… Help the men, or get the novel. She gets the novel, with John and Vlad trapped behind a burning rafter that’s fallen in their path.
There’s also a pretty big tell that this final section is all in M’s novel: we see her writing it down, and she looks up at us. “And this is how it plays out,” she says as she looks like the Disaster Girl meme in front of the burning cabin. “I finish my book about a woman’s obsession with her younger colleague. Vlad writes a book about a tender affair with an older professor. Mine does much better. It speaks to a certain need. Oh, don’t worry. I call 911. Everybody gets out.”
M looks back at the cabin, and fire causes the upstairs window to explode outwards. “You don’t believe me?” says M, as Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” plays on the soundtrack.
So yes, it’s up to you who you believe and what you believe. While there are a number of possibilities, I’d lean in one of two directions… Either M was writing this entire ending for her book, finishing the bout of frustration and inspiration she’s experienced since the series premiere; or John and Vlad die in the fire. The in between choice, that everyone makes it out and writes a nice book (curious that she doesn’t say what happens to John) is too easy, too satisfying… When really, it’s the anticipation that counts.
Who Dies In The Vladimir Finale?
Possibly John and Vlad die in the cabin fire, and the exploding window definitely leans in that direction. But maybe nobody dies in the finale! [Looks at you like Rachel Weisz in this very TV show] What do you think happened?
Will There Be A Vladimir Season 2 On Netflix?
Vladimir is based on a book that thus far doesn’t have any sequels or continuations. It’s also billed as a limited series, which certainly implies things are dunzo after the finale.
But hey, never say never. If it’s a huge hit, maybe Netflix will commit to a second season of the series, though that would also defeat the up-for-interpretation ending of the show. Regardless, Netflix usually doesn’t announce these sorts of decisions for at least a month, so we’ll have to see. What? You don’t believe me?
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