Abhiroop Das
Created by Julia May Jonas, Netflix’s ‘Vladimir’ makes it a rule to break the fourth wall with the incisive literary jabs of M, an unnamed professor at an unnamed university who becomes obsessed with Vladimir, the literature department’s newest hire. Vladimir is tall, well-built, and effortlessly charming, but also married and the father of a three-year-old. With all that in mind, M resolves to keep this fantasy trapped within her mind and never let even a drop of it leak out, but that soon proves to be a failed pursuit.
Every time the duo meets, M finds herself wanting something more, but all her attempts to actualize that desire come to a dead end. The biggest roadblock is the fact that she herself is married, and worse, her husband is currently accused of sexual misconduct by his own students. As M ponders jumping from one scandal to inviting another, Vladimir reveals that his interest in her might not just be limited to plain old friendship, after all. SPOILERS AHEAD.
M’s Finale Sex With Vladimir Gives Second Wind to All Her Wildest Fantasies
After seven episodes of ever-intensifying buildup, ‘Vladimir’ climaxes with Vladimir and M making love in the show’s finale. In a way, the scene doubles as a highlights reel of all the fantasies M imagines across the story, as it is revealed that Vladimir, too, shared those thoughts. From the moment the duo first lay eyes on each other, both are filled with an inescapable and overwhelming sense of desire, the difference being that Vladimir is just that much better at hiding it. M remarks early on that he is hard to read, and while that is a bit of a tell on herself, it nonetheless falls in line with how the finale subverts Vladimir’s character. While he is indeed a level-headed, gentle giant for the bulk of ‘Vladimir,’ in the final moments of the show, he shows all shades of raunchy, surprising, above all, M.
It is apparent from the moment Vladimir brushes off being kidnapped and sedated that he is somewhat digging his time and experience with M, and that is before he learns of his wife’s alleged affair. That detail isn’t exactly a tipping point for him, but more likely a stepping stone that allows him to have an affair and not feel as guilty about it. However, where he initially goes wrong is in assuming that M’s obsession with him is due to the age gap. In trying to turn her on, he leans into that angle too much by roleplaying as one of her students. This almost ends things before they can even begin, but M clears the air just in time, teasingly inviting him to join her in bed and to not ask too many questions.
For M, Sex With Vladimir Turns Out to be the Means to a Creative End
While Vladimir and M’s sex scene brings all of the show’s sexually charged images and metaphors together, it is what happens immediately after the scene that lends itself to much more scrutiny. Although it appears that M has the time of her life with Vladimir, immediately after she tells him to return to the guest room, clearly indicating that he is not welcome to sleep the night with her. In essence, she acknowledges him as a figure of her fancy, and as a sex partner, but not as someone she wants an emotionally involved relationship with. This doesn’t mean that her heart is with John, however, as mere moments after Vladimir leaves, we see what she really is up to. In a flash, she whips out her manuscripts and writes pages upon pages of nothing but pure art captured in ink, a far cry from just one day ago, when she was too taken in by Vladimir to write a single word.
From the start, Vladimir has never been someone M can love, or someone who can open M’s eyes to a different kind of life. Instead, he serves a very specific function, that of reigniting her passion for writing. In the same vein, it is not he, but the very act of sexual expression that serves as M’s muse, and when the time comes to choose between Vladimir, John, and her creative magnum opus, there is hardly any doubt about what she picks. This directly connects to her past relationship with David, when she truly did fall in love and waited for him at the train station, ready to abandon her whole life. Choosing David at that point meant bidding goodbye to her artist self, and that is not a mistake she will likely ever make again.
Read More: Vladimir Ending Explained: What Happens After the Fire?
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