The Protagonist's distractions officially caught up to her, as her desire for Vladimir and attempts to remain one step ahead on John's case have landed her in a tricky profession situation. Vladimir episode 6 opens with her reacting to the news that she has been suspended from teaching. David and Florence tell her that being associated with John and her erratic behavior have rubbed students the wrong way.
She refuses to voluntarily step down, and if she doesn't, she will ultimately be put on administrative leave until the end of the year. She balks when she learns Cynthia would take over her class. She's also offended when David says he would never sleep with him again. She smokes a cigarette while ranting to us about not speaking out against her husband. Campus security forces her to put it out.
After getting a summons from campus security, she shreds it up and throws it away in her office. Vlad hasn't heard about what's happening, and he's a bright spot for The Protagonist to sneak into. They talk about literature, but he notices that something's bothering her. He puts his arm around her to comfort her, and another daydream appears. She also later imagines him licking fruit juice off her chest.
The Protagonist tries to win over Lila
Fired up about the case, The Protagonist drops by a party at the university's president's house to once again bend his wife's ear and plead her case. She doesn't get the support she's looking for and decides to head upstairs to steal fancy skincare and one undisclosed pill. Back at home, she imagines Vlad touching her and writes more of her in-progress novel, eventually falling asleep.
The Protagonist disagrees with Sid and Alexis' guidance not to say anything about the situation until after the hearing, and she continues to ruin the goodwill with her daughter and her girlfriend by openly criticizes their relationship. She also fights with John about not speaking out against him and also agreeing to an open marriage. She's in an impossible situation.
She ends up canceling her lunch date with Vladimir in order to focus on the hearing, and she makes another questionable decision by visiting Lila at the bakery. She praises an entry from her newsletter, seemingly without the intention to winning her over. However, The Protagonist seems to mean it when she implores Lila not to give up on writing because she doesn't see a future in it.
The Protagonist catches John with Cynthia
Against the recommendation of literally everyone, The Protagonist decides to turn her next lecture into an open forum for questions from students about everything. Vlad's the only one who advocates for her to follow through with the open forum. In addition to the students, the staff shows up too in order to listen to The Protagonist respond to anonymous questions.
She offers a nuanced answer about whether she believes John did something wrong, believing that because they were consensual relationships, she isn't comfortable denouncing her husband. No one in the audience is moved by her answer. She also reveals they had an open marriage, which leads to even more questions and criticisms about the power imbalances in John's affairs.
While one student understands what she means when poking holes in the power imbalance, it's hard to read how the rest feel, though it's safe to assume they aren't on her side. When John goes out that night, The Protagonist follows him and catches him meeting up with Cynthia and hugging. The next morning, she learns that she isn't being suspended, but she will have to be supervised in her classes by a monitor and have biweekly reviews. It's a compromise for the students who wanted her removed.
On the morning of the hearing, The Protagonist tells John that she will meet him and Sid there. She even asks if Cynthia will be in attendance, but he plays dumb about who she is. Sitting in the car in the campus parking lot for over an hour, The Protagonist waits for Vlad to join her in the passenger seat. She changed her mind on their lunch and is skipping the hearing. That can't be good!