You know the first time you watch The Office and you hear Michael Scott monologue for the first time, and you think to yourself, “Who is this guy?” That’s the exact same feeling you get when you watch Fleabag for the first time as Phoebe Waller-Bridge describes – in blatantly honest detail – a sexual encounter to you as it’s happening.
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The show takes a few episodes to grow on you because it’s very mature at times. Waller-Bridge plays, at first glance, a horrible person worthy of the name Fleabag. You can only watch in disgust and confusion at her quips and escapades as she narrates them to you. She’s a fantastic liar, and yet she tells the truth at the most painful times. She’s a thief with purpose – sometimes extremely selfish and other times completely selfless. One could even go so far to say she is a nymphomaniac. However, we as a television audience have never seen a woman who embraces her libido and sexual urges so openly that we think, “perhaps this is just because we’ve never seen women like her.” Her honesty about a woman’s completely uncensored thoughts makes this show so groundbreaking in the modern age.
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Fleabag is an interpersonal comedy and drama that truly showcases the best that British television has to offer. It merges the comedic effect that The Office created with its’ quasi-documentary film style; Fleabag talks to you as the action unfolds without stepping out of the scene. In that respect, it’s not too dissimilar from Deadpool. Other than the pacing of the show, the narrative takes old tropes and makes them fresh again. We learn that Fleabag has a dysfunctional family: a sister she never gets along with, a distant dad who remarried a successful woman (who absolutely hates Fleabag and her sister), an ex that keeps coming back even though he’s totally wrong for her, and a best friend who passed away becuase of awful circumstances.
I’m not going to lie to you, it takes four episodes for you to really “get it.” But I can promise you, once you do get it, you understand why the show won six Emmys, including Writer for a Comedy Series (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Lead Actress (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Overall Comedy Series. That’s right, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the mad genius at the heart of this show. Her words, her way. She writes this story for every modern woman struggling at her job, having difficult times with family, going through messy relationships and dealing with trauma, which whether you want it to or not, reminds you of what you’ve been through.
Fleabag only has two seasons and with six episodes each. I recommend you block out some time to knock it out, because once you get reeled in, you won’t want to stop. In my opinion, the second season is definitely the better season. But, you have to watch the first season or else the payoff in the second is nonexistent. The only thing you need to know about the second season is that Andrew Scott plays a priest.
You’ll know you “get it” when at the end of each episode, as her theme song plays, you can’t help but laugh and jam along to it. When you reach that point, you can come back and thank me.
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