We need to talk about Fleabag. Co-produced by Amazon Prime and BBC, the British show has two completed seasons and awarded six Emmy Awards, including “Outstanding Comedy Series” and “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series” for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is also the creator and writer. From this, you can get an idea of how good this is, right?
Actually, no. It is a lot better when you watch it, but there’s a few things I need to explain before you do that. First of all, Fleagbag is based on a one-woman stand up Waller-Bridge performed in 2013 and, in the show, the core storyline for the first season is basically the same – season two was written specifically for TV.
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Second: you should know what the show is about. There’s Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who has to endure family drama and disappointment in love while trying to succeed in her business: a cafe in London that is almost closing up. Although it is nothing too exceptional for a 30 something woman, the character is nothing ordinary.
What makes you want to watch is the almost-secret side of her life, with kind of a sexual compulsion, lots of guilt towards her best friend’s, Boo (Jenny Rainsford), suicide and a really spicy humor. Another thing is that we just know her by the nickname, something that happens also with a few other characters in this show.
In season one, we’re introduced to Claire (Sian Clifford) and Martin (Brett Gelman), Fleabag’s sister and brother-in-law, Harry (Hugh William Skinner), her on-and-off boyfriend, and also her father (Bill Paterson) and stepmother/godmother (Olivia Colman). Getting to know more about the family relationship and the way she handles her love life (and casual sex partners), we also discover the grief and all the feelings hiding behind the humorous comments.
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Although it is a comedy series, the plot is a lot heavier and you will discover yourself in a love-hate relationship with the lead character, rooting for her even if she’s not doing something nice, but without any judgment. Fleabag can inspire emotions.
The second season is more about a closing up from the first plot and also the unexpected friendship between Fleabag and a priest (Andrew Scott). The comedy there is witty, different from season one, and will probably leave you in tears among laughs.
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And I must warn you: in both seasons you will laugh at inappropriate moments.That’s mostly because Waller-Bridge’s job in (sometimes literally) breaking the fourth wall that separates the actors from the audience. In the last episode you’re so into her life that is almost painful to say goodbye, and as the creator already made clear that a third season will not happen, you kind of have to.