Seasons 1 and 2. 4th and 5th of September, 2021.
Watched.
My rating: 10/10.
I picked up Fleabag because I thought it was just a light comedy with a couple of seasons of short episodes. But I was so wrong... and I'm glad for it.
Fleabag follows a 30 year old woman who remains unnamed for the entirety of the narrative; but you may adress her as 'Fleabag' because of obvious reasons. She struggles with depression after losing her best friend to an accident, has to revive a dying cafe and try not to screw her relationship with her family any more than she already has. She masks self hatred with her razor sharp sense of humor whilst constantly breaking the fourth wall to offer her insights of her world in an intimate manner to us.
Phoebe Waller Bridge, who wrote and starred in Fleabag, has achieved something here that not many writers are capable of; writing a story which interweaves two seemingly opposed genres together so seamlessly that it becomes rather difficult to notice when one shifts into another. The two genres that I'm talking about are, of course, comedy and drama.
Now, I'm not saying that two have never met before. In most dramas, you'll find a hint of comedy and most comedies will find their roots in some sort of dramatic foundation. What I'm saying is that I've seldom seen it done so well, so pitch perfectly, as it is done in this show. The show blends the funny and sad bits of life so well that sometimes it left me unsure weather I should laugh or cry.
Not a single scene overstays it's welcome and tells more about the character than you'd expect in such a short span of time, maintaining the break neck speed. Every character is passive aggressive in this but none more than Olivia Coleman's character, Fleabag's Godmother. I just watched Olivia in The Father (2020) and I genuinely felt sorry for her character. But in this, I just wanted to smack her in the teeth. It just goes to show how good she is. Unbelievably good!
When it comes down to it, everyone in the cast is really at the top of their game in this one. Weather it be Sian Clifford as Flebag's sister, or Bill Paterson as Fleabag's dad or even Brett Gelman as the Fleabag's perverted douchebag of a brother in law, every single person draws out the emotion the scene demands and makes it look as easy as a walk in the park. And, of course, witnessing Andrew Scott- Moriarty from BBC's Sherlock- as the "Hot Priest" is delight of it's own.
The melancholic overtone of the show really struck a chord with me, making it the first 10/10 piece of art that I've watched in months. I'm not sure if it will connect with you, dear reader, as much as it did with me, but I'd urge you to check it out nonetheless.
Fleabag's seldom poignant, often humorous portrayal of grief is as sincere as one can expect, and I'll most definitely return to it in future.
