Before it was an Emmy-award winning British television show, Fleabag was Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s 2013 one-woman play. It is easy to see how its narrative style and its intimate focus on Fleabag (Waller-Bridge) excelled in both mediums.
Directed by Harry Bradbeer and created by Waller-Bridge, the two-season show is an exploration of the relationships and mental health of a woman known only as “Fleabag,” a colloquial term for someone dirty or cheap. It’s also Fleabag’s apparent estimation of herself. She’s living in the wake of both her mother’s death and the sort-of-accidental suicide of her best friend Boo (Jenny Rainsford). Added to that, she’s… not such a good person. She’s forced to navigate grief along with her rocky relationship to her family, in addition to running her guinea pig café without Boo.
Fleabag’s character growth is the show’s main concern. Seasons 1 and 2 have a nice symmetry in how they develop her character’s arc. In the first season, Fleabag ignores her grief. She attempts to fill the void in her life with sex and ends up further driving a wedge between herself and her sister, Claire (Sian Clifford). In the second installment of her story, she attempts to put her more damaging habits behind her. She even develops a relationship with a priest (Andrew Scott), who calls her out on not confronting her past. He is the first to notice how she constantly “disappears.” These disappearances are constant throughout the series.
Fleabag copes with tragedy by speaking in humorous asides to viewers. This 4th-wall-breaking device reveals much to viewers that other characters never see (until the priest comes along and shakes things up). It’s a large part of the charm of the series. Though much of the show deals with serious topics, Fleabag’s flippant way of deflecting situations with humor lends a lightness to the overall tone. Viewers will still feel the grief that underlies the majority of the show. However, both seasons compress intense emotions into specific moments of revelation. This allows the show to tend more towards comedy than tragedy while maintaining a specific balance of both.
Like much of modern television, Fleabag jumps quickly from scene to scene. Although it isn’t an action-packed show per se, one isn’t likely to lose interest due to the quick pace. Overall, Fleabag is a witty, gripping, heart-wrenching piece of art. This popular show is a necessary addition to all TV series shelves. It’s an excellent watch for anyone who enjoys dry humor or loves seeing a wide and complicated range of feeling displayed on screen. Highly recommended. Editor’s choice.