Fleabag: Episode 1

March 5, 2019 1:56 PM - Season 2, Episode 1

The eponymous Fleabag returns, joining an uncomfortable family dinner to celebrate Godmother and Dad’s engagement. Alongside familiar faces - uptight sister Claire and her alcoholic husband Martin - Fleabag finds herself intrigued by Godmother’s new priest. The evening comes to a tempestuous end, however, when an unexpected attack brings old tensions bubbling to the surface
posted by pharm (16 comments total)

Content warning: Miscarriage.

Plus disfunctional family relationships (obviously).
posted by pharm at 1:57 PM on March 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Aaaaugh I don't wanna wait for May for it to arrive over here.
posted by rewil at 8:03 AM on March 6, 2019

Is it not out in the US yet? Maybe I shouldn't post episodes then.
posted by pharm at 10:26 AM on March 6, 2019

Very promising start, I thought. If anyone can pull off the near-impossible task of living up to Fleabag series 1, Waller-Bridge is the one to do it.

The Guardian has a (spoiler-filled) review of the new episode. "Faith v Fleabag. Sacred v profane. The hallowed v the unholy fuckup," it concludes. "Good luck, God. You’re going to need it."
posted by Paul Slade at 4:13 AM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

The tease with the blood at the beginning & the miscarriage later on was definitely one of those “is she /really/ going there?” moments. But she veers off somewhere else instead, and the miscarriage is something heart-breaking & human in the midst of everything else. I don’t know how I would have felt about it if I’d actually had a miscarriage though.

The whole episode felt like a stage play in some ways - that tight, almost claustrophobic circle of them all round the dinner table, trapped there with each other.
posted by pharm at 7:03 AM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

Well, the whole Fleabag project started life as a stage play, of course. I see PW-B is is reviving the original one-woman show in New York right now.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:37 AM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

This show is so good and this was an amazing entry. Shocking and hilarious and devastating. The “because it doesn’t matter” moment? 😮

Been watching Andrew Scott’s Hamlet on and off and giggled and clapped to see him at the table.
posted by supercres at 10:42 AM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

As someone who came late to the first series and really enjoyed it, I was a bit put off by the episode refocusing things on the nyeah Overtly Middle Class Howard's Way bollocks which was more context than theme in the first series, but luckily there was a sudden comedy bathroom miscarriage.

Life gets to do that shit out of the blue, comedy doesn't. Put "Howard's Way With Miscarriage Gags, It's Very Erotic!" on the promos, that'll be fucking hilarious. At least then viewers will be warned.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 7:31 PM on March 25, 2019

cc'd to [e-mail] obviously
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 7:34 PM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Is it not out in the US yet?

It's out everywhere via yarr me hearties. I've just binged both series (first series for the second time) and honestly cannot imagine how series 2 could possibly have complemented series 1 better. Outstanding work. Olivia Colman is, as always, simply magnificent.

I love it when he does that
posted by flabdablet at 3:26 AM on May 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

From The Guardian's review of the stage show:

The name Fleabag is never explained. It has a few of the same vowel and consonant sounds of Phoebe. But it also sounds like a new-school/old-school synonym for hussy that hasn’t cracked Urban Dictionary yet. It sounds funny, but also repulsive, which is to say it does the job.

Right from the very first episode, I just assumed without thinking that Fleabag is exactly the kind of schoolyard nickname that could stick to a Phoebe for life. It never struck me as the least bit mysterious or contrived or calculated, and I have been amazed to see so many reviewers so unable or perhaps unwilling to make the utterly obvious connection. Did none of these people attend a school?
posted by flabdablet at 5:17 AM on May 13, 2019 [7 favorites]

Just binged the whole series on Prime. It's brilliant. Steps above even series one.
posted by maudlin at 4:06 PM on May 18, 2019

LOOOOOOOVE Fleabag. Love love love love love.

I'd like to see commentary about/analysis of the priest's ability to see Fleabag breaking the 4th wall. Comments/links, anyone?
posted by torticat at 9:23 PM on May 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

For anyone else interested in the question I just asked, here's that I found satisfying.
posted by torticat at 2:42 PM on May 19, 2019

Hm, metafilter's being weird, didn't include the link, didn't let me add it in editing. The link is this one:
https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/fleabag-top-10-season-2-fourth-wall-breaks-1203219021/
posted by torticat at 2:44 PM on May 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

This whole season was brilliant and beautiful and Phoebe Waller-Bridge should get to make all the things forever now. I'm going to watch it again.

There are just so many pieces I keep thinking about -- it's just all really thoughtfully put together and the impact of it lingers.

There are a lot of things I relate to about it, even though it's not at all my story. It just captures that "thing" about being a depressed, smart, messed-up young woman (who is maybe no longer as young as she used to be, so a lot of this behavior is no longer cute, not that it ever was) and the desire to change without being able to do so (or without people letting you). It's about trying to be better even when you're getting in your own way.

I love it so much.
posted by darksong at 3:43 PM on May 20, 2019 [2 favorites]