Fleabag is a streaming show based on Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one-woman show of the same name. It first aired in 2016 on Amazon Prime, and its last episodes premiered in 2019.
The show stars Waller-Bridge, Andrew Scott, Sian Clifford, Brett Gelman, Olivia Colman, Jenny Rainsford, and Bill Paterson. They all give exceptional performances in their respective roles.
Despite the fact that this series is very humorous, each episode actually goes very deeply into the themes of family and love. While Fleabag (Waller-Bridge) struggles in her relationship with her sister Claire (Stafford), in the end, they know they are sisters, and they still care about each other very much.
While I am pretty sensitive to a lot of things, I cried at the end of the last episode. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s all just so heartbreaking, yet incredibly bittersweet.
A big highlight, and my favorite part of the show, is how Fleabag constantly breaks the fourth wall. This, along with the very blunt cuts, is what makes the show so unique and hilarious.
Every little glance or comment that Fleabag makes to the viewer rarely fails to make me giggle. The show’s awkward humor also really makes it one of the funniest I’ve ever seen. It is probably the hardest I’ve laughed at a show in a long time.
One of my favorite scenes in the show is in the first episode. When Fleabag and her sister, Claire, are at a lecture about feminism, the lecturer asks the women in the audience, “Raise your hands if you would trade five years of your life for the perfect body?” Both sisters’ hands immediately fly up, while the camera pans to the rest of the audience, who aren’t raising their hands. After they go onto another topic, Fleabag turns to her sister and says, “We’re bad feminists.”
In Season One, Fleabag is kind of a terrible person, or a fleabag, if you will. She has a lot of her own problems that she needs to sort out, and she’s self-aware of this fact.
My favorite episode, and one that I consider a masterpiece, is the first episode of Season Two. The entire event unfolds at a dinner party that culminates in chaos. This is where Fleabag first meets The Priest (played by Andrew Scott), and the tension during each scene is palpable.
Fleabag’s witty humor and blunt comedy both make for a must-see. Many viewers, including myself, wish they could watch it again for the first time.
