Fleabag review: Crying, Laughing at Sex and Love
I wasn't really sure that I'd like this series at first because all I know is that it is about a sexually hungry woman and as a person who isn't into sexual movies, I actually thought that this series will be about how American movies portrayed sex.
Except it didn't and it joined my list of the best series I've ever watched. In fact, it almost topped it. Phoebe Waller-Bridge created a carefully, well-written, realistic, humorous and heartbreaking story about sexual relationship and love. So much so, you wouldn't guess that something so full of jokes would turn dark.
Fleabag has two seasons; one about friendship and family and the other is about romance and self-love. Personally, I like the second season more but for me both seasons are perfect. It's just that I think because of my personal preference, I liked the second season better.
In this review, I'd like to tackle more about the morals, feelings and jokes in both seasons. There are spoilers here though so it's better if people would watch it first.
What's also good in this story is that there are no character names but the story was told in a very effective and interesting way.
REALISM AND SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR
Fleabag Season 1 and 2, for me, actually delved into self-destructive behavior of the main character, Fleabag. If you look at the word at the dictionary, it means unpleasant person and creator Phoebe really did a very unpleasant person for some viewers I guess. For me, I welcomed Fleabag's adventures and how she handled her trauma in life.
Ever since her mom died, she didn't know where to put her love or what to get to into her life. We start out with a main character who is an anti-hero. She is horny at all times and look for satisfaction from her addiction to sex. Aside from this, she is also a seeming failure. After her best friend killed at an accident, their cafe is almost going into bankruptcy. Her cafe is always empty and she desperately needs money but is hesitant to ask help from her sister, Claire.
In both seasons, Fleabag is always using sex as a leverage to forget her problems. She is also a smoker and an alcoholic. We see her knocking at her father's door in the middle of the night where she finally cried about the feeling that she will never be loved. She is the only member of the family who isn't doing so well but the interesting part in this story is that even if her sister and father both have a relationship, it doesn't mean that they are happy.
In the first season, her father's relationship with their godmother is very awful. She is condescending and very controlling of their father. Claire's relationship with Martin is also very toxic, after the latter gaslighted Fleabag.
I also like the subtle hints in flashbacks which shows how Fleabag hates herself. She always had her friend, Boo, by her side to make her feel better or make her reveal her true emotions.
This is the most interesting part. After all what Boo did to her, Fleabag betrays her by sleeping with her boyfriend. Fleabag even joked about Boo's death to a taxi driver, who was alarmed by her reaction. I think we are all the taxi driver and Fleabag. At some point in our life, we always had this moment where we can't really process our emotions or we turn to self-destructive acts to forget our issues.
I also think there is a good thing about this dynamic on how she can't really fix the damage that she has done after Boo killed herself. Also, on how her sister sided with Martin even as it was Martin who kissed her first. Instead, she moved on and tried to fix herself and actually finally made friends with the bank staffer to help her with the loan.
In Season 2, she finally left her sex addiction (sort of) and finally met the hot priest who is the only person that actually cared or showed interest in her. He was also the one who walked her through self-love and amazing aspects of life. I think it was very laudable for her to finally found someone who is optimistic to be with her but it was cut short because the guy is of course, a fucking priest.
HOW PHOEBE PORTRAYED SEX IN A FEMINIST VIEW
I think I liked how this show portrayed sex because it was a woman's point of view. Fleabag was just watching men fuck her and tell a tale on how sex can also be shown. Sex isn't always going to be perfect, it's bound to be awkward and less "moany." What I liked about Fleabag is that she chose to be a slut not because of men's request but because she was really addicted to it. She described how she liked it in a more poetic and funny way.
It was also not pretentious because we see here that women can also be sexual. We all see in the media how most men always want sex and how they always prefer their women to be like this or that. Here, Fleabag isn't the most attractive person and she embraces that by sleeping with multiple men not because she was trying to be like a guy but because of loneliness and the feeling of human warmth.
In Season 2, I also like how when she finally had sex with the priest, she wanted it to be hidden from us, the audience, because it was personal and real for her. It was a special sex that she wanted to keep for herself.
FOURTH WALL, TASTEFUL JOKES
I didn't expect that this show will use the fourth wall method. I mostly liked the mockumentary setting in sitcoms but this television series brought it to the next level. As much as comedic as it sounds, the theory behind the fourth wall in this show is actually sad. The meaning is that Phoebe couldn't confront her issues with other people so she tried to do it by talking to herself through the fourth wall.
In some sense, at least in my own interpretation, she isn't talking to us but she is just imagining talking to other people by using this fourth wall or as the priest pointed out in the latter season, the time when Phoebe distances herself from the world. She somehow felt that she can only confront her own issues by her own now that her mom and bestfriend had died.
Most jokes in this series is very very funny. Sometimes it left me in stitches while sometimes it left me crying because of how dank it is. There was never a dull moment in this show.
I like the joke on the bus where this guy's teeth was too big but Fleabag still dated him and she felt really disgusted with herself.
The conversation with her sister on the almost foiled haircut. "Claire, It's French" is somehow a reference to "Chic means boring. Don't tell the French."
There is always something about British humor and its authenticity. It isn't trying to be threatical or anything. In fact, it is making everyday life into something so funny and dank which I really like.
FAVORITE EPISODES
Season 1 - I like the episode where the sisters went to a feminist retreat but they ended up cleaning the whole building. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters, showing how Fleabag only used one moisturizing lotion for her whole body while her sister had a lot of beauty products. It depicts the so-so attitude of Fleabag and uptight nature of Claire. Finally, this episode also showed the reconciliation of Fleabag and the bank guy. I like how Fleabag pretended that she shouldn't speak, just listening to the bank officers' lament. The sad dramatic but comforting song meshed with how the bank staffer narrated his lamentations in life. How he missed his wife and children, his old life. This shows the valuable nature of how Fleabag listens to people but also shows her weakness that it didn't matter what she think but what mattered about what she knows.
Season 2 - When the priest confronted her about her fourth wall break, it drive me nuts knowing how a single person understood her. It's a special kind of love and it was a pain for the two of them not to end up together. But it's also a depiction of how the priest cannot let go of his dreams.
ENDING AT 2 SEASONS IS GOOD
I wish it was longer but later on I realized how Fleabag was already perfect at season 2. It shouldn't be any longer because the story already has a resolution at how the main character already learned her lesson. That she can find love if she tries and that there are other people who can love her back.
I learned in this series that we should value love and learn how to let go. We shouldn't stick at some familiar feeling. We must challenge ourselves, value ourselves and learn from ourselves.
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