To be honest, I spend the majority of my free time on TikTok. My attention span? It’s three minutes on a good day. During one of my endless scrolling sessions, I happened to come across the recommendation for “Fleabag,”a British comedy that came out in the last good year: 2016. Written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and was rated 3.5 or more stars on Rotten Tomatoes. Therefore, I had to watch it.
As you watch the first season, you notice that the main character, Fleabag, narrates her life to us, the audience. You also notice that she is never called by her actual name–she is only called Fleabag, which has its own messy connotations. The main difference between this show and other shows is that Fleabag often breaks the fourth wall, allowing us insight into each situation. No one recognizes when she does these narratives until season 2, episode 1. After a year of no contact with her family, she’s at a family dinner celebrating her father’s upcoming wedding. At the table sits her father, his fiance, her sister, her brother-in-law, and the priest who is in charge of the wedding. Her family is shocked at the amount of maturity Fleabag has undergone, but instead of praising her, they question her. During the dinner, those at the table constantly attack and belittle her (with the exception of the priest). And he’s not your normal priest either–he truly sees her when no one else does. It’s a simple episode in a simple setting, but seeing a simple man break this fourth wall, we witness someone truly acknowledging her for who she truly is. The whole dinner is a disaster. The family setting is messy and full of drama, and it’s all so raw. Who doesn’t have their share of family drama? Slowly, you begin to see the deeper meaning behind this particular episode. The priest heard Fleabag when no one else did. And comparing it to season 1, as the audience, you’re a bit shocked. Awestruck. Amazed. You can't get enough. And you’re caught up in the show–late night binging, losing sleep to finish the show (while your unfinished assignments are piling up). Will she fall for him? Can she fall for him? He’s a priest?! But that’s just the beginning of something beautiful.
The show is so transparent, so human, and you can’t help but be dragged along on her life’s emotional roller coaster. You empathize and relate to the complexity of Fleabag’s inner nature, and maybe you see the complexity of your own. The show deals with real life problems in a comedic way, which sums up this generation. It’s been a few weeks since I finished the show, and a part of me can't let it go. So watch the show, embrace the awkward. Grieve with Fleabag. Laugh, cry, cringe. But mostly, just let yourself be human along with this flawed, complex character.
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