1x01 Episode 1

[7.3/10] I’d be lying if I said I was over the moon about this first episode, but there’s plenty to like. I enjoy the fourth-wall breaking conceit. This isn’t the first show to use that device (hello Zach Morris and Woody Allen), but I like how and how well it’s integrated here. This isn’t just a dose of voiceover narration there to give the audience the important facts, but a nice way of adding in Fleabag’s stream of consciousness reactions to what’s happening in the moment in a natural way. Even just the aside looks at the camera (so much Jimming) work well in that regard, and it’s the thing that stands out the most in this pilot episode.

This is also a good first episode in terms of how it sets up the basics of the world. Using a mix of flashbacks and convenient (but still organic) exposition, we get a sense of who Fleabag is, what she’s like, and what she’s after. Right now, the latter part seems to be mostly money and sexual gratification, but that’s interesting! While far from the first to do it, I appreciate the show’s frankness about that, and its effort to make Fleabag understandable, if not exactly likable, in that effort.

It also introduces the major figures in her life, giving each a quick sketch to let us know who she is and her relationship with each is like. She has a, shall we say, prickly relationship with her sister, a barely-there relationship with her dad, and a cold war combative relationship with her stepmom. The one bit of sunshine in her life seems to come from her best friend Boo, and the show does a nice job of punching the audience in the gut over the revelation that she’s dead.

(To be candid, at first I didn’t comprehend that the blonde woman they were flashing back to was the same woman Fleabag was describing to her cab driver.)

I also appreciate the theme of feminism and femininity at play. There’s a nice effort to grapple with the idea that while modern feminism is a good thing and far better than the sexism it’s tried to replace, that it also results in women who feel like they fall short of its standards. Dramatizing that struggle, to be “good” whatever your standard for that is as a modern woman, is an interesting path to follow.

The comedy is light and dry (this did air on the BBC after all) but I got a few solid chuckles here and there. The cafe electricity freeloader was a particular chuckle, and there’s a few good lines or reactions out of Fleabag that tickled my fancy. No guffaws just yet, but it’s still early, and this strikes me as more of a “smile at the cleverness” show than a “laugh out loud” one, which is totally fine.

Overall, if I watched this apart from the hype, I’m not sure I would understand what the fuss is, but there’s enough intriguing groundwork laid here to see potential great things ahead.