Unpopular opinion: Fleabag just doesn't seem that good. It is wildly over-rated and I suspect many reviewers are caught up in the gush because they don't want to be seen as not getting it. I made it 4 episodes before getting bored with the main character's banal existence.
I really don't understand what people call comedy anymore. Fleabag won best comedy, and best actress in a comedy and there is not one thing funny. It's depressing actually. I'm not saying there aren't funny moments, but there weren't many and all the yelling, bitterness, and nastiness made that a drama not a comedy, overall the mood of the show is depressing rather than comic.
There are no interesting plot lines. The show depicts a woman struggling in her personal life but I found the lead character self-indulgent, entitled, unfunny, irritating and just downright annoying .I don't know how many people will relate to the problems suffered by the privileged people depicted here. Fleabag owns a cafe but, poor thing, it's not very successful! I wonder what she should do with that prime London real estate? She has been fleshed out with every bad character trait and neurosis imaginable to the point where she is one big cliché of a mess and watching her bumbling and misery was neither funny nor intriguing. And the show got so unbelievably boring and repetitive very fast - “Hey look at my life, I have a dreary job, a repulsive boyfriend of sorts, my best friend is dead and everything sucks...”, and there's only so many times you can watch the exact same conflict with her godmother in slightly different settings. All the secondary characters are not just one-dimensional, they're paper thin. You know, the stock stiff-upper lip Brit characters - they don't like to show their feelings!
I've seen worse shows without a doubt, but I don't remember watching anything that had such inexplicably high critical appeal. I found this to be almost devoid of any humour, dramatic interest or even originality. Breaking the fourth wall? Please. It’s hardly new and rapidly becomes tedious.
I think I may have enjoyed it more when I was younger. But now the show doesn't speak to my life, my worries, or my personality at all.
Essentially, Fleabag is a Miranda-esque 'comedy' but more crude, vulgar, hipster. It's outrageous and bold - but does that make it comedy? I like dark, cynical humor, but this is none of it. How is it funny if the main character explains every supposed joke before the actual joke? This is no Broad City, Sex and the City, or Bridget Jones Diary. I don't think the show is bad, per se, but I failed to see why everyone is going crazy about it.
What a deeply wonderful show.
[8.3/10] Another very good episode. I like the irony in this one, where Fleabag and Claire are basically bullshitting their way through this retreat that’s supposed to give them peace of mind and epiphanies, while inadvertently managing to have their own breakthroughs along the way. It’s a nice setup.
But again, I just like the comedy of it too! Fleabag and Claire have a great comedy rapport in terms of the one kind of needling the other, and their sibling relationship feels very lived in. The spoofs of various wellness retreats is well-observed and manages to find good laughs in both the “silence” and “better man” portions of it. Plus, just the periodic breaking of silence through hearing one of the men at the neighboring retreat yell out “slut” is quite funny.
Apart from the comedy though, the show does a nice job with the drama. It picks good moments to have Fleabag confess not only what happened with the stepmom’s statuette now in Claire’s possession -- simultaneously allowing her to evade suspicion while exposing Martin’s laziness -- but also that Martin tried to kiss her. It comes at inopportune moments, but ones that tell Claire what she needs to know, especially with the opportunity for a Scandanavian promotion that she’s apt to turn down for her family. It’s another brick in the fall for the show in addressing the conflicting expectations on women with respect to career and family.
Despite mining that for laughs and for pathos, it’s also kind to the men in this one, or at least a man. The guy who denied Fleabag’s loan and was a prat about it is attending the men’s retreat, and his little monologue about wanting to go home and genuinely do better is touching in its way. Fleabag admission is the equal and opposite -- that she feels ready to cry all the time, particularly in not having a spouse or kids or any sort of confidante to go home to.
There’s something revealing about the fact that she still calls Boo’s phone number to hear her voice, showing how despite her sarcasm and constant “taking the piss”, she’s still yearning for connection in some way. The way she gets a measure of what when cuddling with Claire makes for the sweetest scene in a show that doesn't offer that sort of warmth very often.
Overall, this was my favorite episode of the series so far. There’s a lot of good sitcom setup comedy by putting our two misbehaving sisters at a silent retreat, but the show also goes for depth, insight, and drama too. Very well done.
I loved the balcony at the end.
She got me with the phone, not gonna lie.
The quietest episode of the season is the loudest. Truly great.
Shout by felivenVIP BlockedParent2019-07-04T01:20:33Z
[silently] I'VE BEEN STUNG BY A WASP