2x02 Episode 2

[8.6/10] I am loving the flirtation with the priest. Something tells me it’s not going to go very well, and it feels like we’re setting up for disaster here. But the other side of the coin is that the pair have such chemistry together. They’re both fascinating characters, her as the atheistic bad kid, and him as the friendly but rough-around-the-edges priest, and who’s going to pull whom to which side is, again, fascinating. I like the sense that Fleabag is enamored with this man, but that a relationship can’t or at least shouldn’t be for obvious reasons, but she can’t help nudging that line regardless. Hell, I even like the sense that she feels pulled toward something here, whether it’s god or the Priest or both. Very interested to see where it goes.

In an equal and opposite sense, I don’t know if it’s intentional, but holy hell it feels like Martin is the Devil here (the dark look and wardrobe doesn't help). I’d honestly like to see Brett Gellman play Satan in something. There’s a barely restrained malevolence here, one that feels creepy and, oh let’s use Fleabag’s word, insidious, beneath a nominally polite but clearly manipulative veneer. Their conversation is charged and a little scary, and Fleabag’s tirade to knock him down is great (up until “weak-y” obviously).

That’s another thing. This is one of the best uses of Fleabag’s fourth-wall breaking in a while. Waller-Bridge is still a master of the aside facial expression, using it to perfection here. But I also love how she compliments her own rant, expresses her joy at a mere “knuckle brush” from the Priest, and most notably, describes the audience as her only friends, who are always there. You think of those little moments as asides, as a conceit, but what if it’s a coping mechanism for someone who feels lonely? Talking to an audience who isn’t really there because she has no one else to talk to? That puts a whole new spin on one of the show’s most interesting devices.

That scene with the therapist is just as outstanding. I love Fleabag’s frank assessment of herself and her hangups. I love the therapist nevertheless boring into something within Fleabag that fleabag didn’t necessarily want to admit about herself. And I love that the therapist instantly assesses that Fleabag knows where this is going, even if she denies it to herself. It's a really interesting sequence, one that feels a touch meta, and where the writing is sharp as a tack.

Otherwise, the rest of the episode is very good too. The “sitting” with the Godmother has the usual amusing tension and barbs and putdowns. (Fleabag being made to sit backwards is especially funny.) The relationship between Claire and Fleabag continues to be interesting, as does the complication of Fleabag falling on the grenade of the miscarriage.

By the same token, as untrustworthy as Martin is, it’s interesting if there’s a grain of truth to his statement that Claire’s been happy until now, whether that’s due to Fleabag raising the issues that she has (and the spectre that she might have been telling the truth about Martin) or just the miscarriage and what it means. I didn’t necessarily connect in the last episode that Fleabag punched Martin as much for what he said about the miscarriage, fighting on her sister’s behalf, as for what he said about Fleabag herself, but the preview makes it clear, and I like that element too.

Otherwise, the show’s dialogue continues to be incredibly good, the different comic setups are great, and I like that the “creepy stepson” even thinks that Claire should leave his dad, whether his reasons are noble or self-serving. A lot going on here, and all of it good.