Fleabag – Season Two Review

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a woman who has had a meteoric rise in the British TV industry. At the age of 34 she has created two hit shows for the BBC, Killing Eve and Fleabag. She chooses to make a second and supposedly final season to the award-winning Fleabag.

The second season picks up a year after the first. Tensions are running high within the family because of accusations that Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) kissed her sister’s husband, Martin (Brett Gelman). Fleabag is brought back into the fold due to her father (Bill Paterson) and Godmother’s (Olivia Colman) impending nuptials, which allows Fleabag to get close to the hot priest (Andrew Scott).

The second season of Fleabag had three major plotlines – Fleabag’s reconciliation with Claire (Sian Clifford) and the rest of her family, her rivalry with Martin, and the fact she is drawn to man who has committed his life to God. And Waller-Bridge was able to balance these storylines together and ensured her show was equally funny and tragic.

In the previous season Fleabag was shown to be selfish and self-destructive which was made worse by her guilt over her best friend’s death. These parts of her character were softened for the second season. During the year of being ostracised by her family Fleabag had made her café a success, which surprises everyone.  And even after what has happened between the sisters Fleabag does care for Claire. In the first episode Claire has a miscarriage during a family meal which allows Fleabag back into her life. That moment says a lot about the two characters because Claire was in denial regarding what happened and Fleabag willingness to cover for Claire. Their sisterly bond grows during the season.

The relationship between the sisters allows for bulk of the humour in the season. There were fun interactions and situations during the season like when Fleabag accidentally breaks an award, leading to an embarrassing incident for Claire. When Claire was having her miscarriage Waller-Bridge was able to blur the lines between comedy and tragedy because the way Claire snaps at her sister was comedic but obviously a dire situation. It was a great little moment of dark comedy.

Martin was an utter bastard in the series. Not only was he a liar he was incredibly crude. He taunts Fleabag during the family meal and says some reprehensible things during the series. The worst was when he said the miscarriage was a way to say the baby didn’t want to be born to Fleabag, unaware that he was speaking about his wife. Martin has a hold over Claire which starts to break because of the amends with Fleabag, leading to Martin to plead with Fleabag. Martin humiliates Claire in the final episode simply because he is a vindictive little man. In the second episode, Martin’s creepy son, Jake (Angus Imrie) whispers in Fleabag’s ear ‘get her to leave him.’ It leads to questions about what goes on behind closed doors.

The other major aspect of the season was Fleabag’s romance with The Priest. She was able to be vulnerable around him, revealing some of her deepest and darkest secrets. But even here she is still guarded – she can’t tell him about why her best friend committed suicide. One of the best scenes in the season was when Fleabag was in a confessional booth, revealing everything bad she has ever done and fears she may have driven him away.

The connection is so strong between them that it tears the Priest apart. He is torn between his vows and his connection with Fleabag. He is the only character who notices that Fleabag was able to break the fourth wall, even though he doesn’t understand why. His speech on love in the final episode was one of the most honest dissections on the subject.

But due to the Priest’s vow of celibacy, it leads to Fleabag going back to some self-destructive behaviours. This was done through her interactions with the lawyer who is clearly bad for her, but has one advantage – he was available.

Fleabag was raw and honest show at times. Waller-Bridge was able to find a way to make a show that was incredibly humorous, hard-hitting and character-driven.