I've written individual reviews for each season of "Fleabag" but as it's becoming apparent that any more is unlikely, I thought I'd post a composite of the two reviews here, to give an appraisal of the whole run.
I'd been putting of "Fleabag" for a while, trying to let the weight of expectation die down a little, given how critically adored it is. However, the first season really lived up to its reputation as a clever, witty comedy.
Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is a hedonistic young woman whose fractured relationships with her family have been caused by her inability to cope with the deaths of both her mother, and more recently her best friend. The café they co-owned is struggling and her relationship seems to have come to a permanent end. She struggles to make valid connections with anyone except us, the audience.
What can I say other than the show lived up to its reputation. It's funny, clever and vulgar at the same time. Fleabag is a great character, wonderfully played by Waller-Bridge and the rest of the cast a similarly excellent too, particularly Bill Paterson as her father and Olivia Colman as her wicked god/stepmum. Even though I really liked the first run, I wasn't prepared for just how much of a step up the second season would be. It's genuinely, one of the funniest, most enjoyable seasons of comedy I've seen in a long while. There's one immediate and obvious reason for the season two improvement. In the first episodes, any love interest for Fleabag wasn't a match for her wit or temperament, they were a punchline. Here Andrew Scott's "Hot Priest" is a fully rounded character, with his own issues and can both punch back and enjoy sparring with her. . It's just funnier all round though, even better written, more moving and, as it appears at the moment that this is all we're ever going to get, tinged with a bittersweet sadness - particularly in the final moments.
Just glorious, wonderful TV.
