AChristiefangirl Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I need someone to discuss Fleabag with. Anyone? Link to post Share on other sites
monokuro Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 omg i've only seen season 2, mostly because it just happened to be on and i got stuck watching it. need to go back and watch season 1. Link to post Share on other sites
briones Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Ooh, I'm very interested to see what other aces thought of it. I didn't think it deserved the hype at first but now I can't help but keep thinking about it. Spoiler I thought the priest was intriguing but imo Fleabag might've dodged a bullet there. Like mkrom, I started with the second season and am watching the first right now. I'm normally pretty indifferent about watching scenes with sexual tension but wow some of the situations in s1 are uncomfortable to watch! Link to post Share on other sites
AChristiefangirl Posted June 13, 2019 Author Share Posted June 13, 2019 I absolutely loved the writing and effect crafted by the way the narrator role is written for the show. I actually hadn't seen the hype and just randomly selected it on Prime. I often get sort of antsy around gratuitous sex in television given the aceness but I actually loved that the sexual activity shown was to forward the narrative and the protagonist's desires. It has a rad lady-centered desire component! And of course, it's funny and has a very rich set of quirky but believable characters. Link to post Share on other sites
AChristiefangirl Posted June 13, 2019 Author Share Posted June 13, 2019 @mkrom I'm curious how you will react to seeing Season 1 after Season 2? There is a lot of character growth and it will be interesting to sort of 'go back in time' with that character growth. Link to post Share on other sites
briones Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Yeah, I agree - the writing is great. It's so sharp and there's so many memorable lines. I especially like Claire and the hilarity of her uptight personality. She's such an extreme version of people I know irl. One thing that really puzzled me in s2 is that Fleabag's family treated her with a lot more disdain than what seemed justified. It looked downright abusive. At first I thought maybe the viewers were able to relate to her so much that her actions seemed very reasonable. Watching s1 made the family dynamics make much more sense. (Also, it seemed like Claire and her husband aged so much in between s1 and s2!) And the sex, I don't know what else to write about it that hasn't been written already. It's been fun, funny, strange, shocking, but maybe not that crazy or new in TV. What did you think of the priest? Do you think Fleabag's sex-related escapades were all that destructive or just incidental? Link to post Share on other sites
degenerate Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 On 6/14/2019 at 9:05 PM, briones said: What did you think of the priest? Do you think Fleabag's sex-related escapades were all that destructive or just incidental? I was disappointed that the priest didn't hold out, because I felt he could have been a much more positive influence in her life. If she hadn't managed to break him, she would have had to respect him. And he had some positive things to tell her that could have helped her love herself more and deal with her grief. Though I forgive him, he's just a person. (who is not even real, ha) Yes, I think her sex escapades are destructive because she is punishing herself, by trying to reduce herself down to an object. Though she is also trying to kill pain/distract herself with sexual pleasure. Anyway, the show is clever and hilarious. I also love Killing Eve, written by the same woman- the star of Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Link to post Share on other sites
AChristiefangirl Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 I actually felt that the priest 'caving' but then determining that he wanted to return to his definition of following God was really interesting. That made it feel more human to me. In a weird way, I felt that the positive influence he gave was a demonstration of personal will-power and determination of values. He showed he was human by 'falling' and then determining his own rules. I feel he demonstrates the ability to define your own right and wrong to Fleabag in a lovely way. I also think it's interesting I've heard a bunch of people question the sex-capades as incidental vs destructive. It kind of reflects the messiness of how she uses sex. Sometimes there is intent, sometimes she finds intent and defines it after the sex, sometimes it seems like just 'I guess I could be having sex' sex. I hadn't even thought about the season 2 family as disdain. I thought of it as sort of her returning to being around her family more, coming out of her seclusion of acute grief and them responding to her. Is there any examples of things you saw particularly disdainful? Link to post Share on other sites
briones Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 haha, I was also disappointed but not surprised when the priest turned her down in the end. But hey, that's why fanfiction exists. I got the impression that the priest was a lot like Fleabag before turning to religion. He came from a dysfunctional family of alcoholics and said he wasn't close to any of them. I'm probably over fond of love stories that don't turn out perfectly well - I think Fleabag's experience with the priest did help her like herself more. She loved him and felt loved by him, which was something that was new and unexpected to her. Beautiful and funny story. @AChristiefangirl, I thought the family was pretty frosty to her at the dinner. They acted very disbelieving the entire time about how her business could possibly be successful. They tiptoed around her and obviously avoided her company, which was reasonable after s1. I can't remember what their response was exactly after she claimed to have had a miscarriage, but it was so muted! The dad gave her a voucher for a therapy session, which was really condescending. The family was even worse in s1. The godmother/stepmom (who had terrible boundaries!) got into a physical fight with Fleabag, for example, and never seemed to accept that she might have her own personal relationship with her dad - she felt more comfortable assigning Fleabag as a server at the sex-hibition. And ew, she was flirting with Fleabag's various boyfriends, which was gross and disrespectful. I was also sad that everyone made Fleabag think that Boo died just because of Fleabag's actions and her family (specifically Claire) brought it up as justification for their poor behavior towards her. That interpretation gives no autonomy to Boo's boyfriend, who cheated on Boo. I'm not convinced people should blame themselves for other people's suicides, but Fleabag is not the only one who caused that chain of events. Boo may have had some unrevealed mental health problems. Ugh, it made me angry. (btw, I don't think this is necessarily what the show wants us to think.) Anyway, I like how @degenerate put it - sometimes Fleabag has sex to distract herself, sometimes to punish herself. Link to post Share on other sites
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