Fleabag

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/apr/10/how-should-we-feel-about-andrew-scott-priest-fleabag

i think that's a misreading. i don't think PWB wants us to think the priest is a horrible man. he's clearly a flawed man, but the show wants you to care about their star-crossed love

yeah individual moments came across as potentially crossing over into dark territory but purposely never went all the way

yeah they're all flawed at times horrible people but all of them were shown as redeemable by the end other than the odious godmother.

there's def a bit of cancel-culture mania in the air that means that any bit of tv featuring a cis het man behaving badly (angrily, lustily, controlling, sexually creepy) has the pop culture writers writing about how he's awful and the (fictional) woman and real female viewers should shun him, as if the majority of cis het men don't act like one of those types of things at least on occasion

I've enjoyed the series but that last episode stank of Richard Curtis to me.

everyone on that show is kinda awful except for boo and the chatty guy at the cafe, the priest is by far the least awful of the crew

the old chatty guy in the cafe used to be in Juliet Bravo! He was the social worker husband of Inspector Darbley.

can we get a series next of just Tales Of Boo? Definitely some damage behind those big boo eyes.

i really didn't like boo. manic-pixie-dead-friend

Ouch!

i mean just going by the name boo is too squee cuddlestein mountain to start with

Yeah, for me the appeal of a reBOOt would be to learn that what we've seen has been largely FB's imaginary-friend version of a much realer character.

fetter otm and jiv otm about boo

though boo is totally the kind of name fleabag's friend would have.

as disappointing, or more, than cute priest's torrid church smooches was for me the way he just lazily shambled away from everything. during the ceremony he talked a real good game about love, soaking up every millimetre of pwb's attention, kissing her when he wanted, then just.. ok welp.

on the other hand i thought it utterly out of character for claire to run to the airport for cla(i)re. and it sort of undermined her startling confession of love for pwb!

I didn't really see a contradiction there

This was so good (and so short, argh). I want to rewatch it all again right away.

After catching up on this thread: I don't find Moriarty physically appealing at all but he was very charming and hot in Fleabag. They had great chemistry together. I had assumed he was a high functioning alcoholic from the first episode when he kept pouring wine into their glasses and the tequila and I assumed she knew this too, especially from the first G&T break. I thought the asides basically crossed over to emphasize how kindred they were and not that she was speaking to God or Boo.

A very mild Guardian backlash, after innumerable articles about 'genius' status:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/apr/20/fleabag-posh-girl-television

I kind of agree (as trailed on the controversial opinions thread) - though because of the quality, not really a problem imo until the last episode - which went full Richard Curtis.

that's the second accusation of going "full Richard Curtis." because of a speech and an offscreen airport dash, presumably? seems a bit harsh.

I am very jealous of PWB's hair. My hair would never be able to look like that. It ends up looking Ramona Quimby or "french".

Speaking as a non-posh boy from a functional non-posh family, I found Fleabag pretty relatable.

That said, I'm up for a good deconstruction of Fleabag from that angle, but this wasn't it. Calling it "an unexamined fact" that the "Godmother gets to actually be an artist without also having to take on a telesales side hustle" seems super blind to the huge implied contempt for that character?

Watched series 2 in one sitting. not sure I'm as enamoured of the conclusion as everyone else. There were a lot of comments out there about it being brought to a completely satisfying conclusion, I think the actress who plays Claire said it was 'poetry'...eh. It does bring everyone other than Fleabag herself's story to a satisfying conclusion, I suppose, but the stuff with the priest was messy, and I didn't feel that it came to any conclusion whatsoever in the end, nor did I think she'd found any kind of peace or respite. Is that just me?

just finished the first season of this remarkable show don't worry i'm shielding my eyes from all of the posts above this one

s2 is just as amazing

It’s better!!!

Def! You're in for a treat Brad.

i think s2 cemented it in my top 10 shows all time

I WAS ALL ABOUT THE PRIEST CONFESSIONAL SCENE

"wrong" sure but it was hot af

welp i finished it and i'd love to share my thoughts but i can't stop crying

frankly i do not understand any of the complaints

i loved how s1 had such a snappy pace on the surface but dealt out the deeper character stuff slowly.

but s2 just has me so giddily spun.
and homo ii otm: confessional was where it’s AT

the priest was so hot

RIGHT

aghast @ talk upthread of Hot Priest being “creepy”

ilxors have stones for eyes do u not see
Andrew Scott was the best thing about Sherlock & part of that is acting but also he’s hot

and cheeky!

anyway :D

frankly i do not understand any of the complaints

What complaints? I don't think, in the annals of television, there's ever been a series which has received as little criticism.

I thought the priest was hot, the confessional scene was the peak of s2 (and disappointed by the rise of the ilx new puritanism). But Idisliked the final episode a lot. Still complaining about it.

tom i was referring to the complaints in this thread

Yeah, I didn't understand the complaints either really. Maybe another actor couldn't have pulled it off but that wasn't what happened.

Although I kind of thought this piece from a real priest was nice, how he concentrated on the professionalism.

https://religionnews.com/2019/05/29/the-priest-in-fleabag-is-not-cool/

that article otfm!!

the priest felt v close to home for me which is what made me so angry with him. you could see it all coming a mile off, and while she clearly wanted him to Be A Naughty Priest for her, he could tell she was vulnerable and acted irresponsibly & selfishly while using all the trappings and glamour of his supposedly v responsible & selfless position. it's how he let himself be turned into her fantasy that was seedy. he and fleabag were similar & equal enough personally, & while its understandable for her to blur that connection with his pastoral, even divine role, using that role to get what he wanted was a betrayal of himself as a priest. she gets to play a helpless lost soul (which you could see as a kind of dishonest betrayal of herself) seeking his guidance, offering herself up to him (vulnerability is hot, sure). he has to dirty the distinction, if it ever really existed, between his personal desires and his religious calling; he has to corrupt himself (which is arguably hot in a fallen angel way but much darker). it goes some way to pointing towards an inherent problem with the notion of the clergy. if it were just hot it wldn't be so good: it's also deeply compromised & dishonest & unstable

yes, otm

am i wrong to think that in the finale a few of the characters were picking up that they were trapped in a fictional structure? ex. the godmother's "i always just call you darling," martin's speech about being born with a shitty personality

if you were so inclined you could also fold the resistance to and ultimate embrace of the "running to the airport" cliche into that I think

yes i was absolutely thinking that too

also every use of the statue throughout both seasons was exquisite, it's kind of a delayed payoff machine

They made the statue bigger in series 2.

ogmor i dont disagree but it was still v v hot, fuckedup-ness and all (and i wonder why i am single?)

it was v hot, it was a v recognizable portrayal of two people falling in love with each other but which circumstance and individual weakness inevitably subvert

which, hey, gotta say that resembles... all of my relationships