Fleabag

my only serious gripe, albeit a small one, is the total absence of Boo from the finale

reiterating my own point here, but I think the shallow characterization in the first season seems more intentional when you think of the point of view character being an unreliable narrator

at no point does she really take notice of anything other than surface impressions of most people and some characters are ridiculous because it's her version of them -- the hamster teeth guy is a dead giveaway because she's thinking of him as "that guy with the ridiculous teeth" so it's portrayed exactly that way

also the bit about him being a documentarian takes on a new dimension when you realize PWB's now-ex-husband makes documentaries

We finally gave s2 a watch over these past three days. Excellent of course. Without divulging details, our appreciations were a little different for numerous reasons; let's just say my own family's dynamics are not like Fleabag's and leave it at that.

The evolution between the two series was really well done, in a way I haven't seen in many shows.

This same thought struck me quite a bit this morning. It would have been easy to essentially rerun s1 in terms of everyone being exactly as they were or were seen as, since so many shows do, and in the same way that the season/show ended in a way that's not like s1's ending, the characters are all distinctly changed one way or another. Arguably Olivia Colman's is the exception but it's almost more like the mask finally drops more clearly in her case.

Olivia Colman's a complete joy, even when playing a total pill

he plays a similarly sweet, baffled character in W1A

and The Windsors.

Whuh:

The series has been remade for French television by Jeanne Herry. Titled Mouche (French for 'fly', the insect), it started airing on 3 June 2019 on pay channel Canal+. Mouche is a close remake, though set in Paris with Camille Cottin in the starring role.

And yes there's a trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqEACcnn3Ko

I finally got around to watching Season 2, and it was hilarious, and had a ton of great moments. One thing that bugs me about it, though, is the insane narcissism of PWB (or at least her character in the show). Other than being responsible (to some degree) for Boo's death, her problems seem to be that she is too funny, too beautiful, and more hip than everyone else, according to everyone in the show. Makes it a little hard to connect with her struggles when they read like the answer to the interview question "what is your worst fault?"

That's one of the reasons I don't rate it so highly, I think.

Still, better than Crashing where she writes herself as Magical Pixie Girlfriend who is so irresistible to her ex he dumps his fiancée for her.

y’all, what

y'all, what OTM

yeah, don't really get that

you don't? every character is constantly asking her not to make it all about her.

@aldo thought you were talking about Pete Holmes' show and got very confused for a minute.

you don't? every character is constantly asking her not to make it all about her.

― Lil' Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, June 18, 2019 3:21 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

her problems seem to be that she is too funny, too beautiful, and more hip than everyone else, according to everyone in the show

I didn't feel that way but I do get it.

Brad: Examples are how Fleabag's sister gets mad because she came up with a great joke, or how her mother's funeral was tough because everyone was telling her how beautiful she was.

oh yeah, I forgot that bit.

"her mother's funeral was tough because everyone was telling her how beautiful she was" <---definitely the behavior/perception of a healthy/well-adjusted person and trustworthy narrator

Are you saying she made that bit up? It didn't seem to me that the show was trying to (on top of all of its other clever storytelling devices) portray her as an unreliable narrator of the story. She is definitely an unreliable narrator in her asides to the audience, but I figured that we were supposed to trust that the things which happen on-screen actually happened.

considering her most private feelings are reserved for her mother's memory, it seems defensible to argue that maybe she's choosing to redirect what her funeral was like. but I'd need a rewatch to assess this idea.

I think it's pretty clear we're seeing everything from her perspective - her asides to the audience don't happen like Shakespearean soliloquies, they are right in the action, so it seems when she turns back to the action she is acting her life out for the audience. And everyone in her orbit is a sort of caricature, an essence of how she sees them.

Well then forget I said she was narcissistic!

Don't let me ruin Ferris Bueller for you all, but he's a little self absorbed too.

Zelda otm

To be clear, I still loved the show! To those rushing to defend PWB - don’t worry - she clearly understands how funny and beautiful she is.

her mother's funeral was tough because everyone was telling her how beautiful she was.

When I watched it first, II got the impression it was that everyone was telling her how beautiful she looked on that particular day, as if she normally looked like shite, but now, on this day when she is suffering more than she ever has before, she suddenly looks beautiful. It was like the opposite of everyone telling you that you look tired, as if you can do anything about that, or it's supposed to help. But I agree that it could also be that this is the only thing people said to her that she remembers. Which does confirm her narcissism, but not in a way I have a problem with.

The first season she also has a moment where she's walking down the street and telling the camera how amazing she looks and how the next person who walks by will definitely make a pass at her, and they don't, and it comes across as self-deprecating and endearing but underneath is clearly some fairly standard narcissism bordering on delusional!

my "ya'll, what otm" was that this was a primary facet of her character that leads to a lot of her "struggles". I only get annoyed with narcissistic characters if they aren't entertaining and attractive.

xpost I loved the funeral beautiful comments.

having gone to a few funerals lately, the bit where she actually looks great at a funeral was really painful

people saying you look well, especially if you’re part of the deceased’s immediate family, is this nicety people lean back on. you probably look stressed, maybe tear-stained, and broken

actually looking great to the extent people are clarifying that they’re not just using the funeral script... oh god

that is to say, painful in a great way as far as the script goes!

the number one best thing about this series is that the mother never shows up in flashback being played by lindsay duncan or fn tilda swinton

hahaha

lol

feel like she woulda played her own mother in that scenario

just watched Crashing. boy that was....actually kind of terrible for the most part!

Why is it all men in this thread who said Priest was creepy? I didnt read him that way at all.

I wasnt a fan of s1 - I found it hard to get past how hateful everyone was, esp the stepmother and Claires husband (ugh, his angry smug face and that beard make my skin crawl).

S2 turned it all upside down. As she says in the very first line "this is a love story". And it was. Not just about her and the Priest, but about her and her sister, her and her dad, her and the memory of her mum.

Why is it all men in this thread who said Priest was creepy?

ilxor altar boy crew assemble

ouch.

there was a lively debate regarding the creepiness, many disagreed with the thesis, it was mostly men because ilx is mostly men

Most of the disagreers were women. I just thought it was curious.

“Inadvisably / extremely fuckable” is Andrew Scott’s wheelhouse.

let the record show i’ve never said he was creepy

He was too lost and befuddled to be creepy.

Yeah, not creepy at all (maybe people project his other charachters on this one).

Hated Season 1 (only made it halfway) but have really enjoyed the first 2 episodes of Season 2.

Why is it all men in this thread who said Priest was creepy? I didnt read him that way at all.

Not all men.

Although, I didn't think he was creepy all the time. Just the time he got so turned on by her crying in the other side of the confession box that he lost control of himself. That was creepy.

hum. yeah ok, if you consider the ethics of his position, that was definitely out of line...

I read it as weakness rather than pre-meditated creep though.