Fleabag

[DanielaS 8,087]

Fleabag (IMDb link) is a series from the UK viewable on Amazon Prime in the US. Season 2 was just released a few weeks ago.

 

I went into Season 1 a couple years ago thinking, oh here's an edgy comedy from the UK about a woman. I enjoy edgy UK comedy. But the end of Season 1 hits you upside the head in an emotional way you don't expect. I could watch Phoebe Waller-Bridge's face all day, the way she mugs into the camera and makes you her confidant.

 

So I had great expectations for Season 2 and I was still blown away. This show is Art, in the way that Art should shake you and fucking make you feel, and feel deeply, in a way that seems to come out of left field. Season 2 is about Love, the joy and the pain. I've rarely felt such an emotional connection between two characters on a TV screen. I felt it in my gut and . . . in other places.

 

How this show relates to Michael Teachings, I can't really say. I'm still trying to figure out what this IS on it's own terms.

 

That's all I'll say, but if you saw it, let's share reactions below.

 

 

[Juni 6,023]

I just finished binge watching this past weekend and loved it so, so much. 

[DanielaS 8,087]

10 minutes ago, Juni said:

I just finished binge watching this past weekend and loved it so, so much. 

 

Did you binge watch both seasons this weekend, or just Season 2? What was the scene that won't get out of your head? For me, it was the "Kneel" scene, of course.

Edited May 29 by DanielaS

[Juni 6,023]

Both. One of mine is when she is dropping those glasses all deadpan.  Another is Boo shaking her head no when she starts to tell hot priest about her. So many questions!

[Diane 5,720]

@DanielaS  Thanks for posting this, I will definitely have a look.  I found some Phoebe interview clips on youtube and loved her! 

[William 61]

Love love love Phoebe. Breaking the fourth wall and the priest catching her at it. "What are you looking at"?

Olivia Coleman is priceless as the mother.

 

[DanielaS 8,087]

12 hours ago, William said:

Breaking the fourth wall and the priest catching her at it. "What are you looking at"?

 

 

Yes! That was a brilliant moment. It gave me chills. I think her use of breaking the fourth wall is her way of distancing herself from her emotional pain. If you perceive yourself as a character always being observed by an anonymous audience, you can distance yourself from yourself. You can feel yourself removed from your emotions. You're just a character on a stage.

 

And the Hot Priest is the only one in her life who can see her breaking the fourth wall! He is the only one who really SEES her. And that is Love, being seen intimately and being accepted for who you are. That was brilliant.

Edited May 30 by DanielaS

[Juni 6,023]

3 hours ago, DanielaS said:

 

 

And the Hot Priest is the only one in her life who can see her breaking the fourth wall! He is the only one who really SEES her. And that is Love, being seen intimately and being accepted for who you are. That was brilliant.

He's also the only one who isn't pretending everything is just fine, apart from her, but he doesn't get punished for it because priest. And hot.
 

[NickG 3,196]

3 hours ago, DanielaS said:

Yes! That was a brilliant moment. It gave me chills. I think her use of breaking the fourth wall is her way of distancing herself from her emotional pain. If you perceive yourself as a character always being observed by an anonymous audience, you can distance yourself from yourself. You can feel yourself removed from your emotions. You're just a character on a stage.

 

Literally what it feels like to be a Sage on my end, like ALL THE DAMN TIME. Shits weird

[DanielaS 8,087]

20 minutes ago, NickG said:

 

Literally what it feels like to be a Sage on my end, like ALL THE DAMN TIME. Shits weird

 

Really? That's what your experience of Sage is like? Tell me more. That's validating for me because I decided that the Fleabag character was an Old King-cast Sage. Not the actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, because I don't have a sense for her, but the character she plays.

[Juni 6,023]

1 hour ago, NickG said:

 

Literally what it feels like to be a Sage on my end, like ALL THE DAMN TIME. Shits weird

Can confirm .

[NickG 3,196]

@DanielaS well it's not like an uncomfortable, someone peering into your life sort of feeling but more there's always a sense of a neutral, crowd of observers that are removed from whatever you're doing. It's something you can sort of forget that's there but seems to always be in the background. Very strange but you kinda just live with it. 

[NickG 3,196]

@DanielaS Also, thank you, thank you, thank you for recommending this series. I binged it in a couple days an absolutely fell in love with it. I love Phoebe’s character and energy so much. Started watching other creative projects she’s involved in, looking up interviews, etc... She just seems so fun and confident. Such an inspiration lol

[DanielaS 8,087]

@NickG That’s so great! That makes me so happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking me up on my recommendation. Tell me which parts or scenes you liked best, what moment or line really got to you.

[NickG 3,196]

@DanielaSThe series finale made me cry for a good half hour lol It was such a bittersweet and amazing moment. I’m still mad at the priest but I get his hang ups. Anything that has two people who are in love and the timing just isn’t right for the both of them always gets to me. 

 

When Fleabag is introducing the hot guy with the personality of a soulless douche, and she does the quick fourth wall break after she introduces him and just goes, “Fucked me up the ass” all cheekily and merrily. It was such a funny moment I still think about it sometimes and it never fails to make me laugh. 

 

I just really loved her character. Fleabag isn’t really an inspiration lol but Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays her is. It’s like she helped me remember a part of myself I had forgotten. She’s just so much fun and doesn’t take herself too seriously. I have a suspicion she may be a Sage-cast Artisan from our Entity. She looks and feels uncannily familiar. The similarities in looks between her and my Task Companion are crazy. They even make a lot of the same faces and expressions. Freaked me out a bit the first time I watched the show lmao Fleabag even seemed to have that entity 2 theme of opening Pandora’s Box involving her family members and close associates lol I’d love to get some Michael info on her at some point. 

[DanielaS 8,087]

Thank you for sharing your reactions, @NickG!  The final scene at the bus stop is shattering. These two characters were so real to me by this point, their emotional & sexual connection was so visceral, that I was totally invested in what was going to happen. And this digs up all our own experience and pain of "not-the-right-time love" and missed chances.

 

I said in an earlier post that I think the Fleabag character is a King-cast Sage. Or maybe reversed-- I always get the cast/role reversed. The Sage flavor is obvious but the King because she is searching for mastery of herself. Like in the confessional, when she tells the priest that she wants someone to tell her how to live, to dictate her choices for her, because she thinks she is getting it all wrong. That was heartbreaking and then the "kneel", and oh god, is it hot in here?