Fleabag (BBC 2016 - ...) Series Two Episode One • reviewsphere

When Fleabag series one first aired back in 2016 no one could have imagined the heights it would reach. From it release on BBC Three it quickly generated a cultural buzz and soon received wide critical acclaim, with its success propelling writer and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge to global stardom. Centred around the trials and tribulations of a modern-day woman, Fleabag tells the story of anti-heroine, whose unique voice provides us with an inherently sad yet side-splittingly funny look in to everything from her sex life, her emotional state and her dysfunctional family.

With series one coming full circle, it was hard to imagine where the brilliantly talented Waller-Bridge could take the hit TV show next, with most fans accepting it would be a standalone series. Yet almost there years later it’s back and it’s better than ever, if the first episodes anything to go by anyway.

Picking up precisely ‘371 days 19 hours and 26 mins’ from where it left off, the first episode of the new series takes place over the course of an evening, at a family dinner in celebration of Fleabags fathers’ recent engagement to her ‘Godmother’. The episode opens with a bloody nosed Fleabag staring at her reflection, as Frank Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the night’ plays us in. Of course, Fleabag is no stranger to us and instantly we feel very much at home, “this is a love story” she states as she makes one of her many asides to the camera. Before the episode cuts back to earlier in the evening and we find Fleabag at dinner, where she quickly reveals to us in another aside to the camera that she has not spoken to her father or sister since the events of the series one finale.

Waller-Bridge’s brilliant choice of setting provides us with all the right ingredients to set up the series and introduce us to the characters again. Instantly the tension of unspoken resentments and passive aggression are felt, in a way that is both hilarious and painful. For the most part Fleabag takes a back seat, sitting back and watching the carnage unfold, and chirping in with a regular witty aside to the camera.

First up there is Fleabag’s awkwardly bubbling father superbly played by Bill Paterson, whose character has the immense ability to not finish a sentence and say all the wrong words. Next at the table is her horrible Godmother, who is excellently played by national treasure Olivia Colman, with the recent Oscar winner playing perhaps one of the show’s most dislikeable characters, she certainly has some of the episodes best lines. Fleabag’s tense but kind-hearted sister, Claire, played by the talented Sian Clifford also returns for series two, and this time getting the chance to express a different side of her character. Of course, Claire accompanied by her annoyingly loud and cheating husband Martin played by the ever-reliable Brett Gelman, whose very presence is enough to make your skin crawl.

The last and perhaps most notable presence at the dinner table, is the priest chosen to officiate the weeding. Played by the brilliant Andrew Scott, he slots perfectly in to the cast as if he’s been there the whole time. Providing some great on-screen chemistry with Fleabag, it’s clear his character will have a big role to play as the series developed.

As good as series one was, there is something about the first episode of the new series that just feels more natural, it’s clear Waller-Bridge has become a more assured screenwriter in the time between. As the episode unfolds, it becomes clearer and clearer how tightly and well put together Waller Bridge has constructed this episode, the dialogue is snappy and every line, every look and every movement serve’s a clear purpose.

The tonal shifts are seamless as the episode progresses. From Fleabag’s father giving her a counselling session as a late birthday gift, to her sister having a miscarriage in the bathroom, to her punching her brothering law in the face, we go full circle as Fleabag tends to her bloody noise in the bathroom mirror (we now know how she got there). The episode draws to a close with an hilarious and heart-warming scene with Fleabag and Claire sat in the back of a taxi. The pair sit in silence for a long pause, before Claire remarks “the priest is quite hot”, “so hot” Fleabag sharply replies, and the credits roll.

In a fast paced and exhilarating start to series two, it’s clear Phoebe Waller-Bridge has set the table for what could be another excellent series of television.