Fleabag season two is perfect from start to finish

The news that Fleabag is phenomenal is nothing new. In fact, it isn’t even news. It is a fact. While the first season is certainly a masterpiece it is season two that I cannot shut up about – much like the entire world when it first aired.

I originally watched the second season of Fleabag as soon as it aired. When I say as soon as it aired, I am being literal not hyperbolic. I distinctly remember watching the first episode in my university dorm room at dead on 10am before I started my work for the day. This then continued to be routine (if you can even call it a routine) for the next six weeks as each episode came out. Oh to be a uni student again and stick to such a relaxed schedule, starting work at 10:30 after a relaxing breakfast and an episode of Fleabag might literally be the dream.

Even though I was such an avid fan back in 2019, I had not rewatched season two since then. Don’t get my wrong, I had seen clips of the iconic moments and I obviously was unable to ignore the entire world falling in love with Andrew Scott one at a time. However, I had not sat down to basque in the glory of a perfectly crafted tv show. So that’s what I did last month.

I am a firm believer that the first episode of season two is the best episode of TV in existence. This is even something young nineteen year old me believed. It was this episode that confirmed that I love dinner party episodes of TV. I love when a show has a pause and focuses on character interactions in an isolated setting for just one episode – I instantly think of an iconic episode of Grey’s Anatomy (perfect Penny killed my husband). Watching again made me realise why I love it so much. I love characters dynamics and this episode concept is such a neat way of exploring these messy relationships.

Since watching Fleabag for the first time, I have also read one of my favourite books of all time (and perhaps the quintessentially-Jen concept for a book – There but for the by Ali Smith. This novel centres around a dinner party where a guest’s plus one adds a new meaning to guest room by refusing to leave it).

I have also come to realise that I love a classic Agatha Christie-esques murder mystery and I think I owe a lot of this to dinner parties. Closed room mysteries might not always include dinner parties, but they always carry the essence of them. People brought together in a room they can’t politely or easily leave having awkward conversations.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge takes the dinner party and elevates it. She savour every moment and brings out previously unannounced tastes. My favourite moment has to be the Priest’s joke about his brother, but the entire thing is iconic from the first second to the final frame (Waller-Bridge is so phenomenal that it might even be iconic after this to be honest). There’s Olivia Coleman’s Godmother being lovely and unlovable. There’s a swearing priests. There’s Fleabag and Claire’s conversation in the bathroom. And this is only the few things I can think of off the top of my head after watching it a good few weeks ago.

Don’t worry, my theory (or hard evidence) that Fleabag season two is perfect, does not rest entirely on the first episode. Even though I have much more I could say about these simple (but not so simple) thirty minutes of television, I will move on to discussing the season as a whole.

We all know that Fleabag and the Priest’s romance stole our hearts and refused to give it back. From the second Scott first entered the frame, his dog collar had us in a choke hold. We would all kneel if he told us to and we all want to drink M&S G&T’s from a can with him. He is the perfectly imperfect foil to Fleabag and that’s what makes the season heartbreaking.

On this re-watch however, I feel in love with another dynamic even more. And that has got to be the complex sisterhood at the route of the narrative. I somehow overlooked Claire the first time I watched this seasons, but in my rewatch I desperately wanted her to be happy. My heart was pulled in two directions towards both Fleabag and Claire. Yet, you do not have to make a choice between the two sisters. Much like our own sisters (or our eyebrows) we can love them both equally despite their differences. Even though both can’t achieve happiness, you route for them both. When talking to a friend about the season, I came to the conclusion that while Fleabag and the Priest are perfectly ill-fated soulmates, Claire and Klare are the opposite: they are the perfectly fated soulmates.

What’s the lesson from all this aimless rambling? Honestly, it is nothing new and it is very much not needed for anything other than a shameless want to discuss this season over and over again (much like I did with every single person I know who has watched this show before).