Fleabag (2016–2019) User Reviews (694)

One of the best bits of TV storytelling I've ever seen, loved it.

[hollyug · 10/10 · 27 August 2016]

I thought this show was so good I emailed BBC3 to thank them for airing it, and decided to write my first IMDb review.

I thought it would be a comedy going in, and it did really make me laugh at times, but it turned out to be something very different. Some of, if not THE best storytelling i've ever seen in series format. I won't say anything else because I loved how it quietly surprised me. I suspect this show might not be for everyone (I struggle to elaborate on that) but give it a go, a couple of episodes in and I was completely absorbed in this dysfunctional human tale.

Every part of this TV shows production was so well done. Fantastic acting, editing, photography if that's the right word. I really can't think of anything else like it off the top of my head.. so I would suggest watching it based on that alone and will be interested to see what the IMDb algorithm suggests people might also like in time. As it is I don't think any of the suggestions are remotely comparable. You really will miss out if you pass over this one, and at just two episodes you'll know what it's about. You won't be disappointed by the ending if you choose to keep going. It was SO well done. Everyone involved should be so proud.

.............and you thought season 1 was funny.

[Clipster12 · 10/10 · 20 March 2019]

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, I don't quite know how you do it dear but keep it up. As a 50 year old bloke this should be well off the mark for me but instead I find it by far the funniest, well observed and at times poignant thing on TV at the moment. Season 2 has hit the ground running and I am hanging on for every episode. Do yourselves a favour and binge this. Thanks to all involved with the production of this series.

Special sort of humor required!

[elbandito1250 · 10/10 · 26 August 2020]

I watched the first episode together with my wife and she hated it from the beginning, while I instantly loved it! This special sort of humor is always highly divisive. Either you love it or you hate it. In my experience for shows like Fleabag there's no such ratings like "quite entertaining and funny at times"! Phoebe Waller-Bridge is incredibly talented in so many ways, I can't tell what's more adorable about her work in Fleabag: the acting, the uncommon storytelling, the firework of weird gags...? Everything is fresh and unique. I really hope there's much more coming from her in the future, both as actress and as writer!

Quirky and heartbreaking

[izabelab-08870 · 10/10 · 30 May 2021]

I don't remember when I last laughed so much at a series. I was hooked from the first episode and season 2 was the perfect amount of romantic and heartbreaking.

Fleabag is all of us, so-called adults going through life blindfolded, struggling with mixed feelings and addictions and trying to find someone to tell us what to do, how to live.

The series is perfect, the only thing that could make it better is more seasons.

Godlike

[southdavid · 9/10 · 7 July 2020]

I've written individual reviews for each season of "Fleabag" but as it's becoming apparent that any more is unlikely, I thought I'd post a composite of the two reviews here, to give an appraisal of the whole run.

I'd been putting of "Fleabag" for a while, trying to let the weight of expectation die down a little, given how critically adored it is. However, the first season really lived up to its reputation as a clever, witty comedy.

Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is a hedonistic young woman whose fractured relationships with her family have been caused by her inability to cope with the deaths of both her mother, and more recently her best friend. The café they co-owned is struggling and her relationship seems to have come to a permanent end. She struggles to make valid connections with anyone except us, the audience.

What can I say other than the show lived up to its reputation. It's funny, clever and vulgar at the same time. Fleabag is a great character, wonderfully played by Waller-Bridge and the rest of the cast a similarly excellent too, particularly Bill Paterson as her father and Olivia Colman as her wicked god/stepmum. Even though I really liked the first run, I wasn't prepared for just how much of a step up the second season would be. It's genuinely, one of the funniest, most enjoyable seasons of comedy I've seen in a long while. There's one immediate and obvious reason for the season two improvement. In the first episodes, any love interest for Fleabag wasn't a match for her wit or temperament, they were a punchline. Here Andrew Scott's "Hot Priest" is a fully rounded character, with his own issues and can both punch back and enjoy sparring with her. . It's just funnier all round though, even better written, more moving and, as it appears at the moment that this is all we're ever going to get, tinged with a bittersweet sadness - particularly in the final moments.

Just glorious, wonderful TV.

The only show that made me cry

[angelaabada · 10/10 · 22 April 2021]

That's a lot coming from someone who didn't cry watching "Grave of fireflies" and "Miracle from cell no.7" types of movie. The show is also really well made, great cinematography, well written and the cast is *chef's kiss. Season 1 made me cry buckets and Season 2 made me smile so much my mouth hurts. Great comfort show to revisit once in a while.

Quirky, interesting and very funny comedy

[mikem764 · 8/10 · 30 July 2016]

It's somewhat ironic that BBC3 is making some of its best material after going online only. After the truly brilliant dark drama Thirteen comes this comedy which is fresh, perfectly pitched, original and very, very funny. At first glance it appears to be yet another comedy about modern people battling sexual mores in contemporary London, but what makes it different is that it's told exclusively from the point of view of a woman, Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Usually, in Richard Curtis comedies for example the women are posh, well behaved and bland beyond belief. Here she is the opposite - she is sexually voracious, very badly behaved, has an ongoing battle with her 'perfect' sister and a terrible relationship with her father (the great Bill Paterson). She does everything we never see on screen women normally doing - primarily masturbating, including in one hilarious scene over Barack Obama. She is also hopeless at her job, running a terrible cafe (a real caff in Tufnell Park no less) which has a permanently escaping guinea pig in its midst. She also appears to be making up her prices, blaming 'London' for her £25 tomato sarnies.

What makes the show is the clever writing but also the performance of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Constantly taking to the camera has a Peep Show quality, where we get to hear what she really thinks of someone before hearing what she actually says to them - two very different things. She can do amazing things with those actor's friends, the raised eyebrow, the tiny grin, the upturned lip, the innocent wide-eyed look. Crucially she has charm in spades, without it the show would become a Peep Show with women instead of men, a sort of Women Behaving Badly.

Throw in some true comedy greats like Hugh Dennis and the sublime Olivia Colman as the evil stepmother and it's an absolute treat. There are sings that the show will turn darker later in the series - there is a dead business partner for starters - but for now it's genuinely funny stuff.

Greatest show ever created

[giuliherreraherrera · 10/10 · 28 April 2021]

I cannot say enough about how incredible this show is. I absolutely love it. I don't think I've ever watched anything more perfect. Phoebe is an incredible actress, writer, and creator. Fleabag captures the essence of a true broken heart, I've never felt more attuned with a character. I desperately wish there could have been more seasons.

I am shocked! I really enjoyed it!

[djg32514 · 9/10 · 5 April 2018]

Not my typical cup of tea. Watched an episode with no intent and before I knew it I was smiling. Then laughing. Phoebe has amazing comedic talent. Even an old guy like me can recognize her talent. Quirky, irreverent, intelligent humor. Not something in abundance here in the states.

Over the Top Funny

[yossarian100 · 10/10 · 9 September 2016]

I've rarely seen anything this funny, and there it is....half an hour of non-stop laughter.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is hysterical as she constantly shares both her innermost and her totally superficial feelings with the audience, even while she's having sex. She is totally bizarre, as are the entire supporting cast, and they won't allow you to stop laughing.

If they can keep up the energy levels of the first two episodes, they will have a major hit on their hands.

I had such a good time watching this, and I can't wait for the next episode.

Don't pass this by. It's one of the best shows TV has to offer.

Enjoy!

An anarchistic breathe of fresh air.

[MovieFan-91319 · 10/10 · 6 March 2019]

I never give 10 stars, since I'm personally dubious of all 10 star reviews. But lately, American 'comedies' are so full of social justice and religious/political engineering, I almost forgot what it was like to laugh. Finding this show (just started season 2)--it's an anarchistic breathe of fresh air, compared to the group-think slop being shoveled into our troughs here in the US. It's been so long since I watched something designed to make me laugh, instead of control the way I think, I'm gonna give it the full 10 stars. Very excited to watch the rest of season 2!

Surprisingly Good

[davidrain-86160 · 25 August 2016]

When I watched the first episode, I thought it was terrible. It seemed like cheap comedy. I thought it was the crude adventures of a feminist bad-ass. But I enjoyed the second episode - and to my surprise I discovered that there were twinges of emotional depth to it. The characters weren't flat like in most comedy. By the third episode I knew that I wasn't watching crude or cheap comedy. This was well thought out drama, and surprisingly realistic.

What makes fleabag special is that it isn't set in a comedy world where all the characters are silly unrealistic people. They are believable people, in a believable situation.

Get a grip, people!

[ozjosh03 · 7/10 · 14 August 2019]

Fleabag is shaping up as the most over-praised, over-rated TV series of the decade - though it's a close race with Killing Eve. Yes, it's irreverent and, yes, it's funny. But 10 out of 10? C'mon! It rarely reaches the sublime heights of outrageousness of Absolutely Fabulous. In fact, it's more like a really dirty version of Miranda. Nothing wrong with that, but it's hardly hugely original. That reviewers are falling over themselves to lavish 10s and lavish praise on the series probably says more about them and their need for messy, chaotic, self-absorbed anti-heroines than at does about the series itself.

Actors workshop material, very disorienting

[norman-271-374904 · 2/10 · 24 September 2019]

Couldn't get into it. Choppy and off balanced. The show is a series of scenes that don't seem to fit together. Shock lines make up the bulk of the laughs.

A reminder the crazier you are, the crazier things you'll do for sanity.

[gedney2001 · 9/10 · 28 August 2016]

The story of a dysfunctional 30 year old, laid bare for the world to see.

For anyone a bit messed up by life the writer of this series wants you to reassure her she is not alone. Set in London it is a touching lesson in the bizarre, crazy and irrational things Londoners will do for some control and stability in their lives.

This series is absolutely not for the sane, it's for the sad, miserable and insane, desperately looking to feel good about themselves (and in need of a good laugh).

Undoubtedly the beginning of something great.

Very funny

[grantss · 8/10 · 13 February 2022]

After the death of her best friend, an event she is partly responsible for, a woman drowns her sorrows in one-night stands and other hedonistic behaviour. Her family compounds her problems: the uptight, corporate exec sister, the alcoholic, obnoxious brother-in-law, the well-meaning but clueless father, the scheming, domineering father's girlfriend who moved in very quickly once her mother died. From here the only way is up.

Great comedy series. Created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge the series pushes the envelope in terms of humour while having decent dramatic side to it too. A great device Waller-Bridge employs is voicing her thoughts directly to the camera in between dialogue. Very original and makes for some hilarious punchlines. Season 2 then takes this a step further...

On that note, the series does improve from Season 1 to Season 2. Season 1 was a good introduction to the main character and her host of issues and was very funny but did rely a bit on shock value for some of the punchlines. It all seemed about problems (and wallowing in them) rather than solutions. I did enjoy the Boo (the deceased friend) sub-plot though. It was the most emotional part of the series, it revealed the downside to the main character's behaviour and the interactions between the two of them were always wonderfully engaging and funny.

Season 2 evolves the dramatic side and feels more balanced. There are new challenges to be faced but things are a bit less outlandish.

While the series has some aspirations as a drama its strongest suite is definitely as a comedy. A few loose ends in the dramatic sub-plots makes the dramatic side feel a bit clumsy at times.

Can't fault the casting nor performances. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is excellent in the lead role and the other major characters are superbly played.

My favourite show at the mo

[jayumsjayums · 10/10 · 24 August 2016]

Fleabag is one of the best shows I've seen in ages. As a man in my late 30s, I skipped over this show for a few weeks on iPlayer as I saw it was on BBC3 and assumed it was most probably intended for a younger and more female demographic than me. Which it probably is.

I am glad I ignored those assumptions and watched Fleabag.

The character of Fleabag is written and performed brilliantly by Phoebe Waller Smith. Fleabag often breaks the fourth wall, hence the comparisons to Miranda. This isn't just to share witty asides - instead we are invited into her guilt-ridden conscience. In the first few episodes, Fleabag is only prepared to shows the audience her cool, hedonistic side; but as the series progresses more of the character's inner turmoil is revealed.

I look forward to seeing how this will play out in the final episode of the series. Will Fleabag finally confess to the audience and begin to come to terms with her actions? I certainly hope she does, if it will help her. I will definitely be watching, and rooting for, Fleabag.

It is pure art!!

[shantanugupta-23111 · 10/10 · 2 May 2021]

It's the best I have seen so far. It's magic. The characters,the performances,the editing all a masterpiece. It's so intense yet so fresh. Great work PWB.

Utterly brilliant performance and writing from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

[cherold · 10/10 · 26 January 2017]

When I watched the first episode of Fleabag, I thought it was very funny but at the same time thought the main character was a bit off putting. But don't worry, her awfulness is mainly show.

When I got around to watching the second episode, which was even funnier, I was hooked, and binge-watched the rest.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives an amazing performance. She has a wonderfully expressive face which she uses to communicate with the audience, who she treats as a friend she's sharing secrets with. She can say everything with just a wry look or a moment of surprise.

While Fleabag can seem like a sex-obsessed sitcom, the series insistently adds complexity to its characters. The main character is funny and bawdy, but also haunted by the death of a friend and traumatized by her upbringing. Her sister at first seems like a stock antagonist, but their relationship turns out to be far more nuanced, and the actresses' chemistry is remarkable. Even a bit part early on is given a chance at redemption.

This is the first I've heard of Waller-Bridge, but she is an incredible talent. I just learned she made another series this year called Crashing, so I know what I'm watching next! (Update: I watched it, it was great)

I can't tell you how much I love this show.

[kyleecoyote79 · 10/10 · 23 May 2019]

I liked season 1. But season 2 has stolen my heart. I absolutely adore this show.

Refreshing and great

[PaulHoskin79 · 10/10 · 22 August 2016]

Fleabag is a fantastic comedy, original and refreshing in this time of mediocrity.

I have to take issue with Coral Grainger's review. The character is supposed to make you cringe. But then Coral clearly watches Miranda. If your idea of comedy is Miranda or Mrs Brown's Boys then this is not for you. This works on so many levels and is a well written, clever comedy, reliant on 3D characters, plots and life issues. This is not your run of the mill 2D canned laughter BBC comedy.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has taken her stage show and crafted it into this well executed, acted and directed gem. It is also a triumph for female writers and the amount of feminist comment in there is not lost.

The great deal of pathos will resonate with so many people in a similar life position, and there are a lot of us out there. I guess some people's lives (Coral's) are just too perfect that she cannot disconnect and walk a mile in somebody else's shoes.

Coral also blasts the sex scenes in this 'daytime show.' I do not understand that as the show is on-line and has a guidance warning before it starts! I think that is my main point – this is a comedy which is wasted on-line. Stick to Made in Chelsea Coral. Sadly, Fleabag is far too clever for the generation who will watch it.

Fantastic, well done Phoebe.

Perfect show in a strange strange world

[brendandax · 10/10 · 11 November 2019]

If you don't like it no one can help you. Watch it or be the poorer

didn't like the character at first

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 April 2019]

Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is a struggling thirtysomething Londoner. Her "guinea pig" café is struggling after the tragic accidental suicide of her business partner Boo. Her sex life is a struggle with various hookups. She struggles with her uptight perfect older sister Claire (Sian Clifford) married to the inappropriate Martin (Brett Gelman) with inappropriate stepson Jake. She struggles with her evil godmother (Olivia Coleman) who has ensnared her father (Bill Paterson) after her mother's death from breast cancer. Fleabag is often breaking the 4th wall. In the second season, she has an inappropriate relationship with a priest (Andrew Scott). He's the only one who notices her breaking the 4th wall.

I did not like Fleabag at the beginning, the character not the show. She does grow on me over time and mostly due to her relationship with her sister. The two siblings are hilarious together. For me, their relationship is the heart of the show more than any sexual encounter in the first season or even her relationship with the priest. It's not any of her craziness. It is the touching reality of the siblings' love and frustration. The father doesn't talk enough to have the same effect until the very last episode. The evil godmother is the evil godmother played very well by the brilliant Olivia Coleman. Martin is cringeworthy and Brett Gelman has that performance in his tool box. The first season also suffers from a lack of good romantic partner for Fleabag. That's solved by Andrew Scott in the second. He also helps in breaking the 4th wall. That technique can be overused but I really like his acknowledging of it. This is an interesting little show highlighting the skills of its creator.

Overrated, as many British shows tend to be

[patdgbert · 1/10 · 3 October 2019]

Probably one of the most overrated series to come along in recent times. It is a series that is thoroughly convinced of its own ingenuity. It shoots for a high mark, but completely misses.

The writer and lead actor has stated that at the end of each season, she felt like the main character's journey was complete. But, we are left wondering, really? What journey? The show felt like a collection of scenes out the character's life with very little story arc. She is in nearly the same place she started out in with almost nothing learned or gained. While the show does tease us with interesting story lines about the effects of trauma, family tensions, etc., these themes are not thoroughly explored nor resolved.

I suppose the main story-line from season two is her relationship with a charmless, prone-to-swearing priest. The relationship feels contrived from the very beginning, lacking authenticity as it is forced to develop over the span of the six 20+ minute episodes. In a bizarre scene late at night in a confessional, he orders her down on her knees while frighteningly dramatic music plays in the background. The viewer is unsure if they're watching a scene out of a horror movie, or if the producers are just really bad at their job. It turns out to be the latter, because eventually you figure out this was supposed to be a romantic sequence. But as in many instances throughout, it hits so many strange and wrong notes, like a jumbled piece of music that never quite came together.

As for the humor (after all it is a comedy) there are a few bits that will put a wry smile on your face, but it is nothing overwhelming. If fact, they are rather few and far between. And as is standard in today's media landscape, we get a fair share of raunchy and promiscuous pursuits which will surely appeal to the many critics who have a surprisingly high regard for those types of things.

Overall, I would recommend skipping this one over, unless you enjoy a bit self-punishment.

How good is this!!

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 28 August 2016]

I'm still so annoyed with BBC3 for switching to online only, I still enjoy watching the show on my lunch break at work, but it doesn't beat watching it on the box.

Fleabag is one of the best shows to come from BBC3 since the likes of Gary Tank Commander and Cuckoo. I don't get why a show like this isn't given a more prime time viewing slot, it seemed to be lost in obscurity and just deserved more.

Some of the situations obviously are a little unusual to say the least, but the writing is just so good.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is proving herself to be an actress and writer etc of huge talents, Fleabag is genuinely funny, just as good as the recent channel four series 'Crashing' a project of hers I also loved. Olivia Colman can do no wrong, but it's nice to see her cast in a very different role, so often playing a 'sweet' character, she shows her versatility. Bill Patterson great also,