This is a love story.
Well, after a rip-roaring first season where each episode seemed to be better than the last, Fleabag comes back with an absolute vengeance and continues the trend. That’s right, this episode is the best episode yet and, in point of fact, it’s the best by a country mile. The episode just instantly plunges us right into things with that phenomenal opening scene of quiet music, a serene atmosphere, soft lighting and . . . then that bloody reveal. That’s Fleabag in a nutshell in a lot of ways. And then the episode lives up to that great opening by putting all of the best performers at one dinner table and just letting things unravel. And unravel it does in ways that are downright shocking. I love where the beginning of this episode finds Fleabag, speaking emotionally and psychologically; the hope I felt for her at the end of the first season seems to have been justified, though she’s far from fixed. Sian Clifford really walks away with this one as Claire, thought Brett Gelman’s performance as the sleazy Martin is absolute perfection as well. And as to the addition of Andrew Scott to the cast? Well, color me delighted. Scott’s been quietly becoming one of my favorite character actors to watch of late. He had a great year in 2019: he showed up for about five minutes in 1917 and absolutely stole that scene; he gave a devastating lead performance in Smithereens, the only watchable episode of Black Mirror’s fifth season; and now this. This episode just runs the gamut from hilariously funny to cheekily clever to deeply painful. Oh, Fleabag, it’s good to see you again. 4 stars.
tl;dr – here we go again; the first season of Fleabag was excellent, but the second season outdoes all of that with the best episode of the series yet. 4 stars.