Fleabag - Series 2 [split topic]

[ZoyzaSorris]

I mean i cant stand the Guardian but I still read it. I will probably watch this when ive got a dry mo, but do find the immense hype a bit perplexing from my limited exposure. Enjoyed Killing Eve though.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Enjoyed Killing Eve though.

Yeah, me too.

[Virgo76]

Think Fleabag got lots of praise everywhere, not just The Guardian. As with Killing Eve.
Personally I thought Phoebe Waller-Bridge was best as that robot in Star Wars.

[Jockice]

There's a thing on the Guardian website now saying it's a show by a posh girl for posh girls, which is why posh girls in the media loved it so much.

Being neither posh nor a girl the five minutes or so I watched on YouTube did very little for me.

[jsgibble]

There's a thing on the Guardian website now saying it's a show by a posh girl for posh girls, which is why posh girls in the media loved it so much.

And subsequently the pushback to the idea from people who don't care about anyone who doesn't look like them. Similar to Caitlin Moran saying the lack of racial diversity in Girls doesn't matter

[Z]

I do think in the case of the guardian it's a bit of a bubble thing, like, if everyone in the office is super excited about it and your twitter seems extremely excited about the whole thing then it's probably very easy to drift into thinking it's a lot more general than that and approve articles you'd never dream of approving beforehand.


Think Netflix got a good run for a few years by playing into that kind of thing. Getting damn near everyone to binge whatever new show each time (before there were too many to collectively keep track of) resulted in that weekend just being swarmed with articles about Orange is the New Black or House of Cards or whatever.

[Jockice]

I have mentioned this before but in the mid-90s I did a few subbing shifts for the Observer and also went to the Guardian offices for a couple of other things a few years later. I have never heard so many posh accents in the same place at any other point in my life. And I've covered royal visits. Recently I had a chat on Twitter with the Guardian's disability correspondent Frances Ryan (who does most of her work from home) and she said the same about her first visit to the office where her Lincolnshire accent stood out like a thumb in a wheelchair.

The place is basically a public school/Oxbridge bubble (with the odd commoner like Kngen of course) and given the paper's supposedly 'left-wing' stance you can just imagine what The Times or Telegraph's offices are like. I know for a fact (because someone I know went. He's not a journo, he's a high-ranking civil servant) that one of the Guardian's more sensible columnists celebrated her 40th birthday by having a huge party in Miami.  I think I went to the local pub for mine.

[hummingofevil]

And subsequently the pushback to the idea from people who don't care about anyone who doesn't look like them. Similar to Caitlin Moran saying the lack of racial diversity in Girls doesn't matter

Or that if the fan fiction theory was correct about Friends that Phoebe is homeless and the whole thing is her imagination for a perfect dream existence that doesn't include black people.

[Icehaven]

Or that if the fan fiction theory was correct about Friends that Phoebe is homeless and the whole thing is her imagination for a perfect dream existence that doesn't include black people.

I've been rewatching Friends recently and granted the 6 main cast are all white, but there's still a fair number of non-white characters throughout (and not just Charlie).

[Twit 2]

I watched the first scene of the first series and I thought it was awful so I don't want to watch any more.

[thecuriousorange]

I've been rewatching Friends recently and granted the 6 main cast are all white, but there's still a fair number of non-white characters throughout (and not just Charlie).

Ross' Asian girlfriend Julie (few episodes at the start of series 2), but I'm struggling to think of any others.

[Jockice]

And subsequently the pushback to the idea from people who don't care about anyone who doesn't look like them. Similar to Caitlin Moran saying the lack of racial diversity in Girls doesn't matter

I've never seen it but isn't everyone in the film Notting Hill white? Because I've been to the actual place and it certainly isn't entirely Caucasian.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've never seen it but isn't everyone in the film Notting Hill white? Because I've been to the actual place and it certainly isn't entirely Caucasian.

They are, yes. It's ridiculous. I mean, if Richard Curtis wants to write an endless conveyor belt of films about nice, privileged white people then that's entirely up to him, but setting one in a fictionalised Notting Hill where black people don't exist is dodgy as fuck.

[Jockice]

They are, yes. It's ridiculous. I mean, if Richard Curtis wants to write an endless conveyor belt of films about nice, privileged white people then that's entirely up to him, but setting one in a fictionalised Notting Hill where black people don't exist is dodgy as fuck.

That is just weird. I mean sometimes you can spot a token ethnic character (I made a rare trip to the movies at the weekend to see a film set in Glasgow called Wild Rose. One of the main characters in that is played by Sophie Longsurname. All the others are white) but you know, it's fair enough. Does no harm to anyone. I spent the first few years of my life near Glasgow in a town which had the total of one black resident. Things there are very different nowadays. And I'm glad about that.

But to name a movie after an area of one of the most racially diverse cities in the world and to have no non-white characters at all....

[Virgo76]

Not really getting the hostility to Fleabag on here. Are people uncomfortable with series starring intelligent, confident women?
As I say, it's been praised all over the place so all the stuff about The Guardian on here is irrelevant really.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Not really getting the hostility to Fleabag on here. Are people uncomfortable with series starring intelligent, confident women?
As I say, it's been praised all over the place so all the stuff about The Guardian on here is irrelevant really.

Thanks, as always, for cutting through the bullshit.

[Jockice]

Not really getting the hostility to Fleabag on here. Are people uncomfortable with series starring intelligent, confident women?
As I say, it's been praised all over the place so all the stuff about The Guardian on here is irrelevant really.

Yeah, you're right. I'm really uncomfortable with series' (any series ever, even ones I've never seen) starring intelligent confident women. You can never criticise anything like that in any way. And the fact that the Guardian has practically wet itself over it (while none of my friends - a fairly diverse lot actually - said anything at all to me about it while it was on) shouldn't be mentioned at all.

Let's have discussion boards in which nothing ever gets discussed eh? And even if they are they can only be praised (no negative comments allowed) between parameters which have been set beforehand.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I have to admit, I much prefer series that star thick-as-pigshit, not in the least bit confident women, that are sort of alright, and don't get treated as the great comedic second coming.

[the science eel]

Not really getting the hostility to Fleabag on here. Are people uncomfortable with series starring intelligent, confident women?
As I say, it's been praised all over the place so all the stuff about The Guardian on here is irrelevant really.

You wanna watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, mate. Or This Is Spinal Tap. Impeccable.

[Virgo76]

Yeah, you're right. I'm really uncomfortable with series' (any series ever, even ones I've never seen) starring intelligent confident women. You can never criticise anything like that in any way. And the fact that the Guardian has practically wet itself over it (while none of my friends - a fairly diverse lot actually - said anything at all to me about it while it was on) shouldn't be mentioned at all.

Let's have discussion boards in which nothing ever gets discussed eh? And even if they are they can only be praised (no negative comments allowed) between parameters which have been set beforehand.

Don't believe I actually said nobody should be allowed to make negative comments about things. A bit weird that you'd interpret it that way. Was merely pointing out Fleabag has been generally well reviewed everywhere not just The Guardian.

[Jockice]

Don't believe I actually said nobody should be allowed to make negative comments about things. A bit weird that you'd interpret it that way. Was merely pointing out Fleabag has been generally well reviewed everywhere not just The Guardian.

Well, I thought it was a bit weird that you should suggest that people don't like it (or give it a chance or whatever) because they're uncomfortable with the character portrayed (or indeed what Phoebe thingy is like in real life). There are millions of reasons that people may like or not like something so I thought your argument was a bit reductive. Still, there we go, everyone's entitled to their opinion. Except for (REDACTED).

[Virgo76]

True. Except a few people have been saying they don't like it because of their perceptions of her and of Guardian readers etc.

[Twit 2]

Not really getting the hostility to Fleabag on here. Are people uncomfortable with series starring intelligent, confident women?
As I say, it's been praised all over the place so all the stuff about The Guardian on here is irrelevant really.

I just don't have the patience for stuff that's badly written. So much 'amazing' TV just simply isn't. Look at all the people desperately trying to convince themselves that middle of the road bollocks like what GoT has become is amazing event TV. A lot of people will think something is good if they're told it is. It may be a lonely existence having critical faculties and awareness of what actual quality looks like, but so be it.

I turned Fleabag off because it was shit, nothing to do with the Guardian or being about a woman (although if the genders were reversed in that opening scene it would be rightly derided. When Clint or Woody surround themselves with models they are told to GTF). The first scene in Fleabag is a male model with a big cock fucking her up the arse and telling her how amazing she is. Lovely fantasy of hers, that, nowt wrong with that, who wouldn't want that? But it doesn't make good TV.

[Blue Jam]

I liked Hadley Freeman citing Mac from Green Wing as another cruel and generally horrible character who inexplicably had viewers lusting after him. Gawd, I fucking hated Mac.

[Blue Jam]

A lot of people will think something is good if they're told it is. It may be a lonely existence having critical faculties and awareness of what actual quality looks like, but so be it.

I just thought "That's a bit of a snobbish post", but then I remembered how many people liked After Life...

[Bronzy]

That is just weird. I mean sometimes you can spot a token ethnic character (I made a rare trip to the movies at the weekend to see a film set in Glasgow called Wild Rose. One of the main characters in that is played by Sophie Longsurname. All the others are white) but you know, it's fair enough. Does no harm to anyone. I spent the first few years of my life near Glasgow in a town which had the total of one black resident. Things there are very different nowadays. And I'm glad about that.

But to name a movie after an area of one of the most racially diverse cities in the world and to have no non-white characters at all....

Ah but wait, you have clearly forgotten Sanjeev Bhaskar's powerful yet poignant performance as "Loud Man in Restaurant"!

[Virgo76]

I just don't have the patience for stuff that's badly written. So much 'amazing' TV just simply isn't. Look at all the people desperately trying to convince themselves that middle of the road bollocks like what GoT has become is amazing event TV. A lot of people will think something is good if they're told it is. It may be a lonely existence having critical faculties and awareness of what actual quality looks like, but so be it.

I turned Fleabag off because it was shit, nothing to do with the Guardian or being about a woman (although if the genders were reversed in that opening scene it would be rightly derided. When Clint or Woody surround themselves with models they are told to GTF). The first scene in Fleabag is a male model with a big cock fucking her up the arse and telling her how amazing she is. Lovely fantasy of hers, that, nowt wrong with that, who wouldn't want that? But it doesn't make good TV.

What is better ?
I thought the first scene was superbly written.

[poodlefaker]

There's been all this guff written about the sexy priest, but has anyone addressed the question of why a catholic priest is doing a non-religious wedding ceremony in someone's garden, wearing all his catholic gear? Wouldn't happen, would it?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

What is better ?

What's on second base.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

There's been all this guff written about the sexy priest, but has anyone addressed the question of why a catholic priest is doing a non-religious wedding ceremony in someone's garden, wearing all his catholic gear? Wouldn't happen, would it?

Like a lot of stuff in sitcoms, oddly enough.