Fleabag TV Series review : How to build a character’s chemistry

Written by

Azmy Noor Ramdhania

The premise of the show explores themes of grief, family dynamics, love, and mental health, and features a cast of diverse and dynamic characters, including Fleabag's sister, her father and stepmother, her friends, and her love interests (The Hot Preist). The show was critically acclaimed for its unique style, strong performances, and powerful storytelling, and won several awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards.

A carpe diem baby, who after a tragedy wants to move on with her life but finds her surrounding hard to cope with

Fleabag and ‘The Hot Priest’ have one of the most enjoyable pleasing quirky dynamics in one of my latest character observations. Their contrast yet uncannily similar personality makes their interaction so enjoyable to watch more than just a romantic bit. The dialogues they had were satirical and comical, eccentric and quirky, but also real, very open from the get-go and self-deprecatingly relatable and human. ‘The Priest’ in context is a Priest who is not judgmental, preachy, or 'churchy,' as Fleabag once described it;

...He swears, he has a dark past.

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A priest has been portrayed as a special boxy human being with a straight non-problematic background who is always correct in whatever they do, almost ethereal, throughout the past history of film. And yet, he is portrayed as someone who is down to earth, lonely, and who discovers something new in religion that he would love to share with everyone. Fleabag's first attraction to The Priest is his awkwardness, which is presumably the contrast to what Fleabag would imagine a Priest's personality would be, as well as how hot he is :'). With his carefree attitude, smiley face, sunny personality, genuineness and excitement of finding joy in life, we could also find similarities in Fleabag’s facade. She wants to be like him, she wants to learn from him.

The attraction is two-sided, it seems like their continuous flow of witty and natural conversation makes their fondness for each other grow each day counting down to her dad’s wedding with her godmother. Obviously, both of them know that they can not be together since the spark happens, but both of them cant help to be around each other, like how the Priest indirectly confessed his attraction to her by answering her question of “what would you do if you like someone”, with “I talk, I drink, I laugh, give them bible and hope they eventually leave me alone” shows how much he really wants to just let it all go and have a real intimate moment with her, but he can't because of the religious obligation, these snippets of flirtatious but genuine moments is what makes it amusing for the viewers to watch. The tug of war between how much they wanted to be each other and how much they couldn't.