Amazon with Abe: Fleabag

Fleabag: Season 2, Episode 4 (B+)

I liked this episode, which is the fourth of the six episodes submitted for Best Comedy Series consideration, but I can’t understand why it’s Olivia Colman’s choice for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Colman surprised to win the Oscar for Best Actress for “The Favourite” this past year, and she already seems primed to win the Emmy next year when she replaces Claire Foy on “The Crown.” She could have been a slam dunk in this category, but then she went ahead and submitted this otherwise fantastic episode, which barely features her and gives her one minimal scene that doesn’t compare at all to her work in the season premiere, which I think should have been everyone’s submission. I preferred seeing Fleabag bond with her father, who said he found her godmother annoying and that Claire didn’t get the “fun gene.” Everything else about the episode was also fantastic, with Fleabag having a genuinely good time with the priest shopping for new robes and the two of them building a great friendship that occasionally got awkward. She didn’t react well to being caught “disappearing” to the audience once again, and confessed pretty much everything to him except for the death of her best friend that truly changed who she was. Surprising the priest at his house prompted a rather taunting response from him about how he knew that calling him father turned her on, and bringing her into confession with a glass of alcohol in her hand was definitely not a conventional move. Telling her to kneel and then coming to kiss her was bold, and Fleabag seemed genuinely angry about yet another sign literally falling to indicate that what they were doing was wrong. I can’t wait to see what comes next since this narrative is truly incredible.