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"Fleabag"

There is a book entitled "Everyone Brave Is Forgiven." This makes me think of Fleabag. She is a wreck, yes, but she is brave.

A wreck? She shtups her best friend's boyfriend. That friend then ends up dead--so "resolution" isn't a possibility. (Maybe resolution isn't often a possibility.)

Brave? Fleabag tries to rebuild her life. She pursues funding for her little cafe. (This doesn't end well; Fleabag actually flashes her bra at her interviewer, and she is promptly dismissed.) Fleabag enters therapy; she reads the Bible (her jaw drops, frequently); she visits some kind of "healing commune"; she begins refusing offers of empty sex (though you can see the pain this refusal causes her, written across her face).

All the while, Fleabag is able to laugh at herself, and so she is different from many people. Aware of Fleabag's spotty past, one friend says, "I thought you'd be in prison by now." Chuckling, Fleabag says, "I keep trying, but they won't let me in!" And Fleabag makes this deadpan announcement to her shrink: "I'm here because I keep using anonymous sex to deflect my attention from the void within my own empty heart." (She winks at the camera, and she adds, "I'm *really good* at therapy!")

Fleabag's nemesis is her smug stepmother, played by Olivia Colman. These two make me think of an Anita Brookner observation: "The world is split between the stupid-and-strong and the smart-and-weak, and the stupid/strong generally win." Colman's character is stupid and strong. She is untroubled by self-reflection and self-doubt. She has tremendous success in the world. Early in her story, she admits that her new coat is fur, then says, "It's OK because the mink had a stroke." She pouts in an exaggerated way, and chuckles uproariously. We feel we've learned just about all that we need to know about her.

It seems to me "Fleabag" is one of the most therapeutic shows available on television. It's a heightened, comical version of messy, actual life. It's capable of making you say: "I feel seen." It won the Emmy last night--over the much-vaunted "Veep." I can't recommend it enough.
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