Fleabag (2016-19) * * * (Seasons 1 and 2 on Amazon Prime)

Starring:  Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Andrew Scott, Sian Clifford, Bill Paterson, Olivia Colman, Brett Gelman, Hugh Skinner, Jenny Rainsford

Fleabag, the titular character of this BBC series, is a personal and professional mess as the series begins.    She awakens at two in the morning for a one-night stand with Arsehole Guy, who enjoys anal sex much more than Fleabag does.    The cafe she owns barely has any customers and she just broke up with her sensitive boyfriend Harry (Skinner), who should look elsewhere for a happily-ever-after love.    Then, there is her immediate family, which provides more drama than Fleabag needs in her life.   Or is it the other way around? 

It is fair to say Fleabag laughs and flashes looks of approval, disdain, shock, etc. at the camera (she breaks the fourth wall often) so that she may not cry.   Her best friend Boo (Rainsford), with whom she co-owned the cafe, was recently killed in a road accident (or committed suicide depending on whom you ask), and Fleabag carries searing guilt around about it, and her life choices only seem to feed into her self-sabotaging tendencies.    She falls for The Priest (Scott) in Season 2, knowing full well the moral and spiritual complications which would ensue.   Is falling for people she can't have simply another part of her subconscious campaign against her own happiness?

Waller-Bridge is never less than engaging as Fleabag.  I'll assume that is not her Christian name, but she is conspicuously never called by whatever her real name is.   She can easily navigate the character's contradictions and sexual eccentricities.   She isn't always likable, but she's human. Fleabag frequently breaks the fourth wall, mostly with her eyes, and while I got used to this, I am not sure why it is done as often as it is.   Most of it is not necessary or add much to the proceedings.    The supporting players are given proper space and attention to form their own quirks.    The Priest, however, is given the most dimension, mostly because he is a Catholic priest at war with his own desire for Fleabag and does that ever present complications.

While there are things to admire about Fleabag, I found myself liking it without loving it.   The show only lasted two seasons (by Waller-Bridge's choice) and twelve episodes is enough to establish the character and give us a peek into her world.    Anything more would be excessive.   Waller-Bridge did about all that could be done with Fleabag without us tiring of her.