One of the best British TV shows on Prime Video mashes up The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Hacks, sharing the comedy style and archetypes while telling a unique story that can be binged in just one day. For many decades, women characters on television were expected to be meek, docile, and well-behaved. They took on the role of homemaker and doting wife. Shows like I Love Lucy were trailblazers, with main characters who met some gendered expectations but were allowed to be messy and flawed.
Nowadays, the “messy girl” comedy TV subgenre is one of the most popular, with shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Hacks taking center stage. These series have very little in common, aside from flawed, funny women at the forefront. Midge Maisel and Deborah Vance are very different from one another, representing two distinct forms of womanhood. The comedy styles of Hacks and Mrs. Maisel feel like they could never blend together, but one comedy TV show proves that wrong.
Prime Video and BBC Three teamed up to bring Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one-woman show, Fleabag, to the screen. Aside from creating the show, Phoebe Waller-Bridge served as Fleabag‘s showrunner, writer, and lead star. The show is reminiscent of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Hacks without feeling completely derivative. Plus, it’s also extremely short, making it an entertaining binge-watch that can be finished in just a day.
Fleabag Is The Cruder British Cousin Of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The TV show Fleabag centers on a witty woman, known only as Fleabag, who navigates life and romance in London while coping with a loss. However, she pushes away anyone who wants to help her heal, choosing to continue her self-destructive spiral. The show shares DNA with Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel while remaining extremely different.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Fleabag absolutely dominated the 2019 Emmys, with the creative teams of both cheering on each other’s success.
Fleabag and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follow fast-talking, messy women navigating life after traumatic experiences, though their natures are extremely different. Fleabag is coping with the suicide of her best friend, Boo. Maisel was the victim of an emotional betrayal, as her husband cheated on her. In both series, the leads keep their emotional distance from others, and they process their pain through humor. Fleabag and Midge both curse like a sailor.
However, Fleabag diverges from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in its story, narrative style, and the crudeness of the jokes. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has a sense of optimism, and there’s an upward trajectory for Midge Maisel. Meanwhile, Fleabag is nothing but cynical. The British main character seems to have no filter, saying everything that she’s thinking. Her jokes are constantly self-deprecating, showing how much she hates herself, and overly explicit. Her sexual behavior goes past the point of promiscuity, appearing more like compulsivity.
Fleabag Has The Cynical Humor Of Hacks With A Fun Twist
While Fleabag and Midge share similar energy and wit, Midge actually believes that romance exists and that she can reinvent herself, even when she faces obstacles. Fleabag is much more similar to Deborah Vance from Hacks, seeing the world as a cruel and unfair place. Mrs. Maisel is a dramedy, but Fleabag and Hacks are straight-up tragicomedies. Because the latter two are driven by the main characters’ jaded perspectives, they joke about the darkest and most painful parts of life. The laughs sting. The emotional beats are laced with dry humor.
However, Hacks feels like we are watching someone else go through life. Even when the characters are relatable, there’s still a distance between the audience and the story. Fleabag flips the script, bringing the audience into the story by breaking the fourth wall. It feels like we are friends with the main character and in on the dark comedy jokes. The awkward and cringe moments feel visceral.
What’s more, the titular lead intentionally feels like she has more intimacy with us, the viewers, than she does with the people in the show. She expresses her unfiltered thoughts to us, almost as if breaking the fourth wall is a defense mechanism so that she doesn’t have to fully engage with her life. With this one fun storytelling element, Fleabag becomes a much deeper TV show.
If any of that sounds interesting, the good news is that Fleabag is much shorter than both The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Hacks. The British Prime Video show completes the story in two seasons, rather than prolonging it unnecessarily. With 12 episodes, each running about 25 minutes, it’s possible to binge the entire show in about five hours, making it a great choice for a day off work or a weekend watch.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2019-00-00
- Showrunner
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Phoebe Waller-Bridge
