A Love Story: Sisterhood In FLEABAG

Fleabag Season Two opens with a shocking image: Fleabag (Phoebe Waller Bridge) mopping blood off her face and handing a fresh towel to another blood soaked girl before turning to the camera, widely smiling and announcing “This is a love story”. She is referring to her affair with a suspiciously handsome priest (unsurprisingly it doesn’t quite succeed), but she may as well be referring to her relationship with her sister, Claire (played by Sian Clifford).

While men have come in and out of Fleabag’s life, her relationship (certainly not friendship) with Claire has been the defining relationship of the series, one that’s weathered common familial trials, squabbles familiar only to siblings, and potential estrangement, making Fleabag the ultimate love letter to sisterhood.

The Breakdown of a Sisterhood

Fleabag’s introduction to her relationship with Claire in season 1 jolts the audience with the casual way she describes Claire as “uptight and beautiful and probably anorexic” before leaping into the sisters bickering. While shocking in its cruelty, the scene and the following season are refreshing in their complex portrayal of sisterhood. Fleabag and Claire aren’t the sisters of Grey’s Anatomy who hold hands at the kitchen table and have impromptu dance parties, nor are they merely adversaries plotting each other’s demise (much like the trio of siblings at the center of Succession). Instead they reflect a great deal of common sister relationships (albeit with a great deal more cleverness): while the two deeply love each other and even enjoy one another’s company at times, they also have very little in common and know exactly how to provoke one another.

While they both roll their eyes at each other and make snarky comments about the other’s outfits, they genuinely care about each other, as evidenced with Fleabag breaking the silence at their bizarre retreat to congratulate Claire on her promotion, encouraging her to take the role by confessing Claire’s husband’s infidelity. Although less outwardly warm than Fleabag, Claire proves to care about her sister as well, chastising her family when they encourage her to take her promotion screaming “because you can’t just f*ck off on airplanes, and leave your weird stepson and broken sister to fend for themselves”. Claire and Fleabag care about each other but struggle to demonstrate it to one another, best evidenced in the scene in the first episode where they head butt while attempting to hug.

Claire and Fleabag revisit their struggle to show the other that they care throughout the series, but season 1 ends with Claire estranging herself from Fleabag after her husband Martin (a disturbingly committed Brett Gelman) counters Fleabag’s accusation of infidelity by saying she kissed him. The sisters abilities to hurt one another come up again as Claire insults Fleabag on her way out of the party, asking how she could ever trust her given her similar betrayal of Boo. It’s hard for the audience to believe that Claire fully believes her husband and is abandoning Fleabag completely in this moment, however the recurring dynamic of Fleabag and Claire lashing out at each other seems much more likely.

Season Two Shows How Trust Is Built Again

Season Two opens on Fleabag and Claire’s relationship with the revelation that they haven’t spoken in a year, since Martin accused Fleabag of kissing him. The gap between the sisters seems larger than ever, with a befuddled Fleabag telling the audience that Claire “seems…happy”. That happiness is short lived and the ensuing crisis puts the sisters back on speaking terms, as Fleabag discovers Claire having a miscarriage in the restaurant bathroom and covering for her in the aftermath of speaking with Martin and the rest of the family.

Much like the rest of Season Two, Fleabag and Claire’s relationship continues to evolve in with the sisters deepening their bond and trust of one another. When Fleabag caters Claire’s women in business reception, Claire gives Fleabag a list of instructions, enjoying her position of authority and power before sputtering “Oh, and, um…thank you”. Fleabag recognizes this event as a chance to make up to Claire her past errors, making sure to get a new “Best Woman in Business” award when she shatters the original, and resisting teasing Claire when she reveals her crush on coworker Klare.

Again, Phoebe Waller Bridge resists simplifying the relationship and shows the complexities of the two when Claire furiously hisses at Fleabag after the ceremony “We’re not friends. We are sisters. Find your own friends”. Claire’s statement rings false for a number of reasons, throughout the two seasons Claire isn’t shown as having any other friends and she falls back on Fleabag in moments of crisis, however that line illustrates how fraught most sister dynamics are.

In spite of the ongoing sniping between the two (to which there is no resolution, just like between many siblings), Fleabag and Claire grow to depend on one another more than ever in Season Two, perhaps best exemplified by a panicked call from Claire to Fleabag over a horrific haircut, resulting in Fleabag confronting Claire’s hairdresser in spite of the fact he gave Claire the exact haircut she asked for. While much of Season Two builds towards Fleabag’s affair with the priest and her father’s marriage to her Godmother, much of the season builds upon the rebuilding of Fleabag and Claire’s relationship, showing how they reach a place of love and mutual respect if not complete understanding. In the series finale Claire finally leaves Martin and chases after Klare (who already confessed his love to her). Claire chafes at Fleabag’s suggestion of chasing him down in the airport saying “the only person I’d run through an airport for is you”, thus ending the series with the sisters as close as they’ll ever be.

Most sisters probably wouldn’t aspire to have the relationship of Fleabag and Claire, it is undoubtedly a realistic portrayal of sisterhood, one that is filled with attention to the details that feel like a real, lived in relationship. The show fully charts the narrative of the near disintegration of their relationship and recovery to a place of love and respect. While Fleabag and Claire are much more witty than most people, the details of their jabs and how they come to one another’s rescue speaks volumes to the complicated nature of sisterhood and the deep well of love that exists between most.
How realistic do you think the relationship between Fleabag and Claire is?