S03.E05: Breakup

[Blakeston]

1 hour ago, cinsays said:

is there some current meaning for fleabag or fleabaf or fleafag that some of us are unaware of?

I have to assume it was "fleafag," which I took to be a way to call someone a fleabag and a *ag at the same time.

Publicly throwing the f-slur at someone isn't a reasonable reaction to a breakup, even if they tried to annoy you.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

4 hours ago, cinsays said:

is there some current meaning for fleabag or fleabaf or fleafag that some of us are unaware of?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge had a one woman show that became a limited series called Fleabag, that was about a woman who was an utter disaster and treated her loved ones terribly. It got a ton of rave reviews. 

[possibilities]

Yes, I think calling him by that name with the F alteration was less homophobia in this case, and more of a hybrid effort to brand Jacob as a total disaster-- with the gay aspects (i.e. their relationship) in play. Within the community, some of us take some of those words and use them in defiance of the stigma. It's absolutely NOT okay for others to do that, but it is somewhat of a thing "in the family". 

It's still not great, of course. But Jacob did behave abominably, so some bitterness and backlash is to be expected.

I think that writing an entire play about it might cross my line-- if he's planning to produce it and it isn't just his personal internal venting and recovery process.

I really liked their relationship, so I'm a bit disappointed the show blew it up. I'm not sure why they wanted to do that. 

[Rae Spellman]

On 2/29/2024 at 6:05 PM, Black Knight said:

I can understand why Barbara doesn't leave her church. Yes, the people in the choir are jerks, but they are only a few of the people at church. Barbara and her husband would have friends in the congregation at large, plus they may really like the minister. Going to another church just so she can have solos would be, to Barbara, missing the overall point of going to church to begin with. It's supposed to be about her relationship with the Lord, not about personal gratification.

Yep. Plus, there's no guarantee that Barbara could find a church that's a better fit.  Even if the other women in a new church embraced Barbara, she might still feel like an outsider if they have decades old relationships while she's the new girl. Someone who has worked at the same challenging school for decades might be inclined to stay where she is and make it work.

[Cotypubby]

If anyone has seen the new Oscar-nominated German film “The Teacher’s Lounge” there is a scene where the teacher leads her class in a primal scream yelling session.

I was wondering how both Melissa and Janine knew to refer to the sub as “they” after only seeing the sub teaching for a few seconds and never seeing their name or “Mx.” written anywhere until the end. 

[Bookish Jen]

All I can say is "Shackles" is a banger.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 3/2/2024 at 10:41 PM, possibilities said:

I really liked their relationship, so I'm a bit disappointed the show blew it up. I'm not sure why they wanted to do that. 

To build up his relationship with Gregory.  Jacob was eager/available to hang out in the evening, and we saw from Gregory's actions that he cares about Jacob (and Jacob saw it, too.)

[libgirl2]

On 3/3/2024 at 9:55 AM, Cotypubby said:

If anyone has seen the new Oscar-nominated German film “The Teacher’s Lounge” there is a scene where the teacher leads her class in a primal scream yelling session.

I was wondering how both Melissa and Janine knew to refer to the sub as “they” after only seeing the sub teaching for a few seconds and never seeing their name or “Mx.” written anywhere until the end. 

Maybe it was assumed to use "they" until you met the person and found out their preferred pronoun? 

Edited March 4 by libgirl2

[DearEvette]

On 3/3/2024 at 10:55 AM, Cotypubby said:

I was wondering how both Melissa and Janine knew to refer to the sub as “they” after only seeing the sub teaching for a few seconds and never seeing their name or “Mx.” written anywhere until the end. 

The only sub we saw them get introduced to from the jump was Mr. Bowtie who left only seconds later.  All the other subs have already been in the classroom when we first see them, presuming some sort of introduction between Melissa and the subs happen that we are never privy to. Cassidy strikes me as a person who provides their pronouns.

If this were a different show they might have shown a scene with Ava mentioning the pronoun thing.  But this isn't that show.  This is a show that has shown itself to normalize identity.

I actually like how they seemed to confirm Cassidy's pronouns again without bringing too much attention to it in a way that serviced the 'big misunderstanding' joke that was at the center of this B-plot.  In order for Janine to hip to the fact that she spelled Cassidy's last name wrong there had to be an organic reason for her to see the spelling of it.  The  normal convention of new teachers writing their names on the board to introduce themselves to a class, was the perfect vehicle for that.  And they always include  Mr./Mrs./Ms prefix.  So including the Mx. for Cassidy was a nice way to confirm it without making it a big thing (in case the audience did miss Melissa using Cassidy's proper pronouns. )

And finally, a lot of people don't know what Mx. stands for still. And including might have prompted some to look it up and see what it means, so a nice teaching moment.