Emmys 2019: Fleabag’s Sian Clifford was the Secret MVP of Season 2

In the weeks leading up to the July 16th Emmy nominations, Primetimer staff and contributors will be making our picks for which people (and shows) we think deserve recognition for their work this year. For your consideration today: Sian Clifford for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in Amazon's Fleabag.

"This is a love story," announces a bleeding Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a posh London restaurant bathroom at the start of the second season. The complex dynamic between Fleabag and the Priest (Andrew Scott) is a hot and steamy saga for the ages, but the heart of this series belongs to Fleabag’s difficult and often combative relationship with her sister Claire (Sian Clifford).

An engagement celebration brings this fractured family back together, more than a year since the siblings last saw each other. Olivia Colman as the bride-to-be is the likely choice for a Fleabag Emmy nomination as her recent Oscar win will be fresh in the minds of voters. It also helps that the wonderfully passive-aggressive Godmother is a scene-stealer, demanding attention and delivering laughs whenever she's on screen. Name recognition is key in the stacked Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category which will likely include last year’s winner Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), the SNL contingent (Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon), Anna Chlumsky for the final season of Veep, and Betty Gilpin for GLOW.

Given the competition, chances seem low that Clifford’s name will be read out next month, but her Fleabag performance should not be overlooked. Contrasting in every possible way, where Fleabag is candid, Claire is closed-off. She is an overachiever in both her work and personal life, failure is not an option. The first season ended with Claire choosing her awful husband Martin (Brett Gelman) over her sister, seemingly opting to believe his version of events that Fleabag made the moves on him. Instead of leaving him and moving to Finland for work she is doing the long commute while trying to get pregnant. However, as she lets her sister back in her life, she also starts to shed this rigid persona. Claire is still uptight and a control freak, but rather than only looking at her sister disapprovingly (or with envy), she becomes her guide in how to escape this marriage.

A bad asymmetric haircut that makes Claire look like a pencil (by her own admission) is the big turning point; however, the restaurant confrontation in the first episode is the beginning of the end for this doomed marriage. Much to Fleabag’s disgust, Claire and Martin are the picture of marital bliss as they talk healthy living and trying to get pregnant, but this cultivated image is far from reality. When Claire excuses herself to go to the bathroom, Fleabag goes to check on her, discovering that her heavy period is actually a miscarriage. Opening an old emotional wound, Claire pushes her sister away as she attempts to help, yelling "Get your hands off my miscarriage!" Followed by an anguished declaration, "It’s mine. It’s mine." On this occasion, Claire cannot bottle up her feelings as she has done during every other traumatic moment. Clifford’s delivery is a searing gut punch, which is balanced out when she returns to the dinner table as if nothing has happened.

Instead of letting Claire push her away, Fleabag takes her miscarriage, telling everyone it was her that just lost a baby. This is an entirely selfless act in an attempt to get her sister to go to the hospital. It is the first step in repairing theirfractured relationship and setting Claire free from her terrible marriage. She starts wearing "pretty funky trainers," flirting with co-workers, and actually turning to her sister for help. Her whole body seizes up as Chatty Joe asks where she is from, and she monologues that she doesn’t want to tell him before blurting out "Tooting" (the delivery of this line is Emmy-worthy in and of itself).

Sibling rivalry comes in many forms; it doesn’t matter that her office is huge, Claire will always feel like a failure in comparison to her quirky sister. "We’re not friends, we are sisters," Claire declares after she's laid out her insecurities. A source of contention, Claire finds it hard to let go when her sister seems to find it so easy. She is so tightly wound that a haircut prompts wailing down the phone as if someone has died — "hair is everything" — but in shedding her locks, Claire’s walls have fully crumbled.

Many words have been dedicated to the Hot Priest, jumpsuits, and breaking the fourth wall while discussing the excellent and certainly Emmy-worthy Fleabag. The chemistry between Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott is electric, there is no denying this. Nevertheless, the ultimate romantic-comedy statement comes courtesy of Claire in the series finale: "The only person I'd run through an airport for is you."  Emmy voters should make a similar big gesture with a nomination.

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Emma Fraser has wanted to write about TV since she first watched My So-Called Life in the mid-90s, finally getting her wish over a decade later. Follow her on Twitter at @frazbelina.