Valentine’s Day – As the third episode of The Flatshare begins, Tiffany (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Leon (Anthony Welsh) quickly cover up after catching each other naked. Later, Tiffany texts Maia (Shaniqua Okwok) telling her that something happened and she needs help. Leon tells Al about the encounter at work. He admits it was a bit of a shock so he got excited. Al believes Leon likes her even if they didn’t talk much. Leon thinks it is bad because he has a girlfriend. Leon goes on to say he needs to do something big for Kay for Valentine’s Day. Tiffany goes to work and tells Rachel (Gina Bramhill) about the encounter. Rachel wants to know about the erection since she is a gold star lesbian and has never slept with a man. Gillian visits Leon at the flat and explains that she is from Parker and Sons which works with his landlord.

There has been a report of a multiple occupancy and she needs to check it out. He quickly tries to cover up any evidence of Tiffany living there. Tiffany admits to Rachel that she hasn’t told Leon about the article yet. While Rachel looks over the article, Tiffany listens to a voice message from Justin who says it was great to see her the other night. Rachel invites her to her place on Valentine’s Day since Em calls it a capitalist construct. Tiffany agrees to think about it. Gillian finds the damaged wall and reminds Leon that it is against the tenancy agreements. He promises to paint it. When he asks who reported the tenancy problem, Gillian won’t give his name. This convinces Leon that Justin was responsible. Phil tells Tiffany that he is waiting for the article. Once Rachel finishes reading it, she admits it is good, but it needs more of a hook.

Tiffany goes home and finds notes about them being reported and that they need to follow the rules to make the flatshare work. She learns that they’ll need to paint the wall before sitting down to work on the article. Tiffany keeps getting distracted thinking about Leon. She calls Mo (Jonah Hauer-King) to ask for advice. Mo insists she isn’t mentally ill although she might fancy her flatmate. Tiffany denies that before admitting she still hasn’t told him about the article. Mo encourages her to tell him. After the call, Maia says she might fancy her flatmate. Tiffany sends the final draft to Phil so he can look it over. Tiffany tries to leave Leon a message to tell him about the article. She ends up ripping up several notes that mention his penis.

She asks him to meet for coffee since she has something to tell him. Tiffany also promises to buy paint. Leon finds the ripped messages and tries to piece them back together. Kay (Klariza Clayton) comes in looking for concealer because she has a very bad spot. Leon reveals he has booked them a surprise for Valentine’s Day. Later, Tiffany buys the paint and promises not to break the rules again. Leon helps her paint the wall at different times. After they visit painting the wall, Tiffany suggests meeting for hot drinks because there is something she wants to talk to him about. Phil (Dustin Demri-Burns) tells Rachel about his problems and admits he wants to pull Tiffany’s article forward. The only problem is that he doesn’t have time to edit it. Rachel says she can work on it tonight and have it back to him by tomorrow.

Tania (Nathalie Armin) finds Leon creating a Valentine’s Day card at work. Tiffany meets with Mo and Maia to talk to them about not telling Leon yet. She admits mean Rachel hasn’t been mean and instead has been helpful recently. Maia agrees to read it tonight too. Holly is thrilled with the card Leon made for her. Mr. Prior (David Hargreaves) isn’t happy and admits he hasn’t gotten letters in many years. Holly tries to learn more about Johnny White before asking if Mr. Prior is gay. Once he says he is, Holly says she doesn’t know what she is yet. Mr. Prior offers to show her the letter that he always keeps in his pocket. He gets emotional as Holly begins reading Johnny’s last letter. Once Holly goes back to her room, she tells Leon they should try to find Johnny White even though Leon isn’t sure that will be possible. Tiffany gets a note from Leon confirming he wants to meet with her too because he has something to say.

Tiffany has a dream about Leon and immediately suspects she fancies her flatmate. Leon goes to the café to meet with her but stops when Kay sends him a link to the article which has been changed to make it more about their flatshare. He gets mad and leaves in a hurry without speaking to Tiffany. She finds a note from Leon who now doesn’t think the flatshare is going to work. She looks up the article and realizes it has been changed. She tries to get in touch with Richie. Leon complains about it to Kay. He has told her to move out since he doesn’t need her money anyway. Kay wants to know where he was when he read the article. He tells her that he was in town buying her a present. She gets upset when she learns that he was meeting Tiffany too. Tiffany goes to Rachel’s place where she tells Rachel and Em what was changed in the article.

She admits that she should’ve told Leon earlier before talking about Justin. Leon tells Kay when he was going to meet Tiffany. He learns that they’ve met before. Leon worries that the article will ruin everything Richie has going, but Kay doesn’t think he has much going on anyway. When questioned, she eventually admits that Leon is the one know who doesn’t think he is guilty or a criminal. He decides to leave after telling Kay that their relationship isn’t working anymore. Rachel finally admits that she was responsible for editing Tiffany’s article. Tiffany accuses her of exploiting someone’s real-life tragedy to impress her boss although Rachel denies it. Tiffany tells her that some things are more important than traffic. As she leaves, she tries to call Maia who doesn’t answer. Maia returns home and learns that Mo went to a lot of effort to prepare dinner for Valentine’s Day.

She begins making out with him. Tiffany calls Justin to admit she can’t bear being without him. She goes home to leave several notes apologizing for what happened. When Justin calls, Tiffany asks if he ever loved her. He asks her to open the door. He is glad to learn she is moving out because it is unhealthy. They begin talking about their relationships. Justin explains that no one is like Tiffany. Justin says he doesn’t want to hurt her, but Tiffany doesn’t think he will anyway. She goes on to say she is choosing this. Maia gets a message from Tiff saying she did something stupid and it’s about Justin. Maia complains about the racist people on her dating app so Mo questions why she is still on it. After having sex, Tiffany tries to find out how Justin knew where she lived. Leon finally visits his mother. Justin places his boxers near the shoes.

He deletes the massage from Maia to Tiffany to make it look like she hasn’t been responding.

 

The Flatshare Review

Despite having some issues, The Flatshare isn’t terrible. Some of the side stories are more interesting than the main story, especially Holly and Mr. Prior. Through three episodes, the story has pretty predictable and there really isn’t anything groundbreaking here besides the post-it notes. The performances are good even though some of the character behaviors are absurd.

The Flatshare is probably going to be a much bigger hit among liberal-minded viewers because those talking points are visible at every turn. The show is just okay, but it probably could’ve been cut down to four episodes at this point. After all, the viewer already knows what is going to happen at the end of the season.

Personally, I am more interested in seeing what happens to Richie, Holly, and Mr. Prior. The relationship drama is typical although I’ve enjoyed the post-it note conversations. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Flatshare can be found on Reel Mockery here. Have you found our website beneficial? Consider supporting our work so we can reduce our dependency on ads. Find out how to do so here.