S*x/Life
An erotic drama addressing some discomforting real world concerns of women, that are often overlooked.
Taboo, for most of the world, the s*xual desires of a 30 something mother with a ken doll career-oriented husband who time and again forgets to give her the love and attention she rightfully deserves. S*x/Life is a modern take on an age-old choice that women have had to make.
A 21st-century woman, on the other hand, wants to have it all. A woman no longer needs a man for financial and social security. In the primitive world, a woman’s only duty was to fulfill the needs of her husband. But in today’s day and age, a relationship takes a lot more than being a breadwinner. Men and women struggle equally to keep the relationship happy and healthy.
But that’s not why this show is so infamously popular! With some steamy hot scenes through 8 episodes of constant melodrama, to keep the viewers engaged. S*x/Life was trending at the Top 10 on Netflix and stayed there for a while and how.
An adaptation of B.B. Easton’s autobiographical novel “44 Chapters About 4 Men”. The series revolves around the life of Billie Connelly (Sarah Shahi) and runs in alternate timelines as she has flashbacks of her busy life in New York. Before she married Cooper Connelly (Mike Vogel) she was studying for a Ph.D. in Psychology with her best friend Sasha Snow (Margaret Odette). With whom she partied the nights before deadlines and treated boys as stressbusters from their bustling lives.
It was until she met the dreamy bad boy record producer, Brad Simon (Adam Demos), and like most other women, made it her life’s goal to fix him. It’s like intelligent women attract troubled men like magnets. Brad showed more red flags than one can count, and Billie still stayed for love until one day he threw her out of his house, literally. It is in this vulnerable phase of her life that she meets Cooper, the textbook definition of a well-raised gentleman. Not only did he come from a good place, but he also always dreamed of starting a family one day.
Cooper is everything that Brad is not. Billie looking for her perfect love story, dives headfirst into a marriage and a huge house as far away from New York as Connecticut and begins to cherish the family life she always longed for.
It isn’t until the birth of her second child that she realizes her unfulfilled s*xual desires and starts fantasizing about her, nothing less than a porn star ex-boyfriend Brad. And that’s not it, she starts journaling about him and her husband happens to read it. That’s where the first episode gets gripping and the viewers are left wondering what next?
Even the nicest of men display toxic traits of masculinity at times. His ego is hurt and he obviously loses his mind, but much to her surprise later that night he uses what she wrote as a manual to pleasure her.
Though when the night is over, she finds herself thinking about Brad again. Her mediocre housewife life was absolutely all she wanted. But the abstinence in her married life with two kids starts to suffocate her.
To summarize it the series is feminist, erotic, and dramatic. It’s an apt weekend binge if you’re looking for a food for thought kind of watch. Most men may not appreciate it enough, as it mainly focuses on the needs of women. However, two of the main characters of the show are portrayed astoundingly well by men.
The series is slow-paced in bits and can be a bit much to sit through at times. But Season 1 was a build-up to Season 2, and the creator, Stacy Rukeyser confirms the next season is on its way soon.
External Links: IMDB
Disclaimer: The above review solely illustrates the views of the writer.