Episode Guide
Episode 1 – | Review Score – 2/5 Episode 2 – | Review Score – 2/5 Episode 3 – | Review Score – 1.5/5 Episode 4 – | Review Score – 1.5/5 Episode 5 – | Review Score – 1.5/5 Episode 6 – | Review Score – 2/5 Episode 7 – | Review Score – 1.5/5 Episode 8 – | Review Score – 1/5 Imagine the scene. You’ve just won £100,000. You’ve got a great house, two kids and everything you could possibly ask for. Life’s great right? Now imagine if someone came along and offered a 50/50 gamble on that life, with the possibility of losing everything but the added bonus of a little more excitement. This is basically the premise for Netflix’s new show Sex/Life; 2021’s worst TV show. Now, just to preface this series isn’t the worst for its acting or editing. Where the show slips up is with its premise and story which are both tonally confusing and incredibly damaging for men and women everywhere. Now, before we dive into that let’s at least look at the positives. Sex/Life has a great soundtrack and the cast at the helm of this do a great job complementing that during the show’s numerous steamy sex scenes. There’s plenty of that too, with the scenes gorgeously shot in neon lights or warm, inviting colours. This is undeniably a pretty show and Sex/Life knows this, doing everything it can to show off the talented crew behind the scenes. All of this accounts for nothing though when you look at the story. At the center off this is Billie, a middle-aged woman who’s very clearly going through a midlife crisis. She has two kids, Hudson and Ellary, and a loving husband in Cooper. He does everything he can to make the marriage work, although he’s less passionate than he was before on account of his busy job. Well, Billie’s not happy with that. Longing for passion and steamy sex, Billie finds herself obsessing about her bad boy ex Brad from 8 years prior. He’s a serial cheater, a pretty insensitive guy at times but he does have a giant…heart. This shallow no-contest is then dragged out across the season, managing to actually bring things together nicely by the end… only to topple this house of cards in the most spectacular own goal of the year. The whole show plays up Billie’s choice like it’s incredibly difficult to make, peppering in flashbacks that only reinforce that she’s longing for lust not love from Brad. It also doesn’t help that the kids are left as uncomfortable casualties in the midst of all this drama. There’s one scene late on where the couple attend Hudson’s school for an event but end up airing their dirty laundry in front of everyone. It’s embarrassing, uncomfortable to watch and hard not to feel bad for the kids who deserve better. The contrived drama obviously comes thick and fast, with Cooper and Billie both given opportunities to cheat across the episodes, some more contrived than others. Instead of watching with interest though, you’ll likely be rage-watching to see if either of them break their marriage vows and destroy this happy family. It’s hard not to talk about the ending here but suffice to say, the message this gives out to men and women everywhere is nothing short of disgusting. It’s a vile, insipid final scene that distorts what should be a shocking and unsettling moment into some sort of empowering feminine symbol – especially if the choice of song is anything to go by. Sex/Life is not worth wasting your time with. If you’re in this for the sex scenes, just make love to your partner or watch porn instead. If you’re in it for the storyline, you won’t find anything worth watching here. Character development? No chance. But hey, at least the scenes are shot well and the actors do a good job. That’s got to account for at least a few points right?
