The new Netflix series "Sex/Life," which is about monogamy and marital discontent, aims to answer several important issues. By the time it was all said and done, it had satisfactorily demonstrated only one point for the audience: producing entertaining garbage requires effort.
"Sex/Life," written by Stacy Rukeyser and based on BB Easton's book "44 Chapters About 4 Men," is initially structured around Billie Connelly's journal. (Sarah Shahi). Billie, a suburban mother and wife with a psychology degree, is content with her life and her spouse. (Mike Vogel). She writes extensively about him in her journal, but she can't help but think back on her experiences with a former lover (Adam Demos), a presence from her past who intrudes on her present. When her spouse discovers those writings, Billie sets out on a self-discovery journey that puts the stability of her life and family in jeopardy.
The raw materials are all here for great work, great entertainment, or both; discussions about what it means to dedicate one's life to another have only become more popular in the everything-on-demand internet era. Therefore, it is difficult to describe why "Sex/Life" feels so uncomfortably schlocky. One might be in the performances: One hardly thinks Billie and her husband Cooper have any meaningful history together, which removes a certain weight from the question of their future together. Should they continue to be wed? We don't comprehend their initial desire to get wedded to one another.
The only area in which the show challenges its actors to grow is their willingness to appear nude on video. Even the most conservative viewer may wonder if "Sex/Life" is asking too much of its actors in this respect since it doesn't provide them with other opportunities to act in real-life situations. Endless shots of naked characters in intimate settings, ranging from one-on-one meetings to an unsettlingly raw group sex party, are this series' primary means of information transmission, but there isn't enough to this show's mind to justify pushing them quite so far. It's as though provocation is equivalent to having something to say.
After watching "Sex/Life," I felt bad for the performers who had to perform in a show without a plot. (Of the four leads, Margaret Odette, who portrays Billie's best friend, has the easiest time.) Billie's worries seem hazily expressed, but losing oneself as a parent is unquestionably a real occurrence. However, in order to portray Billie's neighbours and convey her dissatisfaction, "Sex/Life" turns to the broadest kinds of Stepford clichés, indicating that the authors are unfamiliar with the subject matter. A show that isn't equipped to delve deeper into character simply presents Billie with more situations in order to make her tale resonate.Veteran actor Shahi doesn't play much; instead, he reacts to situations that become more absurd and detached from the realism that the first few episodes had established.
What's most offensive is that Netflix has lately found success in this area. With the similarly exuberantly punctuated title "What/If," Netflix tried to create an erotic thriller in the manner of the '90s two years ago. The plot of "Indecent Proposal" was expressly appropriated by the self-awarely ridiculous limited series in order to explore issues of fidelity in relationships and power dynamics. Although that investigation was unsuccessful, "Sex/Life," which was anchored by Renée Zellweger's large, meaty, and joyously bizarre performance, was still a triumph on its own terms.
"Sex/Life" doesn't succeed because it gets bogged down in its own failure to communicate its thoughts and fails to experience any joy along the way. It's unusually removed from anything recognisable as human for a show about primal impulses, and surprisingly sour and cruel for a look at what it means to aimlessly pursue happiness. Give credit where credit is due: the authors understood exactly what they were doing when they used a slash to divide the title's two words. As if to make up for the lack of any of the latter in the script or acting, "Sex/Life" has a lot of the former.
On Friday, June 25, "Sex/Life" will make its Netflix debut.
