There isn’t a shortage of shows about unsatisfied women looking for release or becoming nostalgic for past, more passionate, relationships. While this show doesn’t exactly succeed at maintaining good pacing, it actually manages to address some topics in a more honest manner than the heavy dramas you usually see on Lifetime. Also, for those of you who are interested in such things, the male lead shows it all and makes a lot of men very insecure in the process. It’s like watching another Hemsworth brother appear. Not only is he ripped with an Australian accent, but apparently he’s got an actual Mjolnir in his pants (unlike Marky Mark).
The unsatisfied housewife in this series is Billie Connelly (Sarah Shahi), a former PhD candidate and mother of two who has been feeling less than satisfied with her husband Cooper (Mike Vogel). Naturally, she feels conflicted because Cooper is great in almost every way except that he isn’t interested in the kind of sex that she wants. She is willing to work on things with him, he often seems unwilling. She starts to keep a journal about her past sexual exploits with her ex-boyfriend Brad (Shahi’s real-life boyfriend Adam Demos), which Cooper finds and tries to use as a guide to satisfying his wife. Unfortunately, it turns out that jealousy can only motivate you so far and he doesn’t quite hold up. At the same time, Billie finds out that Brad is now sleeping with her best friend Sasha (Margaret Odette) and thus starts working his way back into her life.
To its credit, this show does a handful of things very well. First, it is one of the only shows where a woman is depicted receiving digital and oral sex more than she gives it. Given that we recently discovered that Batman couldn’t even be depicted giving Catwoman head on Harley Quinn (an adult comedy cartoon), there has been a discussion about how much more accepting society is of fellatio than cunnilingus and this show does appear to be ahead of that particular curve. Second, it does address the awkwardness of trying to have a sex life with small children in a serious way. In almost every show that depicts new parents trying to rekindle, it’s played for laughs, but here it’s depicted as something that is genuinely causing strain on the marriage. Third, it seriously addresses a lot of problems with parenting that come from other adults being judgmental, but, again, doesn’t overplay it comically. There are just moments when people assume that Billie has nothing to do in her life because she has a baby. Even though she’s not working at the time, it’s still ridiculous that nobody considers that she might also have a life. Last, it has a lot of solid sex scenes. A lot of the show is focused around it, so at least it’s good that the erotic parts are shot well.
Unfortunately, the rest of the show doesn’t really work so well. The show is so focused on its exploitation that it often overlooks much of the life part. It stays pretty low-key, particularly after the first two episodes and the will they/won’t they aspect of her potential affair starts to grow into an “I don’t care if they do and, honestly, I’m not sure I want them to” as it becomes more apparent why Brad is the EX. The structure of the show, with frequent flashbacks that often come out of nowhere, ends up throwing us off more than it drags us deeper. The characters aren’t developed well and often keep retreading the exact same emotional ground over and over until they’ve formed a pit. I give Shahi credit for at least trying to sell most of the miserable narration, but you can only save so much bad writing. It’s telling that about three-fourths of the articles about this show focus on Adam Demos’ full frontal rather than the acting or writing.
Overall, if you’re interested in sex, this is for you. If you’re looking for life, try something else.
If you want to check out some more by the Joker on the Sofa, check out the 100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time, Collection of TV Episodes, Collection of Movie Reviews, or the Joker on the Sofa Reviews.
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