Television series
El Juego de las Llaves
A Mexican comedy-drama about four longtime couples in Mexico City who decide to swap partners—and immediately regret it. Sharp, embarrassing, and genuinely interested in what monogamy and desire actually cost. For anyone who's watched a relationship implode over something smaller and wondered what might've happened if they'd just talked first.
If you liked this
Fleabag2016
A woman narrates her way through romantic and sexual chaos with the same blend of mortification, wit, and genuine longing. Season two especially understands desire as something that doesn't care about your plans.
But The humour is relentless and very English; if you need your drama to stay dramatic, this will feel like being poked in the ribs.
Modern Family2009
Three different marriages shown in real time: the young couple, the middle-aged reinvention, the long-term partnership. It's lighter than Keys, but it's asking the same question about what keeps people together.
But Eleven seasons is a commitment, and the early seasons are mucking about with documentary format that can feel gimmicky now.
Ozark2017
A marriage under impossible pressure. Wendy and Marty have to decide what they actually want from each other when everything else is on fire. The relationship is the engine, not the subplot.
But It's bleak and violent in ways that have nothing to do with infidelity. If you want levity, you won't find it here.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from El Juego de las Llaves
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Y Tu Mamá También2001
Both understand that infidelity or sexual transgression isn't really about sex—it's about the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we deserve.
Two boys and a woman take a road trip to a beach. It's a film about desire, class, sexuality and friendship that moves like a comedy but lands like a knife. Mexican cinema understanding Mexican desire: nothing imported about it.
But Explicit sex scenes and a moral reckoning at the end that doesn't forgive anyone. It's not what you think it is by the halfway point.
More like this (7)
Love2016
Judd Apatow's series about a couple meeting, falling in, and navigating actual sex and resentment. It's messy and unglamorous and genuinely funny about desire as something you have to keep choosing.
But Some episodes drag, and there are moments of cringe that feel unearned rather than purposeful.
The Affair2014
Four people, multiple perspectives on the same events, and nobody's story is the true one. It's about how desire rewrites everything you thought was settled, including your own memory.
But By season three it's more melodrama than insight, and the narrative structure becomes exhausting rather than illuminating.
Catastrophe2015
Two people who barely know each other have a baby and have to build a marriage in real time. It's funny about monogamy and commitment in ways that feel earned because the stakes are actual.
But British-Irish humour and a lot of swearing; the emotional gut-punches can feel manipulative if you're not already on board.
Godless2017
A three-part miniseries about a town run by women and the men who arrive to upset the balance. It's thoughtful about desire and power in a way that sneaks up on you between the gunfights.
But It's a Western, so if you've decided Westerns aren't for you, nothing here will change your mind.
The Summer I Turned Pretty2022
A love triangle, but it's actually about a young woman figuring out what she wants versus what's expected. The show is honest about desire being complicated before it even gets to heartbreak.
But It's aimed at a younger audience, and if you're past a certain age it can feel slight, even when it's being sincere.
Killing Eve2018
An obsessive relationship that's sexual without ever being romantic. It understands desire as something that can exist outside traditional structures, and it's darkly funny about what we want from other people.
But The first two seasons are brilliant; after that it drifts and becomes more interested in plot than in the central dynamic that made it work.
Weekend2011
Same emotional DNA as Keys: the understanding that what we want sexually and what we can actually have are almost never the same thing, and the grief of that gap.
Forty-eight hours between two men who meet by chance. It's a chamber piece about connection, desire, and the impossibility of keeping anything you want. Achingly tender and completely unsentimental.
But It's a quiet British film with no plot to speak of, just two people talking. If you need incident, you'll be frustrated.
People
Cast
Writing
- Marisa QuirogaCreator