Television series

Sex/Life

Name: Sex/Life
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 2021
Cast: Sarah Shahi, Mike Vogel, Adam Demos, Margaret Odette, Cleo Anthony

Sex/Life is a Netflix drama about a suburban wife and mother who excavates her wild past and confronts the gap between who she was and who she's become. It's steamy, silly, and unafraid of its own contradictions—a show that treats female desire as both serious and fun. For anyone who's felt the pull of a life unlived.

TVMaze rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like glossy, sexually frank domestic drama where the comedy comes from characters being messy about their own desires, and a marriage under pressure feels like the real subject.

Skip it if you want slow, restrained prestige drama; this is loud, often sexual, happy to be trashy, and its wit can tip into soap.

What it asks of you: Fourteen fifty-minute episodes over two seasons, and it expects you to keep track of who wants whom and why.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Fleabag2016

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's masterpiece about a messy woman navigating sex, family, and identity with devastating humour and genuine emotional stakes. It's smart, filthy, and never condescends to its protagonist.

But The fourth-wall breaks and theatrical asides can feel mannered if you're not in the mood for self-aware comedy. It's also much tighter than Sex/Life—some find that exhausting rather than satisfying.

Daisy Jones & the Six2023

A 1970s music saga that captures the intoxication of ambition, fame, and desire. Like Sex/Life, it's about women claiming space and asking what they actually want, wrapped in glamorous excess and real consequence.

But The mockumentary format breaks rhythm; the plotting can feel soapy. If you want plot-driven TV that doesn't wink at itself, this isn't it.

You2018

A psychological thriller that's also fascinated by obsession, desire, and the gap between public personas and private lives. It's propulsive, nasty, and refuses easy judgement of its characters—much like Sex/Life's moral ambiguity.

But It's darker and more sinister; the premise itself is deeply uncomfortable. If you want something lighter or morally clearer, this will feel like too much.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Sex/Life

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Last Tango in Paris1972

Both are fascinated by the ways people use sex and reinvention to escape themselves, and both ask whether that escape is freedom or delusion. Both treat desire as a destabilising force, not entertainment.

Bertolucci's controversial masterpiece about two strangers who meet in an empty apartment and construct an erotic arrangement without names, histories, or rules. It's genuinely unsettling in ways modern TV isn't allowed to be—a genuine transgression, not a simulation of one.

But It contains real sexual content and real animal cruelty; the gender politics are genuinely ugly, not subversive. Marlon Brando is difficult to watch. It's a difficult film, full stop.

Bodyguard2018

A BBC limited series about attraction across power lines and the ways desire upends careful lives. It's taut, beautifully shot, and genuinely unpredictable. The chemistry between leads crackles.

But It's only six episodes and British in pace—slower builds, fewer payoffs. Some find it frustratingly restrained after American television.

The Affair2014

A five-season exploration of infidelity, marriage, and the unreliability of desire and memory. Each episode is told from different perspectives; what you see depends on who's remembering. Intellectually rigorous and emotionally raw.

But It's relentlessly bleak and often petty. The unreliable narration, while clever, can make it hard to invest. Some find it exhaustingly sad.

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler2019

A pulpy, stylish origin story that's part spy thriller, part character study. It has Sex/Life's willingness to be both camp and serious, with great production design and charismatic leads doing heavy lifting.

But It's Batman universe fan service that doesn't require fandom to enjoy, but rewards it. The tone wavers between gritty and theatrical in ways that don't always land.

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler poster

Killing Eve2018

A cat-and-mouse thriller centred on two women obsessed with each other across a moral abyss. It's darkly funny, visually inventive, and genuinely sexy in ways that go beyond the surface.

But The final season is widely disliked; the show's momentum depends entirely on the lead's charisma. If the performance doesn't click for you, nothing else will.

Married... with Children1987

The original sitcom about marital dissatisfaction and desire thwarted by suburban routine. It's crude and mean-spirited, but it's also the DNA of every show about restless spouses. Historically essential and genuinely funny.

But It's aggressively of its era—transphobic, sexist in ways that feel casual rather than satirical. The laugh track is relentless. It's a museum piece now, not a living show.

Chambers2019

A Netflix supernatural teen drama about identity, desire, and the fear that you might not be who you think you are. It's melodramatic, gorgeously shot, and takes its characters' confusion seriously.

But It was cancelled after one season. The supernatural elements feel underbaked. If you need closure or plot resolution, don't start it.

Permanent Midnight1998

Like Sex/Life, it's about a person looking back at a more exciting past and being unable to reconcile it with their present self. Both suggest that nostalgia and self-knowledge might be incompatible.

Ben Stiller plays a Hollywood writer spiralling into addiction and dissolution. It's a dark comedy about wanting more than your life can hold, and the ways desire and self-destruction become indistinguishable. Unsettling and genuinely funny in equal measure.

But It's from 1998 and looks it; the comedy is acidic rather than warm. Stiller's character is genuinely contemptible, not charismatic. It's not a satisfying movie—it's an excavation of dissatisfaction.

After the Wedding2019

Both examine the gap between the life you built and the life you wanted, and whether desire for your past self is a window or a trap. Both suggest the answer might be both.

Bart Freundlich's film about a woman who reconnects with an old lover and finds herself caught between gratitude and desire. It's quiet and intricate; it trusts the audience to understand what isn't said. Julianne Moore's performance is all suppressed longing.

But It's a chamber piece with no plot momentum. It moves by emotional revelation, not incident. If you need something to happen, this will feel glacial and thin.