‘Sex/Life’ season 2 review: Sarah Shahi is back with Netflix’s guiltiest pleasure

A still from ‘Sex/ Life’

Oh well, the second season of Stacy Rukeyser’s Sex/Life offers everything it did in season one, from the awful writing (“what a small town this city is”), hot pink frames and beautiful clothes, to full frontal male nudity with that suspected prosthetic thrown in for good measure. And it is bingeable; who does not want to watch gorgeous humans get hot and heavy with each other?

Remember the cliffhanger season one ended with? Suburban wife and mother of two, Billie (Sarah Shahi) landed up at well-endowed ex-boyfriend, Brad’s (Adam Demos) loft with an offer he could not refuse. Only he did; Brad is having a baby with his new girlfriend, a glamazon with a posh British accent going by the name of Gigi (Wallis Day).

Billie (her full name is Wilhelmina and improbably reminds me of Bill from Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers) is separated from her investment banker husband, Cooper, (Mike Vogel). Billie has moved out of the family home in Connecticut to a stunning apartment in New York and into the arms of hotelier, Majid (Darius Homayoun).

Cooper, (Mike Vogel) in the meantime is spiralling out of control. Leaping from his boss, Francesca’s (Li Jun Li) bed into Trina’s (Amber Goldfarb) arms. That Trina is Cooper’s best friend, Devon’s (Jonathan Sadowski) wife does nothing to dampen his libido. There is also an Uber driver Cooper beds just to prove his democratic credentials. Spencer, (Dylan Bruce) Cooper’s older brother, is understandably unhappy with his sibling’s life trajectory.

Billie’s best friend, Sasha, (Margaret Odette) is a successful writer and with the help of super agent Mick (Craig Bierko) is looking to conquer social media. However, she is also at a crossroads having to choose between the successful single life and love in the form of the good Doctor Kam (Cleo Anthony). Does she want gazillion likes, shares and retweets or someone to share the view on top of Mount Kilimanjaro is her big question.  

Based on BB Easton’s 44 Chapters About 4 Men, Sex/Life delivers on its promise even slipping some unintentionally thought-provoking chestnuts between all the lip service it pays to women’s rights and the feminine principle. Majid’s restaurant is called Khaju — is it named for kaju as in cashew nut or the lovely Khaju Bridge in Isfahan, Iran? Construction of the bridge was completed in 1650 and historians have waxed eloquent on its beauty, calling it “the culminating monument of Persian bridge architecture”.

When Mick talks of Jesus starting with “13 followers” you are left wondering if he included Mary Magdalene to the 12 or replaced Judas Iscariot with Saint Matthias or that he just does not know any better.

Season two ends with all loose ends neatly tied up; three weddings, a doctorate and no funerals. Logically, there should not be another season of heavy breathing and locker-room displays of dodgy prosthetics. If the powers-that-be however, feel they could squeeze out another bunch of bedroom antics from Billie and gang, ours is not to question why.

Sex/Life is currently streaming on Netflix