Sex is a weird topic to address in conversation, let alone in a serial drama. But what it actually functions as, in the show as well as in real life concerns (or so I’ve learned from Dan Savage’s essential podcast), is a way of addressing some of the most intimate parts of our private life. That is to say, it’s another way of talking about relationships at their most basic and instinctive levels.
My point is that the show’s pitch amounts to “Come for the sex; stay for what the sex reveals about all these characters, about 1950s culture, about politics, about power, and about all the things in life that don’t get talked about.” It’s about researchers trying to understand human sexuality with far greater breadth and depth than anyone has dared examine it before, and about the obstacles they encounter along the way. Many of these are institutional, but they’re also personal, domestic obstacles that are almost mundane. Their professional relationship begins strained, and their complementary skills take a while to work in tandem.
Beyond just the study, which serves as the through line of the series, we have wonderful supporting characters enduring their own struggles that come largely as a result of prescribed gender and sexual roles. These include a closeted provost, a couple of horny male doctors, and a wife who feels that being a mother is the only way she’ll ever feel whole. It’s rather remarkable just how much ground this series covers in such a short span.
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