Questions and Answers

Your description of The Magicians as dark and sexually violent resulted in my binging of the first season. Any other recommendations?

  • The Americans: Everything Phillip Jennings does to every female creature within a 20’ radius of him is a constant delight. The mindfuckery goes on for days. (Poor Martha.)
  • The Honorable Woman: A quiet, Britishy political thriller wrapped around a core of intense sexual violation and self-destructive coping mechanisms and Maggie Gyllenhal writhing on the floor in arousal while being beaten up.
  • Rome: It’s not on the same level with Deadwood or The Wire, but it’s still mid-2000s HBO, so there’s lots of sex, and that sex is usually rough or dismissive or being inflicted on a slave. Also, it’s about the Roman aristocracy, so everyone’s a fucking pervert.
  • UnReal: Shiri Appleby has aged into a fine little actress, and Constance Zimmer is a genius. And the show’s about the industrial-scale emotional manipulation of attention-starved young women. What else do you need to know?