Sex/Life Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Recap – A Steamy Start to The Series

By Daniel Hart
Published: June 25, 2021 (Last updated: 2 days ago)
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Sex/Life Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Recap
Sex/Life Season 1 (Credit - Netflix)
3.5

Summary

With no surprises whatsoever, Sex/Life gets off to a steamy start, highlighting a character that feels sexually starved.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 1 opens up with Billie (played by Sarah Shahi) talking about how she felt free, with a world full of possibilities, especially with Brad (played by Adam Demos). The scene flits to Billie and Brad having sex in the club bathroom. And then, it moves to the present-day, and Billie wakes up — she has a baby next to her. Her young boy Hudson walks and insists she gets up — her life is completely different from her clubbing days.

Her husband Cooper (played by Mike Vogel) returns home. Billie narrates that her husband is perfect inside/out, but she wonders what the problem is; when she tries to engage with him sexually in the bathroom, he does not see the approach. Billie then narrates how many sexual positions she’s been in, with the episode showing Billie in various sex scenes.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 1 Recap

“My all-time favorite person” 

From the beginning of episode 1, you can sense a void in Billie’s life, the kind of void that is difficult to handle in a serious relationship.

Billie narrates that she decided to marry a super squeaky clean man because all her previous men had hurt her. Episode 1 flashes back to the beginnings of their relationship, with Cooper showing Billie showing her a house — she felt like he had been waiting for her. He clearly did everything right, and Billie calls him her “all-time favorite person.” Billie ends the narration with, “I also want him to f**k my brains out. Is that too much to ask?”

Sex during the game 

Lacking attention and sexual satisfaction, episode 1 brings an awkward sex scene between an exhausted couple.

In the present day, Billie entices sex again, and this time it works. However, Cooper is not focusing on her — he’s busy looking at the NFL game in front of him. Billie climaxes early (definitely on purpose) to watch the game and fingers Billie instead. She notices he is watching the game, so she asks him to grab the vibrator. And then, painfully, the vibrator batteries run out of juice, and their baby wakes up screaming. Cooper watches the game, Billie tends to their baby, and narrates again, stating it didn’t use to be like this, and now she’s starved, wanting Cooper to feel “something.” She breaks down when her son Hudson walks into her room and tells her she is beautiful.

Billie wants to feel different 

Late in the night, Billie rings Sasha (played by Margaret Odette) and tells her that she feels different and not herself. She thought she’d love her time with the kids, and she admits she has been thinking a lot about “him,” referencing Brad. Sasha tells her that Cooper is perfect and she needs to appreciate what she has. But Billie says it’s not about Brad, but that she used to be different. She wants to feel magic again. Sasha highlights that Brad is unsustainable, and Cooper will go the distance.

This is ironic advice, considering how this chapter ends.

The wild nights with Sasha

Episode 1 brings the viewers down memory lane, making us understand why Billie feels so starved and craves a man like Brad.

Billie has started journaling her feelings and how she craves that “feeling” again. Episode 1 flashes back to Billie going out with Sasha. They had the wildest nights. Sasha pulls the singer Kossi on stage and gives him a b*****b backstage — Billie catches her, and she leaves her to it. On the way home, Billie is harassed by a homeless man, but Brad intervenes and gives the man money. He offers her a ride home, and Billie is surprised he has found parking in the city. Brad explains that he owns a record company, so he was at the club to look after Kossi.

Brad’s penthouse

Billie tries to figure out Brad’s upbringing, which seems to silence him until he offers her a drink at his place — a fancy expensive penthouse. He shows her the amazing balcony, and Billie is overwhelmed by how her night has turned out. It doesn’t take long for them to kiss. She narrates that she started to believe this could be her life and that she trusted Brad. Billie strips on the balcony before entering the pool, and he joins her; they were intense very quickly, and Billie enjoyed that she was the only person that understood who he was — she misses him.

Cooper finds the journal on the laptop

It then flits to the present, and the drama does not take long to arrive in this Netflix series.

Cooper finds the journal on Billie’s laptop — he grabs her by the face and says, “who the f**k are you” and then passionately kisses her and starts ripping off her clothes — they have sex on the kitchen counter, but then Brad stops briefly, and she tells him to keep going. Afterwards, Billie sees a red mark on her face caused by Cooper. Billie rings Olga and asks if she can babysit the kids for her — she’s feeling emotional and on the verge of a panic attack.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 1 Ending Explained

Billie goes to Sasha’s apartment and tells her she needs a drink. She takes a shot of alcohol and explains that she feels like she can’t breathe. To her surprise, Brad is in Sasha’s apartment, and Sasha tries to calm the situation, but Billie is in complete shock and heads back out.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 2 Recap

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 2 (Credit – Netflix)

Episode 2 opens with a flashback scene of Billie having sex with Brad in the penthouse pool. It then flits to the present day, and a woman tells Billie that she’s wet — she’s experiencing nipple discharge, so she heads to the bathroom. Sasha finds her in the bathroom and tries to explain that it is not serious with Brad. She claims they are friends with benefits; she makes a good point that she thought Billie had a happy life and that it was 8 years ago when she was with Brad.

Billie raises how she feels she has messed up because Cooper has found her journal that details the intense sex that she had with Brad, which led her husband to have angry, violent sex with her — she calls it the best he’s given to her for a long time, but she feels Cooper is angry. The women hug it out, putting the drama behind them.

How Billie and Cooper met

Putting something in a box is okay, but only if you’ve dealt with it; episode 2 proves that Billie never dealt with her feelings for Brad.

In a flashback, Sasha wants to take a downbeat Billie out; she wants to avoid Brad. This was when she met Cooper, who asks Billie for directions on campus. She senses that Cooper is playing the game and does not need directions. Billie joins a seminar hosted by Cooper, who gives a speech about his career — she’s impressed by him.

They both go out for a drink afterward. Cooper talks about wanting to go to Connecticut and settling down — Billie is surprised by how perfect Cooper is. Cooper bumps into his ex at the bar, and he asks Billie if she’s friends with her exes; a brief flashback shows Billie sobbing over Brad. Billie wanted this to be when she put Brad in a box, which was quite clearly a mistake.

Cooper wants to reignite his sex life with Billie

Episode 2 starts to suggest that the journal has its benefits for Billie’s marriage…

In the present day, when Cooper returns home, he kisses Billie, which takes her by surprise. He’s bought her a dress and tells her he’s taking her out “just like the old days.” While breast pumping milk, Billie puts on her new dress, and she starts to recognize herself again.

In a flashback, Brad found Billie delivering a seminar and sat down to watch — she had obviously grabbed his attention. Brad is surprised that Billie left his apartment, as that is not what usually happens. They remind each other what happened last night, and Billie raises how she doesn’t trust him and has no reason to. She tells him they should stop, but Brad says he does not want to — he raises how Billie saw right through him and that no one else does. Billie is overawed by his words, and she gives in. In the present day, this memory runs through Billie’s mind.

“Love bubble rush”

On the way out, Billie asks Cooper if he wants to talk about their morning with the journal, but he doesn’t want the night to be about that. At the bar, she is reminded of the “love bubble rush,” which is hard to forget. In a flashback, Brad takes Billie to a tube station and asks her to join him down the tunnel; she reluctantly joins him.

A train comes, so Brad grabs Billie and takes her to a gap where it is safe — it’s a thrill for them both, and Billie liked it, which leads to an intense hook-up. In the present day, Billie snaps out of it and asks Cooper if they can leave and get dinner. However, the band comes on, and Cooper tells Billie they are going to dance.

At this point, Billie knows that her past with Brad is strongly impacting the way she thinks and feels.

“Bad boy s**t”

On the way home, Cooper takes a detour and takes Billie to a mansion that they should not be entering the grounds of; Billie likes this “bad boy s**t” as Cooper takes her near the pool. Billie realizes the journal helped as Cooper strips her. They both get into the pool, and Cooper reminds her how much he loves her, and she reciprocates.

Billie narrates that the journal was an instruction manual as Cooper goes down on her. The owner of the mansion finds them, so they leg it away. Cooper raises how the owner is a client, and he was supposed to be in Singapore. Suddenly, the police chase them, and Cooper speeds off.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 2 Ending Explained

The couple returns home giddy and excited. Cooper tells Billie that he will wait for her in the bed. Billie rings Sasha and gives her friend an update; she’s super excited that the journal has turned things around. Sasha tells Billie that she’s found “the holy grail of behaviour modification techniques.”

Meanwhile, as Cooper prepares for bed, he eyes up Billie’s laptop, and the visual descriptions of what his wife did with Brad runs through his mind, and he throws up in the toilet; he’s clearly not okay with it, meaning plenty of problems are coming their way.

And then, another problem; Brad calls Billie out of the blue and tells her he has wanted to call her for a long time. He explains how he has tried to get over her for 8 years. He states if she doesn’t think of him, he’ll never call again. Billie hesitates before saying, “I don’t,” and she puts the phone down. As she prepares for bed, her iPhone pops up with a message from Brad calling her a liar. She snuggles up to her husband, but she only has one thing on her mind — Brad. “S**t.”

Episode 2 delves further into Billie’s desire and explores the effort required to save a stale marriage.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 3 Recap

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 3 (Credit – Netflix)

Episode 3 opens with a flashback scene of Billie and Brad having sex in a car — it’s clear there is untapped passion between them. Billie doesn’t care that people can see her in the car window, she continues anyway — she narrates how it is hard to replicate that feeling. In the present day, Cooper is masturbating to Billie’s journal (it’s not making him throw up anymore). Upstairs, Billie is considering whether to delete her message from Brad.

And we delve further into Billie’s mindset in episode 3; she doesn’t feel like the same woman — she feels like a shadow of herself, which is quite a depressing thought.

Bille joins Cooper in the shower and tries to initiate sex to continue what happened the night before, but her husband brings the usual excuses.

When Cooper leaves the house, Billie admits to herself that Brad is right, she is a liar. She then recalls when she started her journal and described the pains of early motherhood, but how when the children get older, it gets easier — Billie wondered where her other self went. To make matters worse, Billie looks at old video footage of her and Brad.

Billie helps Hudson with the transition to school

But it is back to motherhood quickly for Billie as she snaps back to reality.

Billie then realizes she can’t see Hudson. He was hiding as he doesn’t want to go to school. Billie takes him in and tries to reassure him with the preschool transition. The teacher tells Billie to stay at school the whole day to help Hudson adjust and references how she isn’t working now. You can see it on Billie’s face — this is not the life she wants.

This brings a flashback with Billie and Brad heading to a fancy hotel to meet Brad’s mother. Brad tells Billie to relax in the elevator and gives her 19 floors to orgasm. And they manage it with Brad licking his fingers as the elevator doors open.

Is Brad’s (Adam Demos) p***s real?

We can’t blame Cooper for being equally obsessed with Brad; after all, his wife is desperate to relive the times she had with her ex…

At work, Cooper researches Brad on his laptop and sees him on the cover of Rolling Stones magazines and appearing at awards shows. He’s making it unbearable for himself. But he can’t research for long as the company he’s picked as a client is chosen as the next project by his boss (who seems to have the hots for him).

Cooper does not seem bothered about his work opportunity and instead stalks Brad around the city streets to look at him. He’s measuring him up and eventually follows the man into a gym.

Cooper watches Brad work out as he works out. It gets weirder as Brad watches Cooper in the shower and sizes him up to see his big p***s — he’s wrecking his own soul. He vents at the showerhead as Brad leaves. He’s making himself insecure at this point. Still, today, audiences do not know if that was the real p***s of Adam Demos.

Billie rings Sasha and tells her that she cannot stop thinking about Brad and she’s jealous that she’s having sex with him — she states nothing has changed with her and Cooper. She wants to know how it started between Sasha and Brad.

Sasha explains how she bumped into Brad in Paris while working and describes the sex as good. Billie tells Sasha to date Brad “for real,” but Sasha tells Billie that he’s bad news and feels she is romanticizing it all.

Billie meets Brad’s parents

And then comes the flashback where Billie meets Brad’s mother, and it’s a wonderful time at first. The mother loves her, but then Brad’s stepfather turns up, and Brad’s face turns sour, and he wants to leave immediately. His stepfather starts telling Billie that Brad “loves the chase,” and soon as he gets bored, he moves on to the next woman. Brad throws a glass at the wall and leaves.

And then, we see the nasty side of Brad as he struggles to deal with his parents. Brad tries to get rid of Billie straight away by ordering her a taxi. He starts ripping into Billie about her “red neck mother” and wonders if her father gave her enough attention — he feels if her father did, she wouldn’t have sex with a stranger on the first night. He tells her she isn’t special and that she isn’t his girlfriend. Brad leaves her sobbing on the side of the street.

However, regardless of how Brad spoke to her, in the present day, Billie cannot stop thinking about Brad — she knows Cooper wouldn’t treat her that way. In a flashback, Billie confides with Sasha, but then Brad shows up, and Billie goes outside to meet him. Brad admits to “screwing up” and apologizes — he doesn’t want to lose her. He asks for five minutes and states his stepfather is right, but he doesn’t want to mess up with her. Billie gives in and lets Brad into her apartment (Sasha is disappointed).

When they sit down, Brad explains that his birth father left him when young, but he’d always send records. Brad believed if he got big enough in music that his father would show up. He still misses him. Seeing Brad’s emotional state, Billie lets him back in, and they kiss.

Breast milk and car sex 

And episode 3 shows how bad it really is getting in Billie and Cooper’s marriage — if you have to psyche yourself up for sex with your long-term partner, then something is wrong.

Back to the present, and Billie waits for Cooper after work in a beautiful red dress. She’s even got the car fixed. Brad grabs her hand and puts it on his crotch — they get in the car for sex. Once again, Cooper uses the journal as a manual.

However, in a funny moment, breast milk squirts on Cooper’s face, and it distracts him too much, and they stop. But then Cooper refuses to give up, and they go into the missionary position. Billie asks him to slow down, but Cooper speeds up, and he ejaculates. Billie’s face says it all — she’s completely unsatisfied.

Sex/Life Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained

Brad meets Sasha, and he asks her if Billie is fine with them. Sasha states they can have sex whenever they want, as Billie is okay with it. Brad tries to engage with her sexually, and she calls him cocky, stating he could be the reason she doesn’t want to have sex, however, he doubts that statement.

Late in the night, Billie gets a call from Sasha, but when she answers it, it’s Brad, who says, “So you have been thinking about me after all.” Billie tells Brad to be with Sasha and that it is none of her business. Brad does not believe her and turns the call into a video call. When she answers, he’s placed the camera so she can see him having sex with Sasha against the wall. Billie watches and fingers herself — she’s turned on by it.

Episode 3 taps further into sexual desires with another steamy chapter.

What did you think of Sex/Life Season 1 Episodes 1-3? Comment below.

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