Sex/Life season 2 review: Erotic melodrama is back with a bang

Watch: The teaser for Sex/Life: Season 2

Sex/Life is back on Netflix – with a guaranteed following ready to flock to Netflix to see if the erotic thriller still has some bang in it.

Good news is, viewers pick up right where we left off – with Billie (Sarah Shahi) running to Brad (Adam Demos) and his luxurious New York apartment for the bangfest the first season had been leading up to.

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Only, it's never that simple in this world of melodrama and confusion. Soon, Billie finds herself with no Brad and no husband, with Cooper (Mike Vogel) pulling the plug on their 'hanging by a thread' marriage.

So, the series shifts somewhat in season two. Billie is left to navigate a brand new world of the single mother with two young children, and how exactly co-parenting works with an ex that's got one hell of a chip on his shoulder.

More than ever, she relies on her perma-single bestie Sasha (Margaret Odette) for advice and friendship in what to do next.

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But this is Sex/Life, so soon she finds herself a new man in the shape of Majid (Darius Homayoun), a mysterious restauranteur who she has a run-in with at a bar.

Honestly, if only dating in real life was this simple. This is the first flag this is an entire work of fiction. But we digress.

Let's get the big questions out of the way first: Yes, there's lots of sex. Yes, there's another gratuitous male full-frontal scene, which plays so ridiculously that you can't help but laugh over it. No, there won't be much debate this time around about whether or not said male member is real or not. And yes, there will be boobs.

By the looks of it, Sex/Life had no real intention of going beyond the first season, content with leaving Billie and Brad with the lingering final words of "f*** me" in the ether, with the outcome never to be discovered. But with success comes demand, and so the writers persevered after a second season became an unavoidable need by both Netlfix and fans.

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Season two delivers exactly what fans want from the series, but switches gears slightly to focus more on Billie's attempts to have both the sex and life she wants, rather than choosing between one or the other. As the leading lady, Shahi navigates these demands well, making every decision one that is understandable to the audience, even when the situation she's in verges on the ludicrous.

But season two also functions more steadily as a show that actually has something of importance to say. It tries its best to maximise the importance of female pleasure both in and out of the bedroom that's a rarity on screen — one without judgement or critique.

The concept of women having to offer something to the world is a repeated thought process of Billie's often unnecessary monologues, as is the idea that they have to play a certain role in society at the sacrifice of other things they may desire.

Want a career? Then you have to fly solo. Want to have a family? Well, give up on the satisfying sex life. Want to have it all? Don't be selfish, or at least do it behind closed doors.

Through Billie and Sasha, the pair navigate their separate wants together, arguing the biggest relationship women can have is with each other when everyone around them tells them who to be.

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Whether Sex/Life is successful in its portrayal of this message remains in the eye of the beholder – but it does give it a damn good go, and ultimately it does work in a lot of its efforts, even if it's not quite the erotica you may have signed up for in season one.

It seems like this may be the end of Sex/Life by the finale, and does so in a way that feels final to the point fans will be happy to leave it where it is.

At just six episodes, it's also a rare series that may have benefitted from being a bit longer, with certain plots dropping away with a dismissive swipe of the hand as they speed their way to their destination.

Ultimately, Sex/Life is a comfortable and saucy sex fest that, thankfully, leaves you largely satisfied.

Sex/Life season 2 is available now on Netflix.