Sex/Life – Season 1 Episode 4 “New New York” Recap & Review

“It’s the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it’s the fifteenth New York since the original.” – The Doctor

Episode 4 of Sex/Life Season 1 is titled New New York for some reason. Unfortunately it’s not a nod toward Doctor Who, which is a shame. Instead, this chapter begins with Billie regretting her choice to watch her best friend have sex via a sneaky phone video.

In the morning, she receives a message from Sasha telling her they need to talk. Sneaking her laptop up to the bedroom, Billie moves her journal into a work folder and continues to keep secrets from Cooper.

Cooper meanwhile is going through the motions and has his friend Dev cover for him. He’s in danger of losing everything as he finds himself conflicted and torn over the Billie and Brad situation.

He immediately storms in to confront Brad. There, the label owner admits he’s been talking and texting with Billie. Cooper is obviously not happy and tells him to stay away from his wife.

Meanwhile, Billie heads into school where Hudson goes it alone. The teacher, Rebecca, encourages Billie to tag along with the other Mums but she’s less than enthused to do so. That is, until she starts walking up the sidewalk.

As she does, memories of the past come flooding back. But not memories with Cooper of course, just those with bad boy Brad.

Crashing back to the present, Billie outright admits to all the other Mums that she’s struggling. The others try to calm her down and encourage the girl but she rejects them and walks away, claiming she has something else she needs to do.

This includes going to Sasha and admitting that she’s watched their entire sex session together. Billie conveniently misses out the masturbation bit of course, but Sasha warns her to put down the Brad matches before her life burns away. It’s actually a really clever analogy and one that she absolutely doesn’t pay attention to.

Meanwhile, Cooper heads back to work and confides in Dev. The first genuinely amusing moment of this series then ensues as Cooper talks to his colleague about what’s been going on. He’s insecure and unsure whether Billie is really cheating.

Either way though, the romanticizing and the pedestal she’s put Brad on has made Cooper doubt his own performance. As Cooper himself says, “I’m just not that into it sometimes” which is absolutely fine. But not for Billie, obviously.

Dev decides to build up his “BDE” as a way of regaining Cooper’s confidence. They’re hitting the town but in doing so Dev sets him up with an old flame called Em. Cooper rejects her outright and even rejects Francesca too – although that one is a little harder to do. Eventually he decides to head home.

Unlike Cooper, Billie is not so strong. Brad rings and riles her up, pointing the camera down as she gasps in a really exaggerated manner at what he’s showing.

The Episode Review

How about don’t cheat Billie? Every episode seems to be the same thing with this show, as Billie finds herself stuck in a rut and thinking about Brad the whole time. Only, all of her happy memories include sex and lust. Lust never lasts and it’s almost always replaced with indifference or love.

The fact that all of Billie’s memories are about having sex with Brad or engaging in really passionate pursuits certainly doesn’t paint a particularly healthy relationship. The two barely talk and when they do it’s Brad who acts possessive and forces Billie into these different pressure cooker situations.

By comparison, Cooper is encouraged to head out but he actually controls himself and decides against cheating on his wife. You can completely understand his frame of thinking too, and after having kids your libido does take a knock. That’s well-known by many people but yet this show somehow turns that into a negative because Billie can’t get her crazy sex with Cooper.

Beyond Cooper, no other character in this is all that likable. That’s a real problem, especially as the show expects you to rally behind Billie. Will she cheat on her husband though? We’ll have to wait and see.