Those of us with a Netflix subscription know that the service is home to a wild variety of content across many different genres. While we can all easily get our fix of dating shows there, or watch some great horror series on the platform, something that just debuted as a part of the 2023 TV schedule has proven, once again, that viewers can rely on the streamer for steamy shows, just as with the collection of sexually explicit movies on Netflix.
Obsession, which follows a married man who has an affair with his son’s fiancée, just debuted a few days ago, and not only did I -- and likely many others, as the show has been in the streamer’s Top 10 -- binge the limited series in one sitting, but you can bet I had a lot of thoughts about what went down. I’m guessing you did, too, so let’s dig into what happened and what it brought up for me!
William And Ingrid Seem Fine. How Did This Affair Happen?!
Honestly, the whole family (William, Ingrid, and their two adult kids, Sally and Jay) seem to have a great rapport. Plus, William and Ingrid appear to still have a loving relationship that includes some pretty hot sexytimes, so why did he feel the need to not just cheat, but do so with his son’s soon-to-be wife?
Do Strangers Really Lock Eyes Across Crowded Rooms?
This type of thing happens all the time in the best romantic comedies/stories with a strong romantic B-plot, whether they be more traditional or ones like Obsession, where the relationship is actually incredibly destructive. I wonder, though, does this actually happen to real people IRL? If so, does it happen as much as movies, books, and TV shows imply? Am I in the dark about this just because I barely leave my house, and when I do I politely avoid looking at any one person for long enough to have some weirdo, me-and-this-hot-stranger-are-staring-at-each-other love connection? Someone should do a study on this phenomenon.
WTF With This Olive Scene?!
Well, here is where I get confused, because in the previous scenes it seemed pretty clear that no one in Jay’s family had met Anna yet, but then Will meets her at this party and shortly after introducing themselves (and both understanding that he’s Jay’s dad) the man is seductively feeding Anna an olive in public. I then thought for most of the series that they’d actually met before, but they hadn’t. What the absolute fuck?! I might be in the dark about the eye lock thing, but I know for a fact that this doesn’t happen on a regular basis!
I Will Never Understand How Anna And William Recognized Each Other's Sexual Tendencies So Quickly
OK, so maybe it’s perfectly realistic that Will and Anna locked eyes across a crowded room and then she allowed/sorta invited him to feed her an olive, but how in the hell did they both immediately recognize each other as people who wanted to be in a dominant/submissive sexual relationship? Was that whole olive thing code for something I absolutely will not Google on my work laptop so as to not potentially see a bunch of stuff I’m not prepared to see at 1:35 p.m. on a work day? I know they were hot for each other on sight, but they jumped right into the kinky sex without saying a word about what they wanted! How?!
William Is Clearly Trying To Gently Dissuade His Son From Getting Too Attached To Anna
And I don’t like it. Not one bit. Especially since he’s just trying to have Anna all to himself.
The Intimacy Coordinator Had LOTS To Do Here
I mean…WOWZA. So many bare body parts are slapping together in this show!
I Don't Know If I've Ever Seen This Kind Of 'Dominant Sub' Relationship Portrayed Before
It was sorta confusing for me, too. I read and watch a lot of romances/romantic dramas, so I’m very familiar with the basics of dom/sub relationships, but I have not encountered a romance where the sub is in charge of setting up all the rules, thereby acting as a “dominant submissive.” You live and you learn, I guess!
Sure Didn't Take Long For Ingrid To See Something Was Wrong
It doesn’t seem like William and Anna have been sneaking around for longer than a few weeks, but Ingrid is already wondering to her husband about whether or not they’re OK as a couple. No, girl. Y’all ain’t OK!
Anyone You're Dating Who Keeps As Many Secrets As Anna Probably Isn't Relationship Material
To Anna’s credit, she hasn’t told Jay a lot of lies about herself. But, to Jay’s discredit, he’s trying really hard to accept it every time she tells him to “learn to love the questions,” because she openly admits she’s keeping big secrets about her life from him. He should have run instead of proposing to her.
Wow. William Is Officially Addicted To Anna
Not only did he follow her and Jay on their trip to France, but when she found out and convinced Jay to leave, William then checked into their vacated room so he could smell her scent and have some solo playtime. How do I get notes to Ingrid/Jay?
Obviously This Will End Badly, But How?
They didn’t brand this a thriller for nothing. Somebody’s gonna die, but how? The Obsession ending will be a doozy!
I Feel Bad For William's Family, And Even Anna, But Not William
Feeling bad for Jay, Ingrid, and Sally is a no-brainer, but I feel bad for Anna, too. She was molested as a child and has never been able to deal with that pain, or the guilt from finally saying no to her brother, which led to his death. Girl’s got TONS to work through. Meanwhile, Will should feel incredibly guilty, but doesn’t. He might not be a total trash human, but he’s pretty close.
And THERE'S The Bad End
Ohhhhhhh, noooooooo! Poor Jay! And Ingrid…oh my god!
I Think There's Hope For Anna, But William Is Lost
Anna is finally in therapy at the end, and has left William behind, feeling properly guilty and knowing she needs to unpick her past so she doesn’t get entangled in a sticky situation like this again. Also, she has her good friend Peggy, who’s still willing to help her out, so she might eventually be alright.
Will, on the other hand, has (understandably) been completely alienated from his family, and is willingly living in the apartment he had his affair in (which is in the building where Jay fell to his death). Add in the fact that Anna left her diary behind, and Will’s seen sitting alone in that apartment poring over her every word, and that makes it seem like he’ll never straighten himself out and move on from their affair. Which makes sense, seeing as how he previously told Anna that he wouldn’t change it, even though it led to his son’s death.
I gotta say, I did not expect things to happen in quite the way they did, and you can’t deny that this show is worth a watch if you like dark stories with twisty plots and lots of sex.
Stream Obsession on Netflix (opens in new tab).
