pillow talk

Netflix’s latest erotic series offers full-frontal daddy and new ways to fluff a pillow

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Actor Richard Armitage is shirtless in 'Obsession'
Image Credit: ‘Obsession,’ Netflix

Remember back in the day when, after hours, premium cable networks like HBO and Cinemax would air “softcore” adult films that you’d secretly watch with your finger on the remote, ready to flick the channel if it sounded like someone was approaching?

Well, slowly but surely, Netflix has become the new destination for such programming.

We’ve previously covered the streamer’s Polish erotic film series, 365 Days—which featured a steamy/dreamy threeway scene. And who could forget that time actor Jonathan Sadowski showed off his rock-hard goods in Sex/Life?

Now, Netflix’s latest softcore obsession is a British miniseries called, well, Obsession.

Adapted from the 1991 erotic thriller novel Damage (which was already a film in ’92 starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche), Obsession is the story of an affair, as passionate as it is dangerous, which unfolds over the course of four 30-40 minute episodes.

*Caution: Mild spoilers for Obsession ahead.*

English actor Richard Armitage (The Hobbit trilogy) stars as Dr. William Farrow, a brilliant neurosurgeon who has it all, including an active sex life with his gorgeous wife (Game Of Thrones‘ Ingrid Varma) and two successful adult children.

Related:

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Because you just can’t have enough.

But one night at a cocktail party, he locks eyes with a gorgeous young woman named Anna (Peaky Blinders‘ Charlie Murphy) who comes on very strong. The catch? She’s the girlfriend of William’s son Jay (Do Revenge‘s Rish Shah).

Things get hot and heavy fast for the doctor and his, um, potential future daughter-in-law, and Netflix is not shy about showing us pretty much everything. Even William and Anna’s initial meeting is charged with absurd levels of tension as he suggestively feeds her an olive in the middle of a party? Not very subtle there, doctor!

But that’s just the tip. Later on in the first episode, the two meet up for their first rendezvous, full of heavy breathing and few words, effectively kicking off their secret affair.

Notably, Obsession seems far more interested in showing us Armitage nude than Murphy. During that first sex scene, we get quite a few glimpses of his thrusting buttocks. In the next scenes, we watch William go home to wash it all off, going full-frontal as he pats himself down with a towel.

Actor Richard Armitage is naked in the series 'Obsession,' drying himself off with a towel
Image Credit: ‘Obsession,’ Netflix

We shouldn’t be too surprised, though: In the original movie, Damage, Jeremy Irons showed pole in effectively the same role, so there’s a penis precedent here.

Another moment that’s had people talking is in episode two when, overcome with horniness, William checks into the hotel room Anna and his son (!) were just staying in, and goes to town pleasuring himself. He rips off his shirt, shoves his hand down his pants, and stuffs his face into the pillow Anna had been sleeping on.

Okay, obsessed much, doc?

Image Credit: ‘Obsession,’ Netflix

Anyway, with all four episodes on Netflix (as of writing, it’s currently the #7 TV series on the streamer), viewers are catching up with just how extra the whole show is. Below are a few of our favorite reactions thus far:

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