“The tone-setting awkward sex scene has become a staple of the modern television series opener”

Perhaps you’ve seen the new TV series whose pilot episode begins this way: A man and a woman are having sex, but something soon goes awry, and the whole production wraps up on an ungainly, awkward note.

If you’re having trouble naming the show, it’s because there isn’t just one that commences this way. The tone-setting awkward sex scene has become a staple of the modern television series opener. And while it can seem like merely a (now hackneyed) storytelling device, its prevalence may also reflect recent tectonic shifts in heterosexual politics.

Teddy Wayne, “Was It Good for You?”, The New York Times (9 October 2016), ST2.