Three Women Premiere Flirts With Female Desire in America — Grade the Episode!

Friday’s Three Women premiere gives viewers a taste of female desire — but it’s just foreplay so far.

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Based on Lisa Taddeo’s bestselling nonfiction book, the series premiere introduces us to Gia (played by Big Little Lies’ Shailene Woodley): a journalist trying to write a book about pleasure — specifically, sex in America. She meets with Gay Talese (James Naughton), a notable journalist who investigated sexuality in 1981’s Thy Neighbor’s Wife , who tells her she needs to “f–k married men” to find the story.

Over the course of their meeting, we don’t learn much about Gia other than she’s a journalist, and both her parents are dead. She leaves the encounter and confirms to viewers in voiceover that she would, in fact, not be f–king married men. (During the premiere, however, there is a remarkable lack of steamy scenes, despite all this talk about sex.) She then embarks on her vague journey to fulfill her vague mission, and thanks to Gia, we meet our Three Women .

Lina

Lina ( GLOW ‘s Betty Gilpin) is a housewife in Indiana who keeps track of the number of days that have passed since her husband Ed last touched her. (It’s been 45 when we meet her.) We see the pair consult a priest to help confront their frustrations: Lina says she dislikes Ed’s itchy Indianapolis Colts blanket, while Ed says he doesn’t like kissing Lina because he just “doesn’t like the way it feels.” The priest’s take? “See, now Lina, the yucky way you feel when you rub up against that itchy old Colts blanket, you need to understand that kissing you on the mouth makes Ed feel just like that.” The priest offers the pair a solution: Ed must let go of the Colts blanket, and Lina has to give up kissing.

Later, Lina sees a new doctor for the inexplicable pain in her joints, and he becomes a source of solace. He ultimately asks Lina what it is that she wants in life — a question she seemingly so desperately wants to be asked. “I wanna drive down a dirt road in an ATV. But like with a… man . And like the wind’s blowing in my hair and my arms are wrapped around his waist, and I just want to be with someone who makes me feel…HOT!” She leaves her appointment, passing Gia in the waiting room on the way out.

Sloane

Sloane ( She’s Gotta Have It’ s DeWanda Wise) lives in Massachusetts and has an open marriage with her husband Richard (Blair Underwood). There are rules, though, including that Sloane can’t bring home a man who is “better” than Richard — whatever that means.

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In the premiere, Sloane brings home a new man, and Richard watches the pair have sex. Richard even gets involved by giving the man pointers and handing him a condom. The encounter is interrupted when Sloane runs to the bathroom and pukes all over the floor — a bad oyster. Alas, the catering business needs a new oyster seller, and we’re introduced to Will — aka Really Hot Oyster Man ( The Gifted’ s Blair Redford). Sloane is clearly interested in Really Hot Oyster Man, but he’s obviously “not the kind of man you bring home to your husband.” In other words, he’s just too hot!

The episode ends without providing a clear explanation for how Gia met Sloane.

Maggie

Maggie (Gabrielle Creevy) is a 23-year-old woman living in a small town in North Dakota. Gia tells us in a voiceover how she first encountered Maggie: She read about her in the newspaper, about how she had spent hours on the phone with her teacher Aaron Knodel ( The Magicians’ Jason Ralph) after midnight, about how a jury thought their sexual relationship was entirely made-up.

In addition to the emotional baggage she carries, the adult Maggie holds onto some physical remnants of her relationship with her teacher: A marked-up copy of Twilight and letters exchanged between the two are nestled together in a shoe box under her bed. The episode ends with Maggie writing an email, “Dear Aaron, I have questions I want answered. I’ve grown up and gained a new perspective on what happened. It would be in your best interest to prove me wrong.”

What did you think of the Three Women premiere? Grade the episode, then hit the comments with your thoughts!

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