Dying for Sex is a 2025 dramedy series about a woman, Molly, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and leaves her husband in search of sexual fulfillment.
In “Topping is a Sacred Skill”, the fourth episode of the first (and apparently only) season, Molly continues her exploration of her sexuality. In between episodes, she attended a BDSM play party and is intrigued by a dominant there known as G.
At the beginning, Molly (now walking with a cane) talks to G at their job in a furniture store, and G encourages her to explore her interests, and not get hung up on labels. G also tells her that before she can dominate, she has to submit, something Molly is reluctant to do.
Molly meets a sub male, nicknamed Hooper, in a coffee shop where they talk over their limits. She’s uncertain and still learning terminology (she has to quickly look up what a cock cage is), but it goes well.
Molly greets Hooper at her place, wearing what looks like a waist cincher but is actually a back brace. She sees Neighbor Guy again across the hall, and is put off by his reaction to seeing her with another man.
In her apartment, Hooper gets naked at her command and Molly struggles to humiliate his penis because she thinks it is too beautiful.
On another date, Molly tops Hooper, even incorporating the cane as part of it. She drapes a very light scarf over Hooper’s face. However, when she bends down and starts the verbal abuse, she has flashbacks both to her cancer treatment and her childhood abuse. Hooper safewords and gives her some snacks, while warning her about top drop. (Nice to see a sub giving a dom aftercare.)
Molly returns to G’s place of work and agrees to submit to them. G takes Molly into the back of a store.
Molly: You’re right. I’m scared. I’m scared… I’m scared of not being in control. I’m scared of not being able to feel, or move. I’m scared of losing my body.
G: Something happened to you, right?
Molly: Yeah.
G: I get it. Look, vanilla sex, you can disappear, right? You can fake it. Who cares? This shit, you can’t disappear, especially if you’re in control, right? That’s like driving a car and taking your hands off the wheel. It’s fucking dangerous. You need to just learn to stay present. Stay right here.
Molly: Can you show me?
G: Do you want to submit to me?
Molly: Yes.
G: Good.
Molly lies on a wrapped mattress, fully clothed. G asks for permission again, which Molly provides, and opens her blouse slightly. G touches Molly lightly on her collarbone and hands. Molly starts to disassociate and flashback, but G tells her stay. Molly asks G to tie her hands, and G binds her with what appears to be a belt from a bathrobe. G continues touching her very lightly, including the places with scars from her cancer treatments. Molly relaxes and gets into it, but then says she wants to stop. G unties her and gives her aftercare.
In the next scene, Molly meets with her doctor about her radiation treatment, and is much more assertive and in control with him. She also takes the initiative in talking with Neighbor Guy, who admits he thinks about his experience with her all the time.
I’m a little puzzled that we don’t get to see the BDSM play party Molly went to, but there’s an interesting decision to put the BDSM in unexpected places, like Molly’s underfurnished apartment and the back room of a furniture store. It removes BDSM from the exotic world of night clubs and the like and instead puts it in very mundane settings. This decontextualizes the experiences, make them more raw. Likewise, G is not a glamorous pro-domme, but a regular-looking non-binary person.
Just as Molly is learning to incorporate less-than-ideal things like her back brace and her cane into her sexual life, she’s finding that eroticism can come in unexpected situations from unexpected people.
