2010s – Page 3 – The History of BDSM

Billions, Season 1: The Celluloid Dungeon

Mar 252021

Billions is a 2016 drama about the conflict between US Attorney Chuck Rhoades Jr. and hedge fund billionaire Bobby “Axe” Axelrod.

The very first thing we see in the pilot episode is Chuck stripped and bound at the mercy of a woman in lingerie. This is his wife Wendy, who is also the in-house therapist of Bobby’s investment firm, setting up the triangle at the heart of the series.

BDSM is not a big enough theme in Billions to do an episode-by-episode review. Thus I will focus on certain episodes in which Chuck and Wendy’s BDSM relationship is a major element.

Bonding S01E07: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 172021

Tiff, as Mistress May, is back in Daphne’s house. Daphne asks where “Carter” is and Tiff admits that she made a mistake with her partner.

Bonding S01E06: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 162021

Pete wakes up next to Josh and has a good day until he goes to the dungeon and finds that Tiff is AWOL and he has to deal with her client, a grumpy guy in a penguin costume.

Pete tries to send him away, but Penguin Guy not only refuses to leave, he intimidates Pete into putting on another penguin costume and wrestling him.

Bonding S01E05: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 102021

It’s date night for both Pete and Tiff. He gets dressed with the help of Tiff’s house slave, Rolph, while she checks out Doug on social media.

Pete and Tiff get into a fight, made worse because they both know each other’s vulnerable spots. Pete needles Tiff over her reluctance to start a relationship with Doug, while Tiff brings up his fear of doing stand-up comedy.

Bonding S01E04: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 072021

We finally follow up on Daphne, the client introduced in episode two. Tiff and Pete, in full kink gear, visit her very uptight house and meet her and her husband, Andrew.

While Tiff is upstairs tickling Andrew, Pete and Daphne awkwardly hang out at the kitchen table.

Bonding S01E03: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 052021

The third episode of Bonding has the least to do with BDSM so far.

Tiff and Pete struggle with their inhibitions. Tiff avoids giving a class presentation on why she wants to be a psychiatrist, while the jock-ish guy who has been flirting with her gives a heartfelt, vulnerable speech. Meanwhile, Pete still hasn’t called the guy who gave him his number.

Bonding S01E02: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 042021

Pete backs out of going on the stand-up stage. Tiff gets him to admit that he’s turned on by feet, and says that arousal helps people “zombie out”. She takes him back to the dungeon and gets him to do his stand-up routine in front of the staff and clients.

Tiff’s professor speaks about the emotional hazards of psychotherapy and the necessity of distance and control, while hypocritically flirting with her and another female student.

Bonding S01E01: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 012021

Bonding is a dramedy TV series, launched in 2019. (IMDB)

Tiff, a grad student who works as a pro domme, recruits her friend Pete as her driver and assistant. Pete, a milquetoast, sexually inexperienced gay man and would-be stand-up comedian, is our window into this world. He is overwhelmed and confused with this new underworld, though that seems to be his response to everything. We see his discomfort with his roommate’s sex life and his inability to go on stage as a comedian.

POSE Season 2: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Oct 022020

POSE is a drama series set in the ballroom culture of New York City, set in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In contrast to the beauty and glamour of the ballroom scene, the performers (mostly poor, non-white, and queer/trans) make their livings through work of varying legality. The second season features a plotline about working as a pro domme.

Elektra (Dominique Jackson) at the Hellfire Club.

iZombie S03E05: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Sep 022020

iZombie, “Spanking the Zombie”, aired May 2, 2017 IMDB

iZombie is a TV series about a world in which an infectious disease gives people a craving for brains, though some can retain their human intelligence and appearance. The protagonist is Olivia “Liv” Moore, a police forensic scientist who investigates murders by literally eating the brains of the victims and inheriting their memories and personalities temporarily.

In this episode, the victim is Roxanne Greer, who worked as a pro dominatrix known as Sweet Lady Pain. This is literally all we know about her. Even though Liv has access to some of her memories and behaviours, all we see is a few visions of her interacting with clients. We learn nothing else about her, not her family, her background, how and why she got into this business, what she thinks of the work or the men she sees, or what she is like when she’s not being a dominatrix.

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