tv – Page 3 – The History of BDSM

Millennium S01E12: The Celluloid Dungeon

Apr 282021

Millennium is a 1996 horror/mystery TV series, loosely spun off from The X-Files. Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is a criminal profiler for the mysterious Millennium Group, investigating serial murders and other occult-tinged crimes.

In “Loin Like a Hunting Flame” (S01E12, aired January 31, 1997), this week’s serial killer is Art Nesbitt, a pharmacist with a habit of drugging people, abducting them, videotaping them having sex, killing them, and then leaving their bodies in artistic tableaux in public places. The victims are selected because they match his fantasies of sexual experiences he didn’t have: a young heterosexual couple at a rave, a pair of married women from a swinger party, and a newlywed couple.

Billions, Season 5A: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 222021

Note that production of season 5 of Billions was interrupted because of COVID.

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Now that Chuck and Wendy are separated, he’s seeing Mistress Cassie, though we only glimpse her as he leaves her dungeon in the morning. When he turns his phone on, he finds messages from Wendy about his teenage son being sick overnight.

Julianna Margulies as Catherine Brant in BILLIONS ÒOpportunity ZoneÓ. Photo Credit: Jeff Neumann/SHOWTIME

Billions, Season 4: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 162021

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Chuck speaking with Charles, his father.

Charles: “I would slap your face and tell you to act like a man if I didn’t think it would turn you on.”
Chuck: “Ah, It wouldn’t, Dad. Not from you. That’s not how it works. Good lord.”

Another kinkphobic comment from Charles Rhoades, Sr.

Billions, Season 3: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 062021

Season 3 opens with Bobby free on bail, his assets frozen, his trading license revoked, and Axe Capital on hold. Chuck has lost most of his money and alienated his father and his best friend in his scheme to get Bobby arrested, and is in the delicate position of having to ensure that the scheme doesn’t link back to him. Wendy is even more involved in Axe Capital in Bobby’s absence. Chuck and Wendy have reunited, while Bobby and his wife Lara are de facto separated.

L-R: Wendy (Maggie Siff), Chuck (Paul Giamatti) and Troy (Clara Wong)

Billions, Season 2: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 012021

Chuck and Wendy are separated at the beginning of season 2 of Billions. Until episode ten, there are not even mentions of Chuck and Wendy’s BDSM practice season 2. Chuck gets into judo, which seems to be a partial substitute. They both have flings, by mutual consent, but only Wendy actually consummates it, with another billionaire like Bobby.

Billions, Season 1: The Celluloid Dungeon

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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 S02E08: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Mar 122021

The season 2 finale wraps up various plotlines.

Portia has departed, but she left a note for Frank instead of ghosting him.
Rolph still hangs out with Pete, apparently as his “friend who knows your whole schedule” rather than his submissive. Pete has put Josh behind him, but is still uncertain about Tiff, and his career in comedy.

Tiff and Doug have reconciled. She says she loves him, and knew it was because she was vulnerable to him. She even offers to show him around the dungeon sometime.

Bonding S02E07: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Mar 052021

Josh’s coming-out to his father goes disastrously wrong, as his father, MJP, thinks this is actually about him being kinky, because that’s how he knows Pete.

MJP takes off his tie, undoes his shirt and reveals his padlocked collar.

MJP: “I’m kinky, Josh.[…] Kinky sub masochist, owned by my mistress, blissfully so. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long.”

Bonding S02E06: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Mar 042021

Penguin Guy returns. Pete, in his own penguin suit, puts his heart into his performance, waddling around the dungeon looking for his egg. There’s an improvisational give-and-take, as Penguin Guy finds Pete’s reference to global warming to be a “boner killer”, but Pete adjusts and carries on.

Tiff comes in (in regular clothes) and says using Mistress Mira’s dungeon isn’t allowed. Pete is being kind of a dick. Not only is he poaching clients from Tiff, he’s jeopardizing her future career as a domme by goofing off in class and using the dungeon to see clients without permission.

Bonding S02E05: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Mar 032021

Pete is late to a training session at the dungeon, and is told that May said to start without him. He later takes out his frustrations in his stand-up, using kink as a gimmick. The club’s manager tells Pete about how she never mentions her wife in her stage performance; the importance of boundaries.

Inside, Mira and Tiff are having a scene with a man in a full-body bondage bag and a gas mask for breath control. In between letting him breathe, they talk about Tiff’s past and future in the pro-domme business.

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A Lover's Pinch: A Cultural History of Sadomasochism