HTGAWM Goes for Sex Positivity in “It’s Called the Octopus”

#SpellIt

Annalise represents Tanya (Sherri Suam, a long way from The Fosters), creator of sex club Utopia Circle. Charged with killing a man with too-rough sex, Tanya risks prison and her circle being shut down for good. Suam does great work, and though the courtroom scenes are a bit too much like last season’s silliness, this case of the week is superior to many others. To clear Tanya, the Keating Five are tasked with finding witnesses who will testify, but that’s difficult when the Utopia Circle members are desperate to keep their identities hidden. That’s understandable, especially when one considers the way “kinky” individuals are seen in less sex-positive circles. The Utopia Circle could very well be one of the most fascinating glimpses at a sex community primetime’s ever going to give us. Its members are varied in ages, races, genders and sexualities, united by their shared love of eight-hour orgasms. Such is also the appeal of Shondaland, which has been more than willing to depict sex regardless of who’s having it, but it’s not ignorant of what it’s working with as Annalise astutely notes that the jury would be happy to convict a “negligent slut” of involuntary manslaughter.

Tanya and the Utopia Circle just don’t fit in the box that sex is being shoved into. It’s supposed to be private and respectable. A sexually dominant woman engaged in unorthodox sexual acts with equally liberated peers, is beyond the comprehension of a jury with more limited ideas of sexual conduct. To them sex is between monogamous, committed partners. There’s no BDSM, no lube, no varied positions, no female orgasms, all things which are brought up in last night’s episode. So Annalise has her work cut out for her, especially when Tanya confesses to giving the victim a drug she knew would cause a heart attack when combined with his Viagra. Sure the killer ends up being Annalise’s client after all, but the way she owns her sexuality has little to do with the accidental murder of the man she loved. Lesser shows have featured sexual groups like Utopia Circle with less nuance, associating their sexualities with their murderous impulses. But not HTGAWM. Tanya’s a killer, but her love of sex isn’t mutually exclusive, and if you ask Annalise, Tanya’s giving the rest of the sex-lovers out there a bad name anyway. And HTGAWM is full of sex lovers.

Sex ends up being what makes interactions among the other characters more compelling. Their interactions with one another have rarely been as interesting as the ones this week. Aside from killing someone and covering it up together, they don’t have much in common, and sex becomes a nice topic for them to bond over. They reminisce about their best sexual partners, Laurel and Bonnie laugh over drinks, Wes cracks a joke about sleeping with another client, and everyone shares in the shock and horror of Michaela never having had an orgasm. Michaela’s situation is eventually rectified by Levi (Matt Cohen) and a sultry “Spell it,” but for a minute everyone’s very concerned (Laurel is particularly devastated). To them, Michaela’s missed out on a rite of passage, and their active, though teasing, encouragement of her to hunt down the Big O speaks to their casual acceptance of sex and their eagerness for everyone interested to be able to enjoy it.

NEXT: #VeryComfortableSheets