Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Review: Magnets / YABA (Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2)

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2, “Magnets” and “YABA,” prove why Tatiana Maslany should always be on our screens. She’s a force of nature. Thankfully, Apple TV’s new darkly comedic thriller is also compelling on its own, but it certainly helps that Maslany is here to steer the ship. 

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (and Some Chills)

Paula is a woman on the verge. She’s profoundly relatable in more ways than one, especially for us Millennials who are closer to 40 than 30. Those in her life (especially men) take and take and take, expecting her to give back 10 times over.

There’s an undercurrent of anxiety propelling the narrative in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed as people incessantly blow up Paula’s phone. It’s a meditation on how women are held to a higher standard than men and pressured to perform at 110 percent at all times. They must prioritize everyone else over their pleasure. Maslany dances on the knife’s edge of composure and breaking. Paula’s fragile state is so tangible and, again, relatable. 

Circling back to that “pleasure” piece, the series not only endeavors to destigmatize sex work, but it reminds society at large that women over 30 deserve to feel pleasure. Those feelings don’t just shut off after crossing that threshold. The show also has something to say about how challenging and isolating adulthood can be for women.

Beacons of Propriety 

For starters, it’s hard to make friends. Secondly, based on our preconceived notions of adults as children, we beat ourselves up for not having it all figured out by a certain age. In “Magnets,” Paula vents to Trevor about feeling behind in life—like she’s constantly treading water. Karl thrusting Paula under a microscope amid their heated custody dispute certainly doesn’t help matters. This is also a clever commentary on the astronomical standards weighing heavily on women to be beacons of propriety. 

When we first meet Jake Johnson’s Karl, he seems charming on the surface. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed doesn’t shy away from presenting audiences with severely flawed, nuanced characters. We understand why Karl wants to protect his and Paula’s daughter, Hazel, but he’s also entirely too hard on Paula. Johnson digs deep into Karl to give us a man we could easily know in real life. 

However, it’s hard not to side with Paula here. She keeps quiet about stumbling upon Trevor’s lifeless body after he attempted to scam her. She refrains from disclosing to Karl that she grew close to a sex worker. Paula refuses to tell him about spotting Trevor’s murderer and escaping the latter by the skin of her teeth. The series deftly addresses a woman’s desire to keep tight-lipped for fear of not being believed, for fear of being called “erratic” or “emotional.” Karl even labels Paula as acting “erratically” despite not knowing the truth. 

The Rabbit Hole 

Even the police are useless here. While Paula doesn’t divulge all the details to her ex-husband, she tells Detective Sofia Gonzalez, played to biting perfection by Dolly de Leon, everything she saw at Trevor’s house.

Initially, Sofia dismisses Paula’s concerns about Trevor’s scam. It takes his murder for Sofia to act. Unfortunately, she doesn’t believe Paula is being entirely truthful, and the end of “YABA” sees Sofia digging deeper into Paula’s past. (Hopefully, we learn about what happened in Portland.)

Maslany is such an immense talent. Her microexpressions and subtle movements are so real, so lived-in, that it doesn’t look like she’s “acting.” There’s an effortlessness to her performance. It’s her best work since Orphan Black. As Paula, Maslany is equal parts darkly funny and anxiety personified. She boasts great chemistry with, well, everyone, but especially young Nola Wallace as Hazel. You believe they’re actually a mother-daughter pair. 

Supporting Players 

As for the supporting cast, Charlie Hall and Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg are a delight, delivering comedic relief in spades. While Maslany is the star performer, and it’s hard to focus on anyone else outside her orbit, Goldberg and Hall are still fun to watch. I’m intrigued to see how Geri and Rudy factor into Paula’s story. 

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed delivers a solid two-episode premiere, presenting a fascinating core mystery with humor and thrills. Now that Dennis, Trevor’s killer (played by the always entertaining Murray Bartlett), has Hazel’s soccer cleats, he’ll undoubtedly identify Paula as the other person in Trevor’s house. We’re in for a wild ride. 

Stray Observations: 

• If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and watch Orphan Black. It’s a gripping sci-fi series bolstered by some of the best acting I’ve ever seen courtesy of Maslany. That’s not hyperbole. She plays multiple clones who sometimes impersonate other clones. It’s clone-ception. 
• Trevor’s cat is adorable. I want that little cutie for myself. 
• On another feline-related note, the “Cat got your tongue” moment in Episode 2 is well done. Gross, but well done. 
• The “What if it was an underage dog?” line from Rudy made me laugh out loud. 
• Raymond Lee is always so charming. I’ve been a fan since Kevin Can F**k Himself. Glad he’s a Steve and not a Steeeve here. 
• I’m a simple gal: I see Murray Bartlett, I watch Murray Bartlett. I’m excited to see him as a villain here. 

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Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed drops new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV. 

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