FX Review: ‘Dying for Sex’ is an Entertaining, Affirming Series About the Bright Side of Approaching Death

Knowing that you’re going to die can inspire unexpected and sometimes wild things in people. The sense that there’s not much time left may make people more motivated to take advantage of it, to go places they’ve always wanted to go and not miss out on experiences that they had repeatedly put off as something they might eventually do. For one woman, whose story comes to TV audiences in FX’s limited series Dying for Sex, seeing the end as near was an opportunity for her to finally explore all the possibilities sex could afford her.

Based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Nikki Boyer, played here by Jenny Slate, this series centers on Nikki’s best friend Molly (Michelle Williams). Her response to a Stage IV breast cancer diagnosis is to realize that she doesn’t actually want to be with her nice-enough but boring husband Steve (Jay Duplass) and instead interrogate the many ways in which she might be able to experience sexual fulfillment. As she copes with her mortality and confronts past trauma, she also develops a relationship based on power dynamics and humiliation with the neighbor (Rob Delaney) she’s previously only yelled at for eating in the elevator.

That this is a true story adds considerable weight and merit to this show, which takes an intriguing concept that wouldn’t necessarily be at the forefront of the minds of most terminal patients but is still absolutely worth considering. There’s not much seen of what happened before this moment in time, with Molly revisiting a formative experience that shaped her perspective of sex but otherwise remaining grounded in the present as she sees so many new options she had never even considered, leaning on her much more knowledgeable social worker Sonya (Esco Jouléy) to learn about a world she didn’t previously know existed that offers the chance for her to entirely reinvent herself in her final weeks and months.

This marks a welcome return to television for Williams, who got her start on Dawson’s Creek and most recently won an Emmy for another FX series, Fosse/Verdon. She has a sense of humor and dry delivery style that works perfectly for this character, merging her new and old worlds in very blunt ways that make everyone truly uncomfortable. But she seems to feel such joy in everything she does, and watching this journey through her eyes makes it both very compelling and entertaining.

Slate is someone who’s often cast as the batty best friend, and it’s so wonderful to see her do a fantastic balancing act between the zany and comedic parts of Nikki and the more dramatic devastation she frequently visits while watching her closest friend get sick. Slate is capable of being very funny, and this role allows her to make plenty of jokes while still staying serious, portraying the full breadth of someone who, despite preparing to lose her best friend, is still having a great time along the way and putting so much of herself into doing everything she can to take care of her.

Williams and Slate are supported by a formidable ensemble with no weak links. Though it’s a minimal role, Duplass delivers exactly what he needs, and it’s fun to watch Delaney, also a standout from Bad Monkey earlier this season, indulge in this entirely submissive role. As Molly’s mother, Sissy Spacek adds a great deal of fantastic context, and it’s great to see David Rasche as Molly’s doctor, who is pushed by his patient to be less formal and really sit in the moment with her. This series, from creators Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether, is a humorous, heartwarming, and touching look at what it means to face bad news head-on and find an unforgettable way to make the most of the time you have left.

Series Rating: 8/10