Polyamory: Married & Dating

I watched this on Showtime After Dark which carries all the adult softcore content. Lets get the elephant out of the room first - those looking for some, or lots of softcore/hardcore erotic action may be disappointed. Yes there is some good bit of erotic action and the action is almost all of the group sex kind but none of it is for gratuitous titillating viewing. In fact even the frequency of such "action" scenes is low and it is almost always short with quick editing and cuts. But what action there is full frontal with complete nudity. Other more mainstream series - think GOT, Girls, Girlfriend experience etc - or some mainstream movies - have more hardcore action shown. Lets come to the content and plot. Showtime is carrying two seasons with 8 episodes each. The series follows a group of Polyamorists in Southern California (where else!!) - as they juggle their time, families, jobs etc along with following their hearts (& loins) chasing and trying to retain and juggle and negotiate multiple lovers at the same time. And you can expect all combinations of lovers !! Kudos to the entire cast for putting it all "out there" and exposing themselves - literally and emotionally - on national TV holding nothing back. Kudos to the crew directors and everyone for putting together a very slick documentary shot and edited extremely well. Among the main protagonists is Kamala Devi - who is kind of the "Queen Mother" lets say over this commune of Polyamorists. There is a lot of material by her on the internet and mainstream media - check kamaladevi.com. Apparently she has even given TED talks on Sexuality and Polyamory Polyamorists clearly want to differentiate themselves from and keep away from the label of Swingers. The former do not look upon their lifestyle as one for recreational sex. It is one for literally - having many lovers (hence the word) who or which is supposed to enhance your life - and after you watch the series you may find yourself compelled to grant them a few points and arguments. However- and this is also the obvious reason why Polyamory is not and cannot be mainstream - the series neatly skirts all the obvious questions and problems related with legality and possessiveness - most obvious being the children. Also - the TREMENDOUS AMOUNT of discussion and communication - what they call "processing" involved - and the slightest noise or perturbation that can cause emotional flare-ups or jealousy at the least - which they all gamely try to discuss and process their way through and out of - all this makes you think and wonder how emotionally draining all this could be and how much of one's time this might all take up. It all seems a bit too much !! And in fact season 2 ends with one Polyamory live-in threesome seriously reconsidering this Lifestyle. Its hard enough with one family or partner and children etc etc. Imagine now every week or month you are trying to add new "Lovers" to the family .....is this a pursuit or rat race worth being in permanently in the grand scheme of things? Isn't it not enough to settle with one family/spouse/partner - keeping to the elegant philosophy of "Less is More" (as also espoused by the Buddha and other religious leaders in history). Also - you cannot help but think that all this is - at the end of it all - in the service of the itch of an unending Carnal drive - what they euphemistically call NRE - or New Relationship Energy (Great Word Spin there !!! one learns something new every day). :Or - Like the regular monogamous sister of one of the polyamorists comments sarcastically - "Wow! your vagina must be quite sore from all the constant action with all of your lovers". Ouch!! One cannot help but wonder whether this is a very clever and long-term strategy to legitimately and openly have as much sex as possible with as many partners as possible while at the same time not impacting your "primary" family - so why not try and make all of your lovers and sex partners (or f..k buddies) a part of your family too ??? Hmmm ....quite smart and clever if you strip away all of the pseudo spiritual, tantric, new-agey, soft-emotional touchy-feely language that this is all dressed up in, apparently. Great vicarious viewing pleasure, lots of drama - but after two seasons it becomes repetitive. At the end of it all - this cannot match the richness variety complexity and the compelling urgencies of the more regular "monogamous" world which has all the fascinating drama, excitement challenges and adventures you may want - to last you more than many lifetimes. Otherwise good for some entertaining binge watching - definitely a well-done series. I would say worth a look but see and decide for yourself!!!

The show will challenge your notion of what is considered "normal". It challenges the status quo and make you rethink what does it mean to be in a relationship. Polamory is complicated and these couples really do an interesting job of navigating the world and showing us, the monogamous audience, what it means to love. The creator was Natalia Garcia, she wrote the entire series and worked with the cast. Janice Stango had nothing to do with the series. She sued because she was cut out as the therapist and used her clout as Rachel Bilson's mom to threaten the show from moving forward. All the credit goes to Natalia. Bravo. .

I just started watching this show-- I finished the 1st 5 episodes tonight. I have had great difficulty with the reality of the whole thing..maybe I wasn't suppose to take it seriously? Kamala cries without tears-- she really got on my nerves--- the men in that relationship both seem homosexual( which is fine- just takes the reality out of reality.. All the "overly sincere" hugging seemed so " overly sincere!"

I couldn't watch Kamala fake cry one more time. The fake difficulties, in both relationships, the constant sex-- do these people ever really work? ( yes the one guy teaches Italian, what do the others do beside for having sex?) What happened to the child from the first episode? Is he still at grandma's? It's fine for what it really is-- a not serious show where you can watch women fool around while gay men watch. Whatever turns you on, I guess..

I do appreciate this show bringing awareness and representation of the poly/ethical non monogamy community however, this show sensationalizes more than educates on polyamory. There is a lot of unhealthy relationship dynamics, from controlling partners to judgment on how 'poly' others are. Of course the constant soft core scenes present polyamory as being all about sex instead of a healthy alternative to monogamy. Lastly, though many of the people featured in this show are bisexual, the show still has a heteronormative frame, giving more weight to their opposite sex partners and contributing to bi-erasure.

I caught this program by flicking from channel to channel, watch the last 3 episodes and am so livid with Megan and Chris I am about to explode, I mean isn't that house Chris's and Leanne's why the hell is Leanne leaving?, seriously Leanne needs to whoop that girls butt and send her packing, and Chris h'm I have a feeling and I think Leanne does as well,I doubt he is gonna give up Megan and she is one sneaky home wrecker, just saying man she needs to go get her own home and man, Leann g/f step up go kick both Chris and Megan out......I am so disliking Megan and Chris, I mean if the Pollyanna's isn't working someone got to go!