Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: Tatiana Maslany and Murray Bartlett make this pleasurable TV indeed

I was drawn to this week’s show for the worst reason. That name is pure critic bait, and I like my fruit low-hanging. Other famously pre-roasted works include the films The Happening and Fantastic Four, and the Oasis album Be Here Now.

(No, thanks.) In my schadenfreude-soaked soul, I wondered if Apple’s show might join them. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Apple TV, from Wed)? It stars Tatiana Maslany, who also led the brilliantly titled, if widely slated, show She Hulk: Attorney at Law. No one doubts Maslany’s chops. She won an Emmy playing 17 distinct clones in the sci-fi series Orphan Black. Here she plays Paula, a divorced mother going through a custody battle. Paula’s only access to intimacy is with a young online sex worker named Trevor. Despite his name, Trevor is beautiful, like Jeff Buckley. I suppose Jeff isn’t the most exotic name either. Anyway, Paula pays Trevor to act as her virtual therapist, and also remove his clothes to help get her off, if there’s time left in the hour. You could say their relationship is entirely digital, in several senses. On one of their calls, Trevor answers a knock at the door, and is savagely beaten by a masked intruder – a crime to which Paula is the only witness.

Key points

• (No, thanks.) In my schadenfreude-soaked soul, I wondered if Apple’s show might join them.
• Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Apple TV, from Wed)?
• It stars Tatiana Maslany, who also led the brilliantly titled, if widely slated, show She Hulk: Attorney at Law.
• No one doubts Maslany’s chops.
• She won an Emmy playing 17 distinct clones in the sci-fi series Orphan Black.