Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Review: Thriller Holds Viewers Captive

Viewers are warned to beware the beautiful camboy and never trust Murray Bartlett, according to Apple TV’s new 10-part series “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.” The tense narrative, laced with black comedy, rewards deeper engagement with its increasingly complex plot, the Guardian review notes.

The camboy, Trevor (Brandon Flynn), relies on his looks as a therapist-with-benefits for Paula (Tatiana Maslany), a newly divorced mother whose husband holds primary custody of their daughter Hazel (Nola Wallace). Paula displays signs of past instability, which foreshadows trouble.

Midway through an online session, a masked intruder attacks Trevor, beating and strangling him while uttering “Koh See Tee” into the camera at Paula. Despite her state of undress, she films the assault and calls police. Det. Gonzales (Dolly De Leon) dismisses it as a likely scam: “It’s a nuisance, but it’s not a real crime.”

Trevor soon calls, sobbing, demanding $50,000 ransom. Paula ignores him to negotiate with ex-husband Karl (Jake Johnson) for better access to Hazel, trying to dissuade him from moving to Idaho with his girlfriend Mallory (Jessy Hodges).

Trevor then calls Paula at her workplace—a number she never gave him—and an apparent accomplice warns, “We know everything.” The demand: pay up or face destruction of her life.

With police indifferent, Paula—a magazine fact-checker, a convenience noted in the review—investigates Trevor. She uses clues from his background and the attack footage to find his address, grabbing her daughter’s hockey stick. Finding the door ajar, she enters into peril.

Episode two jumps back in time to reveal Murray Bartlett’s role in the unfolding thriller, the reviewer notes, adding that spoilers are avoided here.

“Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” delivers a bingeable, unpredictable thriller. Maslany, an Emmy winner for “Orphan Black,” embodies Paula’s volatility, focus, intelligence, and stubbornness. The Guardian critic wrote: “I loved it so much, but it was so bad” regarding her previous role in “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.” Bartlett pairs effectively as Paula’s antagonist, with a strong cast overall.

The series offers layered rewards: inventive crime drama, commentary on surveillance and corruptible power, and an underlying warmth in the relationship between Paula and Karl. The reviewer notes the only credibility gap is Paula having two fellow fact-checkers, reminiscent of a bygone magazine era.

“Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” is available now on Apple TV.