MEN are from Mars, women are from Venus has become a popular slogan when addressing the existential differences between the sexes.
For example, a guy would find the Soccer World Cup finals far more appealing than tuning in for the cliffhanger finale of another season of Grey’s Anatomy.
In fact, whenever the words “chick flick”, “chick literature” and such come up, guys tend to take it as their cue to escape getting caught up in the tidal wave of melodrama and sappiness. Honestly, that’s okay, though.
Rather than suffer their guys groaning through a movie or episode of a series, most women would prefer getting stuck into their guilty pleasures, especially on TV, by themselves. A glass of wine in hand helps, too.
Why do we enjoy it?
Well, for starters, it is devilishly entertaining with identifiable characters. It offers a palatable – not to mention mandatory – serving of scandalous deeds. And those moralistic red herrings are cleverly interwoven into the story arcs. That’s not forgetting the catalogue of trendy outfits that women can feast their eyes on.
Looking back, shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives certainly started to whet the appetites of female viewers. While the mushrooming Real Housewives franchise has bagged an army of undiscerning viewers with its “unscripted” drama, the fictional stuff still reigns supreme.
Since then, the baton has been passed on to Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle, Orange is the New Black, Girls, Devious Maids and, of course, Mistresses.
While some of the shows are more edgy a la Girls, others take on an explicable soapie approach.
Right now, the third season of Mistresses has fans truly excited. More so, with the devilish twists of last season.
And the questions loom. Does Savi walk in on her sister Joss and her ex-husband Harry getting all hot and heavy on the beach? What bombshell news awaits Karen? And how does April deal with the aftermath of her daughter Lucy finding out that her dad had been alive for years after watching news reports of him being gunned down in a drug-related incident?
Betrayal – intentional or not – really does seem to be the common thread.
Moreover, the third instalment has a few surprises in store for viewers with the departure of Alyssa Milano (as Savi) and the return of season one favourite, Jennifer Esposito, as fashion designer, Calista Raines.
Creator KJ Steinberg told TVLine.com: “We would never have written this to be an ending to the series… Ultimately, these women’s lives go on – and the complications keep tracing back to every action they have taken since the pilot.”
As for the Joss-Harry hook-up, she noted: “The whole season has been about the sublimation of their true feelings. Their feelings for one another have been in their subconscious, popping up to the surface at different times for both of them. So when she shows up at the Malibu house, she’s thinking, ‘I’ll recommit to Scott. I will focus on my love for Scott’.”
But suppressed feelings can’t stay buried for too long and this is where the new season picks up.
Mistresses is an explosive mess fuelled by high-strung emotions, morally bankrupt decisions and a sisterhood that weathers many storms.
Bottom line: it’s therapeutic girl talk. And one that is best enjoyed without any testosterone in the room.
• Mistresses season 3 airs on Vuzu Amp on Thursday, July 2 at 7.30pm