Once, HBO was a company that used nudity and sex not only to entertain audiences, but also to tell stories and even develop characters. They still do it occasionally, but these days it feels much tamer and closer to a PG-13-rated sex scene.
In the new series War, Episode 1 shows just how far HBO has fallen in this department. Actress Rose Williams looked absolutely beautiful in the scene, and if there had been nudity, it probably would have gotten the scene—and her performance—a lot more attention. I don’t necessarily think she refused to do it; this feels more like a creative decision from the director, possibly one of those filmmakers who believes Gen Z doesn’t want sex scenes anymore.
Anyway, her character is honey-trapping a guy on behalf of his wife so that she can get evidence for a divorce, and she succeeds.
The show itself is also pretty bad so far, and one of the few things that could have made it more entertaining was stronger sex and nudity. Instead, they played it completely safe and ruined what could have been a much more memorable scene.
