The first season of BBC2s Coupling remains unfailingly prurient throughout its six episodes. Entire plotlines revolve around, say, the size of one characters endowment or another characters alleged bisexuality. But the raunchiness functions as more of a backdrop than anything else. The real key to the shows humor lies in its elaborately conceived comic set pieces, which, sexually charged as they are, draw their laughs from classic slapstick and witty dialogue rather than truly explicit content. The first episode, of course, is devoted to introducing the ensemble: Jack Davenport as everyman Steve, Ben Miles as womanizing Patrick, Richard Coyle as sex-starved Jeff, Sarah Alexander as witty Susan, Kate Isitt as insecure Sally, and Gina Bellman as ditzy Jane. With Steve and Susans nascent relationship providing the focus, Jeff and Sally serve as the main couples respective best friends; Patrick and Jane, though initially introduced as Steve and Susans ex-lovers, soon bond with the others into a tight little circle of friends. As the series limns the peculiarities and downright absurdities of each character, creator/writer Steven Moffat establishes his auteurist voice: occasionally scrambled chronology that exacts maximum humor from every situation, running gags that take their time getting to the payoff, and the depiction of the same events from both sides of the Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus divide. By the end of the season, the ensemble may not have gained much psychological or emotional depth, but the dynamics between the characters have been firmly established -- as have the shows stylistic hallmarks. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide