The tragic glamor of a fatal disease diagnosis is a pop cultural go-to. Unlike death by misadventure, a terminal illness gives the patient the time and space to change their life, which can be as simple as being less of a doormat (The Big C) or as elaborate as going on a globetrotting adventure (Joe Versus the Volcano). Dying for Sex falls somewhere in the middle, and is probably TV’s most moving meditation on friendship, love, pleasure, pain, death and life that Also includes orgasm torture and puppy play.

Dying for Sex, adapted from the podcast of the same name, stars Michelle Williams as Molly. Two years into her remission from successful breast cancer treatment, Molly feels a pain in her hip that turns out to be a recurrence of her cancer, now metastasized to her bones. She can tell that her husband Steve (Jay Duplass) is, in a way,...