Non-Sexual Nudity as a Result of TV/Movie Plot

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The Deal, the sixth episode of the Showtime drama Billions that aired this past Sunday had an example of non-sexual nudity as a result of a plot point.

The protagonist of the series is Chuck Rhoades (played by Paul Giamatti) who is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (which includes Manhattan). The antagonist is Bobby Axelrod (played by Damien Lewis) the founder and CEO of Axe Capital, a giant hedge fund. The third corner of the dramatic triangle is Wendy Rhoades, M.D., (played by Maggie Siff) who has been the corporate psychiatrist for Axe Capital for over 15 years, long before her husband became the U.S. Attorney. Her job is to treat the senior traders of Axe Capital for stress from their high-pressure jobs.

Chuck Rhoades is determined to indict Bobby Axelrod for insider trading and other corporate malfeasance. Despite the advice of his colleagues and supervisors, he will not recuse himself because of his wife being a high-ranking employee of Axe Capital. In episode five, the U.S. Attorney's Office launches a raid on Axe Capital, timed to occur which Rhoades' wife is out of the office.

Dr. Rhoades is determined not to be a shuttlecock bounced between her husband and her employer.

Episode six opens with Dr. Rhoades being brought to an underground spa, the size of a small swimming pool. She approaches it wearing a bathrobe. Bobby Axelrod appears on the other side of the spa. He removes his robe and enters the water, inviting her to do the same.

Dr. Rhoades: Hello? [footsteps approach]

Bobby Axelrod: You came.

Dr. Rhoades: Did I have a choice?

Bobby Axelrod: You always have a choice.

[Axelrod drops his robe and enters the spa.]: Come in.

[Dr. Rhoades drops her robe and enters the spa (viewed from behind)]

Axelrod: It's been a weird couple of days.

Dr. Rhoades: Yeah.

The two of them are very careful to always maintain eye contact. Then the show backs up 72 hours and shows what led up to this meeting. It is then clear that Axelrod wanted to meet Dr. Rhoades in the spa, so that he could be sure that she was not wearing a microphone. He wants to find out if she thinks that her husband is open to a plea deal.

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Season 1 Episode 6 "Impractical Applications"

This Syfy Channel series is based on the novels by Lev Grossman. The setting is a magical post graduate school, so the actors are in their mid-twenties instead of being teenagers like the students at Hogwarts.

This episode has the first year students being challenged by the upper class students. For the third test, they are paired with another first year magician of the opposite sex and have to

"You must bare yourself in the presence of another magical adept and expose your highest-governing internal circumstance, which is to say, your utmost truth."

"It's gotta be some kind of scheme, right? To record us playing naked truth or dare, so they can blackmail us or something.

Unfortunately, Margo wasn't lying.

It's arcane and a bit unorthodox, but secrets magic is a real thing.

Basically, there is no trick or cheat to this.

It's kind of the exact opposite."

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"I know it's not part of the spell, but I think it could make things easier.

You know, I always thought when I partook in a nude magic ritual, that I'd be sort of in a mystical trance.

[sighs] Tell that to the girl who lost her virginity with all her clothes on."

Unfortunately, this is a PG-13 rated series so it is all covered nudity, but the actors and actresses do a good job of conveying their embarrassment, especially since one of the couples has some unresolved sexual tension.