Written by Waldo Lydecker and directed by Mark A. Alton (who co-created the series with Steven Kriozere, this series opens with a man being wakened in the middle of the night by his wife because she hears a suspicious noise outside. The man takes a gun from a shelf next to the bed and goes outside to investigate, where he finds a mysterious woman digging a grave in his yard. The next thing you know, his wife knocks him with a shovel in the back of his head. This is one of the better cold openings of this season, so far.

The man and woman are Charles and Darla McKendrick, played by Ian Gregory and Anya Monzikova. Charles is a wealthy older man, and Anya is his typical bored young trophy wife. The series flashes back to a week earlier, when Charles went away on a week-long business trip, and Darla hired a masseuse to come to their mansion to massage her. Carlee Baker plays Beth, the masseuse, and as she gives Darla the massage (during which Darla is naked, of course), the two women commiserate about their love lives. Darla is not happy with Ian but feels like she can’t leave him because she’d be left with no money. Beth has an FWB situation with a man named Howard, but all he’s good for is sex, and she wants something more. Sparks fly between the two women, and the next thing you know they’re having sex on the massage table.

And in the bathtub.

And in the shower.

This hot passionate affair lasted the whole week, and as Ian is set to return from his trip, Beth laments the fact that their affair will have to come to an end, as they can’t risk Ian finding out. That’s when she broaches the subject of the two of them bumping him off, which Darla is initially reluctant about, but then agrees to.

Bren Foster plays Howard, whom Beth enlists in their plan. They stage a fake kidnapping of Ian, which includes a break-in and Howard and Darla having sex (while Beth watches, and eventually joins in), and then him hitting her to make it look like Darla’s been raped and assaulted. After killing and burying Ian, they leave Darla naked and tied up, and gagged in her closet, where her maid (Elena Tovar) finds her the next morning. Darla tells her fake story to the police, and they receive a ransom letter asking for $10 million, this is so Darla can get the cash from Ian’s bank, which she, Beth, and Howard plan to run off with.

But when it’s time to split up the money, it seems that Darla, Beth, and Howard each have their own agendas. Who comes out on top? Well, sorry, I’m not going to spoil it, because it ends with a plot twist that I didn’t see coming.

What a great episode, well-written and suspenseful, the cast is all great in their roles. In addition to her normal hosting role as Lilith, Tanit Phoenix has a small cameo as Charles’s secretary Lilly. And the two sex scenes are hot!

Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this UNRATED 3-disc DVD set of Femme Fatale season 1 for $19.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list.