Harlots is the other woman-driven Hulu show everyone should be talking about

There’s a show on Hulu about women who are trying to survive in a patriarchal society. They dress in easily recognizable outfits. Better-situated people call them sluts or whores, and the men they have sex with are sometimes horribly violent and always transactional. The worst thing that could happen to these women is being sent to “the colonies,” but that’s only if they aren’t hanged first. It’s a fascinating look at the micro-worlds women create to protect themselves and their agency, and also there are at least nine towering, silly-looking powdered wigs per episode.

Oh, right. Not that show. The other one. This one’s actually a lot of fun.

Harlots on Hulu is about two warring brothels in Georgian-era London, each run by a formidable woman who straight up wants to murder the other. The first is Margaret Wells, whose working-class institution services men from all walks of life. Her nemesis is Lydia Quigley, a puffed up and powdered pseudo-lady whose pastel-toned mansion is a playground for blue-bloods and their ilk.

Their beef is as old as Margaret herself, and the murder-filled, underhanded plots they hatch to take each other down makes the show less of a sex-filled period drama and more of a tale of two madam mobsters.

Any show about prostitution is of course packed with sex, but Harlots — which is written and directed entirely by women — challenges audiences to view sex acts as transactional realities, much like their characters do. For example, in the first episode of Season 2, women working in Mrs. Wells’s house are all seen servicing customers but are more interested in overhearing a fight happening in the next room. Butts are bare and thrusting is occurring, but it’s rarely the most important thing that’s happening.

Of the important things that do happen, the eight episodes of the show’s first season cover a lot. In addition to the Wells/Quigley rivalry, Harlots explores the interiority of the women who work in and outside of their houses. Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay (RIP Lady Sibyl) plays Charlotte Wells, Margaret’s oldest daughter who is contracted as the kept woman of a wealthy, spoiled nobleman. Charlotte wants to exit the family business not only for herself, but for her younger sister Lucy, whose virginity Margaret plans to sell now that she’s reached age (ugh) 15.

There’s murder, blackmail, seduction, spies, a classic “let’s pretend this dead dude is just a stumbly drunk so we can dispose of his body” routine, human trafficking, and a few other subplots revolving around the lives of sex workers who don’t live in either of the two main brothels.

It’s so rare to see a period drama that focuses on class-based modes of sex work, and the Georgian era’s rapidly changing social structure is an excellent backdrop for a story about women fighting for safety and comfort in a world that systematically denies them a chance at both. Come to Harlots for the costumes, fierce one-liners, and a heavy dose of pulp. Stay for the mob drama and girl power.