As a title, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed feels at least oxymoronic if not knowingly ironic. The series does start with a virtual “relationship” between the recently divorced Paula (Tatiana Maslany) and camboy Trevor (Brandon Flynn), and much of the pleasure seems to be just chatting, having someone to laugh and joke with. Yes, the call concludes on a hasty mutual masturbation session, but it seems clear Paula needs the whole of the package, not just the release. Unfortunately, the next time they see each other, Paula witnesses what appears to be Trevor’s assault at the hands of a masked man. Pleasure has left the building and the series.

When Paula takes the matter to the cops, Detective Sofia Gonzalez (Dolly de Leon) doesn’t blow her off, per se, but she’s not exactly warm. She tells the protagonist it is likely a scam, and her instincts are right. What she doesn’t anticipate is how doggedly Trevor will pursue the scam. He calls Paula at home and work, talking to her daughter, Hazel (Nola Wallace), in a scary tone, and facetimes Paula’s ex, Karl (Jake Johnson), and his new wife, Mallory (Jessy Hodges).

She also doesn’t anticipate how Paula will react, turning her skills as fact checker to investigating her blackmailer. The logic of that is just this side of Blue Skies-era USA Network programming. “See, she’s a fact checker, so she’s not just good at editing copy, she can fact-check the WORLD for clues” kind of stuff. But Maslany is so winning, and the pacing so smart that the leap barely registers. Additionally, Maslany makes Paula both deeply likable and obviously not on solid ground. She’s dogged in her investigation in part because she’s desperate to maintain custody. However, there’s also a subconscious self-destructive quality that she seems unwilling or unable to break free of.

Nonetheless, even the all-time greatest fact checker isn’t psychic. So Paula doesn’t anticipate her investigation will embroil her in the middle of a murder investigation or an even larger blackmailing ring. There are several big leaps along the way, making the series a mirror of its protagonist. Like the initial shorthand of “fact checker=talent for crime solving,” Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is a bit of a house without a foundation. And like selling us on Paula’s superpowers, the David J. Rosen-created series sells us with confidence and speed. We believe in the world, as far-fetched as it is, because the show believes in itself. It is 100% unself-conscious about its internal logic, and as a viewer, it is nigh-impossible not to get swept up in that wake.

Smartly, the show balances its twists and ever-broadening scope with characters that feel honest and grounded, even among the chaos. Johnson well captures how Karl often is right but for the wrong reasons, without rendering him a villain or asshole. He’s flawed, he’s been disloyal, he’s self-interested. On the other hand, he’s a pretty good ex, serious about his daughter’s safety, and rightfully freaked out by whatever situation has Paula in its grip. Hodges, unfortunately, has a much thinner role that veers into wicked-new-wife territory. She has a new job in Idaho, so she wants to disrupt everyone’s life for it. She’s playing as close to dirty as she can in the custody trial without her husband’s knowledge. That sort of thing. The show needs maybe one more scene that’s a little more layered, and sadly, it never comes.

The top three supporting turns come in the form of Paula’s coworkers-turned-investigative sidekicks, Rudy (Charlie Hall) and Geri (Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg), and a dead-eyed Murray Bartlett as a violent fixer. Goldberg and Hall have great flirty screwball energy with each other and a bumbling mix of respect and wariness towards Paula. They mean well, they want to help, but neither is quite selfless enough not to be a liability. Bartlett is scary without becoming a cartoon character. Like most of the other characters, he isn’t flawless. This, despite his obvious years of experience, makes him a foe you can see Paula besting. Especially given her erratic behavior, our fixer, who is used to people reacting predictably, has his hands full.

Visually, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed does suffer some from the streaming color disease. Much of it is a touch too dark and a little too afraid of bright colors. However, from a shot composition, camera movement, and editing standpoint, the show is notably strong. Besides the sheer momentum of the plot, the way the show looks and moves keeps the tension at least simmering from about the last ten minutes of episode 1 onward. Whether cracking a joke or watching a murderer at work, it ensures the audience never feels a bone-deep disquiet.

The reason for my hesitance above about whether the title is ironic comes from an alternative the show quietly asserts. Given how things begin, interpreting pleasure as specifically sexual—or at least intimate—is understandable. However, over the course of the season, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed points to another source of pleasure found in the expression and reception of a more generalized sort of comfort. For Paula, that quieter kind of pleasure—the support of a coworker, the embrace of family, the relief of being believed—proves far more sustaining than the kinds offered by any husband or remarkably pretty camboy.

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is here to tease you and please you on AppleTV May 20.

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Trailer: