Masters of Sex reached its penultimate episode, “One for the Money, Two for the Show,” and focused much of the content on the attempts by a CBS documentary team to interview Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson. Given Bill’s flaccid charisma, you can imagine how the proceedings go.
But, perhaps, that’s not the point.
As they prep for the sure-to-be controversial interview (designed to put a human, relatable face on the Masters and Johnson sex study), Bill and Virginia face difficulties speaking about the sex in their typical candor. Words like “masturbation,” “orgasm,” or “climax” couldn’t be said on television, challenging the sex researchers to convey their research in sanitized, dishonest terms.
In a speech destined for the cutting room floor, Bill’s frustration against the network censors lead him to proclaim that the very censorship they are faced with is causing the nationwide repression that leads to unfulfilling sex lives.
The big irony of the episode is that the character’s sex lives have moved leagues beyond television censorship, making that conversation seem silly and chaste by comparison.
Whether she realizes it or not, Libby Masters 2.0 knows that the Masters and Johnson relationship extends beyond a professional partnership. Watching the pair share their scientific lives in front of the camera, Libby senses their closeness, their bond. And it naturally causes her significant anguish.
Later, in a beautiful scene that allows actress Caitlin Fitzgerald to deliver on the early promise she showed in season one, Libby expresses her dissatisfaction and aimlessness in her personal live to CORE co-worker Robert. Finally, she seduces Robert, an initially fearful and unwilling partner, and they share a powerful moment of intimacy on the kitchen floor of the Masters home. Libby 2.0 has finally broken free of the confines of her marriage with Bill Masters, and, I suspect, the season finale will bring about the official dissolution of their marriage.
Also seeking fulfillment through sexuality is Cal-o-Metric saleswoman Flo who, last week, forced new spokesman Dr. Austin Langham into a sexual relationship. This week, she tries to train him on sexual role-playing, a trick to which Austin doesn’t easily adapt.
While the scene is played for laughs (and there is little doubt that watching Flo walk Austin through roughhousing is quite funny), the ultimate dissatisfaction Flo feels after climax is particularly sad. She is an empty vessel seeking fulfillment through sex with an attractive lothario. Unfortunately, Austin is strictly going through the motions in order to keep his job – a fact she cannot ignore.
Finally, Bill, himself, continues to experience his own impotence issues after last week’s breakthrough failed to take. As Virginia struggles with an ex-husband who wants to take their kids to Europe for six weeks over the holidays, she is faced with Bill’s sobbing and sexual panic. The show seems to be laying supporting work for the real-life Virginia’s famous statement that she never truly loved Bill Masters. Given his constant self-doubt, aggressively unpleasant attitude, and unavoidable impotence, it’s a wonder why she stuck around as long as she did.
Overall, the hour was an average episode that felt slightly unfocused. Perhaps I was putting too much focus into the CBS interview, which admittedly only takes up a small component of the overall episode. I, too, felt somewhat dissatisfied by the proceedings, all build up and little delivery.
But such is life. All sex can’t be great sex.
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