This week, Masters of Sex dipped heavily into the psychological benefits and damage brought on by the simple act of a lie. It’s a theme that has recurred on and off through the series, and, given the series is thus far largely about the adulterous relationship between Virginia Johnson and Bill Masters, it’s hardly a surprising component.
But this episode, “Story of my Life,” is especially remarkable because it’s the first time in this second season where Virginia, so heavily invested into adultery with Bill, starts to question the lies he tells his wife to cover their relationship. The further Masters and Johnson explore and evolve their relationship the more accomplished and compelling the show becomes.
But Virginia and Bill weren’t the only ones tells lies this week.
The episode begins with Virginia, pretending to be Barbara – the sex study reject who suffers from vaginismus, relaying Barbara’s history to a renowned psychologist in an attempt to gain advice for the clinically shy woman. Yet, Virginia tells the story, a difficult and painful saga of a sexually active brother and sister, with all the inflection of a woman rattling off items on a grocery list. Naturally, the psychologist becomes suspicious but ultimately provides the seemingly throwaway advice of “Become that child again and tell your brother ‘NO’ or ‘STOP!” (Note: this could be perfectly great advice, but I was not a psychology major. Seemed like horse poop to me.)
When Masters later begins to examine Barbara in an attempt to physically cure her (Bill is very aware of the distinction between psychical and mental ailments), Barbara nervously reacts with poorly timed comedy.
“Doesn’t it sound like a holiday,” she asks, regarding her condition. “The Feast of Vaginismus!”
You don’t know how close I came to calling this recap “The Magic of Vaginismus.”
But Barbara cannot be cured by brief, painful examinations or simple platitudes. Instead, she misunderstands Virginia’s instructions (Virginia relayed the psychiatrist’s advice to Barbara as her own advice) and discusses the event from her childhood with her brother.
Turns out her brother Paul has a different recollection of the events. He remembers it as Barbara using her body to keep him from playing with twin girls across the street, which had a significantly sadder effect on me as a viewer. Barbara now believes she lied to herself to cover the lengths she went to gain the attention of a man. It is the same shame rooted in her most recent sexual relationship, which involved exclusively anal intercourse.
Virginia was shaken by the seemingly additional damage she’d caused Barbara. Additionally, the conversation with the psychiatrist ultimately bled into an exploration of her own guilt over lying to her friend Dr. Lillian DePaul about her affair with Bill.
These two major events and an innocent encounter with Libby at a lunch counter lead Virginia to confront Bill in their hotel room. This scene is beautifully played. So much so, in fact, that I realized how much I take for granted the weird, inappropriate-but-perfect chemistry Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen have as actors. They play off each other so effortlessly that, when Bill ultimately reveals his own secret – impotence – the effect is cataclysmic. The giant emotional wall that Bill surrounds himself continues to crumble piece by piece.
The crumbling of that wall was no doubt hurried by the continued interactions with his estranged brother, Frank (Christian Borle). An alcoholic, Frank surreptitiously drags Bill to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where Frank is to receive his 1-year sober coin. In doing so, Frank relays the tragic and troubled story of being raised by their father. Trouble is, it’s not entirely clear how much of that story actually happened to Frank as Bill confronts him for apparently lying.
Frank manages to turn it around and make Bill feel shame (by telling him he doesn’t blame him, the oldest trick in the book) for leaving him alone with their abusive father. Even though these scenes continue to flesh out the character of Bill Masters, I grow slightly impatient with them. We’ve been down this path before with his mother. Making matters worse, Borle gives an incredibly ill fitting, theatrical performance during his big AA monologue. He’s clearly doing it for the cheap seats in the back. I wasn’t impressed and thought he was actually much more natural on NBCs Smash.
Finally, Libby 2.0 (the racially sensitive upgrade) tries her hand at lying, and she discovers she’s not very convincing at it. Granted, her attempt is well intended as she wants to help catch the rednecks who beat an innocent black man. So this is what the writers have in store for her character, I suppose. If she’s not awkwardly interacting with African Americans, then she’s being shamed by her loveless and sexless marriage to Bill Masters (as is the case in a seemingly innocent conversation with her sister-in-law).
At the end of the episode, Libby 2.0 decided to “screw up the courage” (I know that’s a older phrase, but it’s just so on the nose here) to join CORE (Congress of Racial Equality).
Imagine the wackiness that will ensue…
But the entire episode wasn’t all heavy secrets and lies. Bill tries to comically cure cameraman Lester Linden’s (Kevin Christy) impotence by buying him a prostitute as a sort of on the job bonus. The scene in which he is seduced is a classic study in awkwardness that has to be seen to fully appreciate the brilliance of Christy’s underrated comic skills.
With such deep-seeded emotional trauma tied to sex in this show, it’s sometimes a great thing to laugh at sex even if it is the briefest of moments.