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| Left to right: Michael Shannon and Lizzy Caplan |
Welcome to the weekly recaps of the Showtime series Masters of Sex that follows the history of Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) and Virginia Johnson's (Lizzy Caplan) actual studies of sex. Make sure to tune in every Wednesday for a dissection of the week's episode as well as thoughts of the show in general as well as potential thoughts of where things are headed. Also, please feel free to check out my recaps on Maron every Friday and Orange is the New Black every Saturday.
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Plot: Masters and Virginia begin working in a negro hospital under the watchful eye of Dr. Hendricks (Courtney B. Vance). Libby (Caitlin Fitzgerald) gets reprimanded for treating Coral (Keke Palmer) with hostility and refuses to apologize for the mistreatment. Dr. DePaul (Julianne Nicholson) gets angry with Virginia, and the two split ways on the study. Betty (AnnaLeigh Ashford) is still annoyed about her infertile husband and wants to have children. She also tries to double date with her friend Helen (Sarah Silverman), which results in a bisexual behavior in the bathroom. After a fight breaks out in the hospital, it is suggested that the black and white patients be segregated to avoid further hostility. DePaul makes up with Virginia after she relies on her to pick her up from the hospital after passing out in a bathroom.
Raring: 3 out of 5
If there is one thing interesting about Masters of Sex season two, it is the lack of... sex. Yes, the study is still prevalent over everything that happens. However, once the story has begun moving, it is more about the people and trying to come to terms with being outcasts in their industry. In fact, where the first season saw them in only one hospital, this is the second one in only five episodes. Also, things are getting hostile, so who knows if that is actually going to stick and if we're going to be there. In fact, the affair between Masters and Virginia almost seems secondary to everything else simply because what this episode chose to attack was boundaries.
What boundaries am I referencing? I am talking about the boundaries between races and sexes. To start off with a simpler one, there is discussion of bisexuality. While we have dealt with homosexual characters before, it hasn't really been in the inner circle of characters here. Also, there hasn't been any gay women, which is particularly striking, speaking as it is more accepted. To see Helen confess to Betty about her true feelings only reflects that these tendencies are inside and the people that make us happy can only do so much. It is interesting to pin her as this weird character with psychic abilities to sense supernatural occurrences. The only hope is that she sticks around in order to more develop beyond this throwaway scene that manages to tie into the racial themes that surround everything else.
After last week proved to have some striking moments between Libby and Coral, it is time to watch everything payoff. How does it? With the message that white people never apologize. It is what the episode was generally about and the continuing hostility. Libby tries to move onto other issues, but she can never escape her treatment of Coral. It is an uncomfortable moment and it is gratifying to see Libby get proven wrong. For her to use Masters' placement at the negro hospital at her defense is also an excellent argument for the ignorance of people at the time. They wish to be open minded, but rarely do they ever get that.
Meanwhile, Masters is dealing with it in a more tolerable way. The actions of violence at the hospital are not caused by him. However, because of that, he realizes that the transition to a different hospital has become a little more complicated. The tension on his clients are high and there's chances that many will leave him. Racism is strong during this period and who knows how long it will take to overcome. While Dr. Hendricks has some high hopes, he is aware that it is going to take awhile. In fact, the sex research hasn't really gotten underway, except between Masters and Virginia during their downtime. It is a great counterargument to two weeks ago when Virginia stood naked before Masters to have the opposite happen. It is open acceptance of each other.
In fact, the episode is all about trying to understand boundaries in the social class system. Even DePaul and Virginia's brief tiff opens up to conversation on letting their feud hold back from progression in the study. Likewise, the progression in society needs to happen only by having people set aside differences and grow as a people. This is an episode that will hopefully build to a more tolerable culture, though knowing history, it isn't likely. Much like sex, the prejudice is something that needs to be recognized and influence change. This is a transitioning episode that has a lot of great moments, but is a little bit heavy handed and slow in executing them.
Raring: 3 out of 5
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| Left to right: AnnaLeigh Ashford and Sarah Silverman |
What boundaries am I referencing? I am talking about the boundaries between races and sexes. To start off with a simpler one, there is discussion of bisexuality. While we have dealt with homosexual characters before, it hasn't really been in the inner circle of characters here. Also, there hasn't been any gay women, which is particularly striking, speaking as it is more accepted. To see Helen confess to Betty about her true feelings only reflects that these tendencies are inside and the people that make us happy can only do so much. It is interesting to pin her as this weird character with psychic abilities to sense supernatural occurrences. The only hope is that she sticks around in order to more develop beyond this throwaway scene that manages to tie into the racial themes that surround everything else.
After last week proved to have some striking moments between Libby and Coral, it is time to watch everything payoff. How does it? With the message that white people never apologize. It is what the episode was generally about and the continuing hostility. Libby tries to move onto other issues, but she can never escape her treatment of Coral. It is an uncomfortable moment and it is gratifying to see Libby get proven wrong. For her to use Masters' placement at the negro hospital at her defense is also an excellent argument for the ignorance of people at the time. They wish to be open minded, but rarely do they ever get that.
Meanwhile, Masters is dealing with it in a more tolerable way. The actions of violence at the hospital are not caused by him. However, because of that, he realizes that the transition to a different hospital has become a little more complicated. The tension on his clients are high and there's chances that many will leave him. Racism is strong during this period and who knows how long it will take to overcome. While Dr. Hendricks has some high hopes, he is aware that it is going to take awhile. In fact, the sex research hasn't really gotten underway, except between Masters and Virginia during their downtime. It is a great counterargument to two weeks ago when Virginia stood naked before Masters to have the opposite happen. It is open acceptance of each other.
In fact, the episode is all about trying to understand boundaries in the social class system. Even DePaul and Virginia's brief tiff opens up to conversation on letting their feud hold back from progression in the study. Likewise, the progression in society needs to happen only by having people set aside differences and grow as a people. This is an episode that will hopefully build to a more tolerable culture, though knowing history, it isn't likely. Much like sex, the prejudice is something that needs to be recognized and influence change. This is a transitioning episode that has a lot of great moments, but is a little bit heavy handed and slow in executing them.
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