TV Recap: Masters of Sex - "Two Scents"

Left to right: Josh Charles 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 Tuesday for a dissection of the week's episode featuring thoughts of the show in general as well as predictions of where things are headed.

Everything is going well with Masters and Virginia. Well, not Virginia, exactly. Her family has made it their goal to live with her as long as possible. Meanwhile, Tessa (Isabelle Fuhrman) enters a writing contest and is proud to say that she has won. Meanwhile, Masters encourages his son to play sports, but is dismayed when he finds out that he isn't very good. Virginia and Masters get busy with some studies regarding frigidity at work with an unstable couple. This makes them question their own partnership. Meanwhile, Libby Masters (Caitlin Fitzgerald) pretends to be another woman to live in an apartment for a day. When she discovers that her son is injured, she goes to yell at the coach, only to get into arguments over their own affairs. Virginia begins having feelings for someone else. Masters goes about looking into helping a gorilla at a zoo. When Virginia gets mad at the attention that her mother is giving Tessa, she causes a ruckus between them and Tessa doesn't share the article.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Left to right: Charles and Caplan

Oh boy, is the season heating up. While it has been moving along at a fair pace, this episode feels like it has gotten back to normal. It has hit the strides that I generally would like to expect from this series. There's the return of the sex studies, which have their own interesting turns. It makes you question Masters and Virginia, who has always been a very odd choice for a romantic couple. Is their attraction real, or did it happen merely because work brought them together? It is an interesting question, especially as Virginia begins to have feelings for another doctor. 

Meanwhile, I am thinking like the kids are starting to add something to the show. While I have harped on Tessa before, this may be one of the first times that Johnny Masters (Jaeden Lieberher) has felt important. This episode sees him playing sports simply because his parents want to. He's not very good, but there's this denial that this isn't the right call for him. It is also a moment where the Masters parents have to realize that maybe they aren't that great at being parents. Libby is hung up on forming a secret life while Masters works late hours. Libby even questions her previous pregnancy before. Things aren't pleasant and creating their own rift.

The episode in general is about attraction and what it generally means. This is a pretty great plot specifically in the Johnson family. Beyond Virginia not getting along with Masters, there's her family. She's not enjoying the company of her mother: who hasn't really been as accepting as she'd like. There's Tessa, whose initial joy is destroyed when she is met with disapproval from her mother of a haircut grandma took her to get. There's a lot of conflict going on in Virginia's life, thus keeping her probably the most interesting character on the series. It doesn't make sense sometimes how she juggles it, but at least there's an attempt to be a good mother, while Masters isn't very good at being a father.

So, what is attraction, basically? What makes this episode pretty strong is its ability to question the very core of this series. Everything that the series have been working for gets dissected in this episode, making us wonder what anything means. Why do we like who we like? Can we be fooled into it with a love potion? Is there an artificiality to love? Most of all, it feels like there's something interesting going on between Masters and Virginia, which hasn't been all that common over the past few episodes. Is this the moment where things decline, or are we looking at a stronger bond than ever, possibly even desperation from Masters?

I'm not entirely sure, but I am glad that this show has managed to save itself after the hump. With last season being notoriously uneven, I was worried to enter the back half and experience something similar. Thankfully, it has a lot of potential and with a cast that is stronger than ever, there's only hope that we get some catharsis. Maybe the show's generational theme will become more clear and maybe the romances will become more clairvoyant to a grander theme. Either way, this season is heating up and I wonder if that last shot of a gorilla is symbolic, or something that is going to be prevalent in the next episode. After all, it is human sexuality. Maybe Masters will find something in gorillas that is worth exploring. Let's just hope it doesn't get silly.