TV Recap: Masters of Sex - "Surrogates"

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.

To the best of Masters' knowledge, Virginia is sick. However, she is out of town with her new lover Dan Logan (Josh Charles). Together, they go around a casino where Virginia discovers the correlations between winning jackpots and sexual desire. This gets Dan curious to tell his friends. Meanwhile, Masters teaches people about sexual reproduction in order to get them ready for a potential surrogate project. This includes the involvement of a student he originally knew as a little girl. Among them is Helen (Sarah Silverman), who lies her way into the program. When she is found out, Masters assaults Betty DiMello (Annaleigh Ashford) for forging documents. She claims that Masters wouldn't have let her in without. When someone tries to rob Virginia and Dan, he beats him up and wonders how to take care of the body. Meanwhile, Barton Scully (Beau Bridges) is starting his own work up again. Virginia is reluctant to tell Masters about Dan.

Rating: 4 out of 5

It looks like things aren't going to work out for Masters. Where he is in charge of his own program, he is starting to find that everyone else isn't having his shenanigans. While he has had various affairs outside of the program, he claims that he has remained professional throughout. Yet here, Betty manages to get to the core of what's wrong with him. He doesn't report his personal problems, yet Helen is forced to do so in order to keep the program pure. Things are heating up and maybe Virginia won't be too far behind in accusing Masters of questionable activities.

This episode's biggest strength is how Masters sees women. He imagines that everyone else must be perfect in order to fulfill his plan. He also takes things at surface value. Virginia fakes illness to get out of work. He doesn't question any further, thinking that it was all his idea. Likewise, he doesn't see Libby Masters' (Caitlin Fitzgerald) issue with having a woman they originally knew as a child participating. He is able to separate that truth, until he gets to find too much personal and begins to question himself. Still, there's the question of whether he would have accepted Helen if she was honest about being a single woman wanting a child.

Which adds to the appeal of the episode. This is all about how men see women. While there's the literal observation of Masters picking out his subjects, he also thinks that they need to stick to a certain guidelines. In the cast of Helen, he is unable to see the most progressive views possible. Single women having children is still too taboo. She is the perfect candidate considering everything, but even someone he has a history with appeals to him more. He's losing his grasp on being ahead of the study instead of being as jaded as those he initially disapproved of. Things are probably only going to get worse before they get better. 

Now that Virginia has had some time away from Masters, how are things going to be when she returns? She has created her own independent thought and while Dan isn't the perfect replacement, he at least has stability. He listens to her and they work together to solve their problems. Maybe Masters is incompatible without Virginia, but his ego is often holding him back. He isn't able to look past their relationship and find something deeper. When he discovers Dan, things may likely become hellish and while they may work things out, it probably won't be the same.

The only hope is that Masters of Sex continues on the trajectory of quality episodes. I do think that it is the most focused it has been in quite some time. I think it helps that the dynamic has been questioned and is going into interesting and strange directions. It's questioning the sexual politics of a new decade and realizing that even the heroes are facing trouble adjusting. I worry that it may go the other way and become a little bit pulpy and campy, but I don't know that it's late enough in the season for that to happen. Frankly, I think it's found the perfect groove and will hopefully ride out in peace.