Masters of Sex has been terrific dealing with the romantic escapades of its protagonists and their will-they-or-won’t-they tension. Meanwhile, the show has been at its most poignant to date when dealing with the failed unions – the ones that do not benefit from sexual attraction or fulfillment.
The first is Barton and Margaret Scully. In this episode, the Provost admits that he wants to address the abominable perversion of his homosexual lust by going through electro-shock therapy to ‘cure’ his feelings. Although its purpose is to mend his fractured marriage, Margaret looks at this procedure apprehensively. Beau Bridges and Allison Janney deserve awards attention for their devastating work, depicting the turmoil of a relationship so backward, their scenes are almost unbearable to watch. During these scenes, the shots are long, circling the characters as they figure out how to respond to their partner. That the two of them can still show motions of warmth and kindness toward each other makes this subplot easier to bear, and the performances more powerful.
The second is Bill and Libby Masters. She is beginning to suspect that Virginia may have been a more potent test subject when some of the doctors speculate that the woman masturbating in that footage is Virginia. Bill implores that this is not so, but is unable to answer his wife. In this episode, Fitzgerald gets little screen time, her character’s gentleness an ineffective way to mend her husband’s dashed spirits. Although Fitzgerald began this season as a potential Best Supporting Actress contender at the Emmys next year, her slight screen time (and the greater attention later given to Julianne Nicholson and Allison Janney) may be too little to guarantee an awards berth.
For Bill, who characters have already referred to with historical and religious allegory, writer Michelle Ashford continues to use the spaceman as a metaphor for the protagonist. This episode is set on the same weekend that Maj. Simons proved he had the right stuff and was the first man ever launched into space. The similarities are, again, obvious: Bill is an ambitious man yearning for discovery and hoping that his findings are groundbreaking enough to change the world and the way we look at our humanity. When Henry and Virginia watch the footage of Maj. Simons 19 miles above the earth, Virginia tells her son that the heroes of this also include those in Mission Control. She is eager for Masters to admit that she played a key role in helping him get to the “heavenly wonders” in the study. However, the negative turn of his presentation keeps Bill’s ego planted on the ground.
“Manhigh” is a very good season finale. The only major issue is how even though a character talks about how the study has lasted a year, Libby is already in labor at this point. This is far-fetched and does not line up with the series’ timeline.
However, Masters of Sex‘s finale is also very satisfying since it displays two major ironies related to the central character. At the presentation, Bill talks about how his studies persevered in eschewing some of the lies, half-truths and delusions that people believe about sexuality. In the process of compiling this data, though, he lied, cheated and sinned his way to uncovering this knowledge and contributed to a marriage that can be increasingly thought of as a delusion. Even with more knowledge of sexuality in the public domain, Bill and Libby’s sex life remains mostly uncharted territory.
At his presentation, Bill exclaims, “Up with innovation, down with sonnets.” He wants to move away from traditional views of what romance is and show through his (and Virginia’s) findings the truth about love and sexuality. However, in his final moments this season, a quivering Masters shows up at Virginia’s door, pleading poetically for a supporter, a friend, a lover. Without his work anchoring him, Bill is adrift, the rain falling behind him becoming a tempest that reflects his feelings. His words, as well as the pathetic fallacy, are reminiscent of a sonnet. Bill bears his heart now that the science is terminated. Defeated, he is now less of a fighter for science and knowledge. Dr. Masters is a lover and he is finally starting to show it.