Masters of Sex: One for the Money, Two for the Show

September 21, 2014 8:55 PM - Season 2, Episode 11

A television crew arrives to document the work of Masters and Johnson; Masters believes himself an unsuitable television presence; Virginia deals with the fallout of having prioritized her work over her parenting when George argues to take their children on a trip with his new wife.
posted by oh yeah! (2 comments total)

From the Vulture recap: While Bill and Virginia are hard at work on the CBS interview, Libby's off with Robert, listening to the radio for news about a Martin Luther King Jr. arrest. He drives her home, and after a brief altercation with a police officer, Libby invites Robert in to prove a point (both to him and the officer). There's an excruciating few minutes of button sewing and allusions to past crimes, and finally, finally, finally, they're doing it — in Bill's home, while Bill's kids sleep down the hall. The whole run is a lovely bit of acting from Caitilin FitzGerald, who's had to shift between stoic and shrill and erratic without much reward all season. It's all still out of place and random, but they're having sex on a television program about sex, which is all I've been asking them to do all season, really. I do have to ask: Were we meant to believe that that was Libby's first orgasm?

I didn't expect to like the Libby/Robert hook-up, and while I thought Libby's monologue was incredibly writer-y (like, sub-text written as text?) FitzGerald did a good job with it.

Also, the Libby/Robert relationship is a beacon of positivity compared with the Flo/Langham sub-plot. I guess we're supposed to find it funny? As if there's some kind of poetic justice in Langham being sexually exploited after all of his philandering? But it's just creeptastic.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:38 AM on September 24, 2014

I didn't expect to like the Libby/Robert hook-up

Indeed. Libby is fascinating in an odd way: her frustrations and self absorption are obvious, yet the actress handles it in a subtle way that gives the character a bit of humanity.

Flo and Langham is comical, but a bit overdone. Hoping they continue developing Lester, he's also interesting to watch.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:28 PM on September 24, 2014