Masters of Sex: Parliament of Owls

July 12, 2015 8:04 PM - Season 3, Episode 1

Masters and Johnson prepare to publish their study; Virginia faces parenting struggles; Libby pulls herself out of a depression.
posted by oh yeah! (5 comments total)

Very WTF on the disclaimer credit at the end of the episode “This program is about the important achievements of Masters and Johnson. The children Tessa, Henry, Johnny and Jenny are entirely fictitious.”. We've had two seasons full of fictionalized characters and events, to list just those 4 implies that everyone else's stories are factual, when we already know that the writers have been making up characters and events from the start.

Kind of sad about that throwaway joke line from Betty about Lester calling his wife 'Caligula in curlers.' Assuming that's Barbara, it's frustrating that after seeing her suffering with vaginismus, we're not getting to see her free of it, now she's just some off-screen tyrannical wife?

On another note, seeing that partially-constructed St. Louis Arch was pretty funny, as I've been seeing the partially destructed Arch on Defiance this season.

All criticisms aside though, I'm glad to have the show back again. What will Bill fuck up this year?
posted by oh yeah! at 8:44 PM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Parliament? I always thought it was a Court.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:27 AM on July 13, 2015

Not sure I'll stick with this, as who wants to watch such an arrogant asshole, over and over? Surely there must be something better...
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:28 AM on July 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

So they're just going to make zero effort at all to age the principal characters in a way that reflects the passage of twelve years? None at all?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:57 PM on July 26, 2015

This episode has just screened here in Australia. I'm also glad to have it back on air, even though I must admit that I find it very frustrating at times. The series has a great central cast and the love triangle between Bill, Virginia and Libby set against Bill and Virginia's study can be really interesting. What I find frustrating is that the writers seem to squander the intensity and awkwardness of these relationships by throwing a zillion sub-plots at the wall but never letting them grow and develop. Characters are introduced and then discarded without any explanation, ham fisted references to historical events are shoe horned into episodes for no apparent reason and long jumps in time occur. The overall effect of which is to dilute the bits of the show that do work. I looked at the viewer numbers for the show and it would seem that viewership is steadily declining with each season. Perhaps that explains some of the above, perhaps the producers are throwing everything at the wall and hoping desperately that something will stick. Can't help but think though that it may be having the reverse effect.
posted by bakery at 3:22 AM on August 10, 2015