Episode Title: “Brave New World”
Writers: Lyn Greene and Richard Levine
Director: Adam Davidson
Previously on “Masters of Sex:”
The sex study introduces several characters to a “Brave New World” as everyone tries to cope with their respective failings, both sexually and otherwise.
In need of some time away after a traumatic miscarriage, Bill (Michael Sheen) and Libby (Caitlin Fitzgerald) head down to Miami for a week. But the warm weather and change of scenery aren’t enough to keep Bill away from his work. While Libby is amused by the loud sex the older couple next door is having, Bill sees it as a rare opportunity to observe a sexual anomaly.
That and a call from Virginia (Lizzy Caplan) about an exciting development in the study has Libby thinking she’s better off alone in Miami. She insists Bill leave and spends the rest of the trip getting to know the elderly couple, whom she lies to about her “dead husband” and two children. However, Libby is pulled out of her fantasy and back to reality when the older gentleman comes onto her while his wife is sleeping. She threatens to call her husband, who to the man’s surprise, is very much and alive and he promptly leaves.
Bill and Libby’s marriage is doomed, which we already know from the show’s premise, but it’s a relief to see her she isn’t a total throwaway character. In fact, Libby is much more interesting when she’s left to her own devices, as opposed to pining away for Bill’s affections while he continues to ignore her needs.
Back in Missouri, Provost Scully (Beau Bridges) worries the male prostitute he sees may have told Bill about their arrangement. The young man denies it and later that night, Bill returns home to his wife, Margaret (Allison Janney) who seems troubled by something when he kisses her goodnight. After hearing from her friends about the study, Margaret volunteers for it, only to learn she’s not eligible because she’s never had an orgasm. The problem is easily solved, however, when she has a in with Dr. Langham (Teddy Sears) outside a movie theater, which leads to sex in her car.
Interestingly, both Langham and Margaret feel inadequate thanks to the study. Langham can’t perform sexually and Margaret’s never had a fulfilling sexual experience. The two unwittingly remedy each other’s problems while undoubtedly creating a new shared one for themselves.
But not everyone’s troubles are of a sexual nature, in this episode. Dr. DePaul (Julianne Nicholson) resents the way Virginia is viewed by her research subjects, who often mistake her for a doctor and suggests Bill is thinking with something other than his brain when it comes to his secretary. As a result, Bill gives Virginia a title change, making her his research assistant. Moved by the recognition Bill is finally giving her, becoming ever closer to his equal, she takes her top of and suggests the two find out if orgasm can be achieved without genital stimulation, as Jane (Helen Yorke) claims is possible.
While much of “Brave New World” is about challenging antiquated ideas and theories, like Freud’s insistence that a woman who achieves orgasm outside of intercourse is “immature,” and Dr. DePaul’s feelings about women in the medical field, it’s also about the “brave new world” Bill and Virginia’s study presents for characters like Margaret, suffering in a sexless marriage, and Libby, not willing to tolerate a strained marriage for the sake of appearances.
The entanglements this episode introduces are pleasantly unexpected, making a little contrivance forgivable. Everyone knows everyone in this world and by the end of the episode, everyone knows everyone a whole lot better. We’ve seen distance create resentment with these characters. Now, how much contempt will a little too much familiarity breed?
