Episode Title: “All Together Now”
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
Director: Tim Fywell
Previously on “Masters of Sex:”
Episode 1.06 “Brave New World”
The separation of love and sex comes under the microscope in this week’s episode as Bill (Michael Sheen) and Virginia (Lizzy Caplan) try to keep their sex life strictly scientific. Meanwhile, Austin (Teddy Sears) is less than enthused when Margaret (Allison Janney) tells him their affair saved her life.
The study continues (with Virginia and Bill as the only subjects, at the moment), but the focus of this episode is on relationships – messy, dysfunctional relationships. Like Margaret and Barton Scully’s (Beau Bridges) for example. With Barton out of town on business, Margaret invites Austin over only to be surprised by her husband suddenly returning home after getting mugged while waiting for a male prostitute. Barton isn’t at all upset that Margaret has a man over, (though she makes him go to his bedroom while sneaking Austin out) which makes her furious. Not only haven’t they had sex in over five years, Barton doesn’t even care that she’s doing it with someone else.
While Margaret demands an explanation from Barton, Libby’s (Caitlin Fitzgerald) also suffering from an inattentive husband, though it’s Virginia, not a male prostitute whom Bill is having sex with. Seeing as Bill spends all of his time with Virginia, Libby asks her to free up his schedule so the two can have a night together. And so at Virginia’s urging, Bill has sex with his wife so he can go back to having sex with Virginia. This can’t end well for Libby.
But Libby’s motives aren’t just sexual. She’s convinced Ethan (Nicholas D’Agosto) to inseminate her again with Bill’s frozen sperm. He reluctantly agrees under the condition that she have sex with Bill to make it look like he actually got her pregnant. He also makes her pick out bed sheets from a catalog Vivian would like.
All of this sounds like the makings of campy daytime soap and yet it feels mostly sincere and genuine, especially when it comes to Margaret and Barton, who desperately want the same thing and yet can’t give it to each other. Meanwhile, one of Libby’s reasons for trying to get pregnant is so that she and Bill can have something in their lives they both love. Of course, he already has this with Virginia, which she is slowly beginning to realize. The fact that they’re having sex is trivial when you take into account the passion the two share for the study of sex.
A few other developments in the episode hint at further complications to some already complex relationships. Ethan ditches Vivian (Rose McIver) one morning to meet Virginia at a car dealership where he cosigns a loan for her. After his brother mistakenly asks Vivian about her kids, Ethan tells her he dated someone with children but that she’s his “future.” And Bill warns Barton about picking up on boys in alleys and the effect it could have on his career and marriage.
Though Bill and Virginia have had a breakthrough with the study here and there, the events of this episode suggest the pioneering researchers can’t isolate sex from emotions, no matter how sterile and “unsexy” their laboratory lovemaking is. The more time they spend together, the more they sound like a married couple and less like doctor and research assistant. In the meantime, Libby, whom both care about, is becoming a source of resentment as her needs threaten to keep the two away from what they care about most: the work. The work, that is, of being together.
