‘Masters of Sex’ season 1, episode 4 review: A deeper look at Bill Masters past
We have been praying to the TV gods for a new show that brings us something new, edgy and sometimes a little disturbing and then our prayers were answered with “Masters of Sex”. This series is what “Mad Men was back in it’s heyday, but once it started slipping a few seasons back we haven’t had anything to replace it… until now that is.
This week’s episode of “Master of Sex”some time has passed and his wife Libby’s pregnancy is now showing. Not only that, but Bill got his study back into the hospital, and he is also allowed to openly advertise for test subjects.
Virginia’s ex-husband George is in town and she learns that he’s in some serious debt, behind on his rent and needs money. Things get awkward when George shows up as a participant for the study (to make some cash), but he uses a fake name and Bill is none the wiser. Later Virginia decides that it’s best to come clean to Bill about her relationship with George, but won’t give his real identity. Bill has no problem with that, but goes on a mission to figure out which subject is her ex husband so that he can learn more about what Virginia is like in in an intimate setting.
Ethan is still spiraling and sleeping with almost every woman at the hospital in hopes of finding someone that will make him forget about Virginia. Things start to look up when a very young woman named Vivian that he knew as a teenager starts working at the hospital and shows an interest in him that reminds him that he’s still a good person.
Bill’s mom is in town and while he is feeling anxious about it, Libby encourages her to stay as long as she wants leading his mom to announce that she is moving to St. Louis to be closer to them to help out with the baby. The Masters’ decide to have a dinner party and Libby invites Virginia and Ethan as a set up (not knowing their brief history.) Of course things do not go well for Ethan as Virginia does her best to ignore him and he drinks himself into oblivion.
The one thing we did learn in this episode is that Bill is not very good with children and loses his temper quickly and as it turns out it is because his father use to beat him when he was a child while his mother would ignore the screams by drowning them out with music. We have been waiting for an episode where we started to dig deeper into Bill’s life and how he became the man he is today and finally they delivered. While the story about the study has been fun for the first few episodes, it was nice to finally get some insight into Bill’s past. We also got to see another side of Virginia through the interaction with her ex-husband, something that we have also been wanting. These are two tortured souls with dark histories which explains their chemistry. Grade: A –
What did you think of this week’s episode of “Masters of Sex”? Leave us a comment and tell us what you want to see happen between Bill and Virginia. Also if you are looking for more news and scoop on the series, just click here.
Photo: Showtime