Masters of Sex - Recap: Despair In the Departure Lounge

And yet, even giving up isn't as bad as being stubbornly resistant to personal growth. With "Below the Belt", Masters of Sex suggests that while despair can be a great sin, choosing to resist change is every bit as bad, if not worse. In a poignant scene in a diner that basically illuminates the theme of the episode, Lester (Kevin Christy) meets with Barbara (Betsy Brandt) to apologize for offending her earlier in the episode by implying she was a fool for believing in God. Lester explains that his dismissal of her faith was partially due to his own jealousy -- he could never bring himself to believe in a higher power, and so he's inherently jealous of those who can know the comfort of religion, of knowing that absolution requires nothing more than just telling the truth. In confessing this, Lester notes that, according to what he's read, the greatest sin is despair. And it's a sin to which he himself confesses, explaining his impotence, and how it was ultimately easier for him to give up and refuse Bill's help in treating it, because it just "wasn't worth it." Barbara confesses to the same sin, telling Lester about her own condition. They bond over their mutual weakness, and come to something akin to an understanding about how they've allowed their weakness to direct the course of their lives. Maybe they'll decide to do something about that, to change the outcome for the better, even if it involves a lot of hard work and possible failure. Or maybe they'll do what Bill (Michael Sheen) does, and continue to resist change and, instead, succumb to despair. After all, weakness resides even in those who think themselves strong.

Credit: Showtime

Really, this was an Emmy-worthy showcase for Michael Sheen, and for Christian Borle as Frank. The episode illustrates the ways in which the brothers have essentially lied to themselves, and to each other, about their own respective well-being. Frank would have Bill believe that he's emotionally grown, that he's made peace with his demons and has forgiven Bill and their father. Bill, meanwhile, would have Frank believe that he's well-off, having long surpassed the need for his estranged family members. All these people do is remind Bill where he came from, and it would likely be easier for Bill to just minimize their role in his life than confront the role he's actually had in theirs. And such it is with Frank, as Bill would rather pretend that Frank has been making up stories about their father beating him than face reality: that by leaving home in his youth, he effectively abandoned Frank, leaving him to the wrath of their abusive, malevolent father. And so it comes to a head in the episode's big, climactic scene, as it initially seems as if Bill is finally understanding how his abandonment has affected Frank. However, the scene quickly devolves into an argument when it's revealed that Bill still doesn't feel any sense of responsibility towards Frank.

Credit: Showtime

Bill straight-up goads his younger brother into hitting him, telling Frank that he's weak and unworthy of respect. Frank retaliates by striking Bill several times, leaving him a bloody mess, with cuts and bruises all over his face, and blood all over his shirt. And in that moment, Frank realizes that Bill has transformed him into their father, has made him a violent monster despite there being "not a bottle in sight." In Bill's mind, he's essentially proving a point to Frank: their father was never the drunk Frank claimed he was -- he was just a jerk. But then, the same is absolutely true of Bill, as Frank's off-handed use of the word "impotent" in the argument with Bill sets off this entire angry confrontation. Bill is taking out his shortcomings on the only person he can, and it's heartbreaking to watch. Maybe Frank isn't over the damage of his youth, but it was wrong of Bill to tear down a system of coping that appeared to be helping his brother. In goading him into being as violent a menace as their father, Bill has perverted Frank's inner-strength into weakness, leaving them both weaker for it. It's a positively harrowing scene that ranks among the best of the season.

Credit: Showtime

Of course, it's this confrontation that indirectly leads to Bill overcoming his impotence, as he returns to the hotel to meet with Virginia (Lizzy Caplan), where he confesses that he was the one in the wrong. He abandoned Frank and then "punished him for it", an act so cruel that Bill audibly wonders what the hell is wrong with him. Bill declares he "gives up," before wiping a smear of blood across Virginia's cheek. Virginia tries to comfort him, and in that moment of confused vulnerability, they end up having sex -- the first time Bill has successfully had intercourse in Lord only knows how long. And this, despite an earlier scene in which Virginia attempts to help him through his dysfunction by playing a dominatrix, of sorts, binding Bill's hands and refusing to allow him to touch her. It almost works, but a breakdown in communication leaves Bill flaccid. But not here, at the end of the episode. Bill and Virginia seem immediately in tune with one another again, and it's almost as if Bill's decision to stop trying altogether has liberated him from any sense of obligation -- from manhood, brotherhood, fatherhood. He can simply exist without feeling responsibility for anyone else but himself, and it's this liberation that allows him to have sex again.

Yet it's this liberation that represents his ongoing resistance to change, as he seems quick to give in to despair, and hesitant to put in the work towards fixing things with Frank. Or, for that matter, the study. When Bill hires an ad exec to help get attention for the study, the man winds up getting them a TV spot, in which both Bill and Virginia will get to talk to the nation about sex -- so long as they do it from a position of perceived intimacy with one another, by allowing America to think of them as a married couple. It's a storyline that appears to be in its infancy, but with only two episodes left this season, I would imagine that the potential for a national expansion of the study (via Bill and Virginia's national, broadcast television debut) will make for some dramatically satisfying TV.

Credit: Showtime

If only everything else could be as engaging. I still struggle to find any kind of purpose in Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald) and her developing friendship with Robert. I could imagine it might develop into something more substantial, as the episode features Libby taking the initiative and helping CORE in a door-to-door campaign, but will it really become something romantic? Robert and Libby don't really have chemistry so much as just general tension. That said, the explosion of that tension could make for interesting TV, I suppose. At least more interesting than seeing Flo (Artemis Pebdani) blackmail Langham (Teddy Sears) for sex. Langham is desperate to keep the job as the Cal-O-Metric spokesperson because it's exactly the shot in the arm his life/career needs: he excels at making women feel good about themselves, and can easily sell them on their own potential. However, Flo argues that if wants to keep making other women feel good, he'll have to take care of her needs first. It's a twisted storyline without any immediate function in the overarching narrative of the season, yet Pebdani and Sears do solid work, particularly when Langham is begging for his job, only for Flo to sadly explain that she deserves to be made to feel beautiful and young again too. I'm not sure the show necessarily wants us to side with Flo, but her compulsive need to have Langham all too herself seems compelled by past damage. Still, I'm just not that crazy about this plot.

However, that was mostly just an outlier, as I thought "Below the Belt" was a dependably good Masters of Sex. With only two episodes left, the tension is ratcheting up. If the conclusion to these storylines are as solid as the build, then it should make for a fitting climax (pun only kind of intended).