Masters of Sex - Recap: It Feels Like Dying, and It Is
Recap and review of Masters of Sex - Season 2 Episode 6 - Blackbird:
Any good drama is about relationships, whether romantic, physical, emotional, platonic, familial, professional, adversarial or something else entirely. So much of the success of that drama will rely upon just how much those relationships resonate. Thankfully, Masters of Sex has built up a host of compelling relationships that "Blackbird" explores in depth.
...Well, it's nice and all, but it only really factors into Bill's end of things, and only towards the end.
Credit: Showtime
And I like that decision, because the show is once again illustrating that Virginia has a life outside of Bill and the sex study. It's a realization that crystallizes for Bill in a big way as the episode comes to a close. In short, Bill spends the lion's share of the episode at war with the rules and principles of Dr. Hendricks (Courtney B. Vance), who refuses to allow any black patients to participate in the sex study. To this end, he contacts a prominent black journalist to get the word out about the study, only to have the tables turned when it becomes apparent that this journalist knows about his scuffle with Dr. Greathouse. So Bill threatens the journalist's editor to keep the story from getting published, and he does this by misrepresenting the findings of his study, implying that the results will set African-Americans back in their struggle for social acceptance. This is in contrast to what he initially told Hendricks, which is that the results of the sex study would lead to greater understanding of the black community among the ignorant. The editor, to his credit, sees right through Bill's B.S., saying that he's just trying to get the story killed to avoid looking like an outcast madman with a loosening grip on reality.
And he's right, to such an extent that Bill feels tremendous guilt about his behavior. So he resigns from Buell Green, since he feels he just can't work under the thumb of someone else's rules. Yet, even as he's resigning, Bill laments the loss of his way of living (delivering babies, surgical privileges, recognition). "It feels like dying, and it is," Hendricks tells him. "So let's see if you have the guts to be reborn." Naturally, Bill takes this as encouragement to travel to Virginia's home to bare his soul, but when he gets there, the door opens to reveal a man named Shelly Declan (Barry Watson), the man Virginia met in the hotel lobby on the night of the boxing match in "Fight" (the season's best episode so far, in my opinion). As it turns out, the two have been dating for several months now, and this is the first Bill (or we, the viewers) are learning about it. This prompts Bill to have a panic attack in private, and he's now returning home to Libby in even worse spirits than he would have been otherwise, particularly given the looming shadow of baby Jack in the corner, his baby swing rocking with a strange rattle that sounds like a ticking clock. Bill doesn't have long to get his life in order, and it shows.
But really, the heft of the episode is in the female relationships, namely the one between Virginia and Lillian. After Virginia has her talk with Bill about Lillian's condition -- in which he notes that she isn't giving up so much as recognizing the inevitable -- she returns to Lillian's home. There, Lillian gives her a special envelope that contains her final wishes for after she's gone. The big takeaway is that she doesn't want to be buried in the family plot, like her relatives will demand. Rather, she wants her body donated to science, since she believes there will be "a kind of symmetry" in her body possibly being used to cure the cancer that's killing her. But more than that, she sees it as a sign of respect and gratitude to "All those brave souls who taught me how to be a doctor." However, there is one catch to Lillian's request: she asks that Virginia deliver the envelope to her family in person.
Naturally, this should have been a red flag, of sorts. The doctor who told Lillian all the terrible things that would happen to her as she faced death -- in an incredibly grim moment that Lillian demanded, since she felt the doctor didn't see her as much of a person anyway -- still laid out the scenario in such a way that implied she still had time. So for Lillian to ask Virginia to carry out her wishes when this was presumably something she could still have done herself foreshadowed the direction the story would take. Granted, the episode does a wonderful job of getting us to temporarily forget about this inevitability. There are some wonderful moments as Lillian and Virginia hang out together in Lillian's house that evening: Lillian jokes about being taller than all the other boys at her cotillion, and how she was teased for being a giraffe ("tall and spotted"); she recalls her awkward encounters with sex; they drink wine and listen to music, and Lillian tells Virginia how obvious it is that Bill loves her, even while Virginia finds the whole thing ridiculous; and, finally, Virginia tucks Lillian into bed, telling her a story about how her freckles are like constellations that recall a proud, warrior princess. It's a beautiful moment of elegant simplicity, earning all its drama from what we know is coming. When Virginia kisses Lillian on the lips and says, "I'll see you in the morning," it's like a punch in the gut. There isn't going to be a morning for Lillian. Just this night.
Credit: Showtime
Virginia returns later that night because she forgot the envelope, only to hear what sounds like weak gasping. She comes into Lillian's room to find that Lillian has taken an overdose of sleeping pills and drained it with a glass of wine. She's convulsing on her bed, in the throes of death, as Virginia calls for help. However, when the operator asks for the address of the home, Virginia realizes the inherent selfishness of what she's doing. As sad as it would be to say out loud, Virginia is really the only one who cares about Lillian; and so, keeping her alive would only be for Virginia's sake, which is selfish considering the amount of pain Lillian will have to endure over the duration of years she has left. And so, in what just might be the show's most shocking moment so far, Virginia hangs up the phone and decides to lay next to her best friend. At the very least, if she's going to die, Virginia is going to make sure Lillian doesn't die alone. It's a beautiful, devastating story, and while one could argue the morality of letting a person die, I don't really feel like that's what this story is purporting to be about. We shouldn't linger on Virginia allowing Lillian to pass away, but rather on why she allows it. Perhaps it's more than just Virginia not wanting to selfishly keep Lillian around for her own sake, but instead realizing that she now has Bill. Lillian isn't the only one that "knows" her anymore, so she doesn't have to desperately try and keep Lillian here against her will. Having Bill gives her the clear-eyed realization that Lillian should be allowed to go out on her own terms. But again, it's hard to know for sure. What I do know is that Caplan and Nicholson did tremendous work this week, and Nicholson will be missed as Lillian. She's such a wonderful actress, and contributes so much (in quiet, devastating ways) to nearly every show on which she appears.
Credit: Showtime
As for the other female relationships this week, some are far more involving and effective than others: on the harsher side of things, Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald) gets a stern talking-to from Bill, who tells her she needs to get over this situation with Coral (Keke Palmer) and deal with it in one way or another. And so she takes this as a sign to give Coral an ultimatum: either dump Robert and find a new ride to their house for work, or find new employment. She gives her this ultimatum after using a contact in the police office to discover that Robert has a criminal background, which gives her justification for wanting Robert gone, under the pretense of not wanting a convicted criminal anywhere near their house. This, despite Coral explaining how Robert was baited, leading to an unfair arrest and prosecution, both of which were racially-charged. But Libby is incapable of even considering this, much less understanding it, so she actually follows Coral out of her house the next day to make certain the maid is telling the truth about getting picked up by her "Auntie".
Credit: Showtime
And, of course, Libby discovers Coral is lying, as Robert is there to whisk her away. And so Libby does what any not-so-rational person would do -- she gets in her car and follows Coral and Robert home. In the process, she cuts her leg on her car's fender without noticing, which plays into the conclusion when Robert discovers Libby going through their mail to find Coral's address (because this is apparently something a sane person does). It's then that Robert explains the situation: he's not Coral's boyfriend at all. He's her brother. Robert has no idea why she would lie about it, but it's the truth. And in helping to treat Libby's small cut, she feels ashamed about her treatment of Coral. She hands Robert a wad of bills as Coral's "severance" pay, and flees the projects, having a panic attack of her own in the car that mirrors Bill's. Libby is presumably now forced to look inward, realizing she gave Coral an ultimatum between choosing her family over the girl's own. And worse, she's been an absolute monster about it. Of course, she doesn't feel bad enough about it to allow Coral to keep her job, since Libby is more concerned with not having to confront her own wrongdoings. I'm not sure if the show is trying to paint Libby as a terrible person, but she's definitely flawed; and while she's not beyond redemption, each subsequent week makes getting her there seem like an even more daunting task.
Credit: Showtime
It's even getting to be that way for Betty (Annaleigh Ashford), who continues to lie to Gene (Greg Grunberg) about the nature of her relationship with Helen (Sarah Silverman). Worse, she's now actively restarted a sexual relationship with Helen! She even expects Helen to settle for getting an apartment down the street and visiting her during the afternoons while Gene is gone. Betty rationalizes this as the best they can do with one another, since they'll have money, they'll have privacy, and they'll have a life. However, Helen quickly takes offense and retaliates in the most brazen fashion possible: by proposing to Gene's friend, Al. And Al accepts, oblivious to the true nature of Helen and Betty's relationship, despite having apparently witnessed their kiss from last week's episodethrough the door. Betty flips out when Helen and Al make the announcement, to such a degree that she curses them both out and fights back tears. Gene interprets this as jealousy over a possible attraction to Al, but Helen insists that Gene is worth a thousand Als. However, she does note that she has no interest in seeing Helen ever again, which stuns and confuses Gene, since what's obvious to us isn't really obvious to a milquetoast pretzel guy from the late 50s/early 60s. It isn't until Gene speaks with Al and learns about the kiss that he puts two-and-two together, leading to Greg Grunberg's best scene in the series, as he chews Betty out for constantly lying to him despite his attempts to level with her about all the secrets he's discovered about her.
"I have made peace with all of it, because I found something that was important to me. I found someone that I loved. And now you're telling me that your heart belongs to Helen! And that doesn't matter, that I should be happy about these f***ing compromises and half-truths that are going to carry us into old age! This f***ing avalanche that is our marriage! ... Love is what you have with someone that you share your bed with! ... You want to sell yourself? You're the pro here, go ahead. But I will not--I cannot sell myself this cheap."
Credit: Showtime
It's a brutal takedown that is all the more devastating considering what has potentially been lost here. We've mostly known Gene as the well-meaning pretzel guy who wanted to have kids of his own but, against expectations, came to accept that he would likely have to adopt if he ever wanted a family, since he loved Betty despite her having lied to him about her fertility. This week, he reveals that he thought about it, but just can't bring himself to adopt. He wants his kids to look like Betty, and he wants to see her when he looks at them. But as he thought about it, the thought just kept bringing him back to her, to the point where he realizes he doesn't need kids. He just needs her. It's a heartbreakingly sweet realization that this inevitable blowup completely destroys, to the point where I can't even imagine Gene being enough of a pushover to stick around, at this point. And yet, I don't know that Betty is 100% in the wrong either. She never knew Gene loved her for her when she lied to him about her infertility. And while she might have been better served coming clean about the true nature of her past with Helen from the start, there's no guarantee he would have understood, especially since those emotions are all still there for Betty in a big way, and would have been obviously so to Gene once he knew about their past. But it is clear that she probably shouldn't have married Gene at all if she couldn't muster anything more than fondness for the guy. I get that she wanted to be taken care of, and that she really has grown to care about Gene, but this didn't seem like it was ever going to end well. And that's a tragedy, because I love these characters, and I love their story. But, as it is with Virginia and Lillian, or Libby and Coral, the female relationships on this show have fraught with such complexity that they're difficult to untangle for the characters caught in their web. And so it is with Betty and Helen.
"Blackbird" is stellar television, and Masters of Sex continues to impress. Next week is rumored to be a pretty big episode for the series, so I'll be interested to see how the show follows up on some of the bigger plot points it established here, such as Lillian's death, Bill's decision to quit Buell Green, and the implosion of Betty and Gene's marriage. Regardless, I trust the direction in which Masters of Sex is heading, and I can't say that for a lot of dramas on TV these days.