Masters of Sex - Recap: Function and Dysfunction

Credit: Showtime

This is why I'm glad we have the sex study back, as it can be used as a narrative center around which to focus the themes of an episode. For much of "Mirror, Mirror", characters are dealing with their various physiological dysfunctions. Bill's brother Frank (Christian Borle) shares the same low sperm count as Bill (Michael Sheen), although Bill doesn't let him know about his own dysfunction, even though it might bring Frank some measure of comfort to know he's not alone in landing on the losing end of the genetic lottery. Similarly, Lester (Kevin Christy) suffers from the same sexual impotence that is plaguing Bill, noting how he's been unable to perform with a woman ever since things went south in his relationship with Jane back in Hollywood. These two issues are essentially two sides of the same coin, with one physiological (low sperm count) and the other psychological (impotence). Bill can't control one, but he can work on mastering the other -- but only if he can work through the issues that created those problems in the first place. Thus, "Mirror, Mirror" becomes the story of how fixing what's on the outside isn't always enough. Sometimes, there's much more to the root of a problem than a physical issue. It's beautifully summed up in Frank's story to Bill towards the end of the episode about a young woman who was in a car accident whose face was expertly reconstructed by a plastic surgeon. She left the hospital with a new face, only for her family to discover that the car accident was no accident at all -- she swallowed a handful of pills and that was the end of her. "You think it’s enough to fix the outside. That’s the easy part," Frank reflects. And from a certain point of view, he's right. Sometimes, a problem is deeper than surgery can reach.

Credit: Showtime

While the episode was a bit scattershot in places, there was a lot to like here. I could have done without the convenient death of the Cal-O-Metric spokesman (a man who, ironically, eats himself to death, prompting Bill to remark that the man's demons were "considerable"), but I'm grimly intrigued at what possible narrative purpose the show could have for making Dr. Langham (Teddy Sears) the new spokesperson. It just feels like such a random development with no apparent use to the main storyline right now, and I feel similarly to the business involving Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald). While she proves essential in helping Bill to get board consideration for the sex study by using her surprising salesmanship on the Chief of Police and his wife, I'm not sure where the race relations story could go that would prove worthwhile. In short, Libby witnesses a group of angry white men speed away after dumping a battered, black history teacher on the side of the road. Robert (Jocko Sims), Coral's brother, stops by the house after seeing Libby in the vicinity, and asks her to consider testifying. However, Bill doesn't think it's a great idea, arguing that this isn't their problem. Yet Libby remains conflicted. But what does this mean to the story? I suppose it has some use as a comment on the nature of race relations in the early 1960s, since no show set in this time period can pass through this era without addressing the racial tensions. But it all feels so disconnected from everything else that's going on, much like the stuff with Langham. I'm not saying it couldn't get better, but right now, I find myself wishing the show would focus on the more worthwhile elements of its narrative. For example, everything to do with Bill and Virginia (Lizzy Caplan).

Bill seems off-put by the presence of Frank, his brother whom he hasn't spoken to in years. They both went to the same medical school, and graduated within years of one another. And although Virginia believes Frank is merely an old med school friend of Bill's, she's able to still comment intelligently on the subtle effect Frank has had on Bill's current life, noting that much of Bill's "Francis Holden" backstory is cribbed directly from Frank's file. Bill seems more than a bit miffed that she would even have read the file at all, but it's a byproduct of Frank becoming a patient, as he and his wife are visiting St. Louis in order to obtain Bill's help in conceiving. Frank is a plastic surgeon who is not only a reformed womanizer, but is also a recovering alcoholic. It's clear that Frank cares about Bill and wants him in his life, insisting that no other fertility specialist but Bill will do. But Bill seems far less receptive to the idea of welcoming him back into his life, and it's hard to tell why, exactly. Does Frank remind him of some unpleasant aspect of his own past? Did Frank, as the younger of the two brothers, receive more motherly attention and protection from Essie? Regardless of the nature of their falling out, Bill doesn't seem keen on mending fences. Yet Frank is persistent, telling Bill that he just wants his brother back. It's a poignant storyline that's all the more effective in how believable Sheen and Borle are as siblings. I'm hoping Frank becomes a more frequent fixture as the back half of Season 2 rolls on.

That said, Frank's arrival couldn't come at a worse time, since Bill is going through some issues of his own. Not only is his clinic being audited by the IRS, Bill is now to the point where he's feigning excuses to get out of having sex with Virginia, simply so she won't know he's become impotent (all due to having met her "beau" on her doorstep roughly two years earlier, in the show's timeline). It's all in his head, but his desire to possess Virginia, in more than just a physical way, is serving as a barrier to his overcoming this dysfunction. He just can't break down those walls. Perhaps this is why he agrees to Virginia's suggestion that maybe they should get away from just observing sexual dysfunction, and instead head into the realm of actually helping the afflicted. Bill gets Lester to tell his story on-camera, following the advice of Betty (Annaleigh Ashford), who insists that if you can help a man overcome the dysfunction in his brain, he'll overcome the dysfunction in his body. Then again, this sort of thing only works if the dysfunction is psychological in nature. Some folks aren't so lucky...

Credit: Showtime

Virginia tracks down Barbara (Betsy Brandt) to get her involved in the study again, and it's through this encounter that Bill's former secretary/assistant learns about the nature of her condition, called "vaginismus". In essence, the condition causes muscle spasms that shut the vaginal opening, making intercourse functionally impossible -- in the traditional way, at least. Barbara is ashamed of her condition, and also despairing of any hope that things will change, tearfully recalling how it prompted her husband to leave her. Virginia is sympathetic, and even tries to get Barbara to talk a bit about her sexual history, learning that her first sexual experience involved performing oral sex on one of her brother's friends -- whose name she can't recall. Unknowingly, Virginia has now opened up a flood of repressed memories in Barbara, as she sets out to discover the boy's name, only to learn that the boy in question was her brother, Paul. It all comes rushing back, and Barbara can hardly keep herself together, arriving on Virginia's doorstep in the middle of the night. She explains that she and her brother used to play games with each other as children -- games that became more sexual in nature as they got older. Ultimately, her mother caught the two of them together, and it virtually tore their family life to pieces. It's a harrowing story, and Betsy Brandt is sensational in the role, imbuing Barbara with a doleful quality that compels us to empathize with her, even if that amount of shame and regret isn't something we've ever felt ourselves.

Unfortunately, Virginia lacks the proper credentials to help Barbara, and worse, Bill is quick to remind her that she was wrong to breach the boundaries of the study in tracking Barbara down in the first place, as now there's a relationship between them that goes beyond the study. But Virginia is desperate to help Barbara, and others like her. On the one hand, Virginia lets Bill know she's keen on returning to school to become a psychologist herself, which he supports. On the other hand, he correctly notes that her return to school will do nothing to help Barbara now. The only solution that doesn't involve a clean break is making Barbara both Virginia and Bill's patient. However, Barbara completely refuses, saying she couldn't possibly go through all those details with a male doctor. This means seeing a therapist is also out of the question for Barbara. It's Virginia, or nothing. And so, faced with no other options, but still desperate to help Barbara, Virginia decides to see a therapist herself, passing off Barbara's story as her own, in order to presumably offer Barbara whatever advice/clinical opinion the therapist offers her. It's a surprising turn in the story that could prove to be an interesting one. If nothing else, it offers a greater exploration into the duality of dysfunction: the physical, and the psychological.

Ultimately, "Mirror, Mirror" is a solid follow-up to last week's game-changer of an episode. I feel Masters of Sex is growing much more confident in its storytelling in this second half of Season 2, through its pacing and overall characterization. Hopefully, the final episodes of the season will maintain the standard of the first half.