BWW Recap: MASTERS OF SEX Finally Gives Libby Her Due

Libby. This episode of MASTERS OF SEX was really all about Libby. I know other things happened but I really just want to get to Libby. All right, let met give you a quick rundown and then we're going to talk about Libby and the wonderful work of Caitlin Fitzgerald and Robert, played by Jocko Sims.

It's finally time for Virginia and Bill to make their first appearance on camera and it's just as complicated as we all thought it was going to be. Bill and Virginia are coached regarding how to speak on camera, Mr. Tally suggests Bill wear a tie instead of the more practical bowtie he always wears, and the worst offense of all (in Bill's opinion) comes when they hire actors, and stage them as if they're a couple seeking sex advice. Bill has a very difficult time adjusting his attitude and his speech for television. and I agree with him that speaking frankly will normalize the subject of sex. But 1960s America wasn't ready for that kind of frank language regarding sexuality and neither were television censors. How would they talk about their study in a way that makes them accessible to American television audiences while not compromising the point of the study? That's the question and one that they don't really answer in this episode.

Bill faces his own challenges such as insecurity about his looks and thinking of his own sexual dysfunction, unable to treat himself let alone another patient. Virginia has her own set of problems. Her ex-husband, George, returns and asks to take their kids away for six weeks to Europe. Considering we haven't really seen the kids in a really long time, I don't feel as attached to them and think Virginia should take him up on his offer. But she experiences a deeper conflict, consulting a lawyer in the building who tells her to let them go with him. She realizes, maybe for the first time, while having a meal at the office with her kids, that she's letting a babysitter raise them, that she's giving all of her time to the study and hardly any to her kids. It's a conflict faced by plenty of working mothers and Virginia faces hers dead on.

Then, we get to Libby. She decides not to volunteer with the civil rights group on an important day. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested for having participated in a sit-in and they await news of his release from jail. Libby chooses to go up to Bill's office and wants to help their broadcast. She sees Bill and Virginia finishing each other's sentences, volleying back and forth in such a natural way. While speaking to George, she realizes that's not needed, that Virginia takes charge of even Bill, and you can see the wheels turning and Libby stewing.

Libby goes back downstairs to help with the civil rights group and without a ride, Robert offers her one back to her house. They argue in the car about race and Libby's reasons for wanting to help. She finally brings up how he's been testing her and she thinks he loves to watch her fail. As if punctuating the point he tries to make about race, an officer knocks on the window only because he's black and she's white and they're in a car together. After an altercation with the officer, she invites Robert into the house and then it happens. You know, it happens. I felt it since the first time she saw Robert, didn't you? Libby was both afraid but intrigued and it all comes to a head in her kitchen.

She's attracted to Robert and they're both refreshingly honest with their feelings. She doesn't know who she is or what she's doing but he notices her, he challenges her. He argues that white women want to be with colored men for their own reasons but she counters that she might figure out more if he just kissed her.

And they did more than kiss.

They have sex on the kitchen floor in such a passionate, engaging, visceral way that you can see Libby's true liberation in her moans, her movements. She looks relaxed and free for the first time in a really long time. Remember the last time we saw her have sex onscreen with Bill? It was passionless and still and she looked disinterested. As a contrast to that, she gives her whole body to what she and Robert do together and it's wonderful to watch. I certainly felt incredibly happy for her.

Meanwhile, Bill and Virginia experience a different kind of intimacy. We have seen their sexual phase and they are incredible together, but now we continue to see their relationship develop. Bill lets down all his defenses with her, reveals his insecurities to her, and she's a great comfort to him. She assures him over and over again that she's with him and not anywhere else, not with her kids, with him. She holds him in her arms while he collapses, giving himself to her as a parallel to the way Libby's given herself to Robert.

I don't know about you but those last two scenes hit me like an emotional brick they threw at my heart. It was just so darn GOOD.

In lighter fare, Dr. Langham is still at Flo's beck-and-call and does anyone even care what's happening with them? I have no idea where their story is going and frankly, I don't really care much for them. Are they saying opposites attract? Are they "punishing" Austin somehow by allowing him to be with a dominating, no-nonsense woman? What do you think they're doing to him?

I hate to end on such a sour note but let's all just keep thinking about that scene with Libby and Robert and then again with Virginia and Bill on the floor of their office. Let's all just think about that.

What did you all think of Libby in this episode? Did she finally find herself? Is she using Robert in any way? Are Bill and Virginia discovering another "phase" of their relationship? Can we all be upset there's only one episode?! Let me know!

To post a comment, you must register and login.