Please note: English is not my first language.
Last night's Masters of Sex took a different path. Michelle Ashford (creator) is a feminist and we can definitely see that watching the series!
In this episode, the show has addressed some meaty moral and ethical issues. We followed the case of an 18-year-old girl, named Rose. Bill quickly diagnoses her with a perforated uterus. It is from there that Rose's mother begins to want to take control of the situation. She wants to choose for her daughter and his opinion will be heard. Her daughter needs surgery. The problem is that with this operation, she will never have any children. The mother defends her opinion, saying they have to stop their daughter's uncontrollable sexual urge. This brings us back to the past of this young girl. Her mother admits that she first caught her daughter naked with a boy a 14 years, and also that it wasn't the first time she terminated a pregnancy. Her father cannot approach his daughter, he is ashamed. And BAM, conflict!
Bill's new boss, played by the scary Danny Huston (American Horror Story: Coven), also joined the opinion of the mother. The episode gets very psychological. How Bill Bill react? Will he follow his own rules or will he follow the rules? Don't forget it was his first day at this hospital. We know Bill. He's not a follower. He had to do what he could. Bill came next to Rose and explains to her the situation. She told him she knew what her mother asked and supported her opinion. Indeed, Rose thinks that there is something wrong about her, that she needs - just like Barton and his homosexuality. This is the scene she told him the very powerful "I don’t want these sick thoughts anymore. I don’t want to feel ashamed. So if taking out a part of me would make it go away?". It was even painful to watch when she said : "It's like there's a dark thing inside of me starving and every time I think about a boy or a man, I can't stop till I have it. It's like no matter what my brain says, this other part. It's like - it's like, it's against me. It just wants and when it wants everything else just ... goes away.".
He again comes back to Rose with another solution, a piece of plastic, birth control. He's also sick of the slut-shaming. He explains to her that she's not a "whore", that she has to stop defining herself like a whore because she's not.
Rose was the symbol of this episode. She's broken. She is the pith and marrow of this episode. She is the metaphor of our two heroes, broken or deviant in the eyes of others. This episode was also the attempt of Bill and Virginia to move independently of each other. The parallel scene between Bill and Virginia, manages to show this effect very well. Indeed, Bill tries to explain to his new boss his opinion on Rose and her right to choose, while Virginia shows to the urologist how Ulysses camera works. And Virginia is still being harassed. The series manages once again to show the importance of this study and how people see it.
We also got more scenes with Libby. It introduces us to Coral, the new nanny, played by Keke Palmer (The Trip to Bountiful). We have some interesting scenes, rooted in their time. I especially liked here that on one hand we have a Bill who's becoming closer and kind to his patients and on the other hand, we have Bill very distant to his wife. And Libby notices it: "Whoever heard of a grown man Being afraid of his own child?". It was also very disturbing and quite painful to watch her conversation with Coral where she corrects the pronunciation of "ask". Libby knows that her, and Coral will be the ones to raise this child, not Bill. She expressed her desire to act as a team and she's already trying to dominate. After that, I don't know what you think, but in my opinion, Libbie is turning into Betty Draper (Mad Men).
After that we also have some Lillian DePaul scenes. It was very good, funny, but still very dramatic. The cancer has progressed. She's losing control of her words. The emotion is even stronger given the talent of Julianne Nicholson. I appreciate more and more the character, and she supports pizza supremacy (Every good fight begins with a pizza)!
Note: 6.5/10 - A very dramatic episode where all the characters are seeking mercy. The title of this episode was "Kyrie Eleison" and it means "Lord, have mercy". Very powerful, very aesthetic.
Now, it's your turn! What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments!
