The finale of this season's Masters of Sex was a busy one, wrapping up the season's storylines in some ways, but leaving plenty of loose ends to pick up on when the show returns next year. Bill and Ginny start off still working on a cure for his recent impotence, and this time they seem to settle on something that finally works. It takes some time, and after a montage of steamy sex scenes, where the two first spend time touching, hugging, and slowly make their way to "successful coitus" after weeks of non-sexual activities, Ginny is happy to pronounce BIll as "cured." Bill seems fairly sure as well, but wants to try it out on others first (namely, Lester).
At the office, PR man Shep shows the two their CBS piece, which is so censored that it's practically cut out all references to sex, much to Lester's chagrin, but Shep says the new priority is to get it out there fast, because a Dr. Joseph Kaufman has a book coming out called Man and Sex, which threatens to pull the rug out from under Masters and Johnson's work. Ginny agrees they need to get out there ahead of Kaufman's book, but BIll isn't sure and is later seen making a mysterious phone call, asking an unknown party to do him a favor.
Meanwhile, George is back from Europe with the kids and is now bugging Ginny about changing their custody arrangement so that he can see them more than one day a week. Ginny is furious at this suggestion and refuses outright, but goes to see the divorce lawyer in the building about making George sign a custody agreement which they had never officially written down. The lawyer is skeptical that this will work, and comes back to Ginny later with the bad news, that George refused to sign and is now threatening to take her to court. Ginny meets up with him later for drinks, attempting to smooth this over themselves, but George is now convinced that he and Audrey may have the upper hand if they challenge her for the kids, where her work, her hours and her affair with Bill will likely be exposed publicly, and she'll be declared an unfit mother. Ginny throws a drink in his face and he storms off, but now she's in a bad position, and has a talk with Libby about the situation.
Libby though, has continued her affair with Robert from the week before, and talks past her about maybe needing to let things go and accept that life doesn't turn out as you plan. In response to that conversation, Ginny has her lawyer offer to reverse her custody arrangement with George so that he'll take the kids and she sees them once a week, but she does this by betting that their CBS piece will air and thus enable her to get the kids back after the work is exposed in public. Unfortunately, Bill has already received an early manuscript of Kaufman's book, and after reading it, decides it's not scientific and therefore not much of a threat at all, so there's no need for them to get out ahead of him. When Ginny confesses to Bill what she's done with her kids he looks worried, but the next day Shep calls them in to show them that another network is already airing a piece about Kaufman's book, and their own is going to have to be canceled because of it. Ginny is devastated by this, realizing she's given up her kids for nothing, and Bill hugs her tight, promising her if they just stay focused on the work, everything will turn out okay. She's not entirely convinced though and breaks down in his arms.
In other news, as I said before, Libby continues to pursue Robert, going to his apartment in the middle of the night (who's watching the kids?) and when he expresses regret at what happened between them, saying it goes against everything he's working for, she's offended and asks why can't it happen just because they want it to. It seems to work, and later on in bed, Libby confesses to him that she's known about Bill and Ginny's affair for years and that all she knows now is that she wants whatever's going on with them to continue. And finally we have Austin and Flo, perhaps the least important side characters (sorry, guys) as they continue their own relationship, with Flo confessing this week to Austin that her family is wealthy and well-connected, with her own brother going off to work in the new Kennedy administration (JFK was inaugurated this week on the show, making it January of 1961). Austin now expresses a desire to be her date at a Democratic Party celebration she's going to, but she tells him she doesn't think he can keep up with her family members in intellect. Austin is shocked that she sees him as a "dumb blonde" and is last seen tonight sadly watching the inauguration by himself. Aw. Poor, dumb Austin.
Then there's Lester and Barbara, who are attempting to continue their burgeoning "relationship," but entirely without sex, as Barbara suggests they remove the possibility entirely, and instead just go out, hold hands, sleep in the same bed, but not worry about all the other stuff that goes with normal dating. Lester agrees but is utterly depressed about it, and when he confesses it to Bill, who wants the two of them to try out his new method for a potential impotence cure, Bill assures him that they both will want to eventually be physically involved with each other, since it's a bodily function as basic as breathing.
But at the end of the episode, we're in for a revelation, as Bill is met at a bar by none other than Barton Scully (long time no see), who's apparently back in town and the one who managed to obtain Kaufman's book, and force the other network to get their piece on the air at Bill's request. Bill is now sorry for what he's done, since it cost for Virginia her kids, but he never told her what he was doing and Barton doubts he really is sorry, thinking Bill does underhanded, selfish things to get his way all the time, not bothering to think of the consequences for others. The hour ends with Bill and Ginny sitting in front of Lester and Barbara, explaining to them their new method for curing impotence, as various other characters all watch and listen to the words of JFK's inaugural address, as he talks about potential changes the coming decade will bring. Well, hopefully Masters of Sex is able to cover this similar territory in a totally different way than Mad Men did, because it will probably be compared. I have a feeling they will though, because they want the show to eventually get to the 1970's and even 80's, as they continue to cover the whole autobiography of Masters and Johnson, no matter how ambitious a plan that may seem. We may even be skipping several years when next season rolls around. This season was at times uneven, but always watchable, because Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen manage to make these two characters so compelling that I'd be willing to follow them anywhere, even if the supporting cast sometimes comes and goes with questionable storylines surrounding them. It's all about the leads for me. See you next year everyone!
