Masters of Sex: Season Two

As 'Mad Men' comes to an end, there's another period drama that should really be getting more play. 'Masters of Sex' might not yet have 'Mad Men's penchant for creating characters that carry over into everyday pop culture, but it does contain a wide variety of period-centric storylines that attempt highlight the stark inequality of 1950s America.

The first season ended with Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) and Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) presenting their scientific findings concerning human sexuality. The study they performed was fraught with controversy as a prudish public found it hard to accept the idea of studying human sex. Masters' ideas were discarded, even by the scientific community, as lurid and without merit. Even through the adversity Masters soldiered on pioneering research that eventually helped us better understand ourselves.

As a serial drama 'Masters of Sex' is quite compelling. The first season was packed with societal and cultural commentary that never felt overly preachy. The show provides room for strong female characters who are forced to fight and claw their way through rampant 50s sexism. This is, perhaps, the most interesting and thought-provoking aspect of it.

Virginia is given the most to do as she struggles to live as an independent woman, but finds herself unable to truly succeed without the assistance of someone like Dr. William Masters. Masters' wife, Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald) likewise is navigating a treacherous road. With a newborn in the home, her trials seem to be focused around winning her husband's approval while simultaneously carving out her own role. Dr. Lillian DePaul (Julianne Nicholson) is desperately fighting to be heard on the issue of women's health and the importance of pap smears. Except her ideas are routinely shot down by the male hierarchy. Margaret Scully (Allison Janney) finds herself mired in a marriage with a closeted gay husband. She's unsure how to remedy the situation, and since she's been so dependent on him for so long she presumably sees no way out. Perhaps the most audacious character on 'Masters of Sex' is Betty (Annaleigh Ashford), a pugnacious personality who balks at the male-dominated world. Her recent past as a sex worker has hardened her. She's used to controlling men, and she shows no willingness to cower when she's told what to do.

Enriching the cultural nucleus of the show even more is the way the second season deals with gender identity and homosexuality. The 1950s were not a kind place for homosexuals. In the first couple episodes we witness Will's close friend Barton Scully (Beau Bridges) go through electroshock therapy in an attempt to "cure" his proclivities toward men. The cultural climate is such that Barton's sexuality is so utterly contemptible that this seems like a logical resolution. It's interesting to see men of science, like Barton, succumbing to societal pressures and undergoing unproven treatments in the hope that there's a cure.

William Masters is a man ahead of his time. That much is certain. He's a progressive thinker when it comes to sexuality, homosexuality, and gender identity. However, at home he's a brute. The dichotomy is extraordinary. At work he's this logical idealist who thinks pragmatically and acts decisively. At home here's a man who delivers babies for a living and has absolutely no idea how to raise one. In one telling scene, when the baby is crying and he's the only one home, William turns up the record player so he doesn't have to listen to the wailing in the other room. Then compare that to the person he is at work. A principled doctor who thinks it's unethical to force a sexually active teenager to have a hysterectomy because her parents order it. A man who thinks it's unconscionable that a dad would ask him, in a fit of anger, to cut fix his newly born hermaphrodite child by “cutting it off.” This war between the Masters the doctor and Masters the husband and father is very intriguing.

Sure the show has a good amount of sex in it, but it never feels tossed in just for titillation's sake. There's a practical use for it. It never seems gratuitous. Instead it feels necessary, as the show explores not only the science behind sex, but also the psychological impact it thrusts upon its participants. 

I enjoyed the second season as much as the first. It's a show that understands itself, knows who its characters are, knows what it's trying to say, and knows how to say it. It really could fill that period-piece-drama-sized hole you might have since 'Mad Men' ended.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

This is a four-disc Blu-ray set. Each disc is 50GB. Discs 1 – 3 each contain three episodes each, while the fourth disc contains the final two episodes of the season plus special features. They come packed in a nice keepcase with hubs for each disc (two hubs inside the covers, and a swinging arm in the middle that holds two more discs back to back). The case comes with a slipcover that nicely compliments the one that came with the first season.