At the terminal of the last episode , Bill Masters added up Virginia ’s moodiness , thickening waistline , and neat vomiting and derive that she was pregnant . This week picks up right where we left off , as Virginia substantiate the diagnosing .
Masters is stupefied and upset . And although he says he ’s concerned about how it ’s going to impress their book launch , he ’s saucy enough to bring through the personal and biologic ramifications . In short , since he ’s infertile , she ’s slept with another man .
That ’s true , too . turn out the maternity is yet more fallout from the dreadful lake vacation four months earlier : the issue of solace sex between Virginia and her ex - hubby George after they found out their Word had decide to enlist in the Army just as the Vietnam War started intensify . Jaw firmly set , Virginia declare that she ’s made an appointee with the only Doctor of the Church in St. Louis who does abortions , and she ’s fine with it .
It all seems simple-minded when they ’re in Boston , but complication put on as soon as Masters and Johnson get home . They ’re complications fuel by regret . Libby Masters ’ rue about her man and wife makes her scratch line push Bill to pass more clip with his household so the new neighbor will stop think she ’s a single mom . And Virginia ’s regrets about not being there for her kids ( and her girl ’s full - volume teenage all - about - me shrieking certainly is n’t helping ) move her to go through with the gestation .
That ’s the setup . The balance of the episode address way that maternity affects and complicates adult relationships , follow Virginia ’s made - for - telecasting out - of - spousal relationship pregnancy and Masters ’ real - biography fertility work with the Shah of Iran and his then - married woman Princess Soraya ( which really happened in the mid-1950s rather than the mid-60s ) , and draw parallels between the two .
The stakes are high for the Shah and his wife : they really care for one another , but require to produce an heir . Without a pregnancy , their union is destine .
The post are high for Masters and Johnson . Masters is ( rightly ) afraid that masses will respond bad to an single meaning fair sex champion a book called Human Sexual Response . Libby Masters is afraid that citizenry will assume the baby is Bill ’s , and tough , that Bill will playact as if the baby is his and continue to neglect his own children . Virginia ’s first resolution – staying home on a leave of absence until the sister is put up – soon raise problems of its own , as Bill struggles to become comfortable working with the gynaecologist that he hired as a replacement . And after a disastrous solo interview , he see that Virginia is critical to their succeeder . He has to get her back at the institute and in front of the press , in a way that hold open tongue from wagging . They go to George Johnson and nominate a man and wife of convenience to make his kid legitimate .
finally , George gibe . But his decision is fuel by sorrow , too – he want to reconstruct his family , even as he signs the prenuptial agreement that limn the “ no arithmetic mean ” weather condition of the union . Libby is delighted by that exploitation , thinking that this could be the end of the Masters and Johnson occasion . But we live that ’s magical thinking on her part : we ’ve date Bill ’s conversation with Princess Soraya , and recognize that the thing he values most in a relationship is desire , esteem , and “ a sense that your partner is truly your other half ” , not child . That ’s what Virginia gives him , not Libby .
But the princess cerebrate that when there are three adults in a relationship , and two have a tiddler together , that becomes the firm tie . It looks as if we ’ll that approximation tested over the rest of this season . Although the circle - aid on Johnson ’s reputation works , and at the leger ’s launch company , a heavily meaning Johnson openly stand next to Masters to toast the support of their spouses , when Johnson lead into labor it ’s Bill that she calls first to talk her through her contraction .
That ginger lecture weave up being about much more than respiration . All Johnson ’s insecurities about her abilities as a female parent come glut back , and she importune that this metre she needs to spend more sentence at household with her kid . Masters points out that ingest a female parent at home plate all the time is n’t always a political party for a youngster . He use his own female parent as an good example , but he could just as well have used his own wife . Virginia , he says , is leading the way in showing that there ’s more than one way to be a good mother .
I believe I see what ’s run on – Virginia has two baby the right way now , a book with Bill , and an babe with George . And this time of year we ’ll get to take in her balancing her attention between both relationships . The creation of the working female parent – the world we exist in now – is about to go through its birth pain .
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masters of gender
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