VIRGINIA: Previously on Masters of Sex...
It's my first day back at my old job.
Whole space up here belongs to Masters and Johnson now.
I'm the new girl.
Betty can also help with the books.
I'm not sure I can scrape together this month's rent.
You will scrape, Flo.
Well, I was wondering if I could fill one of those on-call positions
in return for your waiving the charge
for Mrs Holden's and my room.
What do you want with Coral?
Just because you're Coral's boyfriend doesn't... I'm her brother.
I want us to get back together.
I've moved on, Austin.
VIRGINIA: Barbara, I thought that you and Dr Greathouse,
there was a sexual... We did everything.
Just not the normal way.
In terms of your participating in the study...
Don't feel bad about rejecting me.
You're not gonna take my mother's money.
I had to help you, son.
I couldn't not. Not again.
Did you know that we haven't had sex in over a year?
I think Bill is under a lot of pressure.
YVETTE: (SIGHS) Nothing is happening.
How long do you want me to try?
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
FRANCIS: Rita Hayworth,
Ruth Taylor,
Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe...
They're all doing it.
Rhinoplasty, chin implants,
face lifts.
Lift as in a literal... No.
It's a basic elevation
and re-draping of the skin.
Remember in med school,
they used to say plastic surgery
was for cleft palates and burn victims.
People are finally realising
just because you're born with one face
doesn't mean you're stuck with it.
Obstetrician, plastic surgeon.
Two of Rochester Medical School's alumni made good.
You were supposed to be an English professor.
For 15 minutes, maybe.
Do you still read the way you used to?
Melville in a day, Tolstoy in a week?
I don't have the time any more.
Well, you didn't have the time in school, either,
but you still managed it.
"Suffering has been greater than all other teaching.
"I have been bent and broken,
"but I hope into a better shape."
Charles Dickens. I know who it is.
You wrote that to me.
That was the last letter I ever got from you.
Whenever you boys are ready.
What are you doing?
You came all the way from Kansas City.
Absolutely not.
No, this is my treat, Frank.
End of discussion.
(CHUCKLES)
Professor Tolan used to say
you were the biggest pain in the ass
to ever grace his lecture hall.
I see some things don't change.
It was great seeing you. Really.
You don't think I drove six and a half hours
to discuss Marilyn Monroe's nose job, do you?
I don't know if you heard,
but after all my years of bachelorhood debauchery,
I finally settled down.
I did.
Through the grapevine.
The grapevine.
Congratulations.
As soon as we got hitched,
first thing, I cleared out my office,
set it up as a nursery.
Pauline and I, we've been trying,
but a year on,
I'm starting to worry.
I'm hoping you can help us.
I...
I do know a few fertility specialists in Kansas City,
but I could easily have made a recommendation over the phone.
Why would I see a stranger in Kansas City
when I'm sitting here,
talking to the leading fertility expert in the Midwest?
(ELEVATOR DINGS)
So, we have rejected 126 subjects from the study
due to dysfunction.
That's nearly a third of all applicants.
In the future, we'll make a special note
of subjects presenting dysfunction.
We can build a patient base from there.
Or from here.
M-25-106-NV.
Son of a bitch. Wake up.
Impotence.
F-34-21 -NV.
Dyspareunia.
Is it supposed to feel like knives?
M-28-364-NV.
Ejaculatory incompetence.
Don't hold back on my account.
NV?
Non-viable.
You kept them all.
Why?
Well, if they're brave enough to come in,
we should at least keep a record of that bravery,
don't you think?
You're a magician with those fingers.
Well, what brings you in today, Miss Packer?
My arches are as flat as old soda pop.
At work, I'm hobbling up the stairs like a polio baby.
Girl in the building, Virginia Johnson,
she saw me, said,
"Flo, you need Dr Langham and you need him now."
Oh, you're a Virginia referral.
Yeah, I work right next door to her.
At Cal-O-Metric?
No kidding? You know, my wife...
Uh, my ex-wife used to work there, too.
Oh, I know. I was her boss.
Oh, the stories I used to hear about Elise Langham's husband.
You've been a very naughty orthopaedist, Dr Langham.
(GRUNTS)
Well, with what I'm seeing here, Miss Packer,
I think you may be a prime candidate for surgery.
Oh, I can't wait for surgery. (WATER RUNNING)
This week's our yearly sales conference.
I don't want to be dragging around
like Quasimodo in the bell tower.
I could offer you a cortisone shot.
In the long run, I recommend you consider losing weight.
You're putting tremendous pressure on your feet.
Some men like a lady with curves.
You?
(SIGHS)
In spite of what you may have heard, Miss Packer,
my relationship with my patients is strictly professional.
Sure.
But somehow, I can't help but to think
that if I lost 50 pounds and dropped 10 years,
you might be whistling a different tune.
Look, I made some very foolish decisions in the past...
Decisions that have made my life here at the hospital
a living hell.
Passed up for promotion the last two years,
and, uh, my colleagues actually call me Don,
as in Don Juan.
Frankly, I would give anything to walk through that door
and never come back here again,
start over somewhere else,
somewhere new.
But seeing as that's not going to happen,
the best thing for me to do is to...
Stay out of trouble.
So, uh, if you don't mind,
I will ask the nurse to prepare your cortisone shot for you.
Nurse. (DOOR CLOSES)
(DOOR OPENS)
While I have your attention...
I thought you might be interested to know
that we're being audited.
The IRS wants 4,000 bucks in taxes,
with interest.
You said we were exempt from taxes.
No, I said companies that apply for
and receive 501 (c) not-for-profit organisation status
under the Internal Revenue Code were exempt from taxes.
You haven't applied?
No, because in order to apply,
you need to have a board of trustees,
like I told you two months ago.
I'm working on that.
Libby and I are having dinner tonight with Sam Duncan.
I'm assuming that if I can convince
the Chief of Police to join our board,
others will follow.
You're going to convince him?
Why not?
Virginia? VIRGINIA: Yes?
You got any plans tonight?
Not at the moment.
Well, you do now.
DR MASTERS: Subjects are unmarried and randomly assigned.
(WOMAN MOANING)
Darkening of the areolae.
I was thinking,
what if every dysfunction
had a male version and a female version?
Meaning?
Meaning, look at normal sexual functioning.
There's a kind of symmetry to it.
Swelling of the testes in men,
swelling of the vulva in women,
so what if the opposite were true, too?
Vaginismus could be the female equivalent of impotence.
Well, impotence has a significantly
higher rate of occurrence than vaginismus.
Kinsey puts it upward of 27% of men
that have trouble achieving erection.
Granted, that's anecdotal,
but Wilhelm Stekel makes the number closer to 50.
You've looked into this already.
Uh, preliminary research only.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Um, I was wondering if I could take an extra couple hours
for my lunch break tomorrow.
It's just, um, it's...
My dad's funeral, is all.
Oh, I'm so sorry, Lester.
Uh, yes, of course, take all the time you need.
Actually, if I could leave a little early today,
I'm trying to write my eulogy.
I was up all night working on it,
but I just can't seem to crack it.
Why don't you try it out on us first?
Really?
I guess I could use some feedback at this point.
Um...
"My dad had a long, happy life.
"He was a lawyer.
"He loved his family."
That's all I have so far.
It's a fantastic start.
And maybe the rest of it will come a bit more naturally
if you were to try, I don't know, uh,
maybe something visual.
My cousin, for example, she had a slide show at her wedding.
To be honest, it was not...
It was not very good,
but yours, I think, would be terrific.
(BOTH MOANING)
Climax. (STOPWATCH CLICKS)
Nervous?
Thirsty.
$5 for prime rib? That is highway robbery.
If it goes well tonight, it'll be worth the price.
I still don't understand why you need a board.
When you go to the grocery store, why do you buy...
Campbell's soup?
Why not some other variety?
Well, I know Campbell's is good.
You trust the name, the label.
That's precisely what a board is.
It's packaging.
And the right packaging
is what will allow us to get our tax-exempt status
so we can get through this audit in one piece.
You've been audited?
Here they are now.
FLORENCE: Caroline is just at her wit's end
with the Veiled Prophet Ball.
DR MASTERS: The thing is, our study,
it isn't really about sex at all.
Do you know what the number-one cause of divorce
in the state of Missouri is?
Sexual dissatisfaction.
And the children of divorce,
as I'm sure you do know,
they're 10 times more likely to pursue a life of crime.
An alarming statistic with a clear correlation.
If we can save even one child
from the scourge of divorce...
Then we feel we've done our small part in the fight against crime.
So, all of these volunteers,
they're all married couples?
Of course.
(SIGHS) I don't know.
Me being on the board of something like this.
I'm gonna have to think about it.
You know what I think?
I think we should share a table
at the Veiled Prophet Ball this Friday.
Mrs Duncan's been bending your ear
about her chairing the leadership committee?
(LAUGHING)
Well, truly, with the economy the way it is,
if we don't receive more donations by Friday,
we'll have to make some devastating decisions.
Well, if you are looking for more volunteers,
I would be more than happy to lend a hand.
Look at you. One good idea after another.
I wouldn't want to impose, but...
It is a great cause, Lib.
Of course it is.
Well, Virginia, you must come, too.
I've always wondered about the Veiled Prophet
with his strange mask and costumes.
Well, you'll come with me and Bill.
We'll go as a triumvirate.
FLORENCE: Fabulous!
(SAM AND FLORENCE LAUGH)
DR MASTERS: I, uh, tried to find a...
An opening in the calendar,
but unfortunately,
all the, uh, regular appointment times were taken.
We don't mind getting up with the birds. Yeah.
My staff usually opens the office, turns on the lights.
Ah.
Uh, just...
It is such a pleasure to finally meet you,
although I feel like I've known you forever, really.
Francis has told me all about the trouble
you two used to get up to.
Well, Bill was always better behaved than I was.
Everyone was better behaved than you.
(CHUCKLES)
Folks that knew him back then,
they always ask me,
"How did you ever get this bum to stop running around
"and put a ring on your finger?"
It is an impressive feat.
(PAULINE CHUCKLES)
Once you finish filling out the, uh, intake forms,
I'll be taking samples of blood, urine,
and semen for testing.
Are there any questions?
Pauline and I have been wondering
if there's any way to know
if the issues we've been having
have anything to do with my disease.
My alcoholism.
Your...
I assumed you knew.
The grapevine and all.
Francis hasn't had a drop in almost a year.
I don't believe past drinking should have any impact whatsoever
on your chances of conception.
(SIGHS) (CHUCKLES)
Well, I can't tell you what a relief that is, Bill.
Sorry. I got stuck with a patient.
I didn't think we had any appointments until 10:00 today.
Where should we begin?
Um, well, male impotence,
female dyspareunia, male dyspareunia.
Well, we're in the volume business.
I suppose it makes the most sense
to start where we can make the most difference.
Male impotence it is.
We can start with the sexual history questionnaires.
Look for any patterns.
Similar backgrounds, psychological abnormalities.
I think we should stay focused on the data.
Without the empirical work we've gathered,
sexual histories are just a collection of anecdotes.
Yes, but the data by itself only tells part of the story.
We're not telling stories.
We have to devise practical methods for treating these men.
Start by compiling a list of techniques
that have already proven a degree of effectiveness.
Betty might be a place to start.
If you're a taxi driver, you got lousy tips.
If you're a mailman, you got barking dogs,
and if you're a hooker, you got this.
Were there any methods in particular that you found useful?
Hands, mouth, you know.
Whatever worked.
In other words, an aggressive approach seemed most effective?
And then it wouldn't be.
Sometimes I'd give the guy
a special tonic straight from India.
I'd warn him about it first, though.
I'd say, "Sure you want to take this?
"If you take too much of it,
"your erection might last forever."
And the ingredients were?
Rum and cayenne pepper.
If you could get this guy to believe it,
you could get that guy to believe it, too.
Placebo effect.
Hmm, we called it punch for suckers.
And if that didn't work,
we had a couple penis pumps lying around,
but, ugh, those were a real pain.
They'd make your arm sore for a couple days.
Clearly, this is not just a physical problem.
Once, I was in the backseat with Gordon Garrett,
my high-school beau.
He never had any problems whatsoever with performance,
but this one night, he found his mother's handkerchief
tucked in between the cushions
and smelling like her perfume,
and that was the end of that.
Exactly.
Most of the time, it's a mental block.
You know, guy feels lousy about himself,
guy feels guilty about his wife or his mother
or he's got a thing for farm animals or whatever,
but you're still stuck with the same problem...
How to get it up so he can finish off, pay up, and get out.
Hey, while we're on the subject of happy customers,
what's this file you left here?
Uh, it's the Masons.
New fertility patients. I saw them this morning.
Early this morning.
Mr Mason was only available before 7:00.
Oh, I didn't see them in the...
I'm gonna need you to have the lab rush their test results.
You have any idea how much that costs?
I don't care how much it costs.
Just get it done, please.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS)
KENT'S VOICE: Are you in a rut?
Do you eat to excess?
Does your husband keep his eyes glued to the television
when you step into the room?
You get the idea.
Our new radio spot.
Ah, I can't believe Kent Underleigh is your spokesman.
I used to listen to him on that old radio soap,
Hospital of Love, in junior high.
Unfortunately, talent like that doesn't come cheap.
Mr Underleigh requires
four-star accommodations,
although I did get a fabulous deal
on a hotel room outside the city.
I'm flying him in to give the keynote address at our sales conference.
Ah.
Well, um, as I was saying,
for just a small donation to the Veiled Prophet Ball,
Cal-O-Metric will be featured in the programme
alongside other businesses like...
Look, I'd love to help you out, Lib.
Can I call you lib?
But with this sales conference,
I'm leaking cash like an old bladder.
I'm sorry to hear that.
You got to spend a mint to make a mint.
And I'm sick of being a big fish in a rain puddle.
By 1965, I want Cal-O-Metric
to be the number-one diet product in America.
Well, in that case,
you need to get the message out there.
An advertisement in this year's programme
will be seen by hundreds of women...
Women, I might add,
with significant disposable income.
Rich women.
Unhappy women.
Just imagine the exposure.
(SIGHS)
See?
Leaking again.
(PEN CLICKS)
VIRGINIA: Mind if I join you?
How did you find me?
You wrote your work address on your study application.
And they said upstairs that I'd find you here.
Barbara, I feel terrible about how we left things.
Please, don't.
Don't feel bad for me.
In fact, I thought maybe you could help us.
I'm setting up for the 4:00.
I hope I didn't miss too much.
Uh, we decided to begin our work on dysfunction
with male impotence.
How was it this morning?
I ended up putting together a slide show
like Virginia suggested.
I spent hours digging through old photos...
Shoeboxes full of them.
178 photos.
Guess how many I was in.
Two.
So, you've always been the one behind the camera.
Just like everything else in my life.
The action seems to be happening to somebody else.
I'm just like those guys.
Those guys?
In the, you know...
Dysfunctional way.
I, uh...
I have...
Vaginismus is the medical term,
when the vagina becomes impenetrable.
Vaginismus, then. That's...
That's why Gil left me after two years.
After window shopping for rings.
That surprises me a bit.
Most men appreciate a woman
open to trying different forms of sex.
Well, not Gil.
His dad was a minister at one of those
hellfire and brimstone churches.
So, having sex the normal way was hard enough for Gil,
let alone putting his...
Somewhere other than the one place that I can't put anything.
Freud, he did posit,
things that we learn as children never fully go away.
Even things that we know aren't true,
there's a part of us that still believes them.
Hmm.
Like my neighbour.
Sid Pomerantz.
He was this big-shot producer Jane met
a few months after we'd been in Hollywood.
He goes completely crazy for her,
sending her Tiffany bracelets,
taking her to fancy parties,
casting her.
I'm either at home unemployed
or babysitting some director's incontinent bulldog.
All of a sudden, Jane's getting home to our apartment
later and later at night,
out painting the town with...
Mary Dougherty.
She was a sweet girl. She lived up the block from us.
Mary got pregnant at 14.
She kept it to herself,
then she went into labour a month early
and bled to death in her bedroom.
Oh, how awful.
My mother used to say, "If you're a wicked girl, God will punish you.
"But if you're a good girl, Barbara,
"and you wait until marriage,
"then God will protect you."
And then one day, out of the blue,
I woke up with a figure, and...
Boys started to give me the time of day.
I liked it.
All that attention.
But then any time I would be with a boy,
Mary Dougherty would pop into my head and it'd be like...
Like someone flipped a switch.
I just couldn't do anything in the bedroom with Jane.
Since then, I tried once with another girl.
Twice, sort of, but still.
I'm sorry.
This is an inappropriate topic to be bringing up at work.
Not at... Not at all, Lester.
We, uh, we talk about these...
...sorts of things every day.
It's why we ask about this on our questionnaire,
about someone's first sexual experience.
My brother Paul had a friend who liked me.
He wanted to sleep with me, but I...
I didn't want to get pregnant,
so I used my mouth instead.
That's my first.
It was a while after that until I...
...realised that my opening had shut completely.
All that thinking about Mary Dougherty, I guess.
What was his name?
Your first.
Paul's friend.
(CHUCKLES)
I can't remember.
Is that bad?
No.
No, it...
It's just most people can't forget the name
of their first partner.
Even if they want to.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
Hello.
Looking for fashion periodicals?
Yes. Yes, I am.
For heaven's sake!
(TYRES SCREECHING)
(WOMAN SCREAMS IN DISTANCE)
Oh, honey. You haven't eaten anything.
You can't let him do that.
I didn't notice.
There's an article in the afternoon edition
about that man you saw.
What does it say?
Police found an ounce of marijuana
in the victim's jacket.
They think it's some kind of drug deal gone awry.
So I wouldn't feel too sorry for him if I were you.
They don't know who did it?
Still looking for a suspect.
Never should have moved to that awful neighbourhood.
Every area has its problems.
I don't remember men fighting for drugs
outside of Washington University.
Well, that's why putting together a board is so important.
A reputable board is an essential partner in the raising of funds.
With more cash on hand,
we can move the office
to a more desirable location.
Oh, speaking of cash,
I spoke to Glen Ellis this morning.
He said you managed to convince him
to write a $50 cheque for the Veiled Prophet.
Told me you're a natural salesman.
Is that...
Is that something burning?
The casserole.
I feel like a teenager smoking in the girls' room.
Mmm-hmm.
What did you say his name was again?
Francis H. Mason Jr.
He ever mention a Francis before?
Rochester school of medicine.
Okay, so I snooped through his file.
Graduated 1947.
Bill was class of '43.
They must've been pals.
Who even knew the doc had friends?
(CHUCKLES) He has never mentioned any to me.
Although, he has been acting strangely the past few days.
And the man does like to keep his secrets.
Motility grade is...
Is, uh, excellent.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Uh...
Morphology...
Well above average.
For Christ's sake, just tell me.
Sperm count is low.
Two million per millilitre.
(EXHALES DEEPLY)
Normal is...
Ten times that.
It's a random genetic anomaly.
Incredibly common.
In fact, I, uh...
Well, I... I see men with this condition every day.
I can assure you,
you and your wife will be able to conceive.
In a lab.
Oh, I'd have thought, being a plastic surgeon,
you'd appreciate more than most
that nature doesn't always have to have the last word.
In terms of treatment, I spoke to Howard Graham
at Kansas City Methodist this morning.
He feels quite confident in taking it from here.
(SCOFFS)
Well, it hardly makes sense for you,
uh, to upend both your lives for months on end
just to be treated here in St. Louis.
Why not?
I'm due for a sabbatical anyway.
We could find an apartment in the area...
Howard Graham is one of the leading lights in the country in fertility.
You'll be in very capable hands, I can assure you.
He's not our doctor, Bill.
You are.
You can take your results to Dr Graham
when you see him tomorrow morning.
I've scheduled an appointment for you and your wife for 9:00.
I assumed you'd be eager to get started.
Um, I'll keep up with your case,
make sure everything runs smoothly.
You and I, uh...
Well, we'll be in touch.
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
Like last time?
Good luck, Frank.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
It's open !
I wasn't paying attention, and I...
And I...
I put too much soap in... (DOOR CLOSES)
Because the whole thing just exploded.
Well, I can take a look at it, if you want.
I'm sorry. I thought...
I thought you were from Sears.
You want me to...
No. No, thank you.
Well, I'm here because I saw you yesterday
drive by our building.
Yes, my, um...
My husband works there now.
And, uh, I was only there,
Actually, for the Veiled Prophet Ball.
It's, um... It's an annual...
Yeah, I... I know what it is.
It's, uh, one of the oldest traditions in St. Louis, actually.
I never understood it myself.
All those privileged folks paying a fortune
to see a man dressed up in robes and a white hood.
I mean, you can drive a couple hours south of here
and see that for free.
I'm very busy, as you can see,
so if there's something that I can do for you...
You saw what they did to Leonard.
Leonard Gilroy.
He's the treasurer of the St. Louis office of CORE.
Congress of Racial Equality?
He's the one you saw laying on the sidewalk.
I did see that. Yes.
It was very upsetting.
Broke his nose, his arm,
cracked a couple of ribs,
and left him outside the CORE office
for everyone to see what they had done.
Well, the newspaper said that...
Leonard Gilroy is a history teacher, not a drug hustler.
And how can they say there was a fight
when there were people there the whole time
and no one saw nothing like that?
I was surprised to read that, too.
I... I had just come out of the building,
and, um, hadn't noticed any sort of altercation.
Look, we got a couple of witnesses
who, uh, saw a truck drive by
and saw Leonard get dumped out the back,
and one of them saw the first three numbers of the licence plate.
And, so, I was wondering if...
If maybe you saw anything.
If there are other witnesses,
why are you talking to me?
Because most of them are coloured folks.
The few white witnesses won't talk,
and the police aren't about to start an investigation
based on the testimony of a bunch of negroes.
So if you did see something...
I didn't.
Sorry.
Francis Holden,
radiologist from Kansas City.
That patient you brought in this morning,
Francis Mason?
Plastic surgeon from Kansas City?
You two went to medical school together, right?
We went to the same school, yes.
And were you close?
We had a complicated relationship.
In what way?
Things didn't end well between us.
Or I... I... I don't know.
We drifted apart.
Sent letters for a while, every year,
then every two.
Then not at all.
Well, he must have made some kind of impression on you,
considering you named yourself after him.
It's a coincidence.
The universe is full of coincidences.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other
exactly 50 years to the day
from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Right.
Are you going to join me?
I should have stopped after I had my third drink downstairs.
I may have overdone it.
I'm not sure I'd be of...
Uh, much use.
Well, we could try.
A man can tell.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
You order something from downstairs?
I'm sorry to disturb you, Dr Holden,
but you're on call tonight.
Something the matter?
You could say that.
DR MASTERS: He's been dead for hours.
You need a coroner, not an obstetrician.
He ate himself to death?
Either the lining of his stomach burst,
or he suffered cardiac arrest.
Hard to say, based on his, uh, presentation.
Well, maybe he's better off.
Whatever demons this man was battling with,
clearly, they were considerable.
They can't harm him any more, can they?
(DOORBELL RINGING)
BARBARA: I know, I know. I just...
I needed to talk to you.
And then I saw your address in the phone book.
I realised you were just a short drive.
There are boundaries.
You cannot just show up at my home
in the middle of the night.
You came looking for me!
You came to my building. You started talking to me.
And after all of that
and letting me pour my heart out to you,
now you want to talk to me about boundaries?
Barbara, my children are sleeping upstairs.
I'm sorry.
I just... I can't stop...
Thinking about what you said.
I went home, and I took out all the old photo albums
back from when I was a kid.
And I thought if I could just find a picture of that boy,
if I could just put a...
A face with the name,
that I would be sure to remember it straightaway.
(VOICE BREAKING) And I did.
I remembered his name.
(SNIFFLES)
Paul.
But wasn't your brother...
We had this creek that ran behind our house,
and Paul and I spent...
(SOBS)
Practically every afternoon there.
We'd catch frogs and have them race.
Silly things like that.
And then we got older.
And we made up new games.
Like...
You have to close your eyes
and then just hug each other as tightly as you can,
or kiss for 20 seconds with your mouth open.
And then one day, Paul asked me if he could put...
Just to try it.
And Paul said that if we were careful, we wouldn't make a baby.
And so we continued.
And then one day, we were late for supper,
and my mom came to find us.
And when she saw us there, she just...
Didn't say anything for the longest time.
She just stood there,
and she stared at us with this...
This look on her face.
Not angry, just...
Sickened.
And then she turned around and she walked home.
That was it.
She didn't say anything.
She never brought it up, but she didn't have to.
Because God saw what we did.
(VOICE BREAKING) God knew what we had done,
and that is why he did this to me.
He closed me up because of what we did...
Because we sickened him.
Having a patient in your home...
I didn't know what else to do.
Once that kind of professional boundary has been crossed,
you can't simply snap your fingers and undo it.
I... I see no other option here besides a clean break.
No. No. I provoked those memories.
I can't just end it like that. That would be cruel.
She needs help, Bill.
She's not eating or sleeping.
She has nowhere else to go.
All right, we bring her in as a patient... Our patient.
No more individual meetings.
We see her together, in the office,
in a controlled environment.
In terms of treatment,
obviously, there is significant psychological trauma
underlying the physical symptoms.
Neither of us is equipped
to be delving into this woman's psychology.
I know that.
I would like to become equipped.
You know that I've wanted to go back to school.
What?
As a practising psychologist?
Virginia, first of all, you'd have to complete an undergraduate degree.
That's four years of coursework.
There is an accelerated programme. I've looked into it.
And at least three more years of graduate studies,
not to mention hundreds of hours of clinical practice
before you can even begin the accreditation process.
It's important to me, Bill, going back to school.
You know that it is.
And I fully support it.
I'm just wondering, how does years of study
help Barbara in the short term?
All right, then. In the meantime...
Who is the best psychologist in St. Louis?
Lloyd Madden, maybe?
He chairs the programme at the University of Missouri.
Well, then, let's call him
and give him the basics of Barbara's case,
see what advice he has to offer.
No reputable physician would consent
to giving a medical opinion
on a patient they haven't met.
And with us as intermediaries,
What do you suggest, then?
Stick to what we know.
The focus of this study has always been
the physiology of the human body.
I see no reason to change course now,
just because we're attempting to cure
as opposed to simply observe.
WOMAN: Okay, salesladies, let's take our seats.
The presentation is about to begin.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
I didn't sleep a wink last night.
Nervous about your big day?
My spokesman croaked.
Had to drive out to some hotel in Alton, identify the body.
Heart attack? Cheesecake.
Turns out there was a reason he never made it past radio.
It's a blessing in disguise.
What kind of diet company has a 300-pound spokesman?
Plus, it pushed me to do something
I've been thinking about for days.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Ladies?
Ladies, please be quiet.
Ladies.
It is with a heavy heart
that I announce to you today
that Kent Underleigh, our beloved spokesman,
has passed beyond this earthly veil.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
Now, ladies, even in this dark moment,
we must remember...
Every end is a new beginning.
That's why I'm delighted
to introduce our new spokesman for Cal-O-Metric.
With no further ado,
let's give a big Cal-O-Metric welcome
to the new face of women's nutrition...
Dr Austin Langham !
(ALL APPLAUDING)
Thank you ! Thank you.
Stop.
You're embarrassing me. Please.
Thank you very much.
Possible somatic causes of impotence
may include vascular disease,
hyperthyroid,
diabetes,
or other endocrinological conditions.
We've been going for an hour.
Should we take a break?
Uh, let's, uh, keep rolling, actually.
Take a seat.
I realised that, uh...
After all this time of you filming us,
you haven't had a chance
to discuss your own role in the study.
Oh, uh...
I'm... I'm documenting it.
I'm archiving it, really.
I guess.
In your work, um,
what would you say has been your most important inspiration?
The study.
I mean, in Hollywood...
And I know because I've been there...
They just churn out the same old stories...
The Western about the outlaw with a heart of gold
or the monster movie about the scientist
that no one will listen to until it's too late.
(CHUCKLES)
But here, in this lab,
what you do every day,
it's all brand-new.
And what we do here
is not just about observation and discovery, though.
What good is a theory, after all,
if you can't do anything with it?
The work we're doing here, it's changing.
We're no longer simply observing phenomena and compiling data.
We're beginning to explore the idea of intervention...
Working directly with patients.
Our new mission here is not simply to observe.
It's also to heal.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
(BIG-BAND MUSIC PLAYS)
LIBBY: The gown, the gloves, the dancing lessons...
The... The whole thing cost a fortune.
So I was the only one in my class who wasn't a debutante.
Well, in spite of that,
I would say you debuted quite well.
Now, where is that waiter?
Uh, the lady will have a gin and tonic.
Thank you.
JIM: Bill Masters, how the hell are you?
Dr Pearson.
Allow me to introduce you to...
Mrs Masters, what a pleasure.
No, actually, this is Mrs Masters.
And Mrs Johnson works with Bill,
which is like being married.
Yes, only the hours are worse.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
There you two are.
Hello. Look who else is here...
The king and his court have arrived.
From the Court of Honour,
the Queen of Love and Beauty
is crowned by the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.
It certainly is a fascinating tradition.
It's been going since 1878.
Damn strange tradition is what it is.
But at least the liquor's always first-class.
You behave yourself, Sam Duncan.
A toast
to Libby Masters,
true Christian saint if there ever was one.
Libby raised $300 in one week.
Oh, it was nothing, really.
Hear, hear. SAM: Cheers.
And have you given any more thought
to our proposal, Chief Duncan?
I have a feeling this study of yours is political poison.
Well, but then again, you're not a politician, are you?
In fact, we're the...
The opposite of political men.
Thank God for it.
So...
I suppose I'm in.
Shall we head in?
Oh, um, just...
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
There you are, sir.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) Excellent.
Robert Franklin came to the house yesterday.
Coral's brother.
What did he want?
He said the story in the newspaper
about that man in front of your office isn't true.
There are witnesses, he said,
who saw the man being thrown out of a truck.
And what has that got to do with you?
I saw the truck.
It almost drove right into me.
He asked me to go to the police, to tell them what I saw.
This is not our issue, Lib.
"Our" issue?
This isn't our issue.
The only reason I volunteered to raise money
was to convince Sam to join the board.
And I appreciate it.
I know you do. It's just...
Everything in our lives, Bill,
for as long as I can remember,
has been about the study.
I mean, loans we've taken out
and friendships that we've lost,
and it's all been for your work,
work that does not include me.
I just... I... I don't know...
(SIGHS)
I don't know where I fit in with it all.
You're with me.
Uh, Frank just called.
Said he'll meet you tonight at the coffee shop at 9:00.
VIRGINIA: Dr Madden is expecting you at 7:00.
I figured it would be easiest for you to see him after work.
You made me an appointment?
Dr Madden is an expert in this area.
He can help you.
You can discuss the problems that you've been having.
I thought that you were helping me.
Yes, but I don't have anywhere near the qualifications...
You cannot expect me to sit down with a complete stranger.
A... A man, no less
and tell him the things that I have told you.
No, I'm... I'm sorry, Virginia.
I'm sorry, but I can't.
I'm sorry.
(SIGHS)
(DOOR OPENS)
I'd like to speak to you,
about what I saw the other day.
I can't live like this.
I'm... I've lost my appetite. I haven't slept in days.
And why do you think that is?
Something happened to me a very long time ago.
And, somehow...
Well, it's... It's come up again.
When I grew up,
there was a creek that ran behind my house.
And in the summers, my brother and I,
we would spend every day down there,
chasing frogs
and holding our breaths under water.
And then, eventually,
as we got older, the games...
They changed.
I thought you were going home.
We were.
We discussed it, though, and we decided
we didn't want anyone else doing the treatments.
We've made arrangements.
Pauline found a hotel that accommodates long-term stays...
This was not the agreement.
I didn't agree to anything.
My first week as a resident,
they had me on the emergency-medicine rotation.
About 2:00 in the morning one night,
they bring in this young girl, automobile accident.
She'd lost control, swerved off an embankment into a ditch.
Went right through the glass,
skidded across asphalt and gravel for 30, 40 feet.
Her face...
I'm sure you can imagine. It was just...
They called in a plastic surgeon from New York City.
I watched him work on that girl for hours.
When he was finished,
she walked out of that hospital with a brand-new face.
The next morning,
I switched my speciality to plastic surgery.
I thought, "What could be better
"than being able to give somebody a second chance?"
The embankment she swerved off?
It wasn't an accident.
All we'd done was ruin her plans.
Six months later, she corrected the mistake...
Took a fistful of sleeping pills.
You think it's enough to fix the outside.
That's the easy part.
I have to tell you, Bill...
I've spent most of my life pretending you don't exist.
When people would ask me,
I'd tell them I was an only child.
"My parents only wanted one."
At some point, I'd said it so long,
I started half-believing it myself.
I want my brother back.