VIRGINIA: Previously on Masters of Sex...
Can I tell you a secret, Allison?
This person that I've always been...
That person is fading away.
I'm going to stay.
Allison and her friends are walking to the festival.
We can make a fresh start, the two of us together.
At our own clinic...
Bill and Virginia might object
to the number of follow-up appointments.
Nancy and I have an idea for a book.
I'm confident we can work something out.
I'm pregnant.
Nance, this is... I don't know who the father is.
It's Art.
I'm very careful about these things.
I use condoms with everyone else.
You came for treatment?
I'm so surprised that you got Mom to go along with this.
She has no idea.
We've always just leapt into the unknown, the work, sex...
The only thing we haven't tried is just being.
And having a life together means being all in.
Till death do us part.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
DR. MASTERS: ♪ There's a bright, golden haze
♪ On the meadow
♪ There's a bright, golden haze
♪ On the meadow
♪ The corn is as high
♪ As an elephant's eye
♪ And it looks like
♪ It's climbin' right up
♪ To the sky ♪
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?
I was dreaming that we were at our wedding,
and Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr. was singing.
Hmm.
Oops.
Mmm-hmm.
(LAUGHS)
I was thinking
we could do this at Hef's mansion.
In the grotto? Underwater?
Yes, our vows could be in bubbles.
With all our guests naked and in inner tubes.
I did read about a bride once
that appeared in a puff of smoke.
Luckily, we have plenty of time to sort out the details.
For now, I'm going to slip out before your kids wake up.
I don't want them to see me like this.
Yes.
Yeah, it would be a bad idea for you to surprise them.
VIRGINIA: Yes, and like a wedding, telling our kids takes planning.
Not unlike telling my parents.
You do remember you have an intake with them this morning, right?
(SIGHS) Hmm?
Counseling my future in-laws.
That is a recipe for...
Helping me?
Putting my mind at ease? Thank you so much for doing it.
What?
Nothing.
I'm happy.
(CHUCKLES)
Is that your car?
No, my van.
Got it from a guy named Patches,
who I met at the Jewish Community Center
where the nuns were giving out sandwiches.
Of course.
Right. We looked for you on the news
but with all the mud and rain...
There's a reason people my age aren't hippies.
Not that I regret a single moment.
Have you been staying here all week while Bill's been watching the kids?
No. No, I just...
I stayed last night for dinner.
All the kids were together,
then George came to pick up Lisa.
I meant to go home...
It's okay, Gin,
if you and Bill are together now.
(STAMMERING)
Actually, Libby,
we're getting married.
You're the first person to know.
I'm glad.
I really am.
My only concern is the children, and that they'll be confused.
They don't know yet, obviously.
I was actually hoping that you and I
could figure that out together,
how to tell them.
World is a curious place.
(DOOR OPENS)
(GASPS) Hi!
Hi, you!
Hi! I missed you, I missed you.
I missed you! Hi, Gini!
Gini's back!
LIBBY: Hi, you.
(DOG BARKS)
(LAUGHING)
After all these years.
Well, congratulations.
Thank you.
The both of you.
It's like a fairy tale come true.
Who is your wedding planner?
Wedding...
No, I think that Bill and I are at a point
where we don't need...
No. A wedding planner is an absolute must.
You cannot be pulling your hair
with a million details on the day.
Then maybe you would like the job.
And, Barton, we were hoping you would stand as our witness.
I'd be nothing short of honored.
I'll start pulling out all my bride magazines today.
You subscribe?
The happiest occasion on Earth is a wedding.
It's the one thing that gives us all hope.
Mr. and Mrs. Eshelman.
GUY: Yes, of course.
The first thing we do is an intake.
And what are we taking in, exactly?
I think he means a questionnaire.
Let's have Bill explain what he means
rather than us guessing.
Harry's right, essentially.
It is a questionnaire. An extensive one.
Asking about?
A range of things.
Childhood history, a sense of self.
What sensual stimuli can elicit a response.
So we start with your current sexual difficulties.
All my current sexual difficulties are called marriage.
HARRY: Well, Edna's humoring me by coming here.
I'm in the middle of a session, Lester.
EDNA: And I'm humoring my daughter.
May I see that?
Look, I know the treatment works
only if both people want to be here.
"Other than intercourse,
"how have you sought to pleasure your partner?"
You cannot be asking me what I think you're asking.
We do separate you and Harry
to answer these questions,
so if you are feeling self-conscious...
EDNA: "With what frequency do you use masturbatory release?"
Honestly, Mother.
Honey, Bill is here to help us.
But how does this help?
All this spilling your guts about private things,
things that belong in the bedroom or in a confessional,
when none of it does any good anyway.
I beg to differ, Edna.
We have seen hundreds of cases where it does...
EDNA: By yanking everything out into the open
and picking it apart like scavengers.
With all due respect, what you and Virginia are doing here,
do you realize you cannot put the genie back into the bottle?
The secret things, the ugly things.
Once you say them out loud, there they are, for good.
"Masturbatory release."
I'd sooner fly to the moon.
I've done my best for 40 years to be a good wife.
Why isn't that enough?
You know me, Harry,
and you know
(VOICE BREAKING) that what you're asking here is too much.
I can't do this.
HARRY: Well, if Edna's done,
then so am I.
She might wake up tomorrow and feel differently about this.
I am done being made to feel that
wanting sex in my life is a crime.
That wanting to be touched makes me a burden.
I'm done with the marriage.
Edna and I are over.
Daddy.
Daddy, I know this has been tough,
but you can't leave Mom.
As difficult as she's being...
What makes you so sure that I'm leaving?
Just the way that you both stormed out.
You were listening to us?
Gini, that is just wrong.
No, we record all of the sessions.
It's a common practice.
The point is, Mom loves you. Loves me?
We would be in Bill's office right now
trying to work this out...
Our therapy is tough medicine for a lot of people.
It's prying. Often embarrassing.
You're going to denigrate your own life's work
just to defend her.
She's 61 years old.
She'll be devastated if you leave.
Honey, please!
Why are you fighting so hard?
You can't break up.
So, you drive each other crazy. So what?
There are worse things,
like eating dinner alone every night or waking up in an empty bed.
Growing old all by yourself,
that is a terrifying prospect, Daddy,
one that you clearly have not thought through.
And with two failed marriages of your own,
haven't you made peace with that possibility?
(ELEVATOR DINGS)
My mind is made up, Gini.
I want you to respect that.
Dad, wait. Dad, please...
I need to talk to you.
Now is absolutely not the time, Art.
I'm afraid it is.
I'm not sure we understand.
What I'm saying is Nancy is planning
to open her own clinic in New York.
She intends to use the Masters and Johnson techniques.
She's gone through your files and taken patient names.
Especially the influential and wealthy ones.
She has also made a deal with Bob Drag
to write a book about homosexuality
based on the work we've been doing here.
Where is Nancy now?
She's been in New York all week,
signing papers for office space.
Not your space, too?
I find it hard to believe you're not beside her.
I was, but I'm not anymore.
I've had to face some hard truths about myself and my marriage.
And who Nancy and I are... Were to each other.
So your marriage is also ending.
Well, this has been quite a morning.
I'm sorry, Art.
Of course. I'm sorry, too.
(SIGHS)
You didn't deserve this.
To have your work stolen and your trust betrayed.
I just want to say I'm sorry.
I'm hoping it's not too late.
In a breach this serious,
there's a series of steps that must be enacted.
And the first step is change all the locks.
Or I'm gonna go stand guard.
KELLER: Yes. Lester, you see to that.
In the meantime, one of us needs to search Nancy's office.
Maybe she kept files or lists.
KELLER: We'll also search her house,
which will require a search warrant, unless Art lets us in.
I'm sure Art would, but he's already moved out.
I cannot believe Nancy would do this.
This is not the woman I know.
Unfortunately, it's often a trusted employee
that's got the position to do the most damage.
Art mentioned she's reached out to patients.
So we'll call them back,
make it clear if they've heard from her,
that she's under investigation.
I'm happy to make the calls.
Expose the little traitor.
KELLER: As for this book.
We'll need to get to Drag quickly,
make it clear that if there's going to be a book,
it'll come from us and us only.
Or Little, Brown could be facing legal action.
GUY: In any event, let's not lose sight of the important thing.
The wedding.
I, for one, can juggle wedding plans and a criminal investigation
at the same time.
The wedding? What wedding?
Uh...
Well, this is hardly the time to tell you, Lester,
but Virginia and I are getting married.
Am I the only one that doesn't know about this?
I didn't know. But hats off, you two.
Everyone will be invited. We want it to be a celebration.
Despite all the unpleasantness now.
Yes, indeed. Nice, rich pageant.
Okay, then, let's get to work.
I do wish you the very best.
And I hope that you won't find marriage is the soul-crushing,
testicle-shrinking, never-ending abyss of misery that I have.
LIBBY: No, I was enquiring about the three-bedroom.
And where is Telegraph Avenue?
Close to campus and the local elementary?
Yes, I'll hold.
I understand late registration, but not too late, I hope.
Thank you, that'd be perfect.
And what about a student ID?
All right then, I will stop by the registrar's first thing.
KELLER: As I live and breathe.
Last time I saw you, you were walking up a road
with a bunch of stoned hippies to listen to music for a little while.
You said a little while. I didn't.
You were gone a week, Libby. I was worried.
You were? Well, you didn't have to be.
See?
Here I am, and I'm fine.
Okay, then. I missed you.
A lot.
Did you?
And when you say, "A lot," Counselor,
what exactly do you mean?
(MOANING)
If I didn't love you so much, I'd have you declared
non compus mentus.
Come now. On what grounds?
This ridiculous van!
It smells like patchouli, and it's lined with hemp.
Beg your pardon, I got a very good deal on it.
You own this revolting jalopy?
I traded my diamond and pearl earrings for it.
Is this what a midlife crisis looks like?
I prefer to think of it as an awakening.
(GROANS)
This is an urgent message for Mrs. Landsman.
If Dr. Leveau contacts you,
she will be violating the law. Please call us back.
We want six keys. Six only. All stamped, "Do not duplicate."
Nancy, it's Barton.
Hoping to speak to you. This is...
Well, it's all very confused here right now.
I suppose I'm hoping that what Art said to Bill and Virginia
about your plans, about...
I trust it's not true.
You can straighten this out.
So, please.
Please call me. This is very...
(POUNDING ON DOOR)
Dr. Nancy Leveau, we have a warrant here to search the premises.
I hope you're not expecting me to invite you in, are you?
I don't need an invitation.
I have a warrant.
You do know that the second you step foot in your new clinic
and use one word of our protocol,
or attempt to treat any of our patients,
or publish a book using any of our research,
we will come after you, Nancy.
So fast, your doors will close before they even open.
On what grounds?
I mean, you closing our doors.
Not only can we open our own clinic,
we can also say we trained at the Masters and Johnson Institute.
Because we did.
You might want to check with Art
before you get too cozy as a "we."
Legally, you have nothing.
I never signed that non-disclosure agreement.
So your conscience is clear.
Like a shark doesn't think twice
about the thing it chews up in its path,
because that's what sharks do.
And who would understand that better than you, Virginia?
We are very similar, you and I,
except that I know where this winds up for me.
I will end up alone, and I have made my peace with that.
What you don't see is that you'll end up alone, too.
That's another miscalculation on your part,
because Bill and I, we're getting married.
So, while you'll end up on your own,
newly divorced and mired in lawsuits,
we will be the poster couple for sex therapy.
Excuse me, Mrs. Johnson, I'll need you to verify any property
that might belong to you or the clinic, as I proceed.
Excuse me.
You won't find anything, Virginia.
Not your property, not even your happy ending.
So, he was just sitting there,
cooking on a little hibachi,
but it wasn't until one of his students told me who he was
that we actually spoke.
You're still thinking about work?
I'm sorry, it's just been a day.
But it's your turn, so...
There he is.
Dr. Phillips, the law guru. Dr. Phillips.
Squatting in a field, listening to Joan Baez...
Baez. Baez.
Grilling hot dogs.
Grilling mushrooms from the woods nearby.
That sounds potentially fatal.
(LAUGHS) My point is
Dr. Phillips, Professor Emeritus of Public Law at Berkeley,
he sat me down on that tarp, and he encouraged me.
Well, actually, he inspired me to come out and enroll.
He even pulled some strings on my behalf.
Enroll?
In... Law school.
Dr. Phillips says there is no greater calling than the law.
I mean, forget the local college
where it'll take me six years to get my JD.
No, I have to take up the law with an undiminished passion.
Dr. Phillips says... I'm sorry,
just forget Dr. Phillips for one second.
What...
What are you saying? Law school
in Berkeley? Mmm-hmm.
California? Libby, how would you look after the kids?
They would come with me, of course.
What? No, you...
You can't take my children.
I'm not taking our children.
We'd make time for you to come visit.
We would come back here regularly.
You can't be serious.
It has taken me years, decades,
to finally discover some path forward,
a way to find happiness.
And I'm very glad for you,
and now it is time for my life to fall into place, too.
Which is something you can do here. Jesus!
You can't just drop this piece of news into polite chit-chat.
What're you thinking? Here we go.
Are you gonna make me fight you for our kids?
I'm sorry, "Fight"? I have no intention of fighting you.
What'll the kids think if I don't fight for them?
That I don't care about them, or love them?
I will not have them think that.
You worry how it looks?
I'm concerned about them!
I've been trying so hard to win them back.
To not have them hate me.
It's hardly my fault that you spent years as an absent father.
Don't throw that in my face.
And why shouldn't I?
Why should I pay again for your selfishness?
(DOOR SLAMS)
Who was that?
I'll check the children.
(ENGINE REVVING)
(TIRES SQUEALING)
John! Jesus. Stop!
(GEARS GRINDING)
John, what are you doing?
I don't want to hear it!
I'm sick of your arguing!
Okay, okay, just come here.
(JOHNNY SOBBING)
Look, I am so sorry, John, that you had to hear that.
All we were doing is trying to sort out...
I know what you were sorting out.
But I'm not moving.
I'm staying in St. Louis with you.
With me?
It's the right thing to do.
The right thing? For whom?
JOHNNY: You don't have friends.
You won't have Mom,
and if I leave,
you'll have no one.
You'll be all alone.
So that's why you want to stay?
No one, not even you, deserves to be alone like that.
Well, you should know
that I'm not gonna be alone.
I do have someone.
Virginia.
Aunt Gini?
What do you mean? I mean, we're together.
In love.
We're gonna get married.
Look, I know that must seem strange to you,
given all the years that
Aunt Virginia has been a part of our family,
and how close you've been to Tessa.
This whole time, you've loved her?
I did.
How could you do that?
What you have to understand
is that the last thing I wanted was to hurt your mother.
But you did. Why?
Because grown-up lives are just impossibly complicated.
Because I loved Virginia.
And as much as I tried, I just couldn't change that feeling.
Well, then, you weren't trying hard enough.
I was, John.
Look, I'm not saying I'm blameless. It's far from it.
I have made many mistakes.
But that doesn't mean there isn't love in it.
I love you.
And Jenny and Howie.
And I did love your mother. I still do.
But
not in that way.
No. No, that way...
That's how I love Virginia.
So, the good news is
you don't have to stay here because you're worried about me.
I won't then.
Mom will really need my help if we're moving so far away.
You know, John...
You don't have to feel so responsible for adults.
Let them figure out their problems for themselves.
You can just be a boy.
No.
I really can't.
(GROANS)
I've been looking everywhere for you.
A Mai Tai is made from pineapple, limes, and cherries.
Maraschino, but still.
It's practically a health drink.
Is Daddy upstairs in the room?
No, he's off somewhere
planning his new life as an old bachelor.
Mom, I'm...
I'm so sorry.
I can't imagine...
What a relief it is?
You don't mean that.
No one understands their parents.
Doesn't matter what age they are,
they always look at them from the point of view of a child.
Look, I understand that you're upset,
and I'm here to support you.
And, yes, you and Daddy, you had a bad day,
but that doesn't necessarily mean the end.
The one thing that your father and I do agree on, at the moment,
is our bafflement
over why you are so determined to keep us together.
Fine. You want to know one reason?
Bill and I are getting married.
We want to have the ceremony next month.
Now, obviously, we'd like you and Daddy to be there.
Maybe both of you can walk me down the aisle,
apparently that's in fashion lately,
according to Guy, my wedding planner.
That's a mistake, honey.
He says everybody has a wedding planner now.
I meant getting married.
For decades, I have tended to your father's needs.
And the truth is I am done with sex.
I have been for years.
The thought that I can now crawl into bed
without being poked and pawed,
just me, alone, with a book, in peace.
This from the woman that told me to nail Bill down,
I believe were your words.
I was speaking from fear, which I no longer have.
And really, Virginia,
given your age and all you've been through,
do you really need another failed marriage on your ledger?
Forty years, tossed on the trash heap.
And she was happy.
Or drunk.
I wouldn't take anything she said tonight as gospel.
You didn't hear her.
Between imagining my parents at the wedding
and cleaning up the mess that Nancy left behind,
maybe we should push the wedding down the road a bit. Six months?
When planning it doesn't feel so overwhelming.
Then let's not plan.
Let's do it tomorrow.
I'm serious.
Just us, and not tell a soul.
No, we can't do it that way.
Why not? Because...
It's as if we have walked across broken glass,
barefoot, for years, to get to this point.
And we have to celebrate after all that.
We only have to do what we want.
Look around us, Virginia.
My kids are moving halfway across the country,
your parents' marriage is falling apart.
People we trusted have betrayed us.
What do we really have but for each other?
Of course we have each other...
So why shouldn't our marriage reflect that?
Because our marriage
is something bigger than that.
Everything that we've dedicated ourselves to,
everything that we have believed in has all come true.
We're the couple that started it all.
That'll be so inspiring to people.
Look, I don't care about people.
We are getting married. Bill and Virginia.
Not Masters and Johnson, the famous sex therapists.
If we don't learn to separate ourselves from that...
No, of course, I want that, too.
I've wanted to keep that sacred.
Doesn't that say everything about who we are now?
Who we want to be in the future?
If we just push aside all the distractions
and stand before a clerk, in the eyes of God,
and make this about us.
Just you and me.
Nobody else.
Not even Barton?
But we still need a witness.
All right, Barton can still witness, but he's the only one.
Just us.
Against the world.
I can't tell if you're an apparition or if it's really you.
You've been living with a ghost for so long,
how could you know?
I forgot my high school wrestling trophies.
For some reason, they suddenly mattered to me.
I'll be honest, I didn't think you had this in you.
Betraying me to Bill and Virginia,
cleaning me out of house and home.
You're impressed.
And sad.
That was my child too, Nancy.
I know you can't love me, you don't have it in you,
but, God damn it,
I could have finally found love with a child.
And you took that from me.
It's not like Barton to tattle.
He didn't. I heard you on the tape.
So, you eavesdropped.
You really are turning over a new leaf.
I will never again swallow everything I am,
everything I feel, everything I want
for the sake of someone else.
You're wrong about one thing.
I do love you.
What I just couldn't imagine was me with a child.
What kind of a mother would I be?
Like Virginia? God forbid, maybe worse?
I could've loved a child for the both of us.
New York can still be a fresh start for us.
Maybe you can convince me
I wouldn't be such a bad mother after all.
I don't want this, Art.
I'm a shrink, Nance.
You confessed the one thing you knew would end our marriage,
in a room you knew was being taped.
Sometimes, what we want can surprise even us.
(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)
I assumed you called me in because of my last session with Cherlyn,
which was very successful.
This isn't about your last session.
Or your time here as a patient.
It's about your work with us as our publisher.
Our relationship to Little, Brown.
Which we assumed was an exclusive relationship,
in that we've given you the rights to all our work.
And in entrusting our work to you,
we assumed it would engender a loyalty between us,
one that went both ways.
Of course it does. Both ways.
Then there's something you have to explain to us, Bob.
Why is it you've agreed to do a book
on homosexuality with Art and Nancy?
Did they say that?
How perfectly indiscreet.
We are both your clients and your doctors, Bob,
and since we are the ones that agreed to treat you...
Essentially cured you, so you could have a future with Cherlyn.
Although Art did put in the work, I mean, day to day.
Art is not a known entity in the publishing world.
Nor is Nancy.
Not that they'll be doing a book
or doing anything together now.
What? No.
The point is, Masters and Johnson are the household name.
We're the ones with a track record in sex therapy,
the ones that can, with authority, author a book that chronicles
the successful transitioning of homosexuals.
So your book on homosexuals would include conversion?
Yes. Conversion.
With the anonymous patient zero as our first success story.
So do we have your word?
You're the ones the world wants to hear from,
so, yes, of course the book is yours.
I'm not sure how this little mix-up happened in the first place.
You know we can't begin to deliver on conversion therapy.
I said what was needed to get the book back.
Give him a few days, then I'll check
with Ketterman at Little, Brown,
make sure Bob kept his promise.
I should get home, get changed.
Marriage license?
Safe and sound.
We should probably just meet there, instead of you picking me up.
Oh, you don't want me to see you before the ceremony?
It's bad luck.
I saw my other husbands before those weddings,
and this one is going to be different.
Uh-huh.
(DOOR OPENS)
Oh. So sorry, lovebirds.
But, I just got off the phone with Hef's office,
and good news!
He has generously offered up his mansion for your wedding.
Soupy Sales got married there,
and they released a dozen white doves into the air
when he kissed his bride.
Why don't we put a pin in this for a moment, Guy.
Yeah, Virginia and I are discussing a smaller affair.
Not too small for doves, I hope.
We can still consider doves.
Let's just talk about it tomorrow.
I'll be here. With bells on.
He's going to be crushed. Mmm-hmm.
Maybe I can give him my bouquet.
Dr. Dreessen, you're here.
I wasn't sure you'd get my message.
You made it sound important.
Yes. It is.
So.
Can I buy you a drink?
I don't think so, no. But thank you.
Okay. You mind if I keep drinking?
All right. Well. (CLEARS THROAT)
As is always the way with these things, nothing is ever easy,
in life, in love, in business.
You're going to do the homosexuality book with Bill and Virginia.
Boy, can you ever read me.
Look, I know I promised the book to you.
You should do the book with them.
I'm moving on, I'm leaving this work and the clinic behind.
I'm very sad to hear that.
You're such a gifted doctor. Dedicated.
I would say the credit is all yours.
Yours and Cherlyn's.
And Cherlyn is happy, of course.
Not that she's ever entirely pleased, with anything.
But you know how that goes, with women.
I understand you and Nancy are having difficulties.
Well, it's not so difficult once it's finally over.
That wife of yours, tough stuff.
I noticed it in the office.
A beauty, surely.
But also a certain way of the executioner about her.
I'd rather not talk about Nancy.
The wounds are still fresh.
Oh, I know those wounds.
What I'm saying is, we understand each other, Art.
And I am so very sorry.
Excuse me for a moment.
Jesus, Bob. You startled me.
I'm afraid I am tipsy.
I'm afraid it's more than that.
LIBBY: Of course I was going to tell you, Bram.
There's just been a million details to attend to.
I don't even rank as a last minute detail?
It's been such a whirlwind.
One minute, I'm sitting there, in the mud,
talking to Dr. Phillips and then...
My God, why did I let you go to this concert?
All that came from that debacle was VD
a field full of cows that won't milk,
and you moving 2,000 miles away.
To go to law school.
I thought you'd be proud of me.
I am proud of you. I also love you.
So I'm just wondering
how we're going to continue seeing each other.
I don't know.
What do you mean you don't know?
What are you saying, we're done?
I'm not really saying anything.
Why do we have to define it?
Why do you sound like a hippie all of a sudden?
I'm just being realistic.
If we find our way to each other, great.
If we don't, it wasn't meant to be.
We have had a wonderful time together.
No, I can't let you go like this.
Oh...
Here's the beauty of the situation, Bram.
It's not up to you whether I stay or go.
The days of me organizing my life around a man are over.
Then I'll organize my life around yours.
Unless you can stand there and honestly say you don't love me.
I would say the evidence points to my loving you.
Then the defense rests.
For the time being only. You go, do what you need to do.
But one day,
you'll look up from your disgusting tempeh burger,
and I will be there.
The man who upended his whole life for you.
Mrs. Virginia, you have a phone call.
I really need to get home, can you take a message?
It sounds important.
VIRGINIA: I'm surprised to hear from you so soon.
I'm surprised to be calling,
but I wanted to tell you one last thing before I go.
No. Is the damage from Nancy worse than we thought?
Bob Drag just kissed me in a men's room.
He what?
Kissed me.
He kissed you, kissed you?
Like Rhett kissed Scarlett.
And so, it is my opinion as a doctor and psychiatrist
that Bob is an active homosexual.
Which means if you're looking for a success story
of retraining sexual impulses from homosexual to heterosexual,
Bob Drag is not it.
My fear is that it now negates the book entirely.
Please know, the work I did with Bob, I really did try.
Please convey that to Bill.
Of course.
I will tell him. Bye.
Excuse me. I'm so sorry. (CHUCKLES)
Oh, Mrs. Johnson, you're Billy's partner.
I recognized you from your book. Ah.
Anyway, have a good day.
I will. Thank you.
How do I look?
Sharp as a tack.
Are you going someplace special?
No.
Just home.
You know, eventually.
Good, because Dody's here to see you.
I'm sure she said her name was Dody.
I'm definitely sure she said she's someone from way back.
DODY: I don't know if you remember my cousin Delia.
I don't know, dark hair?
Had a very high-pitched...
Laugh? Yes, yes.
But a heart of gold.
Anyway, she just recently moved to Chesterville,
so I'm staying with her now.
In Chesterville?
Right outside...
St. Louis. Yes.
About 10 minutes. Ten minutes.
Bill, you don't have to look so worried.
I'm here because...
Well, I'm embarrassed about the last time we met.
Dody, no, you don't have to...
No, no. I do.
There's nothing worse than a weepy woman.
And yet seeing you really did upend things.
My marriage, for starters. Oh, no.
No, I would never...
You can't blame yourself. It had to happen.
I've been living like a visitor in my own life for so long.
But seeing each other also clarified for me,
another truth.
That it was always the two of us that were meant to be together.
I'm...
I'm getting married.
Oh.
Today. Oh, my goodness.
To? To Virginia.
Virginia Johnson.
Mrs. Johnson.
I just saw her at the elevator.
You did? You introduced yourself?
No. No, no.
But I would love to meet her.
I mean, if I'm staying in the area.
Well, perhaps. Someday in the future.
That would be nice.
It would settle things, once and for all,
to see you happy with someone else.
No one actually knows that I'm getting married today.
Except for my old friend Barton.
And now you,
the person I've known even longer than that.
Wouldn't it be something,
if we ended up as friends?
Dody, we already are.
I haven't returned your calls
because I wanted to speak to you in person.
Lurking in the parking lot doesn't bode well.
I hope you say something to make sense of this.
You have to know,
you're the last person I wanted to hurt.
Just me, you're worried about? What about Art?
What about the people who trusted you enough to hire you?
You know as well as I do,
the world of sexual therapy is exploding,
it's changing by the minute.
Bill and Virginia are trying to hold on to something
that's slipped from their grasp.
That's absurd.
And it won't work, what you're trying to do.
Of course it will. I will build on what they started.
Copernicus discovered the sun was the center of the universe.
Then Galileo pushed it further, so did Hubble.
Now Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon.
I will take their work places they can only imagine.
They are the top sex experts in the country,
with years of cutting edge work ahead.
I'm not saying they won't continue.
You know Virginia better than I,
her unbridled ambition, her craving for acclaim.
She's pushing the work, pushing Bill even,
into an area now that may very well be their undoing.
Gay conversion therapy.
And why would I believe anything you say?
You don't have to believe me.
Investigate for yourself.
I strongly suspect you won't want anything to do with it.
Hello.
I am checking in for Masters and Johnson.
Both parties here? Not yet.
But I'm sure he'll be here.
Take a seat.
(MASTERS SIGHS)
Oh, leave it to the two men to be late.
Maybe we should take my car and
head down to City Hall together.
I'm not going anywhere until you tell me it's not true.
What's that?
That you and Virginia are publishing
a book advocating gay conversion.
Virginia and I took back from Art and Nancy
what is rightfully ours.
We will eventually publish a book
documenting our work on homosexuality.
But we discussed all this.
You promised me, Bill.
And I am not advocating conversion therapy, Barton.
(STAMMERING) Is this about Bob Drag?
Yes, it turns out he was able to
redirect his homosexual impulses
towards his heterosexual relationship.
My goodness, after everything I suffered?
The years of self-doubt and self-loathing,
what it did to Margaret and Vivian.
I damn near killed myself
trying to extinguish the very essence of who I am.
You saw it. I did.
And I hope to never see it again.
What we're exploring is nothing like
the torture you were subjected to.
We simply took what was working so successfully
with heterosexual couples,
and directed it towards Drag, to see if it could help.
He begged me, Barton.
And I felt it was my duty, as his doctor, to help him
if he wanted that change.
We shouldn't have to change.
You're right.
And we can discuss all this on the drive.
It's bad luck to keep a bride waiting on her wedding day.
And I know it's your bride that's pushing you
toward this conversion work.
What?
Because I'm fond of her, Bill. I always have been.
But I've also seen, over the years,
how Virginia has the most to prove,
how hard she fights to advance her place in the work,
maybe because she's uncredentialed.
Wait a minute.
You and I can sort out our differences on conversion,
but if you're going to malign Virginia...
She's stepped too far with this, Bill.
I can't abide it. You can't abide it?
I can't have you speak like this about Virginia.
Then you better head to City Hall alone
because I will say what's needed to be said.
I've loved you like a son.
We have a relationship of nearly 30 years.
But if you pursue this path, use your bully pulpit
to advocate for the conversion of homosexuals,
I will make it my life's work to see you discredited.
William Masters, Virginia Johnson.
Hello, again.
So, as I said, Dr. Masters will be here any minute.
Your appointment was at 4:00 p.m.
It's 4:30 now.
Yes, I am aware of that.
But if you could just signal to me instead of...
I don't need any tissues.
Not yet.
Remember, we close at 5:00 p.m.,
sharp.
Dominick DiAngelo and Alison Burke.
Hi. Hello.
I think that's it.
Are we ready?
(WHOOPING)
Yeah, let's go. Let's go. (LIBBY LAUGHS)
The future is happy and bright, my sweet boy.
We'll see.
Mmm.
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES)
DR. MASTERS: Oh.
I was about to leave.
I am so sorry I've kept you waiting.
Where's Barton?
I just couldn't deny Guy this moment.
I just want you to know
I'm so honored to be your and Dr. Bill's witness.
And while I love a wedding with scale,
I can also embrace the simple elegance of this.
Guy, could you let the clerk know
that we're here, and we're ready?
Right.
(BOTH SIGH)
We are gathered here in the sight of God
in the presence of this witness,
to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony,
which is an honorable estate
and not to be entered into lightly.
William Masters,
will you have this woman, Virginia Johnson,
to be thy wedded wife?
Will you love her, honor her,
keep her in sickness and in health,
forsaking all others so long as you both shall live?
I will.
CLERK: Virginia Johnson, will you have this man, William Masters,
to be thy wedded husband?
Will you love him, honor him,
keep him in sickness and in health,
forsaking all others so long as you both shall live?
I will.
CLERK: Do you pledge to remember that
love, trust and loyalty alone will prevail as the foundation
for a happy and enduring home,
which will be full of joy, and will abide in peace?
We do.
CLERK: By the power vested in me by the State of Missouri,
I now pronounce you man and wife.
Congratulations.
Thank you. CHUCK: Doctor and Mrs. Masters.
DR. MASTERS: I'm sorry, no, this is a private affair.
Hey, you, skedaddle.
How did he know we'd be here?
I have no idea.
Don't look at me. I found out about this 30 minutes ago.
But it was a beautiful ceremony.
And I wish you every happiness.
Maybe there's a back door, just in case.
Bill, it's fine.
Come on.
(ROLLING STONES' GIMME SHELTER PLAYING)
I don't understand this. I know.
Let's go!
Come on.
(PHOTOGRAPHERS CLAMORING)
Get a couple of shots!
REPORTER 1: Turn around. REPORTER 2: Don't be shy.
I suppose we could give them just one photo.
Don't you think, Bill?
Doctor and Mrs. Masters.
Gentlemen, it's Masters and Johnson.
That's who we are.
♪ My very life today
♪ If I don't get some shelter
♪ Oh, yeah, I'm gonna fade away
♪ War, children
♪ It's just a shot away It's just a shot away
♪ War, children
♪ It's just a shot away It's just a shot away, hey
♪ Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
♪ Our very street today
♪ Burns like a red coal carpet
♪ Mad bull lost its way
♪ War, children, yeah
♪ It's just a shot away
♪ It's just a shot away ♪