Blu-ray Review: MASTERS OF SEX – The Complete Series

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Sep 03, 2018 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Masters of Sex is based on the real-life story, research and relationship between Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) and Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan), two pioneers of the science of human sexuality. The series opens in 1956 as renowned fertility specialist Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) is working in the Gynecology and Obstetrics department at the Washington University Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He has built a successful practice there over the years, but wants to expand his research into studying what happens to the human body during sex.

While Dr. Masters may be interested in studying sex in his clinic, his home life is no indication of that. He and wife Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald) sleep in separate beds, and their sex life is very clinical, only taking place when they are attempting to conceive a child—something they’ve been unsuccessful at for two years now. Libby blames herself for the inability to conceive, while it is more likely that her husband is the problem, but his pride would never let Dr. Masters explore that avenue. Instead, he keeps bringing Libby into his clinic for exhausting and stressful treatments.

After getting some push back from the administration, including his mentor Dr. Barton Scully (Beau Bridges), Dr. Masters decides to proceed with his research in secret, hiring an assistant to help him. Virginia Johnson, a single mother, and former night club entertainer, applies for the job, and won’t take no for an answer. When she hears about the research study, it sparks an enthusiasm inside of her that she didn’t know was there. She sees this as an opportunity for a real career. She is truly interested in the research, and the good that would come out of the study.

Over the course of four seasons, the series explores Masters’ and Johnson’s evolving research, and the often destructive and tumultuous relationship between the pair, as they form this whole new field of study, which often gets them disdainful looks from other medical professionals and conservative individuals. Masters and Johnson have a very odd, and sometimes toxic relationship. While they are usually both on the same page professionally, they are all over the map when it comes to their romantic and/or sexual relationship. Virginia often finds herself in promising new relationships, which she then throws away to return back to Bill. And Bill will often manipulate things out of jealousy and spite to destroy Virginia’s relationships…despite the fact that he has his own wife at home who is seemingly clueless about his affair. Despite all of this, over the course of the series, you do see a mutual love and attraction forming between them that is not just based on their physical relationship.

Master of Sex is quite the entertaining, and sometimes thought-provoking, drama. The series does tackle some more serious subjects such as gay conversion therapy, suicide, cancer, abortion, civil rights, race relations and profiling, infidelity, poly-amorous relationships, etc., but at the same time the series always manages to throw in some humor to lighten things up. The writers know that the idea of these researchers watching and talking about people masturbating or having sex can be a bit awkward, uncomfortable or a bit bizarre at times, and the show fully embraces that for more humorous moments. It never gets too dark, adding moments of absurd humor to offset the nudity and more dramatic moments. For example, in the second season, there’s a scene where a character is practicing his father’s eulogy in the observation booth, and in the background you can see/hear a couple loudly having sex. In another episode, a zoo hires Masters and Johnson to figure out why their male gorilla is no longer mating with the females, so Virginia ends up flashing her breasts to get the gorilla in the mood.

As the series goes along, we get more client-of-the-week type stories, though some of these stories take place over several episodes. These help to bring in fun and bizarre new cases, and also show how the research by Masters and Johnson evolves from single clients, to couples, to people with dysfunctions, to surrogacy, as well how and why they expand their study from straight white participants to African Americans to homosexuals. The series also does a nice job of mixing in historical events and people, adding another layer of legitimacy to the stories.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the series. I found the second season to be a bit of a downer at times, and the time jump in the middle was a bit odd, but the show really rallied back for the final two seasons, coming to a satisfying series conclusion. In fact, one of my favorite episodes was in the fourth season, when Virginia and some of the others from the office unknowingly end up at a key party—watching them slowly realize what is happening was quite hilarious.

A more detailed overview of the seasons:

Season 1: In the first season Virginia and Dr. Masters meet and start their research. They quickly discover that they each bring something different to the table, and their combination helps balance things out and puts their volunteers at ease. While they initially start their study with participants inside the hospital, Masters and Johnson are forced to resort to other means when the administration gets wind. They seek the help of local madam Betty DiMello (Annaleigh Ashford) and strike up a deal, exchanging free checkups for prostitutes in exchange for volunteers. Once Masters and Johnson eventually get the approval to resume their study in the hospital, they expand their research from individuals to couples. They ask co-worker/serial philanderer Dr. Austin Langham (Teddy Sears) to volunteer for the study. As Virginia starts dating Dr. Masters’ protege, Dr. Ethan Haas (Nicholas D’Agosto), Bill is starting to fall for Virginia and suggests that they become participants in the couples study themselves. While Virginia doesn’t share the same feelings, she is able to separate sex from love, and agrees to embark on a sex-only affair in the name of research (and in fear of losing her job if she says no). The season features recurring guest stars Allison Janney and Rose McIver as Provost Barton Scully’s wife and daughter; Ann Dowd as William’s mother; Mather Zickel as Virginia’s ex-husband; Kevin Christy as Lester Linden, the filmmaker hired by Masters and Johnson to archive their study; Julianne Nicholson as Dr. Lillian DePaul, a doctor doing cancer research at the hospital; and Greg Grunberg as Gene Moretti, the Pretzel King, who gets involved with Betty after she goes legit.
Season 2: After the disastrous presentation to the board of the hospital, the study is shut down. Virginia starts selling Cal-o-Metric diet pills in order to supplement her income while working on Lillian DePaul’s research project. Bill and Virginia continue their affair, sneaking off to a hotel under the aliases of Dr. and Mrs. Holden. Meanwhile Masters is forced to find a new job, and after two failed starts (the latter of which was at the all-Negro hospital), we jump ahead to September 1959. Masters and Johnson have opened their own clinic, and their study expands to include the topic of dysfunction. Meanwhile, Libby seems to be taking out all her frustrations on her African-American nanny/housekeeper Coral (Keke Palmer)—she is constantly trying to correct her grammar and meddle in her personal life. Libby also starts falling for civil rights activist Robert Franklin (Jocko Sims) and contemplates acting on her desires with him. The second season includes some great guest cast members, such as Betsy Brandt as Masters’ new secretary; Christian Borle as Masters’ younger brother; Sarah Silverman as Betty’s lover Helen; Courtney B. Vance and Danny Huston as Masters’ short-lived new bosses; Artemis Pebdani as the owner of a diet pill company, and Adam Arkin as a PR expert hired by Masters and Johnson.
Season 3: This season we jump ahead to 1965, and the manuscript for Masters’ and Johnson’s first book is ready. The Masters and Johnson clinic is having some financial problems, and they need an investor. They receive an offer from Hugh Hefner, who is hoping that their research would give Playboy a little more legitimacy, but instead go with perfume magnate Dan Logan (Josh Charles), who is interested in doing research on pheromones. As Virginia helps Logan with his research, the two become close and start an affair. Without consulting Virginia, Masters moves forward with expanding the research study to include surrogacy, which later causes some major issues. Due to the big time jump this season, both the Masters and the Johnson children are now much older, and there are several storylines revolving around how the children don’t get along with their parents. Meanwhile, Libby has her own affair with neighbor Paul Edley (Ben Koldyke), and Betty and Helen want a child, and seek the help of Dr. Austin Langham, who no longer practices medicine and now owns a strip joint. This season’s guest cast includes Emily Kinney as a young former patient who returns to join the surrogacy program; and Colin Woodell as a highly religious man who protests outside of the clinic.
Season 4: The final season finds Masters dealing with the several lawsuits that have been filed against him, and so he hires attorney Bram Keller (David Walton) to defend him. The relationship between Masters and Johnson is at an all time low, and the two agree to treat the clinic like two separate practices. After the recent lawsuits, they don’t trust anyone and wire the entire clinic, recording everything. They hire psychologist Dr. Art Dreesen (Jeremy Strong) and his wife Dr. Nancy Leveau (Betty Gilpinas) to help with their workload. However, these two seem to have their own sinister secrets and schemes. Meanwhile, Libby starts up a relationship with Keller, not knowing that he’s Bill’s lawyer. And with a baby on the way, Helen must deal with coming out to her parents. This season’s guest cast includes Niecy Nash as the head of Bill’s Alcoholic’s Anonymous meeting; and Kelli O’Hara as Bill’s first love.

Mill Creek Entertainment has put together a nice collection of all four seasons of Masters of Sex in a Complete Series Blu-ray box set for the very first time. Sony had previously released some of the seasons on Blu-ray, but not the entire series. Seasons 1 & 2 got released in the U.S. a while back, while season 3 was only available on a region-free Blu-ray from France.

When I saw the Mill Creek release I was a little concerned. Sony’s original Blu-rays spread each season’s 12 episodes across 4 discs, where the Mill Creek release only uses 2. So, does the quality of the episodes suffer? In short, unfortunately, a little. For the most part, the video quality is quite good, however, in some of the darker scenes there is quite a bit of black crush. I compared one of these particularly problematic scenes from the pilot—on the original release, the video bitrate ranged between 21.6-25 Mbps, while the new release was between 10-16.3 Mbps. While this was a little distracting at first, it either became less of an issue, or I got used to it as I made my way through the seasons. Overall, it never became so distracting that I couldn’t enjoy the episodes, just a little disappointing. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track appears to the be the same as that on the original releases, and it makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to enhance the overall viewing experience.

As for the bonus material, Mill Creek has ported over all of the bonus material from the original season 1 and season 2 Blu-ray releases, which includes a pilot commentary, deleted scenes, and several cast/producer featurettes. The featurettes from the first and second seasons can be found on the discs for the fourth season. The original French season 3 Blu-ray did include deleted scenes and a gag reel, but those have not been ported to Mill Creek’s release, and no bonus material has been created for the fourth season. Each season resides in its own HD keepcase, and the four of these are placed inside an outer slipbox.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (43:43:39)

All 46 episodes of the series:
- Season 1: (11:17:47)
  “Pilot”, “Race to Space”, “Standard Deviation”, “Thank You for Coming”, “Catherine”, “Brave New World”, “All Together Now”, “Love and Marriage”, “Involuntary”, “Fallout”, “Phallic Victories”, “Manhigh”
- Season 2: (11:40:04)
  “Parallax”, “Kyrie Eleison”, “Fight”, “Dirty Jobs”, “Giants”, “Blackbird”, “Asterion”, “Mirror, Mirror”, “Story of My Life”, “Below the Belt”, “One for the Money, Two for the Show”, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
- Season 3: (11:16:04)
  “Parliament of Owls”, “Three’s a Crowd”, “The Excitement of Release”, “Undue Influence”, “Matters of Gravity”, “Two Scents”, “Monkey Business”, “Surrogates”, “High Anxiety”, “Through a Glass, Darkly”, “Party of Four”, “Full Ten Count”
- Season 4: (9:29:44)
  “Freefall”, “Inventory”, “The Pleasure Protocol”, “Coats or Keys”, “Outliers”, “Family Only”, “In To Me You See”, “Topeka”, “Night and Day”, “The Eyes of God”
1080p Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround
Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:
The bonus features for each season are included on the discs containing that season’s episodes. Some of the original season 1 and season 2 bonus features are included on the season 4 discs.

Season 1:
- Audio Commentary – Pilot (1:01:21)
  Commentary with Michael Sheen (“Dr. William Masters”), Lizzy Caplan (“Virginia Johnson”), Caitlin FitzGerald (”Libby Masters”), Teddy Sears (“Dr. Austin Langham”), executive producer/writer Michelle Ashford & executive producer Sarah Timberman. This is a really fun, entertaining and informative commentary. They talk about awkward audtions, the shooting locations, moving from actual locations in NYC to sets in LA, guest Margo Martindale, the relationship between Libby and Masters, changing Libby from the book, shooting the sex scenes, the music, and more.
- Deleted Scenes (19:44)
  Deleted scenes can be found under each episode. There is no Play All option.
  - Episode 102 “Race to Space”
    7 scenes — “An Awkward Position” (:25), “It Takes A Male and a Female To Make a Baby” (1:02), “Posted Bail” (:34), “Scoot Down” (2:05), “Just Talk Her Out of It” (:36), “I’m So Sorry” (1:04), “Tricks of the Trade” (1:14)
  - Episode 103 “Standard Deviation”
    1 scene — “Try To Sound Human” (:26)
  - Episode 105 “Catherine”
    2 scenes — “George” (2:02), “Big Smiles!” (:42)
  - Episode 107 “All Together Now”
    3 scenes — “The Back Seat is Roomy” (1:00), “You Never Know When To Shut Up” (1:29), “No Shame in Loving What You Love” (1:59)
  - Episode 108 “Love and Marriage”
    2 scenes — “It’s Fairly Common” (:29), “Doctor and Mrs. Masters” (1:01)
  - Episode 111 “Phallic Victories”
    1 scene — “You’ll Never Be Half The Man I Am” (1:51)
  - Episode 112 “Manhigh”
    2 scenes — “Let Me Give You Some Advice” (:39), “I’m Going To Sign It” (1:06)
Season 2:
- Deleted Scenes (24:37)
  Deleted scenes can be found under each episode. There is no Play All option.
  - Episode 201 “Parallax”
    3 scenes — “Change in Income” (1:55), “One Hour” (:59), “Assumed Name” (2:15)
  - Episode 204 “Dirty Jobs”
    1 scene — “How Should I Feel?” (1:29)
  - Episode 205 “Giants”
    1 scene — “The Finest Obstetrician” (:27)
  - Episode 206 “Blackbird”
    3 scenes — “Didn’t Get Much Sleep” (:47), “You Can’t Help” (1:14), “Lillian at Home” (1:16)
  - Episode 207 “Asterion”
    4 scenes — “You Had an Affair?” (1:15), “Just the One?” (1:42), “This Special Day” (:30), “The Parnoid” (1:14)
  - Episode 209 “Story of My Life”
    2 scenes — “This is the Place?” (:51), “Robert” (:31)
  - Episode 210 “Below the Belt”
    4 scenes — “I Will See You at the Office” (1:41), “You Know Where the Broom Is” (2:23), “Unwanted Advances” (1:34), “A New Tenant” (1:13)
  - Episode 212 “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
    2 scenes — “Masters in Bed” (:52), “Catch the Phones” (:29)
- Season 3:
- Season 4:
  Unfortunately, no new bonus material has been included for fourth season. The featurettes included here were produced for the original season 1 and season 2 releases.
  
  Season 1 Featurettes:
  - Making Masters of Sex (12:29)
    Behind-the-scenes look at the making of the first season. The participants talk about Thomas Maier’s book, the real Masters and Johnson, the characters and plot points of the season, the sex scenes and nudity, and casting the series.
  - A Masterful Portrayal: Michael Sheen as Dr. Masters (6:49)
    The participants talk about the real Dr. Masters, his decisions and work as portrayed in the series, and Sheen’s performance in the role.
  - Ahead of Her Time: Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson (5:13)
    The participants talk about the real Virginia Johnson, her aspirations, and Caplan’s portrayal of her.
  - The Real Masters: A Conversation with Thomas Maier (7:13)
    Author/biographer Thomas Maier talks about the real Dr. Masters and Virginia Johnson.
  - Surprising Facts About Sex: The Masters’ Great Discoveries (4:08)
    Actor Teddy Sears narrates this overview of Masters’ and Johnson’s findings.
  Season 2 Featurettes:
  - The History of Sex (17:51)
    The cast and crew about blending real historical events and people with the fictional drama/characters, the costumes, getting into the mood of the era of the late 50’s/early 60’s, how things haven’t changed very much in the political atmosphere between then and now, and advancing the story by 3 years in a single episode. Participants include showrunner Michelle Ashford, executive producer Sarah Timberman, costume designer Ane Crabtree, and stars Beau Bridges, Teddy Sears, Kevin Christy (“Lester Linden”), Caitlin FitzGerald, Jocko Sims (“Robert Franklin”), Michael Sheen, and Betsy Brandt (“Barbara Sanderson”).
  - The Women of Sex (20:04)
    A look at the show’s female characters and storylines, and the actresses behind the roles. Participants include showrunner Michelle Ashford, executive producer Sarah Timberman, and stars Betsy Brandt, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Teddy Sears, Kevin Christy, Jocko Sims, and Beau Bridges.
  - The Men of Sex: Actors’ Roundtable (26:19)
    From the Culver Hotel, star Michael Sheen leads a roundtable discussion with fellow actors Jocko Sims, Teddy Sears, Kevin Christy and Beau Bridges. The guys talk about their characters, shooting the nude/sex scenes, and the topic of What is masculinity, and how that has changed since the era depicted in the show, and more.