Masters of Sex (2013–2016): Season 2, Episode 10 - Below the Belt - full transcript

Previously on "Masters of Sex"...

Virginia: It's safe to say

that we are not in the
best shape financially.

William: Money will sort itself out.

Betty: I've been telling
your husband for the last year

he should rent this space.

It'd be better for our end-of-year report.

Austin: Oh, you're a Virginia referral.

Flo: You've been a very naughty
orthopedist, Dr. Langham.

Austin: In spite of
what you may have heard,

my relationship with my patients
is strictly professional.



Flo: Let's give a big Cal-o-Metric welcome

to the new face of women's nutrition...

Dr. Austin Langham!

Frank: Hi. I'm Frank, and I'm an alcoholic.

All: Hi, Frank.

Frank: Disappearing acts
have always been my specialty.

My dad taught both of
his boys how to vanish.

Didn't he, Bill?

William: I already knew the whole story.

I knew it because it's my story, Francis.

Libby: You're one of the
bravest people that I know.

You just see what you want and you...

you go and get it.

Robert: May I help you, Mrs. Masters?



Libby: I was wondering
if you could use my help.

Robert: We need someone
to make a sandwich run.

Libby: What can I get for you?

Virginia: Does drinking help
to relieve your conscience

about what it is we are doing to Libby?

William: We have a
greater purpose, Virginia.

Virginia: It hasn't been
about the study in years.

William: We're not gonna
find the cure for dysfunction

in an exam room. We're not.

Virginia: Tell me, Bill,

which sexual dysfunction
are you proposing we treat?

William: Mine.

William: You're comfortable?

Pauline: [Sighs]

I'm not good at staying
in one place for so long.

[Chuckles]

There was a five-hour wait at city hall

the day Francis and I
decided to get married.

I wanted to come again another day

because usually I'm a whirling dervish,

but Francis sat right next to me,

held my hand, sang me

all the Gilbert & Sullivan
songs he could think of,

just to make the time pass easier.

William: Husbands generally don't come

for their wives' cappings,

although Frank would have
been perfectly welcome.

Pauline: Not so sure he believed that.

I know you and he had... words, recently.

William: [Sighs]

If you'd like him here, Pauline,

I could have my receptionist call him.

Pauline: I'd do it if there were
a chance of you two mending fences.

William: Well, there's
really no mending to be done.

Pauline: Meaning it's not necessary?

Or it's impossible?

He didn't come here

to take you to task for anything, Bill.

He's made peace with his past.

The program has been so
helpful for him in that regard.

I think he just wanted to share with you

all that he's come to understand...

William: And here I
thought you two came to me

for fertility treatments.

Pauline: We are desperate to have a family.

But I know for Frank that means...

more than a child.

William: Well, babies
are my stock-in-trade,

so let's focus on that, shall we?

Now, what can I have Betty bring you?

Frank, or perhaps a magaz...

[lights click]

Uh...

Betty: Um, yeah, it won't happen again.

Thank you very much.

[Receiver clicks]

William: What on God's earth?

Betty: I just got off the
phone with the electric company.

I told them to check today's mail,

where they would find our late payment,

which they did, so the lights
should go back on shortly.

William: And why was our payment so late?

Betty: 'Cause I had to
wait for checks to clear

from eight patients.

We owed the specimen lab,

which was threatening
to hold up our results.

Then I had to put off the electric company

until Cal-o-Metric's
rent came in on the 15th.

Should I go on?

William: I understand
things are a little tight.

Betty: Our only prayer here is
to sublet the rest of this floor.

William: I'm not gonna have
my patients sharing lobby space

with second-rate businesses.

Betty: Either it's tenants
who aren't so fancy-schmancy

but pay the rent, or you're
gonna be doing pelvic exams

with a miner's lamp stuck to your forehead.

William: I doubt those are my only options.

Betty: All right. Here's another option...

if we can't pay the heat this winter,

then we're gonna be hosing
down these marble floors,

turning this place into a skating rink

and charging admission.

William: What's your
suggestion for viable tenants?

Betty: I'm already looking.

[Lights click]

Virginia: You don't
seem all that surprised.

Dr. Madden: Was it helpful,
pretending to be somebody else?

I mean, did the advice I gave you...

did it help your friend?

Virginia: To be honest, no.

[Chuckles] No. It was a disaster.

I clearly did not
understand how therapy works.

Otherwise, I would have
realized how ridiculous it was

to think that I could stand in for her.

Dr. Madden: Maybe she provided you

with a reason to seek
treatment for yourself.

Virginia: No, I came for her.

And I'm only here now

because I thought I owed you an explanation

as to why I wouldn't be returning,

as a patient, at least.

I would love to be able to
call you in the future...

I find this work fascinating...

if I have any questions
regarding my own patients?

Dr. Madden: Still, I'm wondering
if anything we discussed

seems to resonate with
you on a personal level?

Virginia: My relationship
with a married man...

all the questions you asked
surrounding that, why it ended.

Dr. Madden: So, that was your
affair, not your friend's?

Virginia: Yes, it was. It is. It continues.

But it's not an affair.

Dr. Madden: What does the
word "affair" connote for you

that "relationship" doesn't?

Virginia: Something
that's primarily sexual.

Dr. Madden: And yours is not.

Virginia: No. No.

It's... it's far more
complicated than that.

It has been sexual in the
past, but it's not now.

Dr. Madden: You and he...

don't engage in sex?

Virginia: No.

Dr. Madden: And why is that, may I ask?

Virginia: Uh... because he... is impotent.

William: As you recall,
there were two years

when... we were apart.

Virginia: But... since then...

just in the past month,
we've been together.

William: And I've taken care
of you each of those times.

You... yourself remarked on the... trend.

Virginia: But...

when Libby had Jenny,
she was capped, using...

William: I have secondary impotence.

I can function... when I'm by myself.

It's when I'm with a... a partner.

Virginia: So you and
Libby have discussed this,

and this is how you've
explained this to her?

William: Well, there are
things that Libby and I...

don't discuss, and I...

I'm not interested in the explanation,

I'm interested in the cure.

Virginia: Well...

with any patient,

we would... what?

We would explore a cause,
a triggering incident.

Lester, for example.

He said that his... his problem

started when Jane rejected him.

William: Well, that's Lester.

Virginia: There's Shelley.

That's when we stopped coming here,

stopped having sex...

when you learned that I was seeing Shelley.

Bill, you know that Shelley

wasn't any kind of rejection of you.

William: Are you with him now?

Virginia: No, you know that I'm not.

William: I know. You're not
with anyone at the moment.

You're here... with me, so if jealousy

or... or... insecurity were the issue,

uh, there's no reason
for me to feel either.

And yet my... difficulties persist,

so... so how can that be the cause?

Virginia: The psychology
behind these physical problems

is very complicated,

and to understand the "why" of it...

William: Oh, we can
spend forever on the "why"

and not get any closer to
finding any kind of cure.

You know, the point, Virginia, is, we...

we have an opportunity here,
you know, to find a cure

not... not just for me,
but for millions of men.

We've drifted away from the work.

I... I admit that.

But... but this is the way back.

I'm broken, and you're the one...

you... you're the only one who can fix me.

Dr. Madden: So, you
consider the relationship

to have a higher purpose now?

Virginia: I do. Yes.

He and I, we are uniquely qualified

to develop a treatment,

to prevent countless
marriages from dissolving.

Dr. Madden: Including his? Your partner's?

Virginia: [Chuckles] No,
his marriage is not at risk.

Dr. Madden: You don't think his wife

feels the loss of his sexual companionship?

Virginia: I... maybe I... I can cure him

and send him back home to his marital bed.

Dr. Madden: That's very selfless of you.

Virginia: I... I was joking.

And I don't think that sarcasm

really has a place in therapy, do you?

Dr. Madden: Did I
misrepresent your intentions?

Virginia: I think that you are making

some kind of judgment about me.

Doctor, I can assure you,

I am at peace with this situation now.

Dr. Madden: I think if that were true,

you would have telephoned
me to cancel the session

instead of... showing up here.

Virginia: All right. Well...

Uh, why don't you tell me? Why am I here?

Dr. Madden: I think you want
me to be all right with you.

In the very short time
you've been coming here,

you admitted to deceiving two people...

me, in pretending to be someone else...

Virginia: [Sighs]

Dr. Madden: ... And your lover's wife,

in carrying on a
relationship behind her back.

Is there anyone else you may have deceived?

Virginia: [Sighs]

You want me to say "myself," right,

that I've deceived myself?

Estabrooks: ♪ mama's gonna
buy you a mocking bird ♪

♪ and if that... ♪

William: Libby promised
helping out with this, uh...

Civil rights office wouldn't
interfere with dinner.

Estabrooks: I'm happy to start dinner.

This little one is out
like a light already.

Lullabies never worked with you.

You'd stare at me with
that expression that said,

"I will not sleep, ever."

[Chuckles]

Whereas Francis would
just hum along happily,

even before he could speak.

William: Always the entertainer, Francis.

Estabrooks: He's more
serious now, don't you think?

William: When Francis was a child,

you couldn't see a little darkness in him,

under all that light?

Estabrooks: He tells me now I should have,

that his good cheer was an
act of... what did he say?...

self-preservation.

William: You believe that?

Estabrooks: Well, if I've learned anything,

it's that everyone has their
own version of everything

that's ever happened.

[Sighs]

Francis doesn't like the fact
that I have a drink every night.

He hasn't said anything to my face,

but I can see his disapproving looks.

You don't think I drink
too much, do you, Billy?

William: I think you drink,
uh, as much as you want,

which is as it should be.

Estabrooks: Huh.

It's that program of his,

if we're gonna be perfectly honest.

I mean, good for him if it helps.

All I want is for my sons to be happy.

But I also think it can turn
a person into a policeman.

William: Or an amateur psychiatrist.

Estabrooks: Or a member of a secret club.

Has he used the word "amends" with you?

I mean, why do you need such a fancy word

for saying "I'm sorry"?

William: And who will these "amends" help?

It's not like they're
making things right...

dragging up the past,

spinning it so it only serves them.

Estabrooks: Has he forgiven
you for something you didn't do?

William: [Sighs] [Chuckles]

Estabrooks: I just said,
"thank you, Francis.

That's very generous of you."

But it felt a little like an accusation

that's dressed up to be an apology.

I'm being too harsh.

William: No, you're not.

[Vehicle approaches]

My wife.

Home from work.

Robert: We split everyone into four groups.

One group takes the towers
here by North Jefferson.

There's 10 towers down by Carr Street,

so we'll put two groups on those.

And the rest will start here
by north 20th and move west.

So, let's get on the phones
and make sure we deliver

the best turnout possible, all right?

Libby: Uh, what time is
everyone meeting tomorrow?

I need to make arrangements
for my children.

Robert: You're not coming.

Libby: You just said you need
as many people as possible.

Robert: The right people.

Libby: I can do as much as anyone else.

Robert: Look... we will
be knocking on the doors

of dirt-poor negroes with
no jobs, no prospects,

and probably already lost any
ounce of dignity they ever had,

and we're gonna try to convince
them to stop paying rent

on the only decent apartment
most of them have ever lived in.

Libby: I would hardly
call a rat-infested slum

a decent place to live.

Robert: You'd just be one
more white person showing up,

trying to tell them
how to live their lives.

These folks take one look at
you, they'll close the doors.

And besides, there's
rats in those towers...

and lice, too.

And I think we both know
how you feel about lice.

Now, if you're looking for something to do,

you can start by getting lunch.

And no more tuna salad.

We're all sick to death of tuna salad.

[Music playing softly]

Virginia: Oh, he does give
us credit in the footnotes.

William: "Masters and Johnson...

Were the first to identify specific stages

of sexual arousal, four
in all, in a 1958 study.

They have since ceased
their clinical research."

Well, I'll just have to call Mr. Kaufman

- and let him know we are still...
- William: Don't call him.

The worst thing we can
possibly do is rouse the beast.

Virginia: The beast?

William: "Only found four."

H... he's come up with the other two stages

purely to distinguish his work from ours.

Virginia: It's one
study in a small journal.

William: The American Urology
Review is a respected journal.

And everything we did
in the past three years

could be erased by Dr. Joseph Kaufman,

who has the audacity to list "dormant"

as a stage of sexual arousal.

Virginia: Well, Dr.
Joseph Kaufman is wrong.

William: Yeah, he's wrong,
and he's been published.

Virginia: Bill, I would
not overreact to this.

William: Every name in
the history of science

is the name of the man who got there first.

Virginia: Maybe it is,
but it says right here

in this footnote that we were
the first ones out of the gate.

And it doesn't mention a
thing about dysfunction,

so we definitely have the edge there.

William: I'll... I'll be right back.

[Indistinct conversations]

Cindy: When my kids found it,
they thought it was a teepee.

They even used it for
playing cowboys and Indians.

I didn't have the heart to
tell them it wasn't a teepee.

It was the only dress
mommy could still fit into.

But...

Not anymore!

Flo: Smile, smile. Clap, clap.

Austin: [Clears throat]

That's right, folks.

When Cindy here came to
my office three months ago,

she weighed in at nearly 200 pounds.

Cindy: I was a size 60.

Flo: 16. A size 16.

Austin: The prognosis was bleak,

but the prescription was simple...

just three small tablets
of Cal-o-Metric per day.

Cindy: And I went from
overweight to feeling great,

all thanks to Cal-Metric.

Flo: Cal-o-Metric.

Cal-o... with an "O."

Why don't we take five
to collect ourselves?

Cindy: [Gasps] Ah.

Can I use the little girls' room?

Flo: Yes.

Cindy: Thank you.

Austin: Boy, she is fantastic.

Flo: A regular Barrymore.

Austin: Say, I ran into
Dick Davis yesterday,

a fellow orthopedist when
I was still at maternity,

and told him what I'm doing now...

touring the state, starring
in television commercials,

helping women from Kennett...

Flo: Here's this week's schedule.

Presentation at Vandervoort's
Department Store tomorrow,

St. Louis zoo on Wednesday,

Jefferson County fair this weekend.

Austin: Tomorrow night, 435 Harney Avenue?

What is that, a a Woolworth's?

Flo: My apartment.

Oh, and be sure to knock
because the buzzer's broken.

Austin: I don't understand.

Cindy and I, we're...
presenting at your apartment?

Flo: Just you... and me.

I thought we could have some special time.

Oh, you're not allergic to cats, are you?

Because I'll be honest... [Sighs]

I keep thinking about that
golden hair on your wrists,

wondering if that's the same
gold color all over your body

or does it get darker as it gets thicker.

I'd like to see for myself.

Tomorrow night.

Same rules as the mall...

do not be late, or you will be fired.

Virginia: I've been doing some reading,

and it turns out that every marriage manual

has suggestions for impotence,

many of which we already know from Betty.

Um, but I've typed up a list.

William: Well, then you've typed up

a list of remedies that don't work.

Virginia: Even if the
treatment is not 100% effective,

we can still learn something from each one.

William: I've already tried all
of Betty's quackery on Lester,

nearly gave the poor
man a nervous breakdown.

Virginia: That's Lester, as you said.

Although, the session
with Lester did teach us

that it's best to try
to resolve this condition

with someone familiar,

and we are familiar with each other.

So, let's keep it very simple today.

I'll use my hands... my mouth...

... and you just relax

and stop thinking about it.

You know, I read somewhere
that before Leonardo Da Vinci

painted the Mona Lisa, he
did 140 failed sketches.

[Water running]

And before Roger Bannister
ran the four-minute mile,

he ran the 4:20 mile

and then the 4:12 mile and so on.

We've only covered about a third
of the options on this list,

and I have heard that there have
been successes with hypnosis.

[Thud]

Barbara: [Gasps]

Lester: You okay?

Barbara: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I, um [Sighs] I'm just...
I'm... I'm a little dizzy.

I... I'm okay.

Lester: H... here, um,
come... come this way.

Don't be embarrassed at all.

I almost went down like a ton of bricks

on my first look at a retreating cervix.

Barbara: Are... y... y...
you're one of the doctors?

Lester: Oh, no. I... I'm the archivist.

I'm documenting the study on film,

to keep a record of it for... posterity.

Barbara: Y... y... you make movies?

Lester: I prefer to think of it

as telling the truth 24 times a second.

"Le Petit Soldat"?

Godard?

Barbara: So y... you must
have seen a lot of people

come in and out of here.

Lester: Hundreds.

Barbara: Does it work?

Dr. Masters says that
he could cure me of my...

Never mind.

[Chuckles] It doesn't matter.

Lester: Dr. Masters can cure anything.

Well, most things.

Barbara: I mean, some
things no doctor can cure

no matter how good he is, right?

You can't operate on the
soul. Only God can do that.

Lester: If you believe
in that sort of thing.

I mean, lots of people
do believe, obviously.

Before science,

you had to come up with some
way of explaining things.

A man in the sky with a beard

makes as much sense as anything else.

Barbara: That's
oversimplifying things a bit.

Lester: Well, I only meant that...

Barbara: You know, people need
to find meaning in something.

They... they need to believe in something.

Lester: Second law of
thermodynamics is good

and pretty irrefutable...

that the universe is hurtling
inexorably toward entropy.

Barbara: So life is meaningless,

and all the pain and suffering
is just blind, random chaos.

Thank you for the... the water.

Lester: Sorry.

I... I didn't come up with that theory.

Blame lord Kelvin.

Libby: Brand-new this morning.

Now I know why they were on sale.

[Chuckles] You are a lifesaver, Gini.

Virginia: More an expert
since I only buy on sale.

Libby: I didn't dare ask
for nail polish downstairs,

not that they would notice my run,

not that they would notice
if I mimeographed for them

in a day-glo bikini.

Virginia: [Chuckles] Yes, well,

they do seem like a pretty determined bunch

down at the core office.

Libby: They're determined to
make this rent strike a success,

which I certainly applaud them for.

Virginia: A rent strike in this building?

Libby: Oh, no, no. At... at
Pruitt-Igoe, the projects.

I'm sure Bill didn't tell you
since he hates my working there.

The people in the core office

think I'm nothing more
than some bored housewife.

Virginia: Well, I'm sure
that they appreciate you.

Libby: Trust me, they don't,

which is why I'm gonna
canvass with them tonight,

even though they don't want me to.

Virginia: Bill agreed to you going?

Libby: [Chuckles]

Which is why I need your help.

I'm assuming you two will be
working late tonight again.

What if you told Bill
that your sitter cancelled

at the last minute and
I'm filling in for her?

That would explain why I'm not home.

Virginia: Uh, you want me to lie to Bill?

Libby: I could drop my kids off
at your house with Henry and Tessa.

I would pay for the sitter, of course.

Virginia: No. That... that
would not be necessary.

Libby: It's a good cause.

And we'd just keep it between us.

Unless the idea of lying to
Bill is too... uncomfortable.

Virginia: Uh...

It's not, in fact. [Chuckles]

What time should I tell the sitter

to expect you and the kids?

William: This way.

Ah, Virginia, good.

Uh, I want you to meet Shep Tally.

Mr. Tally is a partner

at Williams and Kulick Public Relations.

Shep: Well, you are as pretty
as the first day in June.

Virginia: Thank you.

Shep: Forgive me. I tend to
think in terms commodities.

William: Mr. Tally was instrumental

in helping my colleague, John Rock.

Virginia: The John Rock...

who developed the birth-control pill?

Shep: That one was a race, I'll tell you...

neck-and-neck the whole way.

William: Well, Mr. Tally made sure

that Dr. Rock came in first,

and he's going to do the same
for us with, uh, Dr. Kaufman.

Shep: This is quite the space.

Do you ever get the urge

to, uh, strap on a pair of roller skates,

do a few loops around the lobby?

William: Uh, never. Once.

I thought we could start
with the, uh, archives.

Virginia: This is Lester, our archivist.

William: Lester, Mr.
Tally would like to see

some footage from the study.

Mrs. Johnson and I will join in a moment.

Lester: Please.

Virginia: We cannot afford an ad man...

William: A public relations...

Virginia: A P.R. man,
who's going to charge us

to turn June into a commodity.

William: Look, either Joseph Kaufman

is a footnote in our study,
or we're footnotes in his.

All... all I'm asking, for
now, is for you to join me

in putting our best foot forward.

Show Mr. Tally the value of our work.

[Projector whirring]

Lester: Turns out ejaculate
can travel up to three feet

from where the... sperm, uh,
started its original journey.

[Door opens] Oh, thank God.

Virginia: Mr. Tally, I think the best way

to understand our work

is to start with the four
stages of sexual response.

Orgasms tend to be shorter
in duration and intensity,

but aside from that, we've
seen very few changes at all.

William: Our study has already invalidated

a whole host of myths, uh,
regarding the effects of aging

on sexual response.

Betty: Dr. Masters, I'd like you to meet...

- William: Not right now, Betty.
- Herb: Herb Spleeb.

"When life kicks you
to the curb, call Herb."

Betty: Herb's a divorce lawyer,

very interested in renting office space.

Virginia: Mr. Tally, why don't
we continue to the exam room?

Herb: Should the need arise.

Virginia: [Chuckles]

So, as we observe clitoral stimulation,

testicular swelling, skin flush...

We measure heart rate
during sexual activity

as well as prostatic contractions,

vaginal elongation, and so on.

Shep: So, the two of you
catalogue what happens

to the human body during sex.

What else do you do?

Virginia: : Well, we've recently
begun a new phase of the study,

treating patients with sexual dysfunctions.

Shep: Okay. That's interesting.

William: It's also, uh, premature.

Virginia: I... it's in the early stages.

William: We've barely begun.

Virginia: But we've already
made some major discoveries.

William: Discoveries we're
not yet ready to discuss.

Virginia: But will be very soon.

William: If by very soon,
you mean years from now.

Shep: Hey, you know
what's great about you two?

This.

The two of you arguing, the back and forth.

You are like every
married couple in America.

Virginia: No, we're not married.

Shep: Doesn't matter.

Look, some scientist comes on TV,

starts talking about sex,
people are gonna tune out.

Maybe they think he's a pervert,

or... or maybe they just think he's dull.

But the two of you come on, both scientists

and yet looking like the
nice couple next door,

and suddenly I trust you.

William: I'm... I'm sorry. Us on TV?

Shep: CBS is looking
for documentary subjects.

Your archivist has hours of footage.

We would focus on the two of you.

We'd make it a human-interest story,

something along the lines of,

uh, "man and woman researchers
plumb the mysteries of desire."

The two of you could finally
teach America how to have sex.

William: On... television?

Shep: Mm-hmm.

William: Uh, you're right.

I overreacted.

Joseph Kaufman is is one article.

It's a minor setback.

We'll... we'll catch up.

Virginia: Or we'll come in second place.

Which in this case, would be last place.

William: You said hiring Mr. Tally

is not the best use of
our resources right now.

Virginia: I did, yes, and
then I listened to him.

Bill, if only one person gets
the credit in these things...

William: I thought Mr.
Tally was gonna land us

in the American journal
of medicine, not TV guide.

Virginia: It is a
less-specialized audience, yes,

but think of all the people
we could reach, we could help.

William: We could alienate entirely.

We already saw what happened
to a roomful of doctors

exposed to this work.

Imagine what'll happen when
grandma turns on the TV and...

and finds the two of us
discussing swollen labia.

Virginia: Or maybe people are ready

to hear what we have to say.

William: Wilhelm Reich
died in a prison cell

because of his theories
of the human orgasm.

The FBI burned his research.

Virginia: Bill, this was your idea.

You hired Shep Tally because
you want attention, recognition.

William: I want to win a Nobel prize.

I do not want my work
reduced to the warm-up hour

before "Mister Magoo."

Virginia: I see.

Well, then, would you be
able to forgive yourself

if you did nothing

and Joseph Kaufman walked
away with the prize?

Robert: We'll work in
groups... three to a floor.

Now, the elevators are
either broken or will break,

so we'll take the stairs.

Be sure to tell the tenants

that you're not with the housing authority.

Remember that not everyone
will be happy to see you.

Be patient.

Let's go.

[Indistinct conversations]

Put these up in the common areas.

[Door opens]

[Knock on door]

[Children laughing]

Good evening, ma'am, I'm...

Delila: Robert Jefferson Franklin.

Robert: Delila, tonight
is serious business.

Delila: Oh, nights are
always serious for you,

Robert Jefferson.

[Door slams]

Shirley: I can't afford to lose my home.

Robert: We understand that, ma'am.

We just want you to understand
that you have certain rights.

Shirley: Rights?

I don't even have the right to
have my husband live with me.

Look, this apartment this is all I have.

Robert: Yes, ma'am.

Shirley: Nathan, mama, come inside now.

Libby: Uh, Mrs. Robinson
says she's interested.

She wants to strike.

You may have to convince
your daughter, though.

Vivienne: Don't worry about that.

She'll do what I tell her to do.

Come on, baby.

Flo: Double the olive
brine, so it's extra dirty.

Austin: [Sighs] Th... oh.

Thank you. Um...

Uh, we need to talk.

Flo: You...

Are so handsome.

[Both chuckle]

I mean, my God [Chuckles]

If you had curly hair, you would be David.

The one in Florence.

Austin: Um, you know how
much I respect you, Flo.

And you are one hell of a good boss.

Flo: You know just what to say to a girl.

Austin: But I have to warn you,

what you're asking me to
do tonight, it's, um...

It's just not possible.

Flo: Is that right?

Austin: You see, when you've been married,

uh, for 12 years,

you develop a... a...
a knack for pretending.

Pretending to... to be in... interested

in 9/10 of the... chatter

that comes out of your wife's mouth.

Uh, but n... n... no matter how...

how good you... you...
you get at pretending,

there are certain things that you... you...

you just can't fake,

you know, when a man
doesn't feel about a woman

maybe in the same way that she feels...

she feels about him.

Do you... do you...

because, um, he... he...
he can... he can try.

Oh... he can try as hard as
he as hard as he would like.

He... he could lie to her,

and he could... he could
also lie to himself.

But... [Sighs] he... he [Stammering]

But his equipment is not going to function,

do you understand what I mean?

It's not gonna function
because his equipment is...

is a lot like George Washington
and the cherry tree...

it cannot tell a lie.

Flo: Looks like your equipment's
gonna be just fine, Dr. Langham.

[Slow-tempo music playing]

Austin: [Moans, panting]

[Cat purrs]

William: [Chuckles]

Virginia: Shall we start?

William: What's the agenda?

Virginia: Why don't you
let me worry about that?

William: Well, I just think we should...

Virginia: I just think you need to stop.

Isn't there anything you
ever think about... doing?

To me, I mean.

Something unusual?

Because I think about doing things to you.

I think about making you powerless...

... completely at my mercy...

... making you beg.

William: I don't beg. You know that.

[Chuckles]

Virginia: You can't touch my breasts...

not with your hands, not with your mouth.

I said no.

You can't touch them.

You can't kiss them...

... or lick them...

... no matter how much you want to.

No, I didn't say that you could move.

William: [Breathing heavily]

Virginia: [Breathing heavily]

William: [Moans]

Virginia: How much do you want me?

William: [Breathing heavily]

I do want you.

Virginia: I'm going to
put you inside of me.

William: No, wait. Keep talking.

Virginia: I am talking.

William: No, don't...
don't... don't touch me.

What you said before, say it again.

Virginia: You're right there.

- You feel so good.
- William: No, I don't.

Virginia: You do, Bill.

William: That's not true, Virginia.

Virginia: Okay. We can begin again.

William: No, we c... we can't.

Virginia: It was working, Bill.

William: God damn it.

- Just leave it.
- Virginia: Okay.

Bill...

William: [Sighs]

[Cat meows, purring]

[Door opens, closes]

Austin: [Sighs]

Have you seen my, um...

Well, I... hope that was... good for you.

Flo: Well, I know it was good for you.

Both times.

Austin: [Chuckles]

[Clears throat]

Well, now that we've...
gotten that out of the way,

I hope that we can resume
our professional relationship

without any sort of...
awkwardness between us.

Flo: What do you mean, "out of the way?"

Austin: This, you know, one-time thing.

Oh, Flo, please, okay?

I love this job. I'm good at this job.

I... I know how to talk to women.

I know how to make them feel
like... like... like... like...

like happiness is one small
dose of Cal-o-Metric away.

I know how to make women

feel... feel good about themselves.

Flo: So do that for me.

Make me feel good.

I used to be young and beautiful, you know.

Make me feel like that again...

that young, pretty, desirable girl.

Okay?

[Indistinct conversations]

Robert: Morning.

Libby: Morning.

Robert: We're, um, preparing
for the second canvas.

It'll be the night after next.

Same time.

Libby: How many signatures
did we get last night?

Robert: In that first wave of buildings?

We're about at 30%.

Yeah. It's better.

Lester: Do you mind if I sit?

I'd like to apologize.

Barbara: Is that the apology?

Lester: No.

Um, this is it.

Um, I feel like I may have
offended you yesterday.

Barbara: Well, I... [Clears
throat] I hate to break it to you,

but you're not the first
person to call me a nitwit

because I believe in God.

Lester: I don't think
you're a nitwit at all.

I was always jealous of
people that could believe.

I went to grade school
with a guy, Freddy Russo.

He used to always brag that
whenever he did anything bad,

all he had to do was go to confession

and it was like it never even happened.

Barbara: Well, it's
not as easy as all that.

Lester: I know, but...

There is something comforting in the idea

that you just have to tell
the truth and you can be...

Barbara: Absolved.

Lester: Mm-hmm.

I once heard the greatest sin is despair.

Barbara: That's true, I think.

When you decide to just give up.

Lester: I think I may have done that...

given up like that.

I have a... a... a condition.

I ca... I can't do anything in the, uh...

... with a girl.

Dr. Masters tried to help me with it,

but I, uh... I decided it wasn't worth it.

It was just too painful and humiliating...

... so I gave up.

[Chuckles]

I guess that's my confession.

Barbara: Okay, here's mine.

I... I also have a... condition,

and I always thought that
it was God punishing me

and that there was nothing I could do

but learn to accept it.

So I gave up, too.

Greatest sin, right?

[Chuckles]

Lester: Maybe it doesn't have to be.

I'm Lester, by the way.

Barbara: Uh, Barbara. Barb.

[Both chuckle]

Lester: It's nice to meet you, Barb.

Barbara: Y... you, too.

Betty: Mm, did he try the pump?

Virginia: I think that he
would rather jump out a window.

Betty: Can you blame him?

Sometimes that cure is
worse than the disease.

Mm. Poor Lester.

You know, it can get under your skin,

that, uh, particular problem.

One guy, he used to come
in every Thursday night,

worked at the, uh,
florist's shop on Jefferson.

Always brought me something new...

um, daisies one week,
lilacs the next, until...

one time, he came in

and he couldn't get anything going.

So, I pulled out all the stops,

but it was like trying to raise the dead.

So, uh, he got upset and embarrassed,

and I told him, "come back
next week. You'll be fine."

[Sighs]

And now every week, he's coming in,

lying there for 30 minutes
while I'm going at it,

pretending that maybe this time it'll work.

I start taking Thursday nights off,

and he'suntil... [Sighs] he's coming around

asking for me on other nights.

And I have the girls
tell him I'm out 'cause...

There was something about
the way that he looked at me,

like... like he was in agony

and I was the only one that could fix it

and why... why wasn't I fixing it?

What was wrong with me that
I couldn't make it right?

Virginia: You dreaded seeing him.

Betty: Mm-hmm.

[Telephone rings]

William: [Sighs]

Masters.

What?

Estabrooks: Francis, you always said

never to let a regular
doctor stitch you up.

"You'll look like Frankenstein."

Francis: I'm not angry
you called me, mother.

Estabrooks: [Winces]

Francis: I'm angry you were drinking.

Estabrooks: [Sighs] Oh,
honey, for heaven's sake.

Don't be ridiculous.

I had one Tom Collins,
like I have every night.

That car came out of nowhere.

Francis: You're going to
blame the other driver?

Estabrooks: [Sighs] That's
where the blame belongs,

and the police officer agreed with me.

Francis: I can't listen to this.

William: Why don't you ease up, Frank?

Francis: Oh, because this is my fault?

What about what you're doing?

William: What... standing
here, comforting her?

Francis: You are enabling her, Bill.

She was drinking. She got behind the wheel.

Estabrooks: One Tom Collins.

Francis: You could've been killed tonight.

William: Stop badgering her, Frank.

Francis: Our mother has a problem.

William: Our mother has a laceration.

Francis: This is what you do. You
just... put your head in the sand...

- William: That's it.
- Francis: ... And continue

to ignore the fact that
she is an alcoholic.

Estabrooks: Alcoholic?
Ohuntil... [Sighs] alcoholic.

William: All right, give me
that needle, and get out of here.

Francis: I am still stitching her.

- William: Not any more.
- Francis: Do not come near me

when I've got a needle
near a patient's face.

Estabrooks: You two. Don't start.

William: Look what you're doing to her.

Francis: Giving her the best medical care?

Estabrooks: All right. Enough.

I am the patient, and
I say no more fighting.

Francis: And I am the plastic surgeon...

William: And I'm telling
you, your privileges here,

in my office, are over.

Now, you can either
leave of your own accord,

or I will remove you myself.

Estabrooks: [Sighs]

Francis: [Chuckles]

William: We're nearly done.

I'll get Libby to come
over and pick you up,

and she can take you home.

Estabrooks: Please, don't
fight with your brother.

Please.

I cannot stand it.

[Sighs]

[Elevator bell dings]

Libby: This doesn't
have to end badly, Bill.

Please, um, summon your better nature.

Francis: [Sighs]

I came to you after all these years...

With nothing but the best intentions.

After years of despair,

I finally had achieved some clarity.

William: Clarity that you're an alcoholic?

That our motheruntil...
[Chuckles] is an alcoholic?

Who's next, Frank... me?

[Laughs]

Of course.

Francis: It took spending
time with you to see it.

You mask it better than most,
but... you have all the signs...

mood swings, aggression,

impulsive decision-making, chronic lying.

William: Really?

Who am I lying to, Frank?

Francis: [Chuckles] Yourself.

We are a family with a shared
disease, a corrosive disease,

and if you view us through that lens,

if each of us is able
to address our sickness

and treat it...

I believe we can mend what's broken here.

We can find some peace,
forgiveness, understanding.

William: Faith, hope, charity.

Christ [Chuckles]

You toss around platitudes like
it's confetti at new year's.

Francis: I have surrendered. That's all.

Once I accepted my...

our affliction...

William: [Chuckles]

Francis: ... All that self-pity,

all that resentment I had toward dad...

I hated dad for so long.

Do you remember how he used to drink?

William: One glass of
seagram's, neat, every night.

That was it.

Francis: It was much more than that.

William: No, it wasn't, Frank,
and for you to suggest...

Francis: It all fits, Bill...
his drinking, his rages.

For the first time, I understand dad,

his own feelings of impotence
and... and self-pity.

He was being eaten alive, too.

William: This is our father.
Our father was a monster.

Francis: Yes, drunks are monstrous,

but our monster was a
sick, suffering alcoholic.

He beat us because he drank,

but he drank because he had a disease.

William: He did not beat
you. That... that is not true.

Francis: You know he did.

William: Yuntil... you're lying

because... because you're needy, you know,

because you think that somehow,
if... if you take my story...

Francis: Bill...

Our drunk dad beat you,
and then he beat me.

William: [Sighs]

Francis: But that doesn't have
to be the end of the story.

[Sighs] That's what
I'm trying to tell you.

[Sighs]

I forgive you...

... for leaving me.

And I forgive our dad.

William: The man that beat you, that...

monster who beat you.

What kind of man forgives that?

Francis: I do.

[Sighs]

[Sighs]

William: And you...

[Sighs]

... I'm sure you did everything you could

to avoid those beatings, didn't you?

First, you turned yourself
into a pathetic clown,

with the jokes and the magic tricks...

ways to deflect him,

try and run and hide.

Francis: I did what I had to do.

William: Yeah, but once I left,
you had nowhere left to run,

you know, once the real
object of his fury was gone

and he needed a replacement.

This is your story, right? Hmm?

Francis: I forgive you, Bill.

That's what matters here.

William: Yeah?

I bet once he threw the first
punch, you begged for mercy.

Francis: What matters is that we
understand what happened to us.

William: You know I never
begged for him to stop.

I mean, you heard us. You
were there. I never begged.

So... so why did you, huh?

Maybe the same reason you're a drunk...

A sloppy "alcoholic"... sorry...

with your amends and your
steps and yo... your chips,

clinging to your little
code words and your trinkets

because there is something
inside you that is weak.

You know, you've always been weak, Frank...

Francis, you know?

Well, that's your real
affliction, is cowardice.

You are a coward.

You want to forgive me?

Okay, forgive me for not respecting you.

You know, forgive me for seeing you

for what you really
are a weak little boy...

Who became an idiotic clown,

who grew up to become
a gutless, pathetic man.

[Grunts]

[Both breathing heavily]

What are you... a girl?

- Francis: [Grunts]
- William: Huh?

Francis: [Grunts]

William: Fuck you, Frank, you weak fuck!

William: [Chuckles]

You been drinking, Frank?

[Both breathing heavily]

Huh?

See, this...

this is what binds us...

him, living on in us,

not a bottle in sight.

Virginia: [Sighs]

[Door opens, closes]

Bill, I was thinking, it's already so late.

Why don't we just go downstairs
and have some dinner tonight,

or maybe even just some drinks.

Oh.

William: My brother.

[Sighs]

[Water runs]

Don't. Don't.

You don't... you don't have to stay.

I just, uh... I just couldn't go home...

Face Libby like this.

[Sighs]

I abandoned him to that... monster.

And then I punished him for it.

What is wrong with me?

I give up.

[Breathing shakily]

[Breathing heavily]

[Zipper unzips]

[Both moaning, breathing shakily]