Two to Tango
By Catherine Giordano
It takes two to tango as the characters dance around their relationships
in episode #108 of Showtime's Masters of Sex, titled “Love and
Marriage,” which aired on 11/17/13. This review and recap is all about love and marriage and the sexiest of all dances, the tango.
The tangled affair between Margaret Scully and Austin Landsman ended (as
I predicted it would.) Margaret goes to
a hotel bar to have a drink or two to ease the pain and strikes up a
conversation with a young man sitting at the bar—her husband’s young man.
When Barton arrives at the scene, he tries to pass off the young man as
a graduate student meeting to discuss his future, but Margaret isn’t fooled by this
song and dance routine. Barton changes his story—he says the young man procures
women (prostitutes) for him. And Barton accuses Margaret of being at the hotel
to meet her lover. Margaret allows him to think so and then goes off on a long
rant giving the young man advice on marriage--or rather, the reasons not to
marry.
Poor Margaret doesn’t have a clue. She never suspects homosexuality,
even as she asks for a divorce. Margaret brushes aside Barton’s entreaties and
professions of love—she refuses to remain in a sexless marriage.
A few days later, Barton meets with his young man, and tells him he has
obtained some nausea inducing pills. Barton wants to try aversion therapy so he
can be a proper husband to his wife. Barton’s lover indignantly refuses to have
any part of this scheme at any price. Barton insists there is nothing between
them but a business relationship. This denial
of what the relationship has become hurts the young man’s feelings. Before he
storms out, he delivers a lecture about self-loathing and proclaims that the
only one who will be allowed to be nauseated by his behavior is he, himself.
Vivian, dances around Ethan’s kitchen, making breakfast and singing the
popular song of the time “Love and Marriage” --the one that says that the two
go together like a horse and carriage. (One small question: How does Vivian manage
to sleep-over so often at Ethan’s house? Pre-marital sex would surely not have
been acceptable to her parents, not in the 1950’s.)
Evidently, overhearing Vivian singing this song gets Ethan thinking
that he wants to marry her. He discusses it with Austin, enumerating the reasons
for marriage. “I’m pushing 30, I’ve sowed my wild oats, married men live
longer, there are great tax benefits, it is good to have a wife who will always be there for you.” No mention
of love. It sounds like someone is working a little too hard to convince himself to get married.
Ethan plans a fancy proposal dinner, but when he invites her to the restaurant,
she guesses his purpose and does a happy dance right there in the hospital cafeteria.
She gets him to show her the ring right then and there and gushingly says, “Yes
I will marry you” before Ethan even gets to propose.
Austin had tried to dissuade Ethan from proposing. Austin is clearly
not happy with his marriage. His wife is pretty and seems to be the embodiment
of a loving and devoted wife, but he would rather philander. He has a tryst with
jewelry store salesgirl whom he met when accompanied Ethan who was buying an
engagement ring. Landsman is now confident that he is back to his old self and
wants back into the study.
Libby is lonesome at home alone all day. One day she calls a handyman
to clean the gutters. She is startled at first to see that the handyman is a
young good looking black man. When he is done with the gutters, they talk for a
while, and Libby learns that the young man is a widower. He and his wife used
to be champion dancers. Libby begs him
to give her dance lessons, saying it is just the same as any other odd job. I don't think so. The tango can be danced chastely OR it can be danced well--never both, the tango is a dance that is all about sex.
One day while dancing with her handyman/dance instructor, Libby passes
out during a dip. The handyman brings her to the emergency room. The doctor
tells her that she is fine--she just has a momentary problem with blood
pressure. “It is common among pregnant women,” he tells her. And that is how Libby
finds out that she is three months pregnant. The doctor tells her that “her boy”
can bring the car around to take her home. There is a moment of embarrassment,
and then Libby explains that he is her handyman.
Do they now both realize how inappropriate it was for her to be taking
dance lessons in her home alone with a man, especially a black man. (This was the 1950's, after all.) This is the
“Libby-if-you-want-to-learn-to-dance-go-to-the-Fred-Astaire-Dance-Studio”moment
of the week.
Masters and Johnson dance around what they are dong in the lab at night
as “work.” As in, “I’m available to do our work tonight.” Except they have not been getting much of
their pas-de-deux work done. Virginia is taking classes at night to try to get “credentials”
so she will be respected as a researcher and not just as a glorified secretary.
Also, the two have a new project keeping them busy. They have rigged up a camera to their glass dildo
so they can see what goes on in the vagina during orgasm.
It takes two to tango; each week Masters of Sex is showing us that it takes
two things-- love and sex--to
 |
| Click Here to Look Inside on amazon.com |
Please share this review/ recap on twitter, facebook and google circles.
Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.
Please use the links on this page to order from amazon.com
 |
| Click Here to look inside on amazon.com |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Do you agree? Do you have something to add? I'd love to hear your opinions, so please post a comment. Don't forget to click "Publish" just below the "Comment" window.