Masters of Sex S2E3 - "Fight" Recap

Bill delivers a baby with adrenogenital hyperplasia. It's a boy but the genitalia are rather ambiguous. The father is downright belligerent, saying that his son will never be a man with such a small package, and wants his son's package to be cut off. Bill coldly tells him to read up, get educated, and his son will be saved from his father's poor judgement. He refused to perform the surgery, as it's not his area of expertise, but promises to get in touch with some specialists.

Bill and Virginia are having one of their hotel trysts while the 1958 boxing match between Archie Moore and Yvon Durelle is playing. Bill kicked the night off with some angry sex to work out his frustration over what happened at work. Bill continues to explain rules of boxing to Virginia throughout the night. Bill learned how to box in boarding school because he wanted to be able to hold his own. They also discuss the cover story developed to explain these meetings they have in the hotel as Dr. and Mrs. Holden. She visits her sick mother in Louisville and he is a radiologist practicing in Kansas and this is where they meet in the middle. Virginia prefers to make it more exciting, saying her mother is in prison and he is a radiologist developing spy techniques.

Meanwhile, the baby is being scanned and examined by doctors. It seems evident that the "corrective" procedure will be performed and Bill is not there to try to stop it.

Bill and Virginia decide to play-fight so he can teach her some moves. She takes it seriously and goes to hit him and ends up getting her bracelet stuck in his hair. She has to saw it out with a steak knife and she sends for some clippers so she can fix his hair. He shares a story about how his father acted like a doting father but dropped his son off at boarding school at age 14 and told him to take care of himself and not come back. Bill wants Virginia to beg him to make her feel good but she says she can make herself feel good, proceeding to touch herself.

Bill and Virginia leave the hotel both lying to themselves and each other that what they're doing is purely for science. He calls in to check on the baby and learns that it's about to have the operation. He rushes to the hospital and pleads with the father to think of the consequences of forcibly assigning gender to a child but he's too late; the surgery is finished and a "success." The father coldly utters, "Better a tomboy than a sissy."

Finally, we see Virginia preparing to exit the hotel but deciding to go into the bar and watch the fight finish.

Masters of Sex airs on Sundays on Showtime at 10PM.