Masters of Sex S1E11 - "Phallic Victories" Recap

Virginia and Bill are keeping their distance from one another. Libby comes to visit the hospital and checks in with Ethan who is having his going away party. He assures her he doesn't blame her and there's no mending his relationship with Bill. He is ready to step out of Bill's shadows and find work at a different great hospital. Libby then offers to help Bill temporarily as an additional secretary since he is busy preparing for a hospital-wide presentation.

Virginia has resumed her relationship with Ethan, who earlier admitted to Libby that he is now in love. He's getting along great with her children and even agrees to babysit them while she accompanies Dr. DePaul to a conference at which Dr. DePaul will give a presentation on the Pap smear. While babysitting, the children's father George comes over and he and Ethan puff their chests up to one another. They end up babysitting the children together.

Libby learns of a couple in the study that had sex 23 times and asks Bill about it, not knowing that the couple in question is Bill and Virginia. Bill is further engrossed in his work after witnessing another doctor give a presentation that bores their colleagues to the point of falling asleep. He wants to grab their attention, even if it means using provocative, less than complete research on hot topics such as penis size and sexual satisfaction.

Virginia has to spend the night in a motel with Dr. DePaul after the bus breaks down. DePaul learns how Bill is compensated for his work and is angered by it, considering how difficult of a time she has in securing funds. They arrive too late for her to give her presentation. Virginia helps Dr. Depaul chat up the doctors' wives so that they may pass on the information and convince them of the importance.

Ethan and George's tension hits their boiling point but Ethan is eventually able to convince him that he is good for both Virginia and her children. On the bus ride back, Dr. DePaul reveals to Virginia that she has advanced cervical cancer and it was detected with a Pap smear in her twenties. She had a hysterectomy but it returned about 18 months ago and progressed to her liver which is now stage 4. She asks Virginia to continue with her work after she dies.

Ethan later tells Virginia that he will support her in whatever she wants to do and that he wants them to be a team.

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