Masters of Sex S2E10 - "Below the Belt" Recap

Bill meets with Pauline for her treatment. He offers to call Frank to make her feel comfortable but she says she would only do that if she felt it would help the two brothers to patch things up. Then the lights go out. Bill is angry but Betty has already called the electric company to tell them the late payment should have arrived by then, which it has, so the lights should be back on shortly. She also reminds him that he needs to sublet the extra space, as they need the money.

Virginia tells the psychiatrist the truth about her impersonating her friend to try to relay the advice. She admits that the bits she told him about the relationship with a married man was her truths and not her friends. He asks why she doesn't use the word affair and she says that that would imply something purely sexual and that her circumstances are far more complicated than that.

Bill and Virginia have not been having sex, as he is experiencing secondary impotence. He can perform when alone but not with a partner. He wants to find a cure. Virginia realises that the timing of Bill's problem coincided with his discovery of Virginia's relationship with Shelly. After that, they had stopped meeting at the hotel. Bill feels broken and says Virginia is the only one that can fix him. So now Virginia is on her high horse thinking that their not-affair has a higher cause.

Libby is still volunteering at CORE. Robert doesn't believe her to be of use beyond running errands. What they want to do will not work coming from a white woman, as it'll just be another white person trying to tell black people what to do. So she carries on running the errands.

Bill and Virginia learn a Dr. Joseph Kaufman is trying to publish a rival study on human sexuality. Bill is especially angry, as he wants to be the first to deliver this groundbreaking research to the world and perhaps even win a Nobel Prize for it.

Barbara and Lester meet at the office. Lester unintentionally insults Barbara's belief in God but later finds her in a diner to apologise. They find a connection over their sexual dysfunctions. He admires her for her faith, saying he was never able to find any solace in that.

Libby wants to prove her worth to CORE so she shows up uninvited to the group's strike canvassing, but not before asking Virginia to help with her alibi. Libby wants to avoid getting into an argument with Bill. She ends up doing quite well at the event, helping CORE to get signatures from 30 percent of the residents in the projects they visit. So later, Robert invites her to their next event.

Bill hires a PR specialist to help ensure that they get credit for their work. They show his around, explaining their work. The specialist suggests putting Bill and Virginia on television, spinning it as a human interest story plumbing the mysteries of desire. Bill finds this idea ridiculous, not wanting his serious research to be a joke on before Mr. Magoo. Virginia thinks it could be beneficial to bring awareness of the study to the masses. She asks Bill how he will feel if he does nothing and then Kaufman got the Nobel Prize.

Flo, the Cal-O-Metric lady has her eye set on Langham. She orders him to come over to her apartment. He tries to turn her down for sex but she refuses to take no for an answer. He tries to claim that his equipment won't work because he's not interested but then he rises to the occasion, enough for them to do it twice. Afterwards, Langham says he glad to have gotten that out of the way and is ready to resume a professional relationship. Langham likes his job and has become quite good at making these ladies feel good about themselves. But Flo assures him that he will be doing the same for her, making her feel young and pretty.

Virginia and Bill meet at the hotel and she takes the lead, commanding Bill not to touch her breasts and tying his hands behind his back. He isn't even allowed to move without her permission. It works at first but then she hurries to try to get him out and then he loses it.

Bill and his mother both disagree with the AA program and Bill and Frank are still on bad terms. Bill and his mother share a drink and say how they believe Frank wanting to make amends is just a way of putting the blame on them while disguising it as an apology. But some time later, Frank calls Bill to inform him that their mother has gotten into a car accident after having a drink. Frank is stitching up her face when Bill arrives. Frank thinks Bill enables her and denies the fact that she is an alcoholic. Bill orders frank to leave.

Libby takes their mother home while Bill and Frank have it out. Frank says that alcoholism runs in their family. The alcohol contributed to their father's abuse but Bill denies this, saying their father was bad as is. Frank has forgiven Bill and his father. Bill denies that Frank was ever beaten before getting vindictive. He taunts Frank, asking if he ever begged for the beatings to stop even though Bill never did. He says Frank is a weak little boy and a coward and keeps on pushing until Frank retaliates with a punch to the face. Bill responds with some slaps and then Frank punches him back. Bill laughs sardonically, saying "This is what binds us. Him living on in us. Not a bottle in sight."

This fight makes Bill late to the hotel room. Virginia is shocked to see Bill's face bloodied. He came to the hotel room because he didn't want to go home and have Libby see his face looking like raw meat. Virginia lays down next to him as he says he abandoned Frank to that monster and then punished him for it. He asks what's wrong with him and Virginia comforts him with kisses to his finger. He says he gives up and then puts his own blood on Virginia's face before kissing her. Things grow heated…

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