Speaking of liberating females, the show’s standout performer is still Caitlin FitzGerald as Libby Masters. While briskly pouting through her problems getting pregnant, she keeps the sternest brave face while threatening to launch a cavalcade of tears. Her glassy stare as she speaks with her husband still shows the cracks of their marriage and future episodes should delve into this damaged couple even further.
The scenes of sexual question-and-answer, followed by the study in all of its ecstasy, do not take up a big portion of Standard Deviation, but a significant one. Screenwriter Sam Shaw mines a lot of comedy before the doctor wires up his subjects, with coy answers from the prostitutes often meeting the clinical questions. Dr. Masters has a ticking timer, although the girls have a tickling suspicion that his work arouses him.
Mellow strings from the musical score play over the early scene of frisky self-stimulation, selling the nervous comedy even more. The best money shots from this series, however, are Masters’ and Johnson’s reactions to the masturbation. Under Trilling’s direction, the episode also has a cheeky charm by using food and drink iconography that could also be double entendres (sausage dogs and champagne bottles, for instance).
However, the comedy does not last too long. It is a relief to see that Masters of Sex is not shying away from issues of sexual abuse and homosexuality, issues relevant today that were seldom discussed in 1956. Across from Masters and Johnson, the subjects are free to speak at ease about tales of horror and hedonism.
The scenes with the homosexual subjects have dimmer lighting than the other Q&A sessions. When Masters comes across one of the gay participants near the episode’s end, the two characters are draped in shadow, framing how the odds of opinion between them as one metered by ignorance, instead of understanding. There are still things that the community wants to leave in the dark. However, as Masters reveals to Barton at the end, “I don’t believe in shadows. I believe in the light of scientific inquiry.” He feels as if he owes something to men who have to hide their sexual preferences by treating them as equals in the study.
The period details remain beautifully adorned with soft lighting, while the characterization remains sharp. Standard Deviation is the first flat-out great episode from Masters of Sex, a balance of nervous comedy and dramatic tension that understands the social limits of the era while also daring to skirt across them.