Reviewed by: Gail Spencer
For those not in the know, Bill Masterson (Michael Sheen) and Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) were the sex survey pioneers who put a post war society right in terms of telling us all what we did or didn't do with our parts - by ourselves or with others. It paved the way for further surveys (such as The Kinsey Report and a lot later and considerably less in depth, The Hite Report).
The first season of the dramatisation does what all first seasons should: it contextualised the drama, introduced us to the main characters, their journeys and the socio economic wallpaper which helps or hinders the central character - the survey itself. For both the seasons this is what is encouraged to root for with all else, including the personal lives of the main characters fitting into either the timeliness of the survey, or proving that the world is not yet ready for it. Bill Masterson starts out with an impeccable record in adept and personalised fertility treatments - by the end of Season One, the filming of a climax from the POV of a cervix (still interesting to see today), is just not cutting the mustard with the bursars and fund givers at the hospital where the survey has been carried out. At the same time we have a growth in Magazines for Men, the Civil Rights Movement is cutting its teeth and we are still prescribing lobotomies for homosexuality. Skin Flicks are on the rise..
The cameos and support that we get in Season One are still with us to an extent but are less dramatically important: the personal relationship between Bill and Virginia is the feature of this season, picking up from where we were left with Bill declaring an unshakable attraction and need for his research partner. This tends to grate after a while: we know that Virginia is a progressive, before her time woman, but the 'are they having sex out of attraction or research need?' question posed to viewer is annoying. Obviously these guys are big league in love and need each other physically and vocationally. It may well be that the acceptance of this will be drawn out over the next season.
The storylines cleverly refer to something going on in the sociological ether: Libby Masterson (Caitlin Fitzgerald) has a 'negro' nurse for her new born, who has a brother who is co-incidentally a civil rights activist who later in the season has a very progressive mixed race Days of Heaven like relationship with her. The best performances of this season are the prostitute come secretary Betty DiMello (Annaleigh Ashford) wise cracking and realistic, with a fuller account of her life and relationship with moneyed hubby. The wonderful brain in a suit Dr Lillian DePaul (Julianne Nicholson) grows closer to Virginia during the course of this bundle of episodes whilst her cervical cancer takes a hold. This provides one of the more appealing and stronger storylines. Disappointingly, there is hardly any reference to her campaign for compulsory smear testing which was a solid company story thread to the sex survey in the first season.
The period detail is as ever spectacular, maybe a little overdone in part: the clothes worn by the women a little too couture for the 'money too tight to mention' plotlines. The weakest link is the moral deterioration of Bill: the admiration for him wanes in this season, his decent into what appears to be alcoholism, his demons and troubles with his mother (ghost of bad Dad), his emotional and sexual impotence with Libby become boring, as does his personal failure to fully recognise the essential role of Virginia in his life and work. The need for blow jobs in alleyways is mysterious. It is nonetheless an engaging watch with sympathy felt for the characters and their goals.
Available now on DVD
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