Original subtitles

Previously on Masters of Sex. Herb Splieb. When life kicks you to the curb,

call Herb. Herb's a divorce lawyer. Very interested in renting office space.

I'm offering you an opportunity to participate in the work as a subject.

I can bring men back to life.

I was wondering if you could use my help.

I would like to contribute.

I have secondary impotence. I can function when I'm by myself.

It's when I'm with a partner.

I'm good at this job. I know how to make women feel good about themselves.

So do that for me. Make me feel good.

Mr. Talley is a partner at Williams and Kulik Public Relations. The two of you

come on, both scientists and yet looking like the nice couple next door, and

suddenly I trust you. Us on TV.

Our father was a monster. But our monster was a sick alcoholic.

You know, you've always been weak. A gutless, pathetic man.

I'm feeling nicely.

Makeup will cover that.

Makeup?

I'm not gonna walk around wearing makeup.

No. There's a shoot tomorrow.

Cover it so you can't see it on camera.

Have you spoken to him since?

Your brother?

I, uh... I wrote him.

Wrote? I... I intend to write to him.

He left town.

Didn't I tell you? He and Pauline...

Went back to Kansas City. No, you didn't mention that.

I'm gonna make it right with him.

Do you think that's what made the difference the other night?

You were so... Everything.

Upset. Angry.

Repentant. You could feel... I mean, really feel.

You were so charged up.

Blood pumping through... Virginia, please.

Can we not, uh...

Analyze it.

Yes, yes, of course. We don't have to talk at all.

Is that what you'd like?

I'd like you to tell me how it was the other night.

For you.

What does you hurt like that? You mean... Uh, no.

What happened after that. The, uh... The sex.

It was good.

How did I feel inside you?

Hard.

It's all right, Bill.

It'll happen next time. How do you know?

It happened before.

Well, it was clearly not the beginning of an upward trend, Virginia. It was a

blip, an anomaly. Bill.

Bill.

It's all right.

Really, it's all right.

She's got you wrapped around her little finger. She said she was nervous about

taking a rifle tower on the bus.

Daddy.

Would you look at that masterpiece?

French presentations today, Buck?

I told you, twice.

I'm so sorry, Tessie. I read a lot on my mind.

Do you have my beret?

Beret?

And I sure do.

Audrey picked it out.

Here, I'll trade you. Go try it on in the car.

Have a good day, sweetie.

Listen, if I could grab you for a minute.

Gotta make her stop with that stupid song, Dad.

Help me out, Sport. Here, put that in the back seat. I just need a word with

your mom.

If you'll let me start the engine.

Have a good day, Henry.

You told me that you let him drive on Sunday.

It was in a parking lot. I wasn't going to scold you, but I think that it's nice

that you're spending so much time with him.

Well, it's Audrey's doing.

She's really encouraged me.

Well, please be sure to tell your wife how grateful I am to her.

Better go. The natives are getting restless.

Actually... Ginny, if you have a sec.

I don't.

CBS is sending a camera crew to interview Bill and me today. So, we can

talk later. When I drop the kids off at your place this weekend?

So, what made you choose keys?

Why not a magic shop or a wash repair or something?

It's a business with a lot of foot traffic.

Everyone needs keys, right? Yeah. And on average, it takes four minutes to make

one, which is pretty much the time it takes to put down ten bucks on the third

race at Fairmont Park.

Thank you.

CBS.

CBS is here. Oh yeah, they're filming a piece today.

On what?

Don't get your knickers in a knot. They're way more interested in nookie

than in a bookie.

You know, that rhymed.

How's it going?

It's quite a lighting package.

Not sure our building's electrical system has the juice to support it. We

got our own generator. It's downstairs.

Well, they picked up a local crew from the CBS affiliate.

Roger's bringing his own cameraman from New York. Oh, we were hoping that... Is

there a role for Lester in all of this? Absolutely.

Student. He's going to be learning from some real pros.

Roger Corwin came up through the ranks of the network, has worked with all the

big guns. He really knows what he's doing.

I'm not sure I can say the same.

Well, I'm sure that you've had to explain the work dozens of times before

this. Oh, yes, Mike.

Colleagues in the medical profession have a basic understanding of the

science. Bill, to be fair, also two members of the board who needed things

spelled out in layman's terms. That was your forte, not mine. We did it

together. Well, the task here is much the same.

Capture the layman's interest.

You have to be personable enough to make the audience want to invite you into

their home. Like full of brushmen.

Well, they're not the only ones who know that a smile and some direct eye contact

make all the difference.

Look, ask anybody who heard the first debate on the radio, and they'll tell

you that Nixon took it on substance.

But the polls, television viewers, show that Kennedy came out ahead.

Why? Because of that smile, that confidence, that twinkle in his eye.

Now, wouldn't you rather spend the next four years looking at him than some

sweaty dick Nick... What is that on your cheek?

Oh, I got into a scrape.

Are you wearing... Concealer?

Um... Okay, never mind. We'll just have the makeup man take a look at it later.

And may I ask, would you be open to wearing a different

tie?

What's wrong with this one? Phil always wears a bow tie. It's not a fashion

choice. It's a matter of practicality, so it stays out of the way during exams.

Of course. But you're not performing any exams today, are you?

I just wonder if a straight tie might look a little less academic.

I could see if Libby would bring one by.

Phil's wife.

Oh, yes, of course. And that's a great plan, getting her on camera as well.

Viewers will be more receptive to the sexual nature of the work if they

understand that it was conducted by a doctor who's also a real family man.

There's, uh, there's Roger. Excuse me.

I'm not a salesman.

Jefferson City was a bust.

Twenty-six women showed up. Seen more fat than a can of pork and beans.

They took my last brochure, so I am here to load up. The king is dying.

Long live the queen?

The king of Hollywood.

Clark Gable had a heart attack yesterday.

Changing a goddamn tire.

What was Clark Gable doing changing his own tire?

Because! We're not talking some namby-pamby Cary Grant. He's Gable.

He's got a set of balls between his legs, not a strip of goose fat.

I was 22 when I saw Gone with the Wind.

Ended up going back the next day, and the next, and...

Twice a week later.

Me and every other girl in town.

Gable, what was it, the mustache?

Because, see, mustaches don't look good. It was the scene on the staircase where

Rick carries Scarlett up to bed.

Against her will.

Never saw it.

You've never seen Gone with the Wind?

This is one night, Scarlett, you're not turning me out of your bed.

He wanted her so much that he just took her.

God.

So sexy.

Yeah. And every girl in that theater?

Well, we watched it over and over, trying to get every detail of it to fix

in our brains because we instinctively knew that was the fantasy that was going

to carry us through many lonely nights.

Do you want to get carried up a staircase?

For a guy who dips his wick as much as you do, you really don't get women at

all.

Um...

I think there may be a couple dozen satisfied ladies out there who would say

that I am every bit a real man as your gable.

How many pairs of slippers do you own?

Two.

That'll be all, ladies.

You don't think I'm a man's man?

I'd be interested in seeing you prove it.

Um... Jeez, Flo, I, um...

I got an early morning, and you and I did it two times last week. Tonight,

you're going to enter my house uninvited. And over my strenuous

objections, you're going to have your way with me.

You want me to break in?

You couldn't maybe leave the door open?

I'm just saying, it would be easier.

Now, try and reformulate the question in your answers.

So, for example, if I say, what initially led you to this line of work,

Dr. Masters, you'd say, what initially led me to this work was. That way, in

the final piece, you won't have to listen to me off-camera feeding you all

the questions.

Got it?

What initially led me to this work was a desire. Not now, Dr. Masters. We're

still setting up some lights, and we have to adjust some sound levels. And I

understand we're waiting on a tie.

Do we have that tie?

Anyone?

The protesters would drop to officer.

You heard?

So sad.

I heard he may not make it.

Who said he's not going to make it? I just heard it on the radio coming in.

Did something happen to him after the arrest?

Clark Gable was arrested?

Martin Luther King was arrested down in Atlanta yesterday at a sit-in, at a

lunch counter, along with 52 other people.

I didn't realize. That's terrible.

Yeah, well, it's going to be busy today.

Lots of people calling to find out what we know.

You coming?

I can't today. I have to do something upstairs for my husband.

I'm sorry.

Okay, why don't we begin by you telling us, please, how you two first met?

Oh, and, sorry, Glenn, I think we're going to want to go a smidge tighter on

the day.

Dr. Masters and I met when he was on the faculty of Washington University School

of Medicine.

And I was working at the hospital as a secretary.

It's okay if you want to smile, Dr. Masters.

Dr. Masters was then in the early stages of observing subjects engaged in sexual

behavior, monitoring their physical responses, and he felt the process of

interviewing potential participants might be well served by having a woman

working alongside him.

Isn't that right, Bill?

Okay, now, when you say sexual behavior, what exactly do you mean? And I think we

should have Dr.

Masters field this one.

Well, masturbation for one. I can't say masturbation.

Auto-manipulation.

I think we want to leave out anything that suggests solo behavior.

So Ulysses is a dildo.

What'd you think?

Our female subjects were having intercourse with a Greek leader in the

Trojan War.

CBS doesn't like dildos. Well, CBS doesn't have to use a dildo.

But Dr. Masters and Mrs. Johnson's participants did. Do.

So all of this is footage of women using dildos? A significant portion of it.

It's not as if we were shooting footage to promote hand washing or good oral

hygiene. Frankly, I don't know how you propose we cut together an overview of

their work without the suggestion... Actually, I wasn't proposing you and I

do anything together.

In addition to individuals, you also observed married couples engaging in

physical relations, though, didn't you?

Weren't always married. Often they were, remember.

Look, if you say couples, then the natural assumption is that they were

married. And what exactly were you doing during these sessions with these

couples?

During these sessions, we monitored and tracked all changes in both subjects'

bodies, and in so doing...

We were able to identify four stages of sexual response.

Bill?

Uh, arousal, plateau, orgasm,

and... Sorry to stop you again, Doctor, but orgasm's a problem.

For some people, yes.

No, I mean for the sensors.

It's one of the four stages.

You're gonna have to call something different.

Climax? No, climax is not one of the stages.

Climax won't work anyway.

Peek, maybe?

Peek would be good.

You know what I could use?

Do you have any shots of patients coming to the exam room? Maybe he unbuttons his

shirt, she unzips her dress. Maybe they smile at each other. And then you pan

over to that Geiger counter thing with the needle jumping all over the place.

Innuendo. Innuendo I can get away with.

I wasn't making From Here to Eternity, although that is an excellent, excellent

movie. I was filming the truth of people being sexual.

If you sanitize it, you're completely undercutting Dr. Masters and Mrs.

Johnson's intentions, which are to encourage an honest discussion about

what really happens to the body during sex.

Look, you're close to it.

I respect that. You're invested.

Good for you. But if I can be honest with you, you're not the best guy to say

how to put this stuff on TV.

Ridiculous, this nonsense with the censor.

It's like having to explain a recipe without mentioning a single ingredient.

I don't even think this belongs to me.

It doesn't. Someone must have left it behind at a dinner party.

There weren't any to choose from.

Your shirt is soaked through, Bill.

It was hot in front of those lights.

And if I can't use the correct scientific terminology, I'm just going

to come off like a sweaty degenerate.

groping for sexual euphemisms.

Well, can't see it with the jacket on.

What do you think they'll ask me?

You.

Yes, they're supposed to interview me. Oh, that's right.

I'm sure they'll just want you to tell them I don't touch myself at the dinner

table or wire you up to machines when we make love.

Do you expect them to ask about our private life? No, that was... Of course

they won't.

I'm sorry.

Look, Lib, you don't have to go through this.

I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.

I don't feel uncomfortable.

I might be good at it.

Libby, they're wondering if you're ready.

Well, it certainly is a different look for you.

As Henry David Thoreau said, beware all enterprises that require new clothes.

Why don't you wait in here, Libby, and they'll come get you when they're ready.

Oh, we're wearing the same color, you and I.

Do you think it'll look like a uniform?

What all of Bill Master's women wear.

Don't worry.

They're shooting in black and white.

Meeting.

Take one.

Action. Why don't you talk a bit about the reaction when people find out that

this is the work you do?

The reactions to our work really run the gamut from outrage and indignation to...

Intense curiosity.

Often in the same person. Yes.

I do find that I'm very popular at dinner parties once everyone learns what

it is I do.

Don't you find that everyone wants a seat next to yours, Bill?

No.

Um, I'd... I'd like to make clear that the, uh, the prurient angle of the work

holds no interest to us.

The goal is to provoke conversations about human sexuality that are not

conducted in hushed whispers.

The vocabulary of sex, words this broadcast won't permit,

should be commonplace, spoken as you would refer to say... A sneeze

or a hiccup. Yes, yes, exactly.

Censorship perpetuates shame.

which in turn fosters ignorance, and ignorance prevents change.

So you see, it's a dangerous trajectory to shy away from the language of the

body.

I believe we have spoken on the phone before.

Mrs. Johnson is unavailable at the moment. May I take a message? That's me.

I thought I recognized your voice.

Listen, if I could just grab a minute with her.

It's kind of a crazy day around here, as you can see.

Can I ask you something, off the record?

Does she tell you to take a message automatically every time I call?

Because I almost never reach her.

Oh, no, she, uh, she always calls to nearly everyone.

Best chance of getting through is saying you can orgasm listening to the traffic

report on the radio.

She never stops working that one round the clock.

Well, good to know it's nothing personal.

I'll let her know you're here.

Procreation is our only goal.

Pleasure is a human need. It drives us the way hunger does. Or fear.

It can blind us or sustain us. It can be a frustration.

A resource of tremendous relief.

And the benefit of being a male-female team. Can you speak to that?

Well, it's an advantage, obviously.

Try to incorporate the question, Bill.

Mrs.

Johnson and I are...

Tremendously advantaged by the fact that she's a man and I'm a woman. The way

around, Bill.

Yes, of course.

Well, you can see the benefit.

We have a tendency to finish each other's sentences.

When will you see eye to eye, which is not always... We have different

strengths.

Certain patients might be more comfortable with her than... Or vice

versa, and it doesn't always break down by gender, as one might expect.

And what of the common misperception that you two are a couple?

Well, uh, well...

We tell people we're married to the work. Just not each other.

Okay, that's good.

Betty around?

Girl who sounds like Wisconsin?

She had to go downstairs for something.

The key to the washroom doesn't work, which is ironic, because keys are my

business.

I see you're reading the sports page there. You like the ponies?

Used to.

I'm reformed.

My wife won't stand for it.

And why is that?

You don't want your man to have a little fun?

Oh, he's... I'm not his wife.

No, I'm waiting for my husband.

He's the subject of all of this.

So you're Dr.

Master's wife, huh?

You're a patient?

I'm Virginia's ex.

It's funny, I didn't expect you to look the way you do.

Oh?

I'm just saying you're a looker.

They should put you on camera.

Yes, well, that's why I'm here.

I wanted a few words with the woman behind the man.

Well, the woman behind the man behind the woman behind the man.

Sweetheart, if that were a race, no way would you be finishing in the money.

You are very right, sir.

When Betty comes back, will you tell her that Dr. Master's wife decided to go

home?

It's nice to meet you.

Likewise.

Try 500 KLRT.

Okay.

We'll wait to hear it.

Thank you.

Can't find anything.

Is there any news?

That was Tom.

The police in Atlanta are dropping charges on about a dozen of them. But

they're going to hold Dr. King in the rest.

It's because he's still got that trumped-up charge hanging over his head.

Driving without a license.

Bullshit.

I'm sorry.

Oh, you can swear in front of her.

We're waiting on a statement from Atlanta.

Do you know when you'll hear?

Could be late.

Congress of Racial Equality.

No, nothing, I'm afraid. We're still waiting for news from Atlanta.

So I said to him, I said, no, I didn't shoot intake interviews because that's

when Dr. Masters and Mrs. Johnson were determining whether or not a participant

fit the criteria for a particular study. And it was only once they did, that's

when I turned the camera on.

And then he said, well, is there any footage that I could cut together to

suggest an intake interview, which is offensive on three levels. First of all,

he's going to cut my footage. Second of all, isn't that a little misleading? And

third of all, third of all... Maybe they know what they're doing.

What? You really believe that? I hired Shep to do a job we're not capable of

doing ourselves.

Last time I tried to explain the work and why it mattered, I got my hat handed

to me, literally.

And if their methods aren't exactly what ours might be, well, then we push back

when we can, but we allow them enough latitude to do the job we brought them

in to do.

So the end justifies the means.

I know you, Dr. Masters, as well as I think anyone can.

That doesn't sound like something you really believe.

It's easy to be idealistic when your life's work isn't at stake.

Isn't that exactly the time to be idealistic?

To hold on to your principles? To be true to yourself?

I don't need a lecture from you, Lester.

Maybe you do.

Maybe you need someone who will tell you you look very weird in that tie.

I've given you my time.

Whatever talent I have, I've given every bit of myself to this. Even my body, as

humiliating as that experience was.

So don't tell me I don't have any stake in how this turns out.

It's not a good time, George. I told you that this morning that you need me back

in there. Well, I've been trying for a week, Jan. It's never a good time.

It's like you're afraid I'm going to ask you for money or something.

Are you?

No.

I'm flesh.

I got a gig.

Six weeks backing Floyd D'Souza.

Floyd D'Souza.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

Well, it's a very big hit overseas, which is where the tour is headed. Well,

that is wonderful, George. London, Paris, Rome, Madrid. And Audrey is going

with you? She is.

We want the kids to come, too.

I'm serious.

To Europe?

For six weeks?

Uh-uh, absolutely not.

Why not?

Why not?

Because it's crazy, George, because they've never been on a plane before, or

to a big city, or even with you for more than three consecutive nights, but now

you want to trot them off to Europe for six weeks. What, you'll take them out of

school, too?

Well, they get a week off at Thanksgiving, three at Christmas.

So they'd be missing two weeks.

And they get a chance to see Europe.

Tessa could see the Eiffel Tower in person.

Have you mentioned this to them?

No, I wanted to discuss it with you first.

Well, thank you for that. At least. But no, my answer is no.

So you would rather that they come home from school every day to a babysitter.

They love Pam.

A babysitter and hope that they can stay up late enough to see their mother.

I know the hours you're keeping, Jenny. I know that you're working around the

clock.

There's no good argument that says waiting for their mother to get home

from work is better for them than being with their father for six weeks and

letting him show them a little piece of the world.

Who's there?

It's me, Austin.

You're not the man from across the street, are you?

The one I've seen watching me through the curtains?

Yes, that's me.

I can see into your bathroom.

Not the bathroom.

The bedroom.

I can see into your bedroom.

Promise me you're not gonna hurt me.

Of course I'm not gonna... Grab me by the hair.

Really? Mm-hmm.

Like this?

Harder. You sure? Mm-hmm.

Drag me up the stairs.

Drag you up the stairs? If you do, I'll scream.

Someone will hear you, and they'll call the police, and they'll take you away to

jail.

Anytime you want to jump in here.

Uh, but I'll be acquitted.

When the jury sees you, they'll understand why I couldn't control

myself.

Well, I'm not going to let you take me upstairs.

Okay, so you wanted to do it here.

Even though I know you want me in that bed, the bed you've watched me make love

in.

So we do go upstairs.

Not if I have any say in it.

I'm confused.

I'm going upstairs, locking the door behind me, and calling the police.

You just try to kick it down.

Even if you get in, I'll never give in to you.

Are you coming?

Oh, Bill and Virginia, Bernadette and Kyle, Bernadette and Kyle, Bill and

Virginia. Hello, nice to meet you. It's Dr.

Masterson. I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work. Oh, well, Dwight says

that your cameraman didn't get any footage of you conducting any intake

interviews, so we're going to have Kyle and Bernadette sit in as if they're a

couple coming to you for help.

Help with what?

With their sex life.

We don't help couples have sex. We observe them.

having sex and that whole process that's definitely going to be part of the story

certainly um but i think the centerpiece is the work that you're doing that goes

beyond educating the public as to how the body works and puts that knowledge

to practical use with treatment we've talked about this we haven't gotten to

the point where we're treating dysfunction we are still in the very

early stages of that look all we really need is just a few shots of you talking

to a couple and over the top of that we're going to hear something like uh

Masters and Johnson's study is poised to break new ground in the treatment of

sexual dysfunction.

And you are poised, so we're not saying anything that isn't true.

Exactly. This is only going to amount to no more than 15 seconds of actual screen

time. It's just the visual.

And frankly, we can't use the footage you already have. It's just, well, it's

too graphic.

I wouldn't allow it anyway. The understanding I have with my patients is

that footage is completely confidential for research purposes only, not as a

calling card for services we don't actually provide.

And that's the case for working with a couple whose privacy you're not actually

violating, who have actually signed up to be filmed.

And are you?

A couple?

We met just now in the lobby.

Turns out we went to the same high school. So you've hired actors.

Will you excuse me?

Where are you going? Just for a moment.

Virginia.

What is the problem here? I mean, if your own patients won't participate...

But they're led to believe that I exploit other patients for my own

purposes? Really? You don't see that as a problem?

You've never been to court?

Had any reason to modify his visitation?

No. And he's been responsible? Why have they been in his custody?

For the most part.

Yes, he has been responsible.

Any reason to think that might change?

That they wouldn't be safe with him or with the new wife?

No. You offering them something better?

Well, we always spend the holidays together. We have a lot of Christmas

traditions, and they would be missing all of that.

So, they swap one Christmas for six weeks in Europe.

I think they come out ahead, don't you?

And would it be such an awful thing for you?

I mean, I've seen the way you run around here, the hours you keep, the second

you're through, the way you bolt for the elevator, probably racing straight home

for tuck-in time. Am I right?

Of course I'm right. You're a mother.

I know mothers.

Most of them could use a little break every now and then.

Maybe one way to look at this is that your ex is offering you a little

vacation too.

I don't want a vacation from my children, Mr. Splieb. Look, you could

say no.

I could? Yeah.

Technically, you have the right.

But I would caution you against it.

Why give him reason to revisit a custody arrangement which, on the whole, is

working for both of you?

You see, you push back on this on a reasonable request...

something your kids are going to derive benefit from, you could be opening up a

whole can of worms.

I don't think you want to do that.

Marianne said we're out of formula.

Go.

You too, Donna. And Harlan, we're not going to hear anything tonight.

See you in the morning. Good night.

Good night.

No point in you staying either.

Oh, I don't mind.

I'm leaving myself.

Oh. Well, I... I was expecting to go home with my husband, so I got a lift

in. I'll need to call a cab.

Next you'll have us pretending to wire them up.

Actors. He needs cutaways, Bill. The entirety of your story cannot be told

with the two of you sitting behind a table talking about things that can't be

shown on TV.

A reenactment is a happy medium. I'm not happy about any of this. It's fake.

All of it. What I'm pretending to be, the fact I'm selling something that

doesn't even exist.

I am not a salesman, Shep. Well, then, Bill, you are the only one.

Because we are all selling something. I sold you.

On me, on what I could do for you. John Rock sold more than the birth control

pill. He sold an idea of pleasure without permanent consequence.

He kicked open the door for you, but you have got to walk through it, stake your

claim, and say, I'm in the pleasure business, too. That is not my business.

I don't have a business. I have a study, a practice, and I have not cured one

single case of sexual dysfunction.

Yet. Yet.

But you will.

And if you don't, you tried.

You've got to reach for it, Bill.

Even if it's outside your grasp, it's the reaching that people respect.

Look, these two presidential candidates, they may not deliver a single thing that

they promised.

I guarantee you history will judge them just as much for the nobility of their

goals as for what they actually achieved.

But before any of that can happen, one of them has to come in first.

You've got to be first, Bill.

That's what all of this is about.

There's usually news at the top of the hour.

This is the station you listen to?

There won't be any modern news on this station.

It'll be here if anywhere.

He's not going to get out.

They want to make an example of him, is that it?

No. I'd likely offer them a deal.

Because they realize all they're doing is shining the spotlight on the cause.

But Dr. King won't take it.

He said, let us not fear going to jail.

If the officials threaten to arrest us for standing up for our rights, then we

must show that we are willing and prepared to fill up the jails of the

South.

He said that tonight.

In Durham, back in February.

At a sit-in organized by the SCLC.

You know what the SCLC is, right?

Of course, the South Carolina... Southern Christian Leadership

Conference.

Do you enjoy that?

Testing me.

Because you do it a lot.

Sometimes I can't tell if you're hoping I'll pass or fail.

Why would I want you to fail?

Maybe because it would make it easier for you to chalk me up to being some

silly fly-by-night do-gooder.

It's... It's like you're hoping to discover underneath it all I'm really

just a...

Dilettante. A militant?

A dilettante.

You don't know what a dilettante is?

I don't.

Well, I, for one, don't think that makes you stupid.

I don't think you're stupid.

I think you're uninformed.

On some of the specifics, yes, but... But I understand what the fight is

about, and I believe in it.

Why?

I want to hear your reasons.

Another test.

You know what I think? I think you don't want to say thank you to me and seem

like you mean it.

What's this about?

Hey, boy. What business you got in this neighborhood?

We're fine, officer.

Let me see your license and registration.

I'll break some kind of law. That's really not necessary, officer. I know

this gentleman. He's with me.

What do you mean, with you?

He's a co-worker of mine, and he was kind enough to drive me home.

Well, if that's the case, why don't you head on in, ma'am, and he can be on his

way.

Because I've invited him inside.

That's why.

You coming, Mr. Franklin?

Get that out of my face.

You better watch yourself, boy.

No, stop it. Stop it. Let him go. You have no cause, officer.

Mr. Franklin, are you coming?

You're not eating?

Your sesame noodles aren't half bad.

You mind me asking you something?

The boys and I were, you know, kind of wondering, what's it like watching folks

go at it all day long?

I'm sorry?

My girl Maxine and I, we once went to the zoo, saw two chimps doing it. Had to

go straight home to bed. It was so hot and bothered. So I'm guessing watching

all that action alongside a woman like Virginia is... Mrs. Johnson is my

professional colleague.

Despite what people assume, he explained that.

Honestly, I don't think people assume it.

I mean, yeah, no offense, but a girl like that, a guy like you... Excuse me?

I mean, I know how it is.

You know, my Maxine, she's a real dish.

I get the beauty and the beast thing all the time. Okay, everyone, the break is

over. Back in the conference room in ten.

And, uh, Kyle, turn it down.

Hey, make sure Jeremy powders you up. You got a real shine going there.

I know Bill keeps a box of extra shirt buttons in here somewhere.

What do you reckon that babysitter thought?

Are you bringing a Negro man in your house?

No, she's not.

She's a neighbor, just helping out for today.

You heard what I told her. We work together.

A Negro man in a torn shirt?

Elaine is not a gossip.

Daughter Sissy married a Mexican man.

Here we go.

Your shirt, please.

It'll make this easier.

No, ma'am.

Fine, I will sew with you in it.

Just go sit by the light.

Not in this room.

Not there.

Now, doesn't that sound exciting?

And we get to miss school on top of it? Spinning, Henry. Yes, we'll have to

check with Miss Braddock and Mrs.

Alexander, and you'll both promise me that you will do your homework on the

plane. We get to go on a plane, too? How else do you think we'd get there, Ding

Dong? What did I say about calling your sister names, Henry?

This is a special treat, having dinner here with your mom, so you behave, okay?

Pam, do you mind giving us a few minutes?

Oh, sure.

No problem.

How about I go find some crispy green beans?

No almond cookies for you, Tessie, until you eat your greens. You know the rules.

Now, you know, six weeks is a very long time, so you'll both have to promise me

that you will be responsible.

Because you know how sometimes daddy forgets to feed you dinner on time.

Audrey remembers she makes us eat vegetables all the time.

Mom, can you tell her I get to stay up till 10 on the trip?

She's so strict about bedtimes.

But she lets you stay up and watch Have Gone, Will Travel. That's because she

likes it, too. She said she was a gunfighter in her past life.

And an opera singer.

Even though she has the worst voice.

You should hear her, Mom. She and Dad sing in the car, and it sounds awful.

Do you think she told me to pick France for my project because she knew we were

going there?

Could be.

So what are you doing for Christmas, Mommy? Are you going to have a treat?

I don't know, Goosey.

We will have Christmas when you're back.

Who's going to give you presents?

You will send me letters and postcards from every place you go, and you'll tell

me... Everything you're seeing and everything you're doing and... That will

be my present.

There you go.

Try it.

The button's too big.

Won't fit in the holes.

Are you sure?

I should go.

I have smaller ones.

I got a mama three doors down from mine who can fix it.

What would she think of you being here?

She wouldn't like it very much.

She'd say I was just looking for trouble.

Which I'm not.

You've gone looking for it before.

That time you stole those tires.

What did that feel like?

To put a brick through a plate glass window?

That was a long time ago. I know better now.

Those are the mistakes you make when you're a dumb kid.

I never got to be that.

Dumb, maybe, but never a kid.

They called me the little grown-up.

And I was so proud of that.

Being good and following the rules.

Anything to be the teacher's pet.

But then you grow up and there's no teacher to please.

Just some idea of what... people expect from a pretty girl.

You make a nice home and you raise well-behaved children.

You don't make waves.

You don't make trouble.

You keep your voice down.

And you go along like that.

And your wanting to be good makes you quiet.

So quiet that you forget the sound of your own voice.

People forget that you're there.

Your husband forgets that you're there.

Maybe you aren't.

And you meet someone who doesn't like you very much, who doesn't think that

you're kind or good, thinks that you're ignorant,

prejudiced even, which may be...

Deep down you are And this thing that you have been afraid of

forever someone thinking ill of you it is

It's almost a relief Because at least

someone is seeing you or you are not invisible

You got no

making the argument that being discounted makes you feel alive. I can

tell you that it doesn't. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. But there's some white

women who want colored men because they don't like themselves very much.

Like they're lowering themselves.

Do you think I'm like that?

Are you?

I don't know.

I don't know who I am.

I don't know what I am. I don't know why I...

want what I want, but... I just think... What?

If you would... kiss me, then maybe I could figure it out.

You've got a neighbor across the street, a policeman down the block, and two

little ones sleeping down the hall.

and you on the other side of that plate glass window

So, you enjoyed that?

Kind of ruins it when I have to tell you what to do every second.

Don't I get points for not knowing the right way to take advantage of a woman?

Now lighten up, Austin.

You've never played games in the bedroom before?

Oh, sure.

Sleeping Beauty.

The milkmaid and the stable boy.

The professor and the foreign exchange student.

But I just don't understand playing at this.

You haven't always been this good looking, have you?

Weren't you ever a pimply-faced beanpole?

Didn't you want to smack some girl for looking right through you?

Screw the indifference out of her by making her want you in spite of herself.

I think maybe that's your story.

Huh.

Maybe it is.

Maybe I want to be Scarlet for a change of pace.

Because I've been Rhett for a very long time.

Waiting to be wanted, not wanting to be ignored.

Makes you do the damnedest things.

Well, now that you realize that about yourself... When has self-awareness

ever changed a person's behavior, huh?

Has it ever changed yours?

Nope.

Sorry. I'm not ready for this to be over.

So you can keep coming.

Even if the game is pretending, it's about more than just job security.

Although I have to say, it would be nice if you

gave a damn.

Bill?

Bill?

What are you doing?

Are you gone?

I had to get that goddamn thing off.

The shirt, too.

Soaked through.

We cannot present ourselves as the saviors of the sexually dysfunctional

without having cured a single patient first.

Including me.

Virginia.

Where are you?

What do you mean?

I'm here.

I'm sorry.

It's been a long day.

Do you think people are going to welcome us in your little living rooms?

You, certainly, but me? You did well, Bill.

Roger said so. I don't have a twinkle.

What? What Shep said about Jack Kennedy.

A twinkle in his eye that wins people over.

Gets them to invite him in.

I'm not personable. I don't smile. Smile.

Bill, I've seen you smile. I'm the guy with sweat on his brow, with makeup

stains on his collar. I'm the one who's uncomfortable in his own skin. Stop,

please. Why would people want to watch me? Because you have something important

to say.

But they have to want to look at me first.

Find something attractive in me.

You don't think that you're attractive?

I find you attractive.

Why? What is it that you want me to say? What do you want, Bill? What do you want

to hear?

What more reassurance can I give you? I'm here.

I am here. I am not at home.

I'm not putting my kids to bed. I'm here with you. Well, maybe you should. No,

I'd understand. How can you possibly want to be with me?

With this? Someone who looks like this? All the makeup in the world? I'm the guy

who doesn't smile. I can't twinkle. I can't fuck.

Let me hear.

Sex is as basic as breathing.

A relationship with no sex, your entire being will

eventually rebel.

You do not want to live without this.

I'm not sure why I let it happen. What if you did it because you wanted me?

I love you both so much.

Virginia, stop defending the indefensible.

Somebody has massively fucked up.

You're not really worried about the kids, Jim. It's that study that you're

worried about.

I never meant to hurt Virginia.