Pilotmasters Of Sex : Season 1 Episode 1 -

: The narrative contrasts the clinical nature of the study with the intense personal repressions of its characters, such as Barton Scully's hidden homosexuality. Cast and Reception "Masters of Sex" Pilot (TV Episode 2013) - Full cast & crew

: Masters realizes he needs a female perspective to legitimize his study and recruit non-prostitutes. He hires Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan), a twice-divorced former nightclub singer with a naturally frank and unselfconscious attitude toward sex.

: Set in 1956 St. Louis, the episode introduces Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen), a renowned fertility specialist who secretly conducts research on human sexual response, even resorting to observing sexual acts from motel closets.

: Virginia Johnson is framed as a woman ahead of her time—ambitious, sexually liberated, and possessing the "emotional intelligence" Masters lacks.

: Dr. Masters is portrayed as a brilliant but repressed and clinically cold man who struggles with his own emotions and infertility, a secret he keeps from his wife, Libby.