Masters of Sex - The Complete Series

The Showtime original series "Masters of Sex" didn't quite make it through the whole of the complicated, fruitful three-decade relationship between groundbreaking sex researcher and fertility expert Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) and his professional - and romantic - partner, Virginia Masters (Lizzy Caplan); in fact, the series didn't quite reach the halfway point, but the show's four-season run did end on a dramatic high note. As history records, the two eventually married. (They later separated, though they continued to work together.)

The entire series is now available in a box set that includes all 46 episodes from across four seasons. "Masters of Sex" is based on a nonfiction book of the same title by Thomas Maier, but it's also a well-produced period drama that manages to touch on so much more than the scientific research into sexuality that made the duo famous (not to mention the sometimes slightly sloppy spillover of that research). Feminism, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, the upending of the "Father Knows Best" idea of family life... it's all here, and if it sometimes feels a little soapy there's also a continual ring of truthfulness about the show's various storylines.

One of those storylines concerns university provost - and longtime Masters friend and supporter - Barton Scully (Beau Bridges), a gay man wrestling with the truth of his own sexual identity. Not only is Barton's wife portrayed by the magnificent Allison Janney, his journey to authenticity is in itself a triumph; in real life, Masters and Johnson claimed to have investigated ways to "cure" gays, research that Johnson herself called into question in her later years. (It's an ironic twist that the same sorts of groups that condemned the duo's first, and still-groundbreaking, book on human sexuality later resorted to referencing Masters and Johnson's much less reputable book on homosexuality in a bid to find scientific credence for their homophobic views.) The series makes a slightly awkward subplot of this research, though Barton's ultimate response to it is highly gratifying.

Less gratifying is the undercooked and melodramatic "Helen and Betty" subplot, taking place across the latter two seasons and involving a lesbian couple - though, to be fair, Sarah Silverman in the role of Helen is not to be missed. A Season Two interracial affair feels a little outdated, but in the context of the series, it's got heat and no little frisson of suspense about it. Overall, you get the feeling that the prudes Masters and Johnson have to deal with across the roughly dozen years the show covers are no mere relic of the past; the sexual revolution notwithstanding, fear and disapproval of essential human sexuality is still very much with us even now, and that makes "Masters of Sex" perennially au courant.

The Complete Series box set includes the previously-released special features that appeared on the Season One and Two individual releases (though, strangely, they are grouped together here in the Season Four set). The extras hold up and prove worth revisiting. As for the series itself, it's a shame to see it end so soon... but the final shot of the final episode is so note-perfect you don't regret leaving the story there.

The extras consist of Audio Commentary on the pilot; deleted scenes not eh Season One and Season Two Blu-rays; and, int eh Season Four set, a re-presenting of material from the earlier individual season releases:

- Making Masters of Sex; A Masterful Portrayal, which focuses on Michael Sheen as Dr. William Masters;

- Ahead of Her Time: Lizzie Caplan as Virginia Johnson focuses on Caplan's portrayal of Johnson, despite Caplan being a "contemporary girl" that the producers weren't sure about at first;

- The Real Masters: A Conversation with Thomas Maier is an interview with the writer whose book provided the basis for the series;

- Surprising Facts About Sex: The Masters' Great Discoveries is a four-minute documentary that summarizes the duo's research and notes that "their work set the stage for the sexual revolution that was to follow";

- The History of Sex, a featurette that looks at the period in which the show takes place and the producers' challenges and choices in portraying, and in moving through, that section of history;

- The Women of Sex, a featurette that looks at the shoe's many strong female characters and the actresses who portray them;

and

- The Men of Sex: Actors' Roundtable, in which the male cast of Season Two gather (at a hotel where the cast of the movie "The Wizard of Oz" used to hang out) to discuss the show, and that season in particular.

It's a shame more current extras weren't included, but if the show itself is now to be a part of television history, its true contribution will be these episodes: Lavish in design, daring in dramatic substance, and cutting edge, even by the standards of television's second golden age.

"Masters of Sex: The Complete Series"
Blu-ray
$69.98
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