The third season of Masters of Sex began airing in the United States on July 12, 2015. The series is the television adaptation of Thomas Maier's biography Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love. It stars Michael Sheen as Dr. William Masters and Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson.
The third season takes place between 1965 and 1968.
Plot[]
In 1965, on a Summer family vacation, Bill and Libby meet Virginia at a lake house. Bill is excited to have a draft of his book with him. Virginia learns that her son is going to be enlisting in the military. Furious, she goes to George (who has custody of the kids), but he reveals that he's scared too. Out of sadness, the two have sex.
Three months later, Bill and Virginia have their first press conference for their soon-to-be-released book Human Sexual Response. The book receives positive reviews from critics. However, later that day, Bill learns that Virginia is pregnant and the baby is George's.
Bill requests that Virginia take the next few months off since "a pregnant unwed woman can't be the standard bearer of sexual enlightenment." Also so the press wouldn't think that baby is Bill's. After a few mis-steps with a new co-worker, Bill needs Virginia back and goes to George, trying to convince them to get married to legitimatize the child. They do get married and the baby is born as Bill is excited of his own baby, Human Sexual Response, having just been released.
Two months later, Bill and Virginia resume sexual contact. The book receives positive reviews from critics but mixed reviews from the public. The book also creates much controversy in the religious community, with many religious groups protesting Bill and Virginia's offices. With the clinic in need of money, Bill begins soliciting Human Sexual Response to colleges, hoping they might pick it up as a textbook. Along the way, Bill hires Barton. Also, Virginia begins looking for investors. While Virginia wants Hugh Hefner as an investor, Bill settles on Dan Logan, a perfume magnate.
Bill and Virginia begin working with Dan Logan, who is trying to capture the smell of sex. Virginia and Dan become very close, to Bill's dismay.
One of Jane's friends from a theater class has sexual dysfunction, and Bill, who can relate after his own impotency, wants to start a surrogacy program, using single women to help single men who are in need of help. Since this will be mistaken as prostitution, the volunteers will not be paid. Virginia is weary of this work, considering the surrogates have no idea who each other are. Bill and Nora, a surrogate who has connections to him, connect. Bill, desperate to reconnect with Virginia, shuts down his surrogacy program.
Meanwhile, Libby bonds with her next door neighbor, Joy. After Joy has an aneurysm, her husband Paul is left to take care of her, even though she can barely speak or move. Joy later dies. Libby and Paul begin connecting, and Paul admits he has feelings for her. After their relationship becomes intimate, Paul proposes to Libby. Libby later realizes that the relationship will never work because she wants to keep her family in tact, so she calls off the engagement.
Bill and Virginia go to New York to meet with Little Brown & Co. to discuss the publication of their next book, Human Sexual Inadequacy. The meeting is a disaster as Bill promises to include parts of the surrogacy work. At a dinner designed to win Virginia back, Dan and Bill square off and Virginia storms out. Dan later tells Virginia that he left his wife.
Virginia is planning on taking some time off to clear her head, but Libby informs her that Bill is being investigated for child molestation, in what really is a misunderstanding. Nora, meanwhile, needs to pay rent and Bill agrees to pay her. What he doesn't know is that she is recording this and has been working with one of the religious groups who hate the message of the book.
Bill and Virginia are arrested for prostitution, since Bill paid Nora. Dan bails out Virginia and later proposes to her. Libby talks with Bill and Bill finally confesses that he's been having an affair for ten years. Libby says she knows about this and the two fight, with Libby leaving Bill in jail. Bill calls Barton to be bailed out of jail.
Virginia arrives at the jailhouse to tell Bill that she is leaving St. Louis and moving to Las Vegas with Dan. Bill finally tells Virginia he loves her. Nonetheless, Virginia continues with her plans. Bill rushes to the airport, but, plagued by flashbacks from his father telling him to "stay down", Bill decides to stop fighting as Virginia gets on the plane with Dan.
Episodes[]
| Picture | Title | Number | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
"Parliament of Owls" | 25 | July 12, 2015 |
| In 1965, Bill and Virginia are about to publish their work as they do their first press conference for their upcoming book Human Sexual Response. | |||
 |
"Three's a Crowd" | 26 | July 19, 2015 |
| Bill and Libby try to legitimatize Virginia's sudden pregnancy by putting George back into the equation; Bill and Virginia take on a new patient. | |||
 |
"The Excitement of Release" | 27 | July 26, 2015 |
| The book is released and has impacts on everyone's life; Bill begins soliciting colleges to get Human Sexual Response used as a textbook; Virginia looks for an investor. | |||
 |
"Undue Influence" | 28 | August 2, 2015 |
| Virginia is caught off guard when she gets letters from her son serving in the war, and thinks he might be sick, which may keep her home. | |||
 |
"Matters of Gravity" | 29 | August 9, 2015 |
| Bill is invited back to Washington University to deliver a speech after the success of the book; Virginia is surprised by the arrival of her parents. | |||
 |
"Two Scents" | 30 | August 16, 2015 |
| Bill and Virginia struggle to continue their relationship as Logan continues to pursue her; Bill's problems with his son escalate when Bill makes Johnny sign up for football. | |||
 |
"Monkey Business" | 31 | August 23, 2015 |
| Bill reluctantly agrees to help resolve the sexual dysfunction of a gorilla just as he and Virginia are being interviewed by Newsweek. | |||
 |
"Surrogates" | 32 | August 30, 2015 |
| Virginia and Logan drop everything to relax in Las Vegas; Bill starts his surrogacy program despite Virginia's prior skepticism. | |||
 |
"High Anxiety" | 33 | September 6, 2015 |
| Bill becomes desperate to reconnect with Virginia as she raises concerns about Bill's new surrogacy program; Dan plans on leaving Missouri. | |||
 |
"Through a Glass, Darkly" | 34 | September 13, 2015 |
| Virginia's absence in Bill's love life continues to have an upsetting effect on him, and he ends up having to sacrifice his surrogacy program. | |||
 |
"Party of Four" | 35 | September 20, 2015 |
| While in New York, Bill orchestrates a dinner with Virginia, Dan, and Dan's wife, in hopes he will finally be reunited with Virginia. | |||
 |
"Full Ten Count" | 36 | September 27, 2015 |
| With their publisher eager to move forward with their new book and the police investigating Bill's recent indiscretions, all of Bill and Virginia's work is compromised. | |||
Cast[]
Stars[]
Recurring[]
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Guest[]
Cameo[] |