Masters of Sex / Characters

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Dr. William Masters

Dr. William "Bill" Masters

Played by: Michael Sheen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/williammasters.jpg

Abusive Parents: Bill's dad was physically abusive and his mom ignored it.
Accidental Pun: Bill's "I hope I've aroused your curiosity... if nothing else." is met with laughter by his audience during a meeting, much to his chagrin. He then proceeds to turn it into a successful catchphrase to conclude his sales presentations.
Adaptational Attractiveness
The Alcoholic: Bill is attending court-mandated AA meetings in season 4 though they have yet to admit they have a drinking problem.
Anguished Declaration of Love: Masters to Johnson at the end of "Manhigh".
Anti-Hero: The series is about Bill Masters and he is not a bad guy, he takes the Hippocratic oath very seriously and big ego aside, he wants to help people with his groundbreaking work. However his inability to express his emotions in a healthy way and his arrogance oftentimes leads to him making the lives of his wife and Ginny (who are much nicer people) hell, and several times, his manipulative, possessive schemes to assert control over Virginia turn him very close to a Villain Protagonist.
Beard of Sorrow: Bill sports one in the season 4 premiere. (He shaves it off before the episode's over.)
Betty and Veronica: The Archie between Virginia and Libby.
Blackmail: Masters gets Barton Scully's support for his study by hinting that he knows that Scully has been having sex with male prostitutes.
Calling Your Orgasms: When Bill and Ginny first start having sex For Science!, he calmly announces each stage of sexual response as it occurs: plateau, orgasm, AND resolution. As they start having feelings for each other, the announcements become rather less calm.
The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Bill Masters has an appalling sex life, relationship with his wife, and inability to discuss the subject with her.
The Comically Serious: Bill's straight, joyless and occasionally pompous personality is the source of much deadpan hilarity.
Distracted by the Sexy: Bill and Virginia almost always keep up their cool, scientific observer demeanors, but when Bill sees her topless for the first time, he's obviously rattled (both from seeing that his partner is a sexual being and by the realization of his own attraction to her).
Fatal Flaw: Pride. And a lot of it.
Forbidden Fruit: While an academic success, the book about the study barely sells its first edition. Masters has the idea to wrap it in plain brown paper to elicit curiosity from the public as something mysterious and illicit. It quickly finds a second wind among readers.
Historical Beauty Upgrade

Virginia Johnson

Played by: Lizzy Caplan

Ethical Slut: She picked her own time to lose her virginity (and not within marriage) and is comfortable with her body and with casual sex, making her probably the most well-adjusted person in the series. But even when she and Bill start having sex with each other within the study, she makes it absolutely clear there has to be an emotional firewall between that and Bill's marriage, because she doesn't want to hurt Libby. She quits the study at one point late in season one when she realizes Bill has been using it as an excuse to have an affair with her.
Girl Friday: Invoked and averted, Masters initially hires Ginny because he's been told he needs a female accomplice, but it becomes pretty clear, pretty fast that she's just as important in the implementation of the study as he is.

Honorable Marriage Proposal: Virginia re-marries George after becoming pregnant with his child.
Ironic Name: Virginia... is not virginal at all.

Libby Masters