The series opens in October 1956 at Washington University in St. Louis where Bill Masters (Michael Sheen) is honored for his work in obstetric surgery.
Later, he watches through a peephole as Betty DiMello (Annaleigh Ashford), a prostitute whom he hired, has sex with Ernie (Steve Rosen).
A young doctor, Ethan Haas (Nicholas D'Agosto) speaks to Bill about a new female employee in their department who is going through a divorce.
After sleeping together, Ethan tells Virginia that it's because of Bill's low sperm count that he and his wife are unable to conceive.
Bill convinces Scully to watch as the young woman uses a dildo (fixed with a miniature camera) and masturbates.
At a benefit, Bill and Virginia recruit Austin Langham (Teddy Sears), a promiscuous doctor, to take part in their study.
Prop master Jeffrey Johnson designed "Ulysses," a transparent dildo with attached camera first seen in the pilot episode, from scratch.
[6] For her performance in this episode, Lizzy Caplan was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
[7] Sarah Hughes of The Guardian notes that participants in Masters and Johnson's study "wore pillowcases with eyeholes on their heads"; writer Michelle Ashford didn't include that detail in her adaptation because "they made the actors look like Ku Klux Klan members".