SPOILERS ABOUND, so don’t screw around…
Season Two, Episode Eight: “Mirror, Mirror”
Written by Stephen Levinson; Directed by Michael Apted
After last week’s time jump, “Mirror, Mirror” settles into the new timeframe and finds Virginia pushing Bill to examine sexual dysfunction (which he is suffering from as well). The whole episode explores how the inside is harder to fix than the outside.
Quick Breakdown
The episode opens with Bill having coffee with an old classmate, a plastic surgeon named Frank. They haven’t seen each other in quite some time. Frank tells Bill that he and his wife traveled from Kansas City to seek his help in conceiving a child. Bill says he could recommend someone there, but Frank wants the best — and Bill is the best.
Meanwhile, Virginia is concerned by the amount of subjects they have rejected due to sexual dysfunction (including Bill’s former secretary Barbara). She says about a third of the participants have been thrown out because of these issues and thinks maybe they should be recording these and researching them. Bill is a little reluctant, but he agrees.
This leads Virginia to track down Barbara, who confessed in last week’s episode that she has a closed vagina and isn’t able to be penetrated. Virginia finds her at her new job and begins probing a little deeper into Barbara’s sexual past. Barbara reveals that when she was a teenager, a neighbor girl got pregnant, didn’t tell anyone, and bled to death in her bedroom. Barbara’s mother used this as a warning to illustrate what happens to bad girls.
Barbara also says her first sexual encounter was with her brother Paul’s best friend. He liked her, and she gave him oral sex. When Virginia asks what his name was, Barbara surprisingly can’t remember.
At the office, Betty informs Bill they are being audited and that they own $4,000 in taxes. She says this is why she wanted him to create a board of directors and become a non-profit. Bill says he’s working on it and is having dinner with the police commissioner that night. Betty is worried about Bill’s ability to convince someone to join the board and insists Virginia go too.
At the dinner, Libby and Virginia both work their magic and skills on the police commissioner and his wife, but it’s Libby that really shines here. She volunteers to help do fundraising for the Veiled Prophet Ball (a historic charity event in St. Louis), which the police commissioner and his wife are involved with. They are pleased.
This pushes Libby to practice her sales skills, which prove to be quite good. She convinces Flo (the diet pill lady who shares office space with Bill) to put an ad in the program by telling her a lot of rich women will see it.
As Libby is leaving Bill’s office, she is almost struck by a speeding truck driven by two white men. As she’s driving away, she sees a bloodied black man lying at the side of road. Other black men and women are around him, including Robert, Coral’s brother. He makes eye contact with Libby, but she drives off.
The next day, the newspaper reports that the incident in front of Bill’s building was drug related and that the man who died had drugs on him. Libby is obviously skeptical, but she doesn’t say anything to Bill.
Later, Robert comes by the house and asks if Libby saw anything. He tells her that the man who died was a history teacher and that the story in the paper wasn’t true. There are witnesses who saw two white men dump his body out of a truck, but all the witnesses are black, and he wants to know if Libby saw the truck (since her testimony would help open an investigation). Libby lies and says she didn’t see anything.
Meanwhile, Bill is making a big effort to keep Frank away from everyone else. (Why?) He makes an appointment for Frank and his wife early in the morning before Virginia and Betty are there. He also asks Betty to rush the test results.
Virginia also gets a surprise visitor. Barbara comes by her house late at night because their talk earlier bought the past rushing to the surface. She tells Virginia that she’s been trying to remember the boy’s name (her first sexual encounter) but finally realized that she’d blocked the memory: It wasn’t her brother’s friend — it was her brother Paul.
She confesses how they used to play all these games together by this creek near their house. As they got older, the games changed and became sexual. Her mother then found them one day as she was giving her brother oral sex. This clearly has lead to Barbara’s sexual issues.
When Virginia tells Bill about this, he’s not pleased that this happened in the privacy of Virginia’s house and says all future discussions with Barbara need to take place in the office. He also points to the fact that the study isn’t about the psychological issues at play here — and that they aren’t equipped to help her in that way.
Virginia says she wants to go back to school (again) to be a psychologist, but Bill points out this won’t help Barbara now. He once again walks that line between “I support you going to school” and “don’t do it now.” Bill says he’ll contact a top psychologist to whom Barbara can be referred.
When Virginia gives Barbara the referral and appointment time, she is very upset. She doesn’t want to go to someone else — especially a man. She refuses to go to the appointment, but Virginia goes in her place. She pretends to be Barbara and tells the psychologist the story about Barbara and her brother. She, of course, doesn’t tell Bill about this.
The episode’s overall theme of “the outside vs. the inside” is made more explicit when Bill and Virginia decide to more fully examine male impotence. Bill picks this as their first sexual dysfunction examination because he seems to be having issues with it himself (as seen in last’s week’s episode and this week when he tells Virginia he drank too much to sexually perform).
They interview Betty about her experience with impotence during her prostitution days. Her experiences also point to mostly a mental issue or “mental block” as she calls it. Bill is a little skeptical.
Later, Lester confesses to Bill that he has had issues with impotence as well. Bill is actually very nice and hears Lester’s story of how he stopped being able to perform with Jane before they broke up. It seems his felt jealous of her success and the men she was with, which led to his impotence.
At the Veiled Prophet Ball, the police commissioner and his wife are thrilled with the work Libby did. (She raised $300 in one week.) This helps lead the commissioner to accepting a position on Bill’s board. But Libby isn’t satisfied. She tells Bill she doesn’t understand where she fits into his work and life and then suddenly blurts out what she saw the other day at his office (the truck). Bill, as always, says it’s not their business (meaning he doesn’t want to get involved in Civil Rights).
This is enough to push Libby to do the right thing (even if she’s only doing it to piss Bill off). She goes to Robert’s apartment to tell him what she saw — and that she’s willing to go to the police.
The episode ends in the same coffee shop from the opening. Bill and Frank are meeting once again, but this time we find out that Frank is Bill’s brother. Then we fade to black.
Rating
A-
This season has continued to surprise, and this episode was no different. There’s not been any mention of Bill’s brother, so what’s his story? Why has he shown up? This will provide even more drama in the weeks to come. As will Libby’s decision to get more involved in the Civil Rights Movement after her various race issues throughout the season. Is she doing this to make Bill mad? Does she really care? Is there some attraction between her and Robert?
The focus on sexual dysfunction is also more interesting and compelling and helps showcase the important of what Masters and Johnson did. Barbara’s big reveal helped show the significance of what this study can do. But it also led Virginia to an ethically questionable decision in pretending to be Barbara at the psychologist’s office. That can’t end well.
With just four episodes left, the season is heating up and is possibly heading toward a pretty explosive finale.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
Lester practicing his eulogy for his father while a couple had sex in the background created a perfect comedic moment.
Libby’s journey this season continues to be interesting and complicated in the best way possible.
Dr. Langham becoming the new spokesman for diet pills was a humorous moment that will surely provide some fun times in the future.
