MASTERS OF SEX SEASON 2 SYNOPSIS Episode 203 “Fight”

While Nate and Francine Bombeck’s new baby is genetically male, he’s born with both male and female sex organs. Though Masters encourages them to take some time to think it over and then he can authorize a surgery to see that the baby can be raised as a male, Nate doesn’t want the child to grow up under the cloud of sexual ambiguity and insists that the male organs be removed. In the wake of his showdown with Bombeck, Masters heads to the Chase Park Plaza Hotel where he and Johnson have become regulars posing as Dr. and Mrs. Holden. With the -Yvon Durelle light championship match playing in the background, Masters vents his anger with Bombeck as he and Johnson prepare for another evening of sex.

When Johnson expresses surprise at his interest in boxing, Masters admits to learning how to box while at boarding school as a way to avoid the bullying he experienced at home. However, when Johnson presses him for details, he refuses to say anything more about his childhood. As the two of them engage in a role-playing conversation in which they flesh out the details of their imaginary lives as the Holdens, unbeknownst to Masters a surgical team is preparing to operate on the Bombecks’ son in compliance with his father’s demand to make him a girl.

After spinning a detailed story about Mrs. Holden’s sexual past, Johnson continues asking Masters about his fascination with boxing. However, when Masters decides to give her a boxing lesson, their sparring ends when his hair gets stuck in her bracelet. When she’s forced to give him a haircut to repair the damage, Masters uses a story of a trip to the barbershop when he was dropped off at boarding school in New York as a launching pad to recount his difficult relationship with his father.

As they move back and forth between watching the fight on TV and having increasingly passionate and emotionally revealing sex, Masters and Johnson delve deeper into the cover story that allows them to spend time at the hotel as husband and wife. When Masters arrives back at work, he’s stunned to find that the surgery on the Bombecks’ baby is underway. But despite his pleas to stop it, the headstrong father stands his ground.

SARAH SIDO...... FRANCINE BOMBECK JOSH RANDALL...... NATE BOMBECK BARRY WATSON...... SHELLEY DECKLIN

Directed by: Michael Engler Written by: Amy Lippman