Virginia Vs. Lillian: Battle Of The Science-Loving Ladies

In the early going of Masters Of Sex, the most daring pioneer we got to know was Virginia Johnson: the double-divorcée trying to shed her old identity as a nightclub singer by taking a respectable job as a gynecologist's secretary while also having daring, no-strings-attached sex pretty much whenever she felt like it, while also enthusiastically jumping in to assist on a barely-sanctioned sex study the very existence of which defied the mores of the day. As the study progressed, Virginia came to enjoy the status conferred by her work on it, making her — as far as we can tell — the only woman employed by the hospital who isn't a secretary, nurse, or lunch lady. But then: there was Dr. Lillian DePaul.

When Dr. DePaul becomes the hospital's first female gynecologist (first female doctor, or so it seems), Virginia clearly has high hopes that they are going to be friends. It's not that she thinks they're peers; kindred spirits is probably more like it. It may be that lots of women in the 1950s are interested in medicine, but from what we can see, virtually none of them are bold enough to pursue it as a career, so for Virginia and Dr. DePaul to find one another in the same small midwestern hospital department is pretty extraordinary.

Unfortunately for Virginia, Dr. DePaul's not here to make friends. It's clear from her manner and dress that she decided, probably a long time ago, that she wouldn't be taken seriously if she didn't mute her femininity — hence her very tight bun, gray suits, and sexless flats. So she judges Virginia not only for her cute outfits and hairstyle, but develops an instant antipathy toward her when she hears a study subject refer to Virginia as "Dr. Johnson," a title Virginia most certainly hasn't learned; Dr. De Paul continues to hold this against Virginia even after she eavesdrops on Virginia correcting this misapprehension from someone else, and shrugs off Virginia's offers of help to build support for Dr. DePaul's pap smear study.

The bad blood between Virginia and Dr. DePaul comes to a head in the latest episode, as Virginia, in pursuit of her B.S., realizes she's supposed to take Anatomy from Dr. DePaul and, due to their shared enmity, thinks that her hands-on (as it were) work with Dr. Masters has earned her enough real-world experience to place out of Dr. DePaul's class. Dr. DePaul sniffs that Virginia's already proven she can get pretty far in her chosen career without having any actual credentials, to which Virginia, through gritted teeth, replies that she's trying to earn those very credentials so that she isn't on the receiving end of any more comments like that. But Dr. DePaul doesn't believe in shortcuts — due, one might reasonably assume, to the fact that she was never offered any herself — and tells Virginia that if she wants the credit, she's going to have to take the class.

But here's where things seem like they might be about to take a turn: Virginia is awesome. She's prepared for class work, she confidently cuts into a cadaver when one of her male classmates (they're all male, of course) passes out at the very idea, and when the time comes for her first big exam, she gets 100%. Strong as her prejudices are, Dr. DePaul can't count Virginia out: Virginia clearly knows her shit, and game recognize game.

Unfortunately for Virginia (and her ambitions), Dr. Masters is not that cool with her attempts to improve herself. It turns out that Virginia was right to keep her enrollment from him: when Dr. DePaul mentions in passing that Virginia is one of her best students, it's obviously because she assumes Virginia would have already told him, but then Bill figures out that what's keeping Virginia from accepting every time he wants them to "undertake the research together," and worries that her studies will take up time he wants her to spend with him (in bed). Also informing his trepidation about Virginia's new venture is what Dr. DePaul calls out when he asks her to tell him if Virginia enrolls in any more of her classes: "Because if she did manage to stand on her own two feet, that would mean she could walk away."

Dr. DePaul agrees to Bill's request, if he will support her study; as we've just learned, she has a very personal reason for wanting to get it off the ground: namely, her own cervical cancer, which might have been detected and treated sooner had regular pap screenings been standard operating procedure. If she only has a limited amount of time left in this world, will she use it to spread the pap smear gospel at any cost, even if it means being complicit in keeping another woman from achieving what Dr. DePaul has done herself? Must the participation of women in science be a zero-sum game? Or will Dr. DePaul figure out a way to get her study funded that doesn't make Virginia collateral damage?

Basically, I guess what I'm asking is whether Dr. DePaul will relax long enough to quit being such a bitch all the time. But cancer would probably make me pretty bitchy, too.