Did they ever mention she had a masters in physics?
she doesn't necessarily need one, so long as the research warrants direct admission to a doctorate program.
That's true, even though she was taking forever it's not like she needed the masters to make more money while she went for the doctorate, and with the professor as an advisor he wouldn't think of it.
I figure the will ignore the fact that she has the degree for a while, they did the job market joke so now they can have her doing some menial stuff and have Liela make remarks like "don't you have a PHD?". The professor will probably just forget to upgrade her from grad student to assistant...
When they panned down at the beginning that boiler room with Scruffy in it was a mess, I think that's the only freeze frame moment in this one.