Minx season 1 episode 2 review: Minx visits the country club

Note: This post contains spoilers for Minx season 1 episode 2, “Au revoir, le double dong.”

Advertisers are the lifeblood of the magazine industry, the products featured in a specific publication are not plucked out of thin air. Joyce’s (Ophelia Lovibond) expectations and the reality of what Minx can attract don’t line up, however, which is another compromise she must make in order to get this fledgling project off the ground. 

The Minx pilot set up this world, taking great care to ensure it isn’t too sleazy while also recognizing the parameters of the adult magazine business. "Au revoir, le double dong" expands on this premise while reinforcing certain dynamics.

Joyce’s idealism is at odds with Doug’s (Jake Johnson) cynicism informed by his experience. This isn’t to say Joyce is naive about everything as she more than holds her own against the creepy older country club patrons that have been long been part of her world. 

It is men like club president Mr. Ross (Stephen Tobolowsky) who provide motivation in her desire to dismantle the patriarchal systems. He makes unsolicited comments about the bacon and pancakes on women’s plates in the dining room and is condescending when he references Joyce’s "rabble-rouser" antics. Experiencing wandering hands all over her body since she was 12 is something she has kept quiet until now. 

At the start of the episode, Joyce is giddy about the advertising pitch meetings she has been invited to attend. This is short-lived when she sees the candidates Doug has lined up. There is not a pantyhose or cosmetic company up for grabs. Doug is quick to point out that high-end brands do not purchase space in Bottom Dollar publications. 

Joyce cannot hide her disgust at the mocked-up sleazy and sexist ads that hang on these office walls; Lovibond is particularly adept at flashing an expression of horror throughout the episode. Meanwhile, Doug is thrilled sex toy purveyor Pleasure Garden (who have items like “Yum-derwear”) wants to buy space in bulk. The Minx art department has created a gallery of advertising horrors that you can't help but marvel at. 

The issue is the Pleasure Garden in-house advertising team is not used to targeting women and asks Bottom Dollar to "spec it for them." Unfortunately, the initial ideas they come up with either focus on the Vietnam War, body shaming statements or ridiculing single women. "These make me hate myself, and I love myself," Bambi (Jessica Lowe) remarks about the terrible suggestions. 

Doug is more than aware they need a female perspective, although it might not matter as Joyce has "harpooned a whale." The handsy Mr. Ross happens to have a successful cosmetic company in his business holdings and Joyce put her animosity aside for the sake of making a deal.

Joyce announces the country club's annual summer soiree is providing the backdrop for this pitch and Doug’s attendance is necessary as the sexist Mr. Ross won’t do business with Joyce alone. Doug ensures Bambi, Richie (Oscar Montoya) and Tina (Idara Victor) are on the guest list and this group makes quite the splash among the country club set. While most people are wearing an array of plaid, pastels and florals, the Bottom Dollar gang have borrowed their garments from the "rich and horny" wardrobe at work. It is another triumph from costume designer Beth Morgan, adding to the striking visuals of these contrasting worlds. 

While Joyce is characteristically flustered by their appearance, her sister Shelly (Lennon Parham) is delighted to meet the co-workers who are broadening Joyce’s horizons. The frustrated housewife is in awe of their sex positivity. There is a danger Shelly could become a cliche, but Parham’s charm and a subsequent confession avoid this trap. 

Later, when Shelly and Joyce are looking at dildos for ad inspiration, Shelly reveals she uses sex toys as she cannot climax without assistance. Amid the vulnerability, there is also a funny moment in which Shelly teases her sister that "it’s not very feminist" for her to need a man to experience sexual pleasure. 

Joyce is flustered by this level of sharing but it does lead to a breakthrough in the final scene when she takes one of the freebies and explores the horny side of the publication she is co-founding — she even tapes a photo of their centerfold above her record player to get the full Minx vibe.

With her hair all mussed up afterward, Joyce hits on a catchy advertising slogan and it's another case of taking a beat to accept there is more than one way to get her message out. At least the Pleasure Garden executives didn’t try and pull an off-books deal in return for buying ad space. 

Mr. Ross is a known creep, but Joyce is shocked when Doug tells her that a night with Bambi is a dealbreaker to his participation. Mr. Ross has given Doug details of his "secret f***pad" and Doug defers to Joyce with how to proceed. "This card is who these people really are," is a cold hard truth dished out by her new partner, and her fury toward the country club king boils over.

Confronting Mr. Ross and publicly spilling the truth about his hand on her ass when she was 12 only earns silence from the other members. When he makes a callous remark about her deceased father, Joyce punches him on the nose. Unfortunately, he is taking a bite of a shrimp at the time and it gets lodged in his throat. Bambi to the rescue! She does the Heimlich maneuver, but Bambi purposefully goes hard, which breaks three ribs in the process. One person who looks on in awe at Joyce is her ex, Glenn (Michael Angarano); it's clear this is not the last we have seen of him.

Second episodes typically re-establish the overall narrative and the important relationships, which Minx achieves — although some of the themes are unnecessarily hammered home. The Joyce and Shelly dynamic grows deeper while opening Joyce’s eyes with regard to female pleasure. At the office, Bambi is already seeing her work through the Minx message. This impact has only just begun.