Loveday Writing

Joyce goes to Lad magazine to get Glenn’s help on booking a celebrity interview and he suggests Wendy Mah, the author of Aphrodisia. Glenn tells Joyce to read it as, despite the criticism from notable publications, he found it entertaining. He also tells her that Wendy is teaching at Woodbridge college and suggests meeting up with her there. When they meet Wendy in her lecture hall, she invites Joyce to attend a feminist collective meeting she is holding later. In the meantime, Glenn recruits fraternity pledges to distribute copies of Minx.

Meanwhile, Bambi and Shelly approach housewives in supermarket parking lots giving them copies of Minx, and Richie sells them out the front of Butch Gardens, a gay club. They have varying degrees of success in respectively giving away and selling Minx – Shelly and Bambi end up getting arrested for giving away copies near a school, whereas one of the men outside the club, Miguel, introduces him to actors, models and escorts who are interested in posing for Minx, allowing him to take photos for future issues.

When Joyce arrives at the feminist collective meeting, Wendy ditches her and Joyce is forced to face criticism from the attendees. While some of the criticism is valid, such as the lack of diversity in women’s perspectives, Joyce tries to point out, to no avail, that it’s only the first issue and they can’t please everyone, but the women in the group refuse to listen.

Meanwhile, Tina takes Doug to the airport so he can go to Florida to meet with Thrifty’s VP of Operations, Mr Breckner, only he spends his time making phone calls to get Breckner to meet up with him as he doesn’t actually have an appointment to see him. When Tina goes to pick him up and sees his supposed return flight is delayed, she finds Doug already at the bar, realising he never left. Doug admits that Minx is failing and allows Tina to gloat, but she encourages him, reassuring him that he’s resourceful and he’ll think of something to get the magazine back on track, and they leave to go to Woodbridge.

Meanwhile, Bambi and Shelly are released from jail after a few hours. Bambi invites Shelly to go to a party with her but she declines and goes home. As Joyce and Glenn walk around campus, a protest against Minx is underway, due to the domino effect of the fraternity pledges distributing the copies – they went to a Bible study, which lead to a first protest, which got the attention of the Gay Liberation Front (who love the magazine), which drew the attention of the college’s Dean who had to defend the college’s stance on free speech, which then got the attention of the Civil Liberty Association, which lead to the current protest. When Joyce sees Wendy leave campus, she confronts her and Wendy enjoys the fact that she left Joyce in the lurch and also tells her she can’t write an article for her (an offer Joyce made earlier) due to her non-compete clause with Harper’s Bazaar, essentially screwing with Joyce.

The protest comes to a head with copies being burnt in a bonfire, which is revealed to have been lit by Doug. The episode ends with a news crew arriving at the scene.

Overall, I felt that this was an improvement over last week’s episode. All of the characters get a moment in the spotlight, with Bambi and Shelly’s friendship developing when they are arrested, with Shelly revealing that she’s not upset about it as she hasn’t had fun in a long time. Richie also gets a moment with meeting other gay men and gaining a huge photographic opportunity. We also get an insight into Doug as a person, when he reveals he started his first business, a bourbon lemonade stand, as a child. Joyce’s overconfidence is on display again, this time with her assumption that the feminist collective would appreciate Minx only to be ambushed with criticism, which leads to her lashing out (which in turn shows a generation gap between her and the current students she’s trying to appeal to). I also enjoyed seeing Glenn support her, however whether they’ll get back together remains to be seen.

Despite all the characters getting decent moments in the spotlight, I still feel this was a weaker episode as I feel the momentum from the first four episodes have been lost, hopefully it will come back in the remaining four episodes.  

Stray Observations:

Episode title – Mary had a little hysterectomy is the name of an artistic piece that Joyce comes across on her way to the feminist collective meeting Wendy Mah convinces her to attend.

-One of the housewives that Bambi and Shelly approach with a copy of Minx calls a penis a ‘kick’.

-When Doug is talking about when he and Tina started Bottom Dollar, he talks about selling Lusty Lesbos out of his car, implying that, that magazine was his first title.

-When Doug was a kid, he saw another kid he knew, Jimmy, open a lemonade stand but he wouldn’t let Doug get in on it. Out of jealousy and spite, he opened his own lemonade stand with a twist – he added bourbon to it and everyone loved it so much, he put Jimmy out of business.

-When Shelly calls home to give instructions on how to cook a frozen taco casserole, the officer watching her tells her that he lets his get to room temperature before putting it in the oven.

-When Shelly tells Bambi that her young daughter likes her to check her room for monsters at bed time, Bambi suggests using a can of aqua net (hair spray) and telling her it’s “monster spray” as it’s something her own mother did for her.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I’m one degree from Jackie O.” “Bobby or Teddy?” “Yes.” (Bambi-Shelly-Bambi on celebrity interview ideas)
• “They called me a few times, Gary Breckner, VP of Operations. You never returned.” “I thought we owed ‘em money.” “We do owe them money.” “Well, you see? I was right.” (Tina-Doug going back and forth on Minx copies that Thrifty returned to the office)
• “You live somewhere hoity-toity right, you’re rich.” “We’re comfortable.” “Happy for you, good.” (Doug-Shelly-Doug on where to find potential Minx customers)
• “Are you telling me a soft dick is more offensive than a hairy bush?” “A hairy bush is not the female sex organ.” “It’s all vagina.” (Doug-Tina-Doug on the distributors’ double standards in regards to selling Minx on the shelves)
• “Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s bad.” (Glenn to Joyce on Aphrodisia)
• “Volkswagen Beetle, they’re always secret freaks.” “That’s what I drive.” (Shelly-Bambi on which housewife to approach next about Minx)
• “Who knew it was illegal to hand out pornography within 1,000 feet of a school? Now that I say it out loud it makes a lot of sense.” (Bambi to Shelly on their arrest)
• “Can we get out of here? There’s a bird that’s been trapped in the ceiling for over two hours and it’s bumming me out.” (Doug to Tina at the airport)
• “I know his eyes are totally saucered, but he’s an above-average stoned driver. Also, Mulholland’s only like 19 miles away, so we’ll get there.” (Bambi to Shelly on her friend, Long John)
• “Fuck Reagan!” “Hard to argue with that buddy.” (Protestor-Doug at Woodbridge campus)
• “I’m the drunkest person at the Christmas party, I’m ‘Good Time Tina!’” “Hey girl!” “Not you, keep ridin’ Junior!” (Tina to Doug, then Tina to a college student riding a bike, who hits on her)
• “Who throws a hardback Bible?” (Joyce to Glenn on his nose injury at the protest)