Loveday Writing

Interestingly, the episode doesn’t kick off with the main players, but rather Shelly dreaming about being seduced only to get distracted by the realities of her life, only to wake up to Lenny going down on her with no success. Shelly didn’t appear in the previous episode and in the one before that, Joyce revealed Shelly’s dissatisfying sex life with Lenny on the Willy and Franco radio show, so it’s interesting to see that there is still conflict between them about it, but Lenny is trying to improve their sex life nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Joyce is still in New York, staying at Maggie’s apartment. Maggie encourages Joyce to go to her new workplace, Betsy magazine, however she decides to stay at the apartment, lamenting over her appearance on the Dick Cavett show. Later, Joyce changes her mind and into one of Maggie’s suits, but not before opening one of Maggie’s windows and catching the eye of a man down on the footpath below.

When Joyce goes to the Betsy office, Maggie introduces her to its editor, Elayne, whom Joyce admires and Elayne tells her that she loved the first issue of The Matriarchy Awakens, and invites her to write a piece for Betsy. Maggie then invites Joyce out to lunch with the other female staff at Betsy.

Meanwhile, Doug brings back New York keychains to the Bottom Dollar office (a tradition Tina mentioned when she thought Doug was going to Florida in an earlier episode), with Bambi and Richie asking where Joyce is and what’s going to happen to Minx. Doug tells them that he’s booked Billy Brunson for the cover and centrefold, although Billy wants to pose with a topless model. Bambi tells Doug that his Christmas centrefold idea, as well as Billy’s request, will make any female centrefold model alongside him an ornament and it doesn’t feel like Minx. He refuses to listen, telling her that she doesn’t have to be centrefold coordinator this month and she leaves.

Later, Doug meets up with Wendy Mah and they negotiate terms for her providing editorial content. Wendy asks for her own staff and budget to travel to Milan for fashion week, however Doug doesn’t give in as he points out that she knows Minx is popular, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken the meeting. The fact that Wendy refused to write a piece for Minx when it first came out due to a non-compete clause she had with Harper’s Bazaar, and now she’s willing to consider a job there shows she is willing to screw over Joyce again.

Meanwhile, Bambi goes to see Shelly to find Joyce, however she doesn’t know where Joyce is and is still mad at her over the radio show incident. Bambi points out that in the long-term it’s a good thing her secret came out as now she and Lenny can work on improving their sex life. When Shelly talks about how she’s lacking sexual excitement and confidence, Bambi takes Shelly to her place and photographs her wearing lingerie to give her a boost. Bambi and Shelly end up kissing and seemingly hooking up.

Back in New York, Maggie hosts a dinner party with her friends, which include a restaurant critic, the daughter of an international business man, and a man who works for the mayor. When Joyce brings up Elayne asking her to write a piece about Minx, this leads to everyone at the table asking her about the magazine and the centrefold models, assuming that the models are prostitutes or gigolos and gave up on their lives. When Joyce tries to correct them by pointing out that the first centrefold model was a fireman and the second was a Juilliard graduate, and the female models are just like them but are more comfortable with their bodies, they refuse to listen and Maggie says the models are nothing like them. Fed up with the judgement, Joyce makes an excuse to get ice from a store downstairs, only to bail when she sees the man she spotted earlier in the day. She follows him to a bar, has drinks and dances with him, and hooks up with him. When she returns to the apartment hours later, Maggie is waiting for her. Maggie chastises her for leaving in the middle of a dinner party and tells her to write apology notes to everyone, but Joyce says she has nothing to apologise for.

Back at the Bottom Dollar office, Doug asks Tina to be Minx’s managing editor and Billy insists on being photographed with a fully erect penis. Richie points out to Doug that if he takes the photos and they’re published Minx will have to be sold under the counter. When Doug tries to get Billy to lower his erection, he refuses to cooperate and Doug tells Richie to take the photos, insulting him in the process. When Richie asks him if this is what Minx is about, echoing Bambi’s statement earlier in the episode, Doug insults him again and Richie walks out.

The episode ends with Doug having to develop the pictures by himself and Tina asking him if this is what he wanted, but Doug remarks this is what they have to go with. Tina tells him that she’ll start looking for new photographers and that he should remove Joyce’s name from the masthead.

Overall, this episode was a good follow-up to the previous one. We see Doug struggle without Joyce, alienating Bambi and Richie so much that they quit as well, leaving just him and Tina to put the next issue of Minx together, although how it will turn out remains to be seen. We also see Joyce enjoying herself with Maggie and her friends, only to feel judged and alienated by them when they mock Minx’s centrefold models. While it’s understandable for Maggie to be pissed at Joyce for leaving in the middle of the dinner party, we ultimately see that Maggie is just as judgemental as the rest of the world and Joyce has changed so much that she is unafraid to stand up to a friend whom she thought was just as feminist as she was. It will also be interesting to see where Joyce goes from here.

I appreciated that Bambi and Richie stood up for both Minx and themselves by refusing to participate in the centrefold with Billy. While they are supporting characters, their refusal to participate as it’s not what Minx stands for, shows their development and growth through working with Joyce. Bambi also displayed her talent for photography when taking pictures of Shelly to boost her confidence and in all honesty, it’s a career I see her moving onto when her modelling days come to an end. I didn’t see her hook up with Shelly coming, especially as Shelly initiated it, it will be interesting to see what comes of this in the next episode, which is the season finale.

With Doug and Tina now left to their own devices to put the next issue together, Joyce realising she has finally outgrown her past and limiting beliefs, and Bambi and Richie quitting, it will be interesting to see what will happen in the finale.

Stray Observations:

Episode title – A stimulating conversation about a lethal pesticide is something that Joyce says at the dinner party.

-Bambi reveals to Shelly that her first photoshoot was 101 Arabian Nights when Shelly asks her about the correct title, Bambi tells her it was 101 as their budget was low.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Shelly, you have the hair of a starlet and the hips of a Greek goddess.” “I’ve seen those statues, okay? They’re kind of doughy.” “Dough gets pounded.” (Bambi-Shelly going back and forth about Shelly’s sexiness)
• “Sure, I’ll just set the exposure to flaccid.” (Richie to Doug on having to shoot Billy with an erect penis)