Loveday Writing

The episode takes us in a completely different direction with a large time jump.

The episode kicks off with a six-month time jump from January to June 1973 – Bottom Dollar Publications (BDP) have turned their financial woes around, going from being in dire debt to making so much money from Minx and its merchandise that they have been able to renovate the office, Tina has returned (with no explanation), Doug has launched a new science magazine, Beyond, with Carl Sagan as its editor, and BDP’s and Minx’s rapid success have attracted the attention of Rolling Stone.

During one meeting, Joyce doesn’t fight with Doug over his choice to omit her feminist quotes from the Minx calendars, much to his chagrin. When he questions her on it, she tells him that she is afraid of how she will be perceived by Rolling Stone’s reporter, Simon Michaels, as he has a history of writing searing exposes.

Meanwhile, Shelly and Lenny’s marriage seems better than ever, with their dinner parties becoming popular with their neighbours. When Shelly is making hers and Lenny’s bed during the day, she finds an earring under it. When she asks everyone at the dinner party who the earring belongs to, it’s revealed that she and Lenny host swingers’ parties, with Shelly even using an alias, Mistress Bella LaRouche.

Back at Bottom Dollar, Joyce spends most of her day avoiding Simon and his accompanying photographer, Annie Leibovitz. She gives him a list of answers to questions he didn’t even ask, as she has been asked the same type of questions in previous interviews. She starts to open up to him when Tina tells her to give him the angle as the woman at the centre of Minx’s success, which in turn, is the solution she and Richie needed for his Dudes in Distress photo shoot issues. Joyce tells him about her fears of what he will write, he tells her that he gets the fact that she wants to control the narrative, but he thought that she was at the centre of sexual revolution but she’s sitting on the sidelines of it. Later, Bambi tells Joyce that she spoke with Simon and Annie, and she tells Joyce that she needs to have fun.

Meanwhile, Constance tells Tina that she has all the power as Doug and Joyce listen to her. Tina then shows Constance the sales figures for every BDP title, pointing out that Minx is their biggest seller. Later, Constance tells Doug that she wants to mainstream BDP’s operations, which means getting rid of the magazines that aren’t performing well and not going ahead with Beyond. She also tells Doug that she wants him to come up with more ideas on how to expand and profit from Minx.

Towards the end of the episode, Joyce goes to Linda Ronstadt’s private listening party where she does cocaine and volunteers to play the shakers for her on stage. Meanwhile, Bambi takes initiative on the Minx calendars, coming up with the solution to blend Joyce’s feminist quotes into the background of the pictures. She also tells Doug to consider it as an application to be his secretary so she can learn about the industry from the ground up and become a CFO for real.

The episode ends with Joyce and Simon talking outside on a balcony during Linda’s party. Joyce admits that she is worrying about failure as success hit her so fast, and Simon tells her that he thinks she is where she belongs and it is okay for her to like her success. The episode ends with Joyce looking out over the city, with a Minx billboard in clear view nearby.

Overall, this episode surprised me and not in a good way. The time jump came completely out of nowhere and abandoned, as well as fast tracked, story arcs established in the previous episodes, including the previous season’s finale.

With the time jump we see Minx immediately become successful, mostly through merchandise that Doug proposed to Contance. Last season we saw Minx’s fast, but naturally progressing success over the course of the season, whereas with this episode, the writers pressed the fast forward button (showing my age here) and didn’t give viewers the chance to see how the merchandise was made, the positive reception it clearly received, and how things eventually turned around for BDP.

Tina quitting at the end of the previous episode had great story arc or at least subplot potential, instead she was back in the position Doug promised her with no explanation or flashbacks showing how she returned, as if it never happened at all. Shelly and Bambi’s affair seems to have been abandoned as well, especially with the reveal that Shelly and Lenny are now swingers and hosting parties. Whilst Shelly and Lenny were starting to experiment a little with taking drugs and partying in the previous episode, I certainly didn’t expect this. Again, it would have been nice to have the viewers see their progression from typical married couple to swingers, and I felt that the Shelly-Bambi affair had a lot of story arc potential that was wasted. Interestingly, it looks like Shelly is journalling her experiences as a swinger, so a book story arc may be in the works.

On a more positive note, Bambi was given some further character development with her desire to become Doug’s secretary so she can become a real CFO, something that was touched upon in the previous episode. The fact that she managed to give Richie and Joyce similar sounding yet different advice unique to their situations showed how much she observes, knows, and cares for them, and also based it on her own experiences. She was also shown actively helping the Rolling Stones team and literally trying putting out a fire, albeit by asking if Doug’s Minx merchandise included ashtrays (which it did).

Finally, the episode in itself wasn’t bad, but the time jump made it jarring and feel out of place. Personally, this episode would have been better as either a season premiere, a season finale, a mid-season finale, or at least one that should have aired later in the season.

Stray Observations:

Episode title – What Simon says to Joyce about Minx’s rapid success.

Running gag – The commentary on the unintentional excessive tumbleweeds for Richie’s Dudes in Distress photo shoot. It’s later revealed by Tina that there were 263 tumbleweeds in total.  

-Bambi doesn’t read memos on principle.

-Bambi wrote one of the positive reviews of Beyond that Doug reads aloud to everyone.

–Minx-y has become an adjective, Joyce questions how and why this happened, only to end up using it herself.

-Shelly asks her kids to call her if their grandmother pops open a second jug of wine.

-Bambi still refers to herself as the Chief Fun Officer, and believes that the real title, Chief Financial Officer, is made up.

-Joyce is writing a book of some kind as Simon mentions that she has received a book advance.

-Richie slept with the two cowboy models.

-Apparently Elvis pulled Bambi out of the crowd at one of his concerts when she was in the seventh grade. According to Bambi, it was the start of a fun few years before she cleaned up her act.

-Lenny reminding the party attendees to wear jewellery with secure clasps because they have a toddler that puts everything in their mouth was a hilarious contrast to the fact that they are having a swingers’ party in their home.

-According to Constance, Arthur Miller is a drip.

-Bambi views Colonel Tom Parker as one of the smartest men she knows.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “He’s the President of the United States, we publish a dick mag. Although right now, I don’t know who’s more paranoid.” (Doug to Joyce on her fears about the Rolling Stone feature on Minx and her mentioning President Nixon)
• “Driving the bus today, Lenny? You must be in the doghouse.” “Nope, I just enjoy spending time with my children.” (Lenny’s neighbour, Harold and Lenny, on Lenny driving the kids to school)
• “I hear we’re having model drama.” “Brando over here is requesting special make up. He’s convinced his character would be uncircumcised.” “He’s not wrong from a historical perspective.” (Joyce-Richie going back and forth on the models for the Dudes in Distress photo shoot)
• “Richie! You need to take better care of yourself, here, O.J. and speed.” (Bambi to Richie, as she hands him a glass of orange juice and speed)
• “Kung Fu Cuties, Feet! Feet! Feet!, Yank My Doodle, oh vulgar and patriotic.” (Constance listing BDP’s titles to Tina)