Loveday Writing

This episode was all about a Battle of the Sexes, and not just the famous tennis match.

The episode kicks off with Joyce and Doug being driven through Las Vegas in a limo as they are there to sell the international rights of Minx, as well as to promote Minx via Joyce participating on a panel, Meet the New Woman, with other women’s magazine editors. Doug isn’t happy to be there due to his bad experiences there in the past, as well as feeling like he is a failure.

Meanwhile, back at the Bottom Dollar office, Richie is shooting a tennis centrefold due to the impending Battle of the Sexes tennis match. Bambi is hosting a watch party, but didn’t invite Tina as she has been saying no to attending events lately. Hurt by their comments and wanting to have fun, Tina declares they’ll have a watching party in the office. The centrefold models make sexist comments about Billie Jean King, with one of them, Dustin, claiming he could return King’s serve with his hands tied behind his back, Shelly calls his bluff and they end up playing tennis in the parking lot, with Dustin hanging the tennis racket off his penis. Dustin manages to win the challenge on a technicality, however his penis gets stuck in the racket handle.

Back in Vegas, Doug reveals to Joyce that there were a stack of international offers waiting for them at the hotel’s reception desk, he plans on sealing the deals and heading back on a bus to Los Angeles as he’s tired. This makes Joyce realise that she has been undervaluing his contributions to Minx’s successes, both past and present, and tells him he should run the company as an international publishing empire.

When Joyce goes to the Meet the New Woman panel, she discovers her former boss and lover, George, in attendance. He tells her that the other panellists are male editors of women’s magazines and that George’s editor of his new magazine, Gal! is her old friend, Maggie. During the panel, the male editors make typical sexist comments and remarks at Maggie for copying Minx, however Joyce defends her, and they both end up re-bonding over calling the men out on their views.

Back at the Bottom Dollar office, one of the centrefold models eats cereal that has glue in it and the rest of the team are watching the match, with Shelly getting increasingly drunk as the day goes on. When Lenny arrives and offers to help the models, Tina discovers that Richie has been shooting food porn photos as food company, General Mills, loved his portfolio and want him to do work for them. Tina tells him that as his friend she’s happy that his talent is being recognised, but as the Managing Editor, he is in breach of his contract as he is exclusive to Minx.

After the panel, Doug questions why Joyce would sabotage them, revealing that the European buyers are getting cold feet due to the attention she unwittingly put on Gal! Marshall, one of the male panellists also unintentionally reveals to her that he was part of a set up to get Gal! some attention. This gives Joyce the idea to have Doug buy Gal! out, killing them as competitors, which in turn, secures the European buyers, Minx magazine is officially going global.

Meanwhile, Lenny tries to give the centrefold models an injection of some kind to help them out but they refuse, with their problem being solved after Tina tears them a new one for constantly complaining and causing problems. Constance sees this and Tina is apologetic, but Constance reassures her that there is no need for the apology, and tells her that she wants to discuss the future of her and Bottom Dollar.

Towards the end of the episode, Richie can be heard complaining to Bambi. Bambi asks him if they aren’t enough for him, Richie tells her that she isn’t the problem, rather that the whole company has changed with Doug running around like a lost boy, Joyce no longer listening to him, and Tina being all business, and that he wants to have success of his own before it’s too late. When Bambi asks him about herself, he dismissively tells her that she’ll be fine as everyone loves her.

The episode ends with Doug and Joyce leaving Las Vegas early at Doug’s insistence, as he believes they should leave while they’re up.

Overall, I felt that this was a strong episode with the reappearance of Joyce’s old friend, Maggie, who provided a reflection to Joyce in the previous season of how much she had changed and in this episode, she did so again. In the first season, Maggie showed Joyce and the audience how much Joyce had changed from her early reporter days to her early Minx days. Now, Maggie was showing Joyce and the audience how much Joyce had changed with Minx’s growth from an American magazine to a burgeoning international empire, and how far Joyce was willing to go to protect it from cheap competition. In contrast, Maggie’s reappearance proved that not only had she not changed, but she worsened, judging Joyce’s growth in the first season, and blatantly trying to emulate it and ride on her coattails in this one.  

The antics at the Bottom Dollar office were hilarious, especially Shelly getting increasingly drunk throughout the day. I also appreciated that more cracks in the office were starting to show with Richie’s secret, Tina’s desire to have fun, and Bambi questioning her place in the new Bottom Dollar world order. Joyce enjoying taking down Maggie and Doug telling her it’s a good thing I believe will come back to haunt them in the future, and him telling her that they should leave Las Vegas “while they’re up” felt ominous. I get the feeling everything is going to blow up soon.

On a smaller note, I think this may be the first episode with a concrete setting, as the Battle of the Sexes match took place on September 20, 1973. I also appreciated Bambi and Lenny’s developing friendship, with Lenny complimenting her on her bedside manner and knowledge of drugs, which is making me think that her future may be as a dental assistant or nurse working with Lenny, rather than at Minx. Whether this will happen or not remains to be seen, however I think it would be an interesting subplot.

Overall, a solid episode with plenty of character development.

Stray Observations:

Episode title – What Joyce says to Doug on the hotel they are staying in at Las Vegas.

Bambi tidbit – she did background work on MASH, she was Hot Lips’ hotter protégé, but then died in a submarine accident. When Lenny points out that MASH was set during a land time war, Bambi tells him that the crew never took her notes.

-Apparently Doug is attending Frank Sinatra’s birthday party in a week, even though it’s September in the timeline and he was born in December.

-Apparently Minx had a naked nurses’ photo shoot at some point.

-Doug is immediately punched in the face by a man he wronged in 1965 after he says things may be getting better.

-Apparently Shelly ran into Billie Jean King twice on the junior tennis circuit, with Billie Jean complimenting her on her skort in 1965.

-Richie accurately guesses that Billie Jean King is a lesbian.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “How’s he gonna hold the racket?” “Telekinesis” “Wasn’t on his resume, the only special skill he listed was ‘abs’.” (Bambi-Phil-Bambi on Dustin)
• “You think this is the first time I’ve seen a penis stuffed someplace it doesn’t belong? I got two boys.” (Shelly to Dustin on him holding the tennis racket with penis)
• “He’s a doctor, kind of, he can save the penises.” (Shelly on Lenny to the centrefold models)