Joyce expresses her concerns about how Minx is going to be perceived by their readers. The picture in question shows Billy standing while the women are posing as reindeers on all fours. The whole idea of these women being submissive isn’t exactly going to mesh well with the empowering message at the heart of Minx magazine.
Why is William Wilkerson suing Minx?
The Minx gang is being sued by William Wilkerson, who claims their article about marital rape enticed a wife to use salsa to burn the man’s penis. Any male watching this is likely to wince, especially given the opening segment of this chapter, and it’s yet another obstacle standing in Minx’s way.
This recent act by Minx entices a new pro-men movement called M.E.N. to take action against the empowering women and remove them from power once and for all. This new movement is motivated by the belief that empowering women will lead to their downfall, as they will be able to take down Minx and control the city’s affairs.
Joyce decides to take action, scooping up Bambi and Richie to her cause and writing out a handwritten cease and desist request to get rid of the third issue of Minx. After handing it over to Doug, they leave him with a lot to think about.
Doug is trying to appease the demands of his two children, Bambi and Doug, in order to win their support.
Do Doug and Joyce convince Wanda?
Meanwhile, Doug heads to visit Wanda, the wife of William Wilkerson, in an effort to get her side of the story. However, Joyce shows up soon after and the pair end up butting heads over Wanda’s motivations. ..
Wanda speaks up and decides she’s going to speak her own truth without either of them present, pointing out that Minx’s magazine did inspire her to take action but she didn’t mean to do anything really bad, she simply wanted to make a bit of a joke out of her husband.
What happens with the M.E.N. protest? Why are they so angry?
Bridget heads on the radio and decides she’s going to try and enact a new law to stop the distribution of pornography. When the M.E.N. head outside the Minx office and begin chanting and marching, Bambi tries to reach them. She speaks calmly but unfortunately in mentioning that she’s no longer doing nude modelling, the men are enraged and storm into the building.
Joyce and the gang are hiding in one of the offices where they scramble to phone the police. Unfortunately, the cops are under Bridget’s instructions not to arrive, so it seems like they’re on their own.
Bottom Dollar is a terrible place to work, while the main team tries to deal with the letters from fans. When an effigy is burned in the main atrium, they call in the Russians to sort these men out.
After the guys escape, Shelly shows her husband her photos while Tina ends up receiving acceptance letters from multiple colleges. ..
How does Minx end?
Doug tries to encourage Joyce to go back to being partners. Joyce isn’t so sure and admits she’s not particularly interested in giving away her power. Doug eventually makes a leap of faith and decides just to give Joyce Minx magazine to her.
Doug doesn’t want to lose her and is willing to compromise, telling her he can’t wait to see what she does with the magazine. “Good luck.” He says, leaving Joyce with a big decision to make.
The Episode Review
HBO has renewed the show for a second season, but given the good viewing figures and the empowering message, it would be surprising if they didn’t green-light this one.
In the meantime, the finale does well to finally show that Joyce is not compromising on her vision but also recognizes that Minx is her baby and doesn’t really want to give up control to someone with an alternate vision. Likewise, Doug realizes that he’s going to lose Joyce, a key part of Minx’s success, unless he actually allows her creative control.
The conflict in this story is between Doug and Joyce. Doug is trying to do what’s right, while Joyce is trying to get what she wants. There are some nice touches with Shelly and Bambi while the character of Shelly decides against doing any more modelling.
This one is definitely renewed for a second season though, as Minx definitely has enough in the tank to go for round 2!
