SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “Minx”
“Minx” has wrapped up its second season in fine fashion.
In Ellen Rapoport’s Starz comedy (formerly Max comedy) aired its Season 2 finale on Friday night, with all of the characters finding themselves grappling with a new reality as “Minx” magazine goes to the next level.
Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), Richie (Oscar Montoya), Tina (Idara Victor), and Bambi (Jessica Lowe) made their stand against Constance (Elizabeth Perkins), while Doug (Jake Johnson) finds himself in bed with her…literally. Meanwhile, Shelly (Lennon Parham) is embracing her newfound sexual awakening and its effect on her family, but Bambi may just be what her husband Lenny (Rich Sommer) is looking for and vice versa.
Throughout the season, each character has dealt with the concept of success — both the highs and the lows. For the most part, they have been able to enjoy the magazine’s newfound cultural relevance and what it has brought them, namely fame and adulation. But as the season went on, most found that all of that fame came with a price they perhaps were not prepared to pay.
For Joyce, Lovibond says that the character was simply not entirely prepared for leading a major cultural force after years of toiling in obscurity. (These interviews were all conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.)
“She’s never been invited to parties before,” Lovibond said. “I think it just kind of sweeps her off her feet. And she loses sight of what she’s doing there in the first place. And I like that Ellen kind of decided to explore that aspect of her, because it’s not just ‘Oh, she’s she’s become incredibly popular, and just is takes it completely in her stride. It’s completely fine.’ That’s not how everyone responds to that. So I like that. That’s the flawed side of Joyce that you see this season, her not really handling it that gracefully.”
Johnson says that Doug was simply not used to having a boss, let alone two, and his arc through the season reflected that. Doug is a “hustler and a grinder” according to Johnson, and he needed to find a way forward himself as he felt Constance did not see a place for him in the new “Minx.”
Yet Doug and Constance end up in cahoots as the season comes to an end, with Doug seemingly selling out his fellow “Minx” colleagues. Johnson, however, sees it another way.
“So you say Doug sold everybody out. I think from Doug’s point of view, he’s been sold out,” Johnson said. “When Doug says he sees Tina as a partner, he really believes it. And she’s the one that says, ‘This has never been a partnership.’ He always saw his relationship with Bambi as him carrying her along, and he was always there for her and Richie. He’s the guy who gave Ritchie his first job. And now that Richie is a highly celebrated photographer, Doug’s this terrible character to him. So I think for Doug, the reason he gets in bed with Constance at the end is: What choice does he have? He’s not going to stop, and he’s a true capitalist. So he’s sharp; he’s never moving backward.”
Victor believes that Tina didn’t get to appreciate the success like everyone else did, as seen in moments like in Episode 2 when she is forced to miss the screening for “Deep Throat” since she’s running around helping Doug.
“You can see her this season really trying to have an opportunity to be seen differently,” Victor said. “But once she realizes that’s not going to be her role, I think she starts to look at what success really means to her and what she wants to be. What does her life look like if she really steps into what she truly wants, and what she believes is possible? Then, we see her actually take actions to do that.”
Montoya discussed how Richie delved into the world of parties and drugs, and the toll that took on him as the season continued. He found that he did not want to compromise who he was, as when Constance refuses to allow gay-themed content in the magazine despite “Minx” having many gay male readers.
“It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” he said. “There’s this moment of ‘Oh, we’ve worked so hard to be recognized as artists and as individuals working in the field of magazine publishing.’ Then they’ve reached the pot of gold, they found success, but then it’s ‘Wait, we have to lug this pot of gold and cash it in?’ Success is something that Richie always dreamed of and wanted, but it got to be a little too much for him. So I think he ends up doubling down of what brought him here in the first place. It was his artistic integrity.”
Bambi, meanwhile, is “just looking for a hot shower,” according to Lowe.
“I think that she thought that she could be a business woman,” Lowe said. “She thought she could be really entrenched in the business world and helping with the production of the magazine. But it turns out she just really wants companionship and a family.
“I think that’s something, despite the fact she’s lived hard, she’s survived cults, she’s potentially homeless — she’s just looking for a hot shower,” she added with a laugh. “But she would love to have a true love and a family and I think sense of purpose and belonging.”
Parham’s character had perhaps the most complete arc this season, realizing only at the very end (after swingers’ parties, publishing her erotic adventures and a tryst with Joyce’s college professor) that she is, in fact, a lesbian.
“I think her writing was sort of a safe way to explore, because I think in the love tryst with Bambi and the hooking up with the neighbors, I think that really terrified her about her own desires,” Parham said. “So she’s trying to figure out a way to compartmentalize that, and have it be a safer exploration in a heteronormative way.
“I think it is empowering, whenever you can write your own story. It always feels better.”