For Joyce Prigger, Minx is about being sexy and smart in equal measure. And, as we quickly learn in “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sexiness,” she’s come away from last week’s chaotic back and forth with the Rolling Stone reporter trying to embrace more of the former. To wit, she’s now shacked up with some British rock star named Graham at the Margeaux, a hotel that seems to suggest the glamour and rock-and-roll rebellion of the Sunset Marquis. (In fact, I’m pretty sure they actually shot the pool scenes at the Sunset Marquis.)
I’m not sure who Graham is supposed to be — some British dreamboat who we later learn collects admirers like guitar picks — but he is good for Joyce. It might not seem that way, what with their late wake-up times, her blown meetings and deadlines, and the way he eventually does her a little dirty. But in a way, he’s emblematic of her learning to take what she wants and to really embrace what she thinks it means to be a strong, sexy celebrity woman out in the world.
But back at BDP, people aren’t necessarily seeing everything her way. Richie is frustrated when she nixes his bathhouse shoot, clearly afraid of what Constance would say about advertisers and Minx being a women’s magazine. Obviously, she could have been more direct, and maybe there was a workaround — a locker room with a peephole, maybe? — but also, Richie knows Minx’s audience, even if Joyce and Constance might not. Plus, it sounds hot, right?
Shelly also doesn’t seem all that thrilled with Joyce, who’s not only running late on some edits she owes her but doesn’t seem to even comprehend that her older sister could possibly be Bella LaRouche. (And Lenny is Gian-Paul! I live!) Joyce also has to contend with her past dalliances with Bambi and what all that might mean now that she’s back in the office. Fortunately or unfortunately for that quest, she’s quickly drawn in to help with Doug’s big secret project, in which Bambi is also heavily involved. The two gals get on like a house on fire, per usual, but after Bambi propositions Shelly, the mom has to let her down, saying she’d rather just be friends. Bambi, in typical fashion, replies, “Friends are the family you choose, and you don’t have sex with family unless it’s a step-sibling, and even then, you have to keep it a secret because of his political career.” Never change, Bambi. Never change.
After an interlude where Joyce has her wardrobe and confidence massaged by Constance, who tells her, “We can be powerful and feminine” and asks her to “give our girls something to aspire to,” we get to see Richie putting Joyce’s suggestion for a sexy backstage photo shoot into action. There’s a bored, fully clothed woman who looks just like Joyce, of course, complete with a typewriter because, as Richie says, “she wants everyone to know how busy she is.” Tina tells Richie he’s at “90 percent ‘fuck you,’ and you need to bring it down to about 10,” but Richie seems committed to really getting all his frustration out on film. As we see later in the episode, Joyce actually does like the photos, so he must have done something down the road that made it look like less of a fuck you, but sadly, like most on-screen Minx shoots, we’ll never get to truly examine the outcome. (And I want that! I need a real copy of the magazine, goddammit!)
All dudded up in white, Joyce zips back to the Margeaux to check in on Graham’s album shoot, where he ogles her and then sends her over to hang out in the gazebo green room zone. There, she quickly meets other band wives and girlfriends, but also a couple of groupies who say they were invited by Graham, who they’re not “dating,” per se, but who they’re definitely involved with. One of them tells Joyce that her mom loves the magazine, and after Joyce quips that a lot of older women love the magazine, the girl tells Joyce that her mom is 32, which … ew. That means that, while it’s technically possible that the girl is 18, she’s most likely underage, something which definitely induces an instant case of the ick. Joyce beats it out of there post haste.
She seemingly had someplace to be, anyway, as Doug’s secret project is set to be revealed in some nightclub or theater packed with women. After Bambi takes the stage as the act’s main character, it’s revealed that the project is a stage show called “Club Minx,” which features a whole bunch of basically naked buff dudes doing things like making dinner, ironing clothes, taking care of kids, and even acting like some sort of sexy infant? At Club Minx, Doug says, women “come first and often.”
All Doug really wants to do with Club Minx is impress Constance, who he thinks is the company’s main decision-maker. She’s tasked him with creating big ideas, after all, so isn’t she pulling the purse strings? He sends his hottest dude, Xavier, over to woo her, ply her with booze, and give her the best seat in the house. Unfortunately for Doug, though, Constance isn’t the only voice who ends up having a say. Though the show is a smash hit, Joyce vetoes it, saying, “You throw a great party, but I don’t want to be a part of it.” Club Minx doesn’t represent the brand, she says, because while it’s certainly sexy, it’s not all that intelligent, and she doesn’t see a world where it can find the balance between the two. I tend to disagree because I do think it was at least a little smart, but I didn’t see the whole show, so who can say, really? Either way, Doug was doing Chippendales years before the troupe was even a thing, so good on him, even if he now does own about 3990 too many American flag Speedos.
The episode ends with Joyce turning Graham away at her hotel door, telling him, “You’re a star, Graham, and you should enjoy that. I plan on doing the same. Just not with you.” After she closes the door, we see that she’s actually got a naked Xavier waiting for her in the bed. She’s starting to claim her power and stardom, it seems, and she’s certainly embracing both her sexuality and her intelligence. Here’s hoping it doesn’t all go straight to her head.
Reflections of Desire
• You really have to admire Doug’s commitment to jogging. Forty-three minutes is pretty good for someone who quickly lights up a cigarette the second he wraps up his workout!
• I live about a quarter of a mile from San Marino, and I agree: Those blocks are long and leafy, indeed.
• Love this line, which I’m going to steal for my own life: “Joyce and I used to have a dialogue. Now it feels like a lecture.”
• Let’s play “Who’s Graham?” Does anyone have any good analogs? There are a lot of American guys he could act as a stand-in for, but Brits are more challenging, especially considering he wasn’t really bringing big Zeppelin energy.