Minx Recap: The Swing Set
We probably should have seen this coming.
This week's Minx reveals that mild-mannered marrieds Shelly and Lenny have become all-out suburban swingers. While the discovery initially seems shocking — Lenny, in particular, heretofore has possessed all the complexity of a can of Tab — it fits right in with the sexual awakening Shelly began in Season 1. So... viva Mistress Bella LaRouche, I guess?
In other news, a Rolling Stone reporter visits Bottom Dollar, sending Joyce into a weird tailspin. And Constance hasn't been around long, but she's starting to show her true colors — and they ain't rainbow. Read on for the highlights of "It's Okay to Like It."
LIKE A ROLLING STONE | A few months have passed since the Deep Throat premiere, and Bottom Dollar Productions has gotten a glow-up. Thanks, Constance's deep pockets! Rolling Stone magazine is there to write about the groundbreaking nudie mag; when its reporter and photographer (Annie Leibowitz, ooh!) sit in on a Minx editorial meeting, Joyce acts very oddly. Doug pulls her aside and wonders why she's pulling punches instead of sparring with him like she usually does — their arguing is "very Minxy," he posits, and likely what the reporter wants to see. But she's hesitant to do or say anything too revealing while the journalist is there; she even gives the guy a typed-up list of her answers to standard questions about her and the publication to save him the time of asking them. (To his credit, he scoffs and says no thanks.)
He later tells Joyce that, based on his observations, she's just watching the sexual revolution from the sidelines; he'd assumed she was at the forefront, given her publication, and he's disappointed that it seems like there's no substance to her and what she's doing. (Harsh.) In retaliation, she attends a party thrown by Linda Ronstadt. The reporter's also there, and Joyce snorts cocaine while he watches. Then she hops on stage and volunteers to play the shaker during a performance of "When Will I Be Loved," which earns her the notice of Ronstadt's guitar player.
Afterward, Joyce smokes a joint with the reporter and confesses what's been bothering her all episode: She's been stonewalling him because she's afraid she just got lucky and isn't really worthy of Minx's success — what if she loses it all? "Have you ever considered that maybe you are exactly where you belong?" he counters. "It's OK to like it."
SWING-A-DING-DING | Shelly finds an earring that doesn't belong to her in her bedroom. The episode sets it up like she's going to confront earring's owner — one of her neighbors! — during a dinner party at the house. And she does... but just to chastize her for wearing loose-fitting jewelry. "We still have a toddler who'll put anything in her mouth," Lenny adds. Yep: They're having sex with several other couples in the neighborhood as part of a swinging group that meets monthly. Shelly even has developed a persona as part of the whole deal: Mistress Bella LaRouche, who's in charge of the proceedings. Lenny is solidly on board with all of it.
We later learn that Shelly is writing a book about the erotic adventures of her alter ego. And when she announces that she wants to go back to work at Minx, he's supportive.
BACK AT BOTTOM DOLLAR | Constance is worried that gay men are reading Minx and she doesn't want the publication to cater to them, a sentiment that doesn't sit well with some of the staffers... Constance also wants to trim some of the publishing house's titles, starting with Beyond, Doug's pet-project science magazine that involves cosmologist Carl Sagan. But she soothes the burn by pointing out that Minx merchandise (also under Doug's purview) has made more money for Bottom Dollar than anything else in the company's history, so she wants him to focus on similar big, outside-the-box ideas for Minx... Bambi, unasked, solves a clerical problem that's causing a big headache. So when she floats the idea of becoming Doug's secretary, the role seems like a perfect fit.
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments.