‘Minx’ Season 1 Recap: What to Remember Before Season 2

Minx, a series about a titular erotic feminist magazine, brought us back decades to the 1970s. But before the magazine is published and pictures of men dropping their pants drop jaws across the country, we meet Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond) trying to get her feminist magazine, The Matriarchy Awakens, turned from concept to reality. Despite her intelligence and determination, no one is interested in publishing an unapologetically feminist magazine. But someone does see potential in her idea: adult publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson). Sleazy yet savvy, Doug realizes that there is an untapped market for a feminist magazine, and he’s impressed by Joyce’s drive. But he also has an idea to make the issues the magazine would be centered on more palpable to women: naked male centerfolds.

Having no other interest from any other publisher, Joyce eschews the idea of having her brainchild share pages with penises — but Doug insists that no other magazine is catering to heterosexual female desire. He convinces her that having handsome naked men would be a draw for many women and make them more receptive to what the magazine is truly about. After initial hesitation and seeing no other options, Joyce finally agrees to partner with Doug to create the erotic feminist magazine.

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What Happens in Season 1 of ‘Minx’?

Joyce is introduced to Doug’s employees and her new co-workers at Bottom Dollar, Doug’s publishing company. She’s taken aback by all she sees: naked models, BDSM attire, naughty props, the works. The studio is a long way from the upper-middle class, Vassar-educated background she comes from. Over the course of the first season, Joyce and the audience are introduced to Bambi (Jessica Lowe), a nude model who’ll be the magazine’s centerfold coordinator; Richie (Oscar Montoya), a makeup artist and photographer for Bottom Dollar; and Tina (Idara Victor), Doug’s secretary who is the only person who can effectively call him out when he needs to be.

Feeling distraught that an adult publisher is the best that she can do for a magazine, Joyce confides in her sister Shelly (Lennon Parham), a bored homemaker who, until Joyce’s involvement in Bottom Dollar, doesn’t have much of a life outside of her domestic responsibilities. Shelly is supportive of her sister’s magazine and thinks it’s a fun idea. Shelly helps Minx by promoting it in her neighborhood and helping out at the Bottom Dollar studio.

Overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the porn industry, Joyce pulls the plug on the magazine, feeling that her idea is being corrupted — but as she decides against it, Cosmopolitan publishes the famous nude centerfold of Burt Reynolds. Seeing the enthusiastic response from the women around the centerfold, Joyce realizes that women’s desires are being overlooked, and their demographic deserves to be able to enjoy seeing men in the buff just like there are so many nude magazines for the male audience. After admitting that she was wrong to Doug, their idea for a feminist erotic magazine is back on track.

The First Centerfold for Minx Is a Complicated Issue

Now, it’s time for the team to find its first centerfold. After an interesting array of male genitalia is displayed, they finally cast the man who launches the magazine, among other things. Shane Brody (Taylor Zakhar Perez), a handsome but dense firefighter with quite a hose, easily wins over the magazine’s panel. Joyce finally feels invigorated about the magazine and even directs Shane’s photoshoot. All that’s left is to think of a name — The Matriarchy Awakens doesn’t have the snap that Doug thinks it should. Doug says the magazine needs a sexier title. Joyce goes back to her apartment and the title comes to her: Minx.

Worrying that he may not be knowledgeable enough about feminism to represent the magazine, Joyce decides to tutor Shane in all things women empowerment. What begins with Joyce teaching about feminism to Shane transpires into them having an anatomy lesson. Having recently broken up with her boyfriend, Joyce is content to enjoy herself for a change. There’s just one problem: what Joyce hoped would be a one-night stand becomes Shane developing feelings for her and misconstruing that she feels the same. After a press conference for Minx, Joyce confesses to Shane that his feelings aren’t mutual. Shane feels used and threatens to pull out of the magazine. Joyce, realizing that she was in a position of power over Shane, apologizes for having slept with him and admits that since he was technically working for her, she shouldn’t have done that. Shane decides to stay involved with Minx and becomes its first centerfold. He even learns things about feminism himself, enlightening himself in the process.

But the magazine faces multiple hurdles, including newly-elected city councilwoman Bridget Westbury (Amy Landecker) who is a stand-in for women like Phyllis Schlafly or Gov. Kristi Noem, someone who may be a female elected official but would definitely not identify as a feminist. It’s Westbury’s top initiative to remove production of more adult material from the Valley, and they use harassment tactics to try to push Bottom Dollar out. But Doug has an ace up his sleeve, and though it’s not revealed in the first season, they find dirt on the councilwoman that they can put in their back pocket.

Joyce and Doug Are at Odds in Season 1 of ‘Minx’

Though the first issue isn’t an out-of-the-gate hit, the second issue sells out across the country. Suddenly, Joyce, who has been a journalist, finds herself and Minx in headlines across the country. At first, she’s mortified, but Doug enjoys the attention, saying that any attention is good attention. Joyce eventually becomes more confident and is able to hold her own in interviews, standing up to chauvinist radio hosts and getting the last laugh — but it all comes to a head on The Dick Cavett Show. Joyce is talking with Dick Cavett (Erin Gann) about the success of Minx. Everything goes well at the beginning. However, things begin to fall apart when Cavett brings on a feminist author, Victoria Hartnett (Hope Davis), who admonishes Minx as being insidious. Doug only makes things worse by announcing the next centerfold who was chosen without Joyce’s input, despite her being the editor-in-chief.

Joyce, feeling betrayed and embarrassed on national television, decides to leave Minx. She stays in New York with her editor friend Maggie (Gillian Jacobs) while she figures out what to do next. During a dinner party with Maggie’s friends, Joyce realizes she’s no longer like them — stuffy, insulted, pretentious — and decides to head back to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Doug is unsuccessfully trying to find a new editor but is finding it impossible to replace Joyce, though he’s too proud to admit it. His staff begins to splinter from him, feeling crossed about either having to choose between him and Joyce. Eventually, an anti-Minx protest begins to brew outside Bottom Dollar.

The wife (Allison Tolman) of a misogynist radio host (Eric Edelstein) that Joyce sparred with on-air is tired of how her husband treats her, so she purposefully touches him while her hand is covered in pepper juice, knowing it’ll burn. She later admits that she did it because she was inspired by Minx. The radio host publicly sensationalizes what happened to him, making himself out to be the victim. After a crowd of angry men, feeling threatened by Minx and what it represents, begin to attack Bottom Dollar studios. The Minx crew hides, and Tina calls in a favor with Doug’s mafia connections to have the men dealt with since the police won’t respond. After the angry mob incident, Doug tries to convince Joyce to come back to Minx in the Season 1 finale, but she says that she’s tired of giving her power away to men who use her for what they can’t do. Doug decides to hand over full authority of Minx to Joyce.

Joyce Goes on a Feminist Journey in ‘Minx’ Season 1

Minx’s brand of feminism is accessible and lacks pretension. The show critiques how progressive causes can sometimes be so academic and theoretical that they can forget they still need to be practical. When Joyce is pitted against a feminist author on The Dick Cavett Show, it’s Joyce’s ebullient feminism that appeals more than that of the author, which comes across as haughty and fustian. Minx posits that feminism can be fun and even sexy, and Joyce undergoes that transformation herself.

At the beginning of the series, Joyce is uptight and quick to judge, but as she is exposed to different types of people, she’s able to relax, which in turn makes her feminism more inviting to others. She feels completely out of sync with the lofty conversations she endures at the dinner party in New York; instead, she finds herself enjoying dancing with some handsome stranger at a club more than being in a room full of people who look down on those who work in pornography or may not be as academically polished. The show also flips that assumption too, as the second centerfold for Minx (Nate Crnkovich) is a Julliard-educated hunk who just happens to enjoy posing nude.

The show also allows for conversation around women being able to vocalize what they want. Shelly has been sexually unfulfilled by her husband, and Minx helps her be able to admit to her husband and herself that their sex life needs work. When Minx has to be sponsored by an adult toy company in order to help to fund the magazine, Joyce is at first put off by it — but after her sister admits to her that she uses devices, Joyce comes to realize that there’s no shame in them and that they shouldn’t be taboo.

Minx is a triumph in that it shouts that women deserve what men have been able to enjoy, too. Feminism can be fun, sexy, and meet people where they’re at. Although Minx was initially picked up for a second season by HBO, it was one of the many shows that Warner Bros. Discovery decided to cut even after most of the season had already been produced. Fortunately, STARZ came to the rescue, picking up Season 2, which is set to premiere on July 21.