“Minx” creator talks Joyce going rogue in the season 2 finale
Warning: This article contains spoilers about the season 2 finale of Minx, "Woman of the Hour."
This means war.
In the season 2 finale of Minx, Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) and Doug (Jake Johnson) took distinctive, if entirely diverging approaches, to the future of their magazine. When offered a position as president of Minx enterprises, Doug, previously feeling ignored, throws his lot in with Constance (Elizabeth Perkins) — and even sleeps with her.
"He falls so easily into the trap because I don't think he's got a lot of options at that point," Johnson tells EW. "Everybody's treating him like it's all like an emotional outburst because he's a little baby. When he finally confronts Connie and sees that he has a position of power too, I don't think he's got anywhere else to go. When someone's presented with a move like that, if you're like Doug and you're a shark and you're always moving forward, you take it. Doug's going to Doug it."
In contrast Joyce, after spending a season in admiration of Constance's choices, finally realizes that Minx is becoming something that doesn't align with its original mission. She decides to go rogue when she leaves the magazine's big party to put together an issue with the bathhouse raid at its center. She puts her values ahead of Constance's homophobia to produce something that actually matches her ideals.
"Joyce has been in a space of cognitive dissonance," Lovibond says. "She's hearing the things that Constance is saying, which she finds not inclusive, but she also understands that this is the money. Maybe this is what being a business person requires. But there are more and more instances where she's having to malign people that have helped her, and suddenly, the scales fall from her eyes and she realizes, 'Oh my God, I've made so many compromises.' You see Joyce realize she's compromising to a point beyond recognition. It's that moment when she's like, 'I need to do the right thing.'"
Joyce reunites with the rest of the Bottom Dollar publishing team, including sister Shelly (Lennon Parham), Bambi (Jessica Lowe), Tina (Idara Victor), and Richie (Oscar Montoya). Shelly picks up Joyce from the party and drives her to the magazine's offices in the nick of time. "Shelly is aligned with Joyce ultimately and is glad that Joyce has come to her senses," Parham says. "Joyce choosing to publish the magazine the way they want to publish it is accepting Shelly as she's speaking her truth."
Meanwhile, Bambi and Shelly's kids show up with Lenny (Rich Sommer) in tow — and there's an unexpected spark between Bambi and Lenny. "I saw what you saw," quips Parham. "Jessica Lowe is a very easy person to fall in love with, I'm just going to say that."
Though Bambie does want to take the whole family to Jonestown....
For more on the potential of whether Bambi might join a cult, what the future of Minx might be from here, and why Joyce went rogue while Doug crawled into Constance's bed, we called up Minx creator Ellen Rapoport.
Beth Dubber/Starz Jake Johnson and Ophelia Lovibond on 'Minx'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What pushes Joyce to take this leap and change course and go rogue? Is it recognizing Connie's homophobia for the first time? Is it something else?
ELLEN RAPOPORT: It's a combination of the journey that she's been on in this season and her realizing how far she is gone from her mission and how she's let her magazine become this watered down version of itself. Ultimately, what pushes her over the top is her sister has now come out of the closet, is a lesbian. Her two best friends at work are both queer and realizing that this magazine now is currently not standing for what she believes in.
It's Doug who tries to point out that they shouldn't trust Constance. But then when Constance asked him to be president, he changes course immediately. Why? He seems like he would be smarter than that.
Does he? Doug sees an opportunity and takes it. In his mind, big deal. So, you take an article out of the magazine, so what, you get so many other things back. He sees an opportunity to be back on top where he believes that he belongs and he's going to grab it.
In terms of the sexual component, is he sleeping with Constance because he actually wants to or is that entirely mercenary?
Both. She's an attractive woman. We couldn't have done it with any actress, but because we had Elizabeth, he's attracted to her. He's attracted to her wealth and her success and her power and what she can do for him. It's a combination of both.
Joyce, maybe begrudgingly, but along the way has realized that she and Doug as a team are really crucial. Why doesn't she try to go get him in this frenzy to get Shelly to pick her up and make this pivot?
He's made his loyalties clear and he has made his position clear to her. Maybe if we are able to get a season 3, that is something that she would do. But I think at that moment she feels that he's too far gone and that trying to get him to go with her, he would run and tell Constance. She makes the smart decision to not involve him.
In terms of everyone but Doug and Constance, this is a really big leap for them. If you were to get a season 3, what does this decision mean for the future?
You can expect a fight. There'll be a battle for Minx's heart and soul for sure.
There's also these questions that were left outstanding of Richie potentially going to General Mills and Tina going to Europe. In your mind, are those both things that are still on the table?
Tina has made her loyalty clear, so she's no longer going to be the head of Minx International. But she has been learning French, so she can easily just walk away from the whole thing at a certain point. Richie doesn't really want to go to General Mills. It was just a way out. But he's found a different way out through his activism. The last scenes answered that for him.
Bambi has been on a real transformational journey this season and has really seemed to come to the conclusion that what she wants is family and a sense of belonging. How might that realization shape her journey going forward?
Well, she has two good family options in front of her, Jonestown or Shelly's family, both viable ways to say goodbye to capitalism and take herself on a new journey. Either of those would be interesting to explore.
It definitely seemed like there was an unexpected connection between her and Lenny. Should we read anything into that?
I would, yes. That started in episode 2 where we saw them really get along at Deep Throat, and then in episode 5, where even Shelly noticed that they were becoming friends. If you actually think about it, they are the two people who are guileless and sweet and maybe they belong together.
Though you did mention Jonestown. Would that be something you're interested in exploring?
I don't know, maybe. The biggest danger to Bambi is being recruited to a cult, honestly, it's not another job. That's where she's going to find her sense of community. I could see her certainly becoming an early Scientologist. Jonestown, she might realize pretty quickly that it's a little much.
No word yet on season 3 with the strike, but I presume you have more story to tell?
Absolutely, yes. We have a lot of story to tell. I definitely want season 3. Does anyone say no?
The actor interviews in this story were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.
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