'Minx' Season 2 review: Why in the world did Max cancel this?
It's a travesty that we almost never saw Minx Season 2.
The Ellen Rapoport-created comedy about a feminist porn magazine aired on Max (then HBO Max) in March of 2022, after which it was renewed for a second season. But in December of 2022, when filming on Season 2 was almost completed, Max canceled Minx entirely. It even removed Season 1 from streaming, perpetuating an insidious cost-cutting practice that has become all too common across streamers. (Little wonder that actors and writers are striking when streaming services pull moves like this, in addition to underpaying workers and threatening to replace them with AI.)
Luckily for Minx fans, STARZ picked up the second season (as well as the first) and righted the wrong of a premature cancellation — and thank goodness it did. Like its predecessor, Season 2 of Minx remains an entertaining examination of feminism and sexuality in the '70s. Not only that, but it revels in taking its raunchiness to extremes, all while providing its supporting characters with more meaningful storylines.
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Where does Minx Season 2 pick up?
When we reunite with the Minx team, they're on the verge of truly taking the magazine to the next level. Editor-in-chief Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond) has parted ways with former business partner Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson) and is now on the hunt for a new publisher. Major names clamor for her attention, likening her to pioneering women such as Susan B. Anthony and Joan of Arc. Despite the flattering comparisons, these publishers' male-dominated boardrooms and overly sleek offices give Joyce pause. Would joining forces with them — once a lifelong dream of hers — compromise Minx's scrappy nature?
A savior arrives in the form of Constance Papadopoulos (Elizabeth Perkins), a billionaire and former titan of the shipping industry who's taken a liking to Minx. Joyce and Doug reconcile and team up to win her approval (and funding), and it's not long before Minx is back in business — and bigger than ever. But as Minx's star continues to rise, those same questions of compromise resurface. Is it possible for Minx to maintain its radical combination of smutty photographs and feminist think pieces as it reaches a wider audience? The same goes for members of Minx's team: How will their own ideals shift in the face of fame? Minx Season 2 tackles these dilemmas with humor, aplomb, and penises aplenty.
Minx goes deeper and raunchier in Season 2.
When it comes to the male nudity in Minx, it's hard to top the sheer quantity of the penis montage in the show's very first episode. So Season 2 takes a bit more of an absurdist tack, featuring scenes where male models debate whether their characters would be circumcised, or where they play tennis in the most NSFW way imaginable. For the most part, though, nakedness in Minx serves more as set dressing for the goings-on at the Minx offices. After all, nudity is part of the norm at Bottom Dollar Publications.
Minx ends up engaging in the culture of '70s pornography and sexual liberation in other ways, including centering a whole farcical episode around the pornographic film Deep Throat, and incorporating erotic fiction into the magazine itself. The show also acknowledges that while Minx is marketed to straight women, its content is also appealing to queer men, an audience that certain members of Minx's team are unwilling to cater to due to homophobic concerns about advertisers.
The latter provides an especially poignant storyline for art director Richie (Oscar Montoya), as he fights throughout the season to make his dream bathhouse-themed photoshoot a reality. At every turn, Minx management stifles his vision, resulting in what he views as creative stagnancy and a more sinister effort to silence his voice — and the voice of Minx's queer male audience.
And Richie isn't the only one with concerns about their role in the new, more famous Minx. As Bottom Dollar's CFO (Chief Fun Officer), Bambi (Jessica Lowe) feels pigeonholed into a role based solely on her looks. She wants to build out her skillset and take on a more important position within the company, only to find that business is a cruel world. The same is true of Tina (Idara Victor), who is still negotiating the difficulties of being Doug's business partner and his romantic partner. Often treated as a glorified secretary, how can Tina prove that her business savvy is worth far more than Doug gives her credit for?
Each of these storylines get equal time and treatment, helping to make for a more well-rounded season when it comes to its supporting cast. Of course, we still enjoy the delicious bickering dynamic between Joyce and Doug, especially as Doug realizes that he may be losing power in his own company. The addition of Constance helps drive an even bigger wedge between these two, as she often puts Doug in his place and lifts Joyce up to the point that Joyce begins to see her as the mother figure she never had. Constance lacks the character development of the rest of the Minx team, sometimes disappearing for entire episodes, but Perkins is an icily perfect delight who fits right in with Minx's tremendous cast.
As wonderful as all these plots are, it's Lennon Parham's Shelly who undergoes the season's most compelling character arc. Beginning Season 1 as a buttoned-up housewife, Shelly found empowerment at Minx, as well as a romance with Bambi. Season 2 sees her trying to understand her feelings for Bambi and what they might mean about her relationship with her husband, Lenny (Rich Sommer). However, instead of resulting in anguished turmoil, Shelly winds up on a sometimes sweet, sometimes downright hilarious journey of self-discovery. Not only does she get to put herself first for the first time in ages, but through her, we also get to see how the sexual revolution has influenced the more "proper" suburbs. Whether Shelly's crowing about the Battle of the Sexes tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs or embracing her sexuality, she (and Parham) truly get to shine this season. And to think we almost didn't get to see any of it!
With Minx Season 2 being as fun as it is, it's sobering to remember how it almost joined the ranks of lost media — ranks that grow with each film and TV show unceremoniously plucked from streaming services in order to save a quick buck. (As you take in Minx's lavish period sets and costuming, Max's decision becomes more and more baffling.) Even if Season 2 had been exceptionally flawed, it still would have deserved a platform to be seen given all the work that went into it — and the same goes for any film or TV show that gets made.
Minx Season 2 premieres July 21 on STARZ and the STARZ app, with new episodes weekly.
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Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
