The cancellation and subsequent removal of Minx Season 1 on HBO Max was a sad day. I had found the show through a TikTok advertisement and quickly became its #1 champion. This sexy, funny, and smart series was everything I had ever wanted in a show, so it was depressing to think I wouldn’t be seeing the world of Joyce Prigger and Minx Magazine anymore. Thankfully, Starz swooped in and bought it.

Season 2 of Minx was filmed with HBO just like the first, but it somehow feels like a step up in production value. The sets are lavish, the cameos are fun, and the show just oozes expensiveness. Another difference between the seasons is the level of tension. While Minx Season 1 is high-stakes, Season 2 chooses to tell a more relaxing, low-stakes narrative and focus more on character building and the interactions between characters. Minx is at its best when Joyce and Doug are bickering, and season 2 knows that. It also explores lovable side characters like Shelly and Richie far more, which only adds to the show’s entertainment value. By keeping the show more localized, it becomes funnier. 

Minx fills two sorely missed gaps in television. Aside from Abbott Elementary, the workplace comedy has largely fizzled out, while adult comedies are becoming more dramatic and less comedic. Minx, however, dares to be both a workplace comedy and a sexy, mature comedy and does so with aplomb. Though it has its dramatic moments and absolutely is sending a message, Minx is unapologetically hilarious. There’s even an episode-long gag where a model gets his dick stuck in a tennis racket! It’s raunchy without being borderline offensive or sacrificing its female characters. It’s refreshing to see a show that, like its magazine counterpart, loudly declares that it is FOR women.

Minx is an enjoyable show on its own, but I cannot imagine it without the powerhouse that is Ophelia Lovibond’s performance. Joyce Prigger is such a lovable protagonist who I just can’t get enough of. There better be a third season of this show, because I need as much of Joyce as possible. Lovibond is so charismatic and wonderful in the role, bestowing Joyce with equal parts heart and humor. I will be championing her Emmy campaign! She’s matched by Jake Johnson as sleezy editor Doug, who has mastered being both beyond lovable and beyond hateable. Every time you find yourself rooting for him, the brilliant writing makes you hate him again. Every time you find yourself hating him, Johnson’s charm makes you fall in love with him again. Johnson also plays off of Lovibond excellently, as the two have this excellent chemistry that was one of the show’s biggest draws for me. They are undeniably the highlights of Minx, but that’s not to say the ensemble doesn’t also deliver! Lennon Parham (Shelly), Oscar Montoya (Richie), Jessica Lowe (Bambi), and Idara Victor (Tina) are all brilliant and improve from the first season! They each have their moment to shine, and they absolutely deliver when the time comes.

It would be easy for Minx to have failed after HBO screwed it over, but it thankfully keeps its infectious 70’s magic and charm for its second season. Minx is a hidden gem in every way, but it shouldn’t be. Go check one of the funnest and sexiest shows on television right now! It’s so worth your while, and few ongoing shows deserve a Season 3 more than this one.

8.5/10