It only occurs to me now that Kinga doesn’t physically torture Max for our amusement as her Dad would’ve tortured Frank. She hasn’t even made him eat exploding candy yet, like Grandma Pearl with her henchman.
Unless I’m forgetting something in the Netflix episodes because I haven’t re-watched them enough…? 
Maybe that’s also a part of what underwhelms some viewers. But I’ve always liked mavericks myself. 
They say I don’t belong
I must stay below alone
Because of my beliefs I’m supposed to stay where evil is sown
But what is evil anyway?
Is there reason to the rhyme?
Without evil there can be no good so it must be good to be evil sometimes
I’m just gonna say of the three Pearl incarnations (Mother Pearl, Lawgiver Pearl, Grandma Pearl), I like each one better than the last and Grandma Pearl is by far my favorite. I think this has a lot to do with Mary Jo’s growth over time.
I never ever fast-forward through that one ad, because I want to hear her call them “Rummies” every time.
Daddy fofo didn’t have a vast complex and a team of thousands at his command. Other people are incurring her twisted whims. Just look at the skeleton crew. Nobody natural has horns like that. And, Ardy isn’t in that covers-everything suit for nothing.
Or, maybe she’s a pretender and isn’t a mad scientist and doesn’t actually do any mad science at all. Maybe she’s a middle manager who saw an opportunity and Max is only there to give her TV show ambitions historical credibility. Can’t destroy the only living memory of the last great second banana without a working knowledge of reanimation.
I actually really love how consistent Kinga is with regard to her motivations. She’s been all about turning this thing she inherited into a successful business endeavor. To me, that makes her slightly softer touch with the “talent” make complete sense. If you view her on-screen interactions in light of her knowing she’s part of the show she’s creating, it makes sense she wouldn’t be more physically violent and would be more of a psychological villain. It’s more Lex Luthor than Pearl’s Thanos.
Kinga does seem to only wallop Max occasionally when frustrated, and even then it seems less out of amusement and more convenience. The only instances I can think of regarding something like that is the iceberg fire hose (side note: I love that invention exchange because they’re both trying not to laugh and failing by the end) and the punt bunnies. Still, she seems less inclined to, say, sell his removed organs back to him via vending machine.
Mads need more Mad, not so much desperate for a grant or other from the Mad Science Foundation. The Invention Exchanges should be semi-threatening given the Moon situation… ‘be a shame if’ scenarios, as well as Moon Cheese, slingshot rail gun, some test product for the biodomes from RoundUp, My First DNA Collector, Flavacol-like Food Product for Gizmoplex popcorn with salt flavoring, and on those lines Almost Good & Almost Plenty.
Just watched The Batwoman again, and Max losing it completely in the episode’s conclusion might be my favorite moment of his to date.