All I can say is thank goodness Younger is back! The TV Land series returned today with its season five premiere and we can safely say we did not expect to see what happened at the end of this episode!
Season four ended with Liza and Maggie heading to Ireland as Josh had decided to marry Clare so she could apply for a green card and return to the United States. The pair had only been dating a month, so naturally Liza tried to convince Josh not to go through with it. After the pair shared a drunken kiss the night before the wedding and Josh claiming that it’s always been Liza, she thought it was off until she woke up the next morning to discover it was still on as Josh needed to “put a ring” between him and Liza. For our other characters, Charles has been somewhat reconnecting with his wife Pauline due to her getting Empirical to publish her book, Marriage Vacation; for Kelsey, her ex-lover Zane is joining Empirical and bringing Edward LL Moore with him; and lastly, Diana gave her boyfriend and his son the flick and decided to embrace herself.
BACK TO WORK
The premiere picks up a few days after the wedding with Liza back in New York and Kelsey is surprised that Liza didn’t stop it since she believes that Liza would be the only one that could. Liza then explains that it was Clare that wanted her there and that was only so they would have proof for immigration.
Charles had tried to call Liza while she was at the wedding, and during a meeting in what looks like a new office, he explains that he has been reviewing things from over the past year at Empirical. Charles wants to know if she thinks there was any inappropriate behaviour, but she denies this as her feelings are real. However, that’s not what Charles was asking as he was actually referring to Edward LL Moore, who will be writing a prequel series featuring Princess Pam Pam. Apparently accusations have been made about LL Moore making inappropriate comments, but Zane believes it’s because he managed to steal LL Moore when he left his previous position at a rival publishing house.
Loving Diana asks, “do you want to say something, Liza? Could destroy the company, but we’ll support you.” But Liza says that LL Moore is merely a flirty old man, and with that, Empirical will be announcing the Pam Pam Chronicles at Comic-Con the following day. It seems Liza’s fur bikini days aren’t over as LL Moore has requested all past Pam Pam’s to be there, including Liza.
A FAMILIAR FACE
Kelsey surprises Liza with Pauline and the first copies of Marriage Vacation, which by the way is being actually published in real life by Simon and Schuster. After squealing over the book, Kelsey realises that Charles went ahead and printed it under the Empirical brand rather than the Millennial imprint. Kelsey’s upset that Zane seems to be getting a say in so much of the company in a short amount of time.
While out getting lunch for Diana, Liza runs into Bob who is the father of Rose, Caitlin’s friend and he’s surprised to see her New York. When Liza returns to work, the Empirical employees are attending a seminar from HR and the discussion of relationships between colleagues is brought up: past relationships are fine if they are of equal rank (Kelsey and Zane), but if a superior is involved, that’s where it gets tricky (Liza and Charles). The Empirical lawyer arrives to answer questions and he just so happens to be Bob, which sends Liza into a panic and she leaves. Diana goes after her thinking that she’s been triggered and begins talking about how eventually her experience surpassed her looks—or “rising skills, falling breasts”.
Meanwhile, Zane and Kelsey meet up for a drink to discuss how they’re going to work together, and he is trying to show that he’s working hard by impressing her with a LL Moore billboard in Times Square.
A CROWD OF BOOING
It’s Comic Con time and Liza dons her Pam Pam costume once again! LL Moore casts his roving eyes over her when he says he thinks about “burying his face in her royal fur” before coming out with his nasty chuckle. Ugh.
Liza asks the other Pam Pam girls if Moore has made any inappropriate remarks or advances towards them and they eventually confess some of the utterly horrid things he has said. Naturally, Liza decides to tell Charles this just before he goes on stage to introduce Moore. Just as Moore descends from the ceiling, Charles stops him to announce that they will be postponing the Pam Pam Chronicles until further notice, which causes a mixed reaction, but mostly outrage from the crowd.
DAMAGE CONTROL
The next day, Empirical removes posters and materials from their offices while Diana and Charles deal with the media, such as Netflix pulling their TV series and Amazon removing his titles from their store. Kelsey enquires about what they are going to do with Zane’s 3-month billboard, but Liza has an idea.
That night, Liza takes them all, including Pauline, to Times Square where the billboard changes to Pauline holding a copy of Marriage Vacation along with Millennial Print. It seems Kelsey is getting her book as Charles thinks it would be best for the imprint to publish it after all the negative media.
SECRETS REVEALED
Charles then receives a phone call from an angry LL Moore who wants to meet with Charles ASAP. LL Moore tries to explain away each accuser, and his list ends with Liza having “zero credibility” as they investigated her and discovered that she’s a “divorced, 40-something housewife from New Jersey”. He provides documentation and Charles is completely shocked! But what kind of shock? Shock that he’s been lied to or that he could possibly have even more reason to try to be with Liza? Perhaps both?
OVERALL THOUGHTS?
Woohoo! It’s great to have Younger back, and judging by this first episode, we could be in for yet another incredible season! While Lauren and Josh were absent this episode, we’ll be sure to see them soon. Maybe Lauren will come work at Empirical as part of their marketing and PR to help bring Empirical out of the bad press? I would love to see her and Diana interact (we see a snippet in the trailer) as there would definitely be some great scenes!
As for the rest of the season, it seems as though both Liza and Kelsey will be hooking up with two beaus each! In the season 5 trailer, Maggie is seen kissing a blonde-haired woman, could it be Clare?! It could be possible as it looks as though when teary-eyed Josh talks to Liza, it might be about Clare and Josh not being “real”, so does that mean we’ll see Josh and Liza back together again in some way? Diana is also seen with quite a dashing man! So many exciting plots!
If you’re interested in reading Marriage Vacation you can find it on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers!
Also, Younger has already been renewed for season 6 so you don’t have to worry about it all coming to an end in 11 episodes time!
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