Younger returned this week with the first four episodes from its final season. While I would love to say that I didn’t see this coming, or that I’m excited about what’s happened so far, I’d be lying. This season so far makes me think this should be its fourth, and not its last, as they should be wrapping everything up. The episode-centric books they’ve come up with are… falling short. In episode two, we’re introduced to Füpa Grünhoff, Younger’s version of Greta Thunberg, played by Nadia Alexander (Blame), Kelsey and Liza are trying to get her to write a book with Empirical as she’s rejected every other publishing house for a book about her activism in trying to save the world from Global Warming.
In Younger, they make Füpa incredibly hostile, aggressive, mean. She doesn’t care about anyone or anything, and she’s mean to her own mother. I know that they can’t create a carbon copy of Thunberg, but goodness she’s harsh. Not only is she incredibly annoying (because come on), but Kelsey makes this episode all the more insufferable. When Füpa loses her prized bracelet in a compost bin, Kelsey exclaims, “we can get you a new bracelet as a signing gift!” even though Kelsey doesn’t know the significance of the bracelet to Füpa.
I could say that this is rare, but let’s be honest, Kelsey has been the least exciting part of this show for a while now. She flip-flops between definitely 100% knowing what she wants to do and having absolutely no idea. One day she wakes up enlightened, and the next she once again doesn’t know what she’s doing or why.
When Millennial is removed from Empirical as a whole, which I didn’t even know you could do as quick as it seems to happen, Kelsey is unattached and uninspired. We barely got to see how anyone else felt about Millennial crumbling, which is frustrating since it was such a huge part of Younger.
It’s been seven seasons and Kelsey is still trying to figure out who she is. She finds herself and loses herself once a season and it’s gotten too old. Zane breaks up with her fairly abruptly and as a viewer, it’s almost a relief. What they had between them seemed more like an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better competition rather than a relationship. The two never had chemistry and putting this to bed would’ve been the best way to go had Charles Michael Davis been able to come back for filming.
I truly have nothing else to say about Kelsey. To me, even though she’s clearly one of the most important people on the show, I could do without her. She’s still a very one-dimensional character who I feel almost nothing for. It still makes me upset that Kelsey is getting the spinoff and not Maggie. How fun would it have been to see Maggie on her own in New York City in a prequel show?
The situation between Liza and Kai, the charming male surfer who wants a book plan with Empirical, played by Matt Passmore (The Glades) is absolutely infuriating. After Charles and Liza settle with being broken up (much more on that later), Liza is floundering with the new “freedom” this grants her, and she decides to go all-in and sleep with Kai – multiple times, apparently.
On the opposite end, Charles and Quinn (Laura Benanti - Supergirl) attend a few flirty dinners together, and then after Quinn’s impromptu birthday celebration (which, did they have to open a Dave & Busters during a pandemic for that?), Quinn kisses him goodbye and Charles doesn’t reject it. Huh? We’re supposed to believe that Charles proposed to Liza, and now just weeks later, he’s totally fine with kissing another woman?
Here’s my biggest problem: with Charles proposing, we had hoped – and rightfully so – that this would be the end to the Liza/Charles/Josh love triangle. And it is! Josh and Liza are just them, he’s happy that they were to be engaged, all is well in this love triangle world. Except then, all they did was turn around and give us a new love triangle between Liza/Charles/Quinn.
How Charles and Liza are both acting in this breakup is completely out of character for me. You’re telling me they didn’t talk about marriage even once while they were together? When watching these episodes, my main thought was centered around the fact that if either Charles or Liza slept with Kai or Quinn or anyone else the writers decide to throw us, there’s no coming back from it. Two scenes later Liza slept with Kai.
Liza is free to do whatever she wants, with whomever she wants, whenever she wants. But loving Charles and Liza for this long, seeing the build-up to their relationship, and the love that followed, this was unbelievably upsetting to watch. I’m pretty sure they’re doing the whole rebound situation, but did it really have to be done? Do we really have to watch this couple who has fought for so much already go through heartbreak in the final season of the show?
Apparently, we do.
Nobody asked, but since we’re all here, here’s how I would’ve done the final season of Younger. Despite loving that they’re not bringing the pandemic to the show, I think it would’ve fit so well. If Liza had said yes to Charles and the first few episodes were planning the wedding – booking venues, flowers, finding dresses, and choosing guests – only for it to fall apart the further it went along. The venue backs out in one episode, the photographer the next, and so on until there was basically nothing left.
I know impromptu weddings are getting a bit overdone, but wouldn’t it be fun to have the penultimate episode be the two deciding they just wanted to be married more than anything else and going to City Hall with their daughters? They could’ve even done something where Maggie has a free gallery space because it’s, duh, not being used, and they could get married there with the 6 or so guests that are regulars on the show.
Angst in TV, especially between couples who are/were slow burn is to be expected, but must it always be a be-all-end-all where they’re either together or broken up? Where they’re broken up and with other people right away?
I can only hope that Charles and Liza find their ways back to each other before they stray too far apart.
Here are some of my favorite quotes/scenes from the four episodes:
- In episode two, It’s the “End of the World, Worm Girl,” when Charles and Liza are officially breaking up and Charles says, “If I bend anymore, I’m gonna break.” This was so heartbreaking to watch and it made me feel so bad for Charles.
- In episode three, “FKA Millennial,” Charles and Maggie are discussing his and Liza’s breakup, and he says, “I think I never really had her whole heart,” and Maggie says “That’s too bad, ‘cause you did.” While I’m with Charles through and through – just say yes, Liza! – this was equally heartbreaking for Liza. Then, they had her go sleep with someone else, so…
- Also in “FKA Millennial,” Liza says to Charles “I practically wrote your ex-wife’s book, I hope you don’t expect me to edit your new girlfriend’s book as well.” WHEW. Felt that one.
- This definitely isn’t a favorite, but I wanted to mention Quinn calling herself the boss’s girlfriend in episode four, “Risky Business,” and basically threatening Liza. The audacity that Quinn has… yeesh.
