Younger – A Night at the Opera

By starrymag | October 21, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

Josh (Nico Tortorella) invites Liza (Sutton Foster) over to Netflix and chill, which he has to explain means sex. Liza tells him no since she is on her period and he makes a joke about how her shyness about menstruation must be a generational thing. Liza tells Maggie (Debi Mazar) maybe it is just a generational thing, but her ex-husband was always so weird about it so she’s never had period sex on purpose. Maggie has many times—when you’re a lesbian, you have to go with the flow or you’re celibate for half the month.

 

Diana (Miriam Shor) is getting ready in peace when a construction crew starts pounding and sawing away in the hallway of her building. She goes and screams at Enzo (Chris Tardio), the very attractive plumber. He says they have a deadline to hit and they got started a little early. Diana tells him to stop until 8 a.m. like city rules state.

 

Liza is slightly late to work, as she was at the tailor’s checking on Diana’s dress for the opera. Her date; however, is still to be determined. Charles (Peter Hermann) informs them that Bryce (Noah Robbins) will be sitting in on their staff meeting. They just need to indulge him by listening to his ideas. Diana makes a presentation on their leading title of the season P is for Pigeon about the last carrier pigeon and the disappearance of the middle class. Preorders are slightly low, but the bestseller list is still within reach, especially with their plans to market towards birdwatching groups.

 

Millennial is planning a college tour for The Deciding Decade and looking for the next big thing. Bryce thinks he’s found it. He pulls up a video of two women who call themselves “The Stoopid Girls.” They do dumb viral video challenges and act wild. Charles doesn’t think this is on brand for their company, but Bryce says they have five million subscribers—if a hundredth of their fan base buys their book, they’ll be on the New York Times bestseller list.

 

Kelsey (Hilary Duff), Lauren (Molly Bernard) and Liza go to dinner to meet Lauren’s new boyfriend. Kelsey thinks if The Stoopid Girls have gotten this much attention by acting stupid, they must be a little smart. Lauren adds that if they’re thirsty enough to make as many videos as they have, they’ll definitely be game for book deal. The two will also be at a YouTuber convention that weekend and she’ll get Kelsey and Liza passes.

 

The topic of period sex comes up and Kelsey and Lauren are totally for it. They’re offended Liza is making it seem like Josh isn’t, as he seemed so “woke” (enlightened) and unafraid of the female body. Much to Liza’s embarrassment, Lauren asks her boyfriend Max (Ben Rappaport) about it. He’s too is completely down. He has to cut their lunch short, though, because his boss is letting him help with the birth of a huge baby coming out of a tiny woman.

 

Diana is reading P is for Pigeon when the construction crew starts going at it again. She yells that it’s forty-five minutes past the time they’re allowed to be there and what she needs is peace and quiet. Enzo tells her she needs to get laid and the two make out on the way to her bedroom.

 

Kelsey and Liza feel incredibly old and out of place at VidPop, but Lauren seems to be enjoying herself. The Stoopid Girls are taking dares from people online, including waxing off one of their eyebrows and doing weird poses for photoshoots. Liza and Kelsey tell them they’re with Millennial and the girls suddenly get more serious and interested.

 

Taylor (Vella Lovell), one of The Stoopid Girls, talks to Liza about the book deal. She says she actually started a novel after attending a writing workshop at Iowa. She says the whole Stoopid Girls thing started off as a goof, but now she feels boxed in. Since historical fiction isn’t trending at the moment, she’s stuck acting like a drunk child until she pays off her student loans. Liza tells her to send her a few chapters of her novel, as she would love to read it.

 

Liza tells Maggie and Josh about the book, saying it’s about more than just her love of historical fiction. If it takes off, this girl can finally stop pretending every day and be who she really is. Josh invites Liza back to his house, but she declines. Maggie tells her one day her hormones are going to trump her awkward need for modesty.

 

Diana goes to the construction crew again, wearing a sexy robe and bringing her new beau a glass of champagne. Her attempts at sounding sexy don’t work, but that doesn’t stop him from following her up to her bedroom. Diana comes into work the next day smiling and sweet. She even gives Liza her tickets to the opera, saying there is construction in her building she personally needs to stay on top of.

 

Liza and Kelsey bring Taylor into the office, but when Bryce spies them he says that he wanted to cancel the meeting after reading the first chapter of her book. He loves feminist historical fiction, but not from a Stoopid Girl since it’s not on brand. Taylor disappointedly gets ready for the next dumb viral challenge she’s going to participate in. Liza follows Bryce out the door. She tells him what he did was rude, but he explains that she shouldn’t be worrying—her job is safe. He’s reveals that he’s recommending the company cut staff by 45% next quarter and fire old people like Diana. Empirical needs to change.

 

At the opera benefit, Josh and Liza make jokes about all the snobby rich people there. They spy Charles across the room, but Liza doesn’t want to say hi since he’s on a date. She excuses herself to the restroom and says she’ll meet Josh inside the theatre.

 

Diana goes to the construction site again, but Enzo is gone as he has already moved on to another site. Diana intentionally breaks a pipe so he will come back.

 

Liza is having trouble with the zipper on the back of her dress. Thankfully, she runs into Charles on the way out of the bathroom and he slowly zips it up for her. She starts to tell him about the situation with Stoopid Girls and Bryce, but Charles’ date and Josh interrupt them before they can get into it. The four of them go into the theatre, but Charles and Liza share one last lingering look.

 

After the opera, Liza sees Charles get into a taxi and immediately starts making out with Josh. Josh cancels the Lyft he called for and they take a taxi back to his place. They kiss some more before Josh helps her out of her dress.