Younger – A Novel Marriage

By: Taylor Gates

While Maggie (Debi Mazar) tries to get her naked image removed from Google Earth, Liza (Sutton Foster) gets updates from Diana (Miriam Shor) about Pauline’s (Jennifer Westfeldt) book “Marriage Vacation.” Apparently every major news outlet is running a story on it. Liza assures Maggie everything is going well with her, but Maggie cautions her to be careful anyway.

Charles (Peter Hermann) is worried they won’t be able to release the novel by summer, but Kelsey (Hilary Duff) thinks rushing the process would be a good idea. Charles tells Liza to convince Pauline to let him read the first five edited chapters. Diana reminds Liza the subject matter is sensitive before saying that seeing her focusing on work instead of boys is refreshing.

Charles thinks the first five chapters are in good shape before nitpicking a few of the details about really happened in their marriage. Pauline and Liza remind him that it’s a work of fiction and the emotional truth is what matters. Pauline assures Charles she’s not trying to demonize him—she’s putting him on a pedestal.

Lauren (Molly Bernard) invites Kelsey to an open networking event at an exclusive women’s club called The Nest. Kelsey in turn forces Liza and Pauline to come along, saying it could double their book sales.

Liza and Pauline both feel out of place at The Nest since most of its members are young. The event is sponsored by Pinx—slimming period pants—which were founded by Louise Wexford (Alysia Reiner). Pauline tells Liza that Louise inspired the character of Lois in her book, a woman who always brags about attending business school. It takes Louise a solid five seconds to do just that before inviting Pauline to have a book release party at her house. Pauline reluctantly agrees and begs Liza to go to the event with her. Liza hesitantly says yes, and Pauline says she relieved Charles didn’t take her off the book.

Louise’s party is a little tense, as all of Pauline’s friends either bash her profession or try to one-up her. Pauline tells Liza their approval used to mean everything to her but doesn’t anymore. She says the book is changing everything for her—she and Charles are even talking about her moving back into the house with their daughters.

Liza runs into Jay (Aasif Mandvi) at Louise’s party. He tells her he was hoping he would run into her but wasn’t sure how she felt. Liza tells him she thinks he’s terrific but is distracted when she spies Charles in the hallway. She follows Charles out onto the balcony and gives it to him straight—she loves both Pauline and his girls and isn’t going to stand in the way of his family getting back together. Charles insists she’s confusing the book with reality and can’t stop thinking about her. Charles basically gives her an ultimatum—they can try to make their relationship work or she can continue editing the book. Liza chooses working on the novel.

Liza runs into Caitlin’s best friend Rose’s parents at Louise’s party and is afraid her cover is going to be blown. Luckily, Jay jumps in and pretends to be a couple with her, effectively serving as her cover. To pay him back, she agrees to go to dinner with him. The two have a nice time talking and share a kiss at the end of the night.

Josh (Nico Tortorella) and Clare (Phoebe Dynevor) play the video game Clare helped program and design. Kelsey comes home looking for her makeup bag, and Clare tells her she tidied up the bathroom and put it in the drawer. She confides in Josh that she wants his friends to like her.

Kelsey isn’t impressed by any of the women at the mixer until she meets Cece (Swati Kapila), a segment producer for “Good Morning America.” Kelsey’s mood improves once Cece tells Kelsey she thinks “Marriage Vacation” would be a great fit for her show. The next night, she and Cece are talking again when she spies Lauren across the room. Lauren tries to run away and hide but Kelsey follows her into the bathroom. Lauren admits she’s been sleeping in a closet at The Nest because she was fired from Hector and Dorf. She doesn’t want to leave The Nest because they’ll never let her back in since she’s not a member. She doesn’t want to go until she has enough contacts to start her own PR firm since living with her parents and being unemployed is infantilizing. Kelsey tells her the club isn’t all that great and says she can stay at Josh’s with her.

The next night, Josh goes to the bar and Clare drops some bad news on him. The company she’s interning for isn’t going to offer her a job. Since she can’t stay in the country without a work permit, she’s going to have to move back to Ireland in a week.

Diana comes home to find Ethan (Liam Obergfoll) and his friends hanging out before a party. Diana irritatedly asks Richard (Mather Zickel) when he’s going to get his own apartment. When she finds an empty tequila bottle, she decides it’s the last straw. Diana tells Richard that the three of them can’t keep living in a one-bedroom apartment together and that Ethan is his kryptonite. She tells him he has one week to find somewhere else for Ethan to live.