Younger – Big Day

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

It’s a new day and Liza (Sutton Foster) is getting ready for the office. Charles (Peter Hermann) hugs her from behind and complains of a sore neck, courtesy of her child-sized bed. Calling it cozy, Liza seems anxious for the big day. Charles comforts her and reveals how he’ll spend the day reading newspapers and bed-purchasing. Wishing her luck, he adds that he’ll be there if Kelsey (Hilary Duff) needs any help. Liza says, “I love you,” and zooms off.

On their way to work, Kelsey is stunned when Liza reveals how she dropped the love bomb giving Charles no time to react. They get interrupted by Lauren (Molly Bernard) who’s capturing the big day for social media. Kelsey is nervous, but Lauren calls her a role model to a million young girls, having English majors who can now hope that they didn’t throw away four years of their lives. At the office Diana (Miriam Shor) wishes Kelsey well on her big day and is surprised to see Lauren papping around. Liza introduces Lauren, their new social media strategist. Later in the day she and Kelsey promise each other to hoist Millennial to the pinnacle of success and make Charles’s sacrifice worth.

At home Charles and Maggie (Debi Mazar) bond. She mentions her sexuality, thus negating out possible awkward air. She reveals how Liza’s been through a lot, just like him, and how such similarities can either help two people to alleviate each other or cause them to pull each other down. This puts Charles into a thought.

Meanwhile, Clare (Phoebe Dynevor) who’s at Josh’s explains how she was unaware of her pregnancy until her thirteenth week. She asks if he wants to feel the baby kick and Josh (Nico Tortorella), who’s going through a wave of emotions, places his hand on her mounted belly.

At the office Liza thanks Kelsey for getting her a office. In no time Quinn (Laura Benanti) calls a meeting with the two of them. Just then, Liza gets a message from Josh who wants to talk. She decides to check on him later and joins the meeting. Quinn reveals how the press has learned about Charles leaving his post because of an alleged affair with a twenty-eight-year-old associate and how people would automatically assume it’s Kelsey. Liza wants to out the age truth, but Quinn asks her to keep mum as they’re already trying to clear this affairs news and ageism is not needed right now. Diana comes in and makes snide comments towards Kelsey about this same news. Liza rushes out and reveals that she is dating Charles, not Kelsey. Diana is spellbound. Liza receives Clare’s picture from Josh and what she sees leaves her shocked, too.

Elsewhere in the city Charles meets (Grant Shaud) his friend whose daughter is friends with Caitlyn, Liza’s daughter. He cannot believe Liza is the one Charles is dating. It is the fact that she underplayed her age and, most importantly, Charles gave up his company for her. He asks him to find a job fast as no one likes to retire in their 40’s. At another restaurant at that very hour Diana Trout is job hunting for a marketing position to flee out of Millennial.

Later, at a finance meeting, Kelsey learns that the company is running on losses. Quinn suggests cost cutting. Kelsey’s anxiety hits the roof. She later meets Zane (Charles Michael Davis) and is desperate to blow off steam by spending the night with him. Zane realizes she’s not in her best state and, like a true friend, asks her to keep things light between them at the moment. He also reveals that Diana is job hunting and that she should try to retain her as she’s the best marketing person in business. He thinks she should have a green tea, but Kelsey, who is hyperventilating with anxiety at this point, goes straight for tequila on the rocks.

Liza, Maggie and Josh are discussing Clare’s pregnancy. Maggie suggests doing a paternity test. Though Josh feels awkward, he decides to go ahead with it anyways.

The next day Kelsey and Liza are in a pitch meeting and the author explains about the crux of her book titled as “a glass cliff.” She talks about research that shows how women are upped to chief positions and more often than not the companies see a subsequent revenue drop of -27%. The author feels that maybe women are staged to underperform and how just when their male counterparts fail to hit revenue targets, they put women on the highest pedestal just to shift the blame game and save their own asses in the process. Kelsey is afraid she’s been a similar scapegoat. She freaks out, but Liza assures it’s not the exact case. Kelsey reveals the scary financial scenario at Millennial and how they’re days away from losing Diana, too. Liza thinks of a game plan to prevent the worst from happening.

Kelsey and Liza go to Diana’s and Enzo (Chris Tardio) opens the door. He reveals that Diana is not at home and that she said needed to be alone at this crisis period. The girls confirm if she specifically used the word “crisis” and they get a clue of where she’d be at – Marie’s Crisis Cafe! They rush there and are thrilled to find drunken Ms. Trout singing along. When they approach her she refuses to get back up on the Millennial wagon as she’s not a perky millennial. She starts to leave and Liza stealthily asks the staff to play Diana’s favorite song, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” Liza starts to sing. Kelsey joins in. Then, the whole sings along. Poor Diana cannot resist and joins them, too. In no time her frown is turned upside down.

Kelsey and Liza walk home in a triumphant mood and they meet Josh on the way. He reveals that they got the paternity test results back. It turns out he’s going to be a dad after all! Both girls wish him well and hug it out. Kelsey retires for the night and Liza waits with Josh. He remembers about how timing plays such an important role in life. He recollects how him not getting the chance to have kids in the future broke him and Liza off and here he is now months away from being a dad. Liza assures him that she’ll always be there to help him through it all, given the baby whisperer she is. At the end, she does agree that it was all indeed the timing that bowled and balanced things over.