Younger – Ladies Who Lust

By: Taylor Gates

Liza (Sutton Foster), Kelsey (Hilary Duff), and Charles (Peter Hermann) celebrate the buzz Me, Myself, and O is getting. Diana (Miriam Shor) is frustrated that she still doesn’t know who Aubrey Alexis is, especially since so many people want to interview her. She’s even been invited to read at the “Ladies Who Lust” benefit and Liza, Kelsey and Charles panic—word cannot get out about the author’s true identity. It’ll endanger both Me, Myself, and O’s book sales and the Crown of Kings franchise.

Edward (Richard Masur) is frustrated at all the speculation and the fact that so many authors are implying they’re responsible for his work. Kelsey reminds him it’s only helping book sales and it’s his name on the check. Lots of celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, want to read for Aubrey at the “Ladies Who Lust” event.

Liza, Kelsey, Josh (Nico Tortorella), Lauren (Molly Bernard) and Max (Ben Rappaport) have drinks and talk about how some of the best sex they’ve had has been with people they weren’t serious with or attached to. After dinner, Josh asks Liza if her earlier words were in reference to 26-year-old Liza or 40-year-old Liza. Definitely twenty-six, she reassures him and also reveals she’s only had sex with three people. Despite Josh’s concerns, she doesn’t feel like she’s missed out. He won’t tell her his own number, only saying that it’s a multiple of three. The next day, Liza feels a little self-conscious and asks Maggie (Debi Mazar) how many sexual partners she’s had. “At the same time?” Maggie responds.

At the office, everyone celebrates the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow will reading for Aubrey that night. Maggie hosts a gathering for Malkie (Sally Pressman) and her other orthodyke friends. It’s a huge success. They all love her and start inviting her to different events, which overwhelms her. Maggie goes to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette and hide, but everyone follows her in there. She excuses herself from the restroom powwow to go pour more wine.

Edward shows up to the “Ladies Who Lust” benefit. Charles and Liza have a small freak out session before Radha (India de Beaufort) interrupts them. Colin McNichol (Jay Wilkison)—a writer for the New Yorker who has written about Kelsey and Millennial before – makes an appearance saying the company had the potential to be a notable influencer. He also tries to get Kelsey to leak Aubrey’s true identity. They start flirting and he takes her to a locked, secret room with precious literature archives. He quotes a love letter from Keats and starts brushing Kelsey’s hair back. The romantic moment is interrupted by a text from Liza informing Kelsey that Gwyneth bailed because of a vagina streaming incident.

Edward wants to read the book himself and reveal his identity, but Liza convinces him it would ruin everything for the fans the book has helped. Edward asks Liza to read it and be the voice of women everywhere. She reluctantly agrees. Liza nervously and awkwardly reads an erotic passage, which clearly has Charles a little hot and bothered in the audience. Edward starts quoting the book as well before screaming that he is Aubrey Alexis. Kelsey stands up and does the same and Charles and Diana follow suit to confuse the audience and make Edward’s outburst look symbolic and intentional. Everyone in the audience stands and proclaims this as well, feeling connected to Aubrey.

Malkie tells Maggie her friends really liked her, but Maggie replies that she doesn’t think she can do this. She’s not sure she’s ready for a new relationship and everything that comes with it—she’s more of a lone owl. Malkie doesn’t want Maggie to pretend to be something she’s not and the two hug it out.

Charles thanks Liza for stepping in, calling Empirical a dysfunctional family. Radha joins them, clearly miffed the two are alone together yet again. Kelsey comes outside, looking for the cute New Yorker writer—she’s already tired of being single. Liza promises her it gets better, but Kelsey isn’t convinced.

The next day, Diana tells Kelsey and Liza that their Millennial antics are all over the New Yorker. They look up the article and find out it was written by Colin. Kelsey emails Colin, flirtatiously calling him out for stealing Keats’ phrase to describe her beauty. He quickly emails her back, asking her out to dinner.

Liza goes over to Josh’s apartment and the two discuss Me, Myself, and O. They’ve taken away different messages—Liza thinks the protagonist had everything inside her the whole time, but Josh interprets it to mean that experience is important. He doesn’t want Liza regretting jumping into a relationship with him too soon after her marriage.

He gives her a free pass for “number four” saying he wants her to be able to experience new things. However, it’s good for one night only and he never wants to hear about it. She doesn’t plan on cashing it in anytime soon unless they pretend he’s someone else for the night. She wants him to pretend he’s the older one in the relationship. He agrees to her terms and they go into the bedroom, Liza pocketing the coupon as she goes.