Younger – The Incident at Pound Ridge

By: Taylor Gates

Josh (Nico Tortorella) hangs out at the bar to talk to Clare (Phoebe Dynevor) about Ireland and differences between her hometown and New York City. They continue hitting it off and make plans to go on a real date the next day.

At Empirical’s staff meeting, ideas are thrown around about adult coloring books and cannabis cookbooks—neither of which Diana (Miriam Shor) is especially impressed by. Afterwards, there is some awkward discussion about the company picnic at Charles’ (Peter Hermann) house. He asks Diana to take over the planning and reluctantly agrees to invite Pauline (Jennifer Westfeldt), as all of their other authors are invited.

Charles’ friend Bob (Grant Shaud) asks if he’s going to try and work things out with Pauline, encouraging him to give it another shot. Charles, however, informs Bob that he’s found someone else. During an editing meeting, Pauline asks Liza if Charles is seeing another woman, bringing up the pictures she saw with Radha (India de Beaufort) online. Liza assures her he and Radha are over and quickly changes the subject to Pauline’s novel, saying she’s not there to gossip and speculate about Charles’ relationships.

Kelsey (Hilary Duff) approaches Josh about possibly designing an adult coloring book. At first Josh doesn’t think it would be successful, but Kelsey persuades him to agree when she promises a $10,000 advance.

Josh and Clare’s date starts off well—the two flirt and eat jalapeños together at a Mexican restaurant—but it quickly goes south when Clare touches Josh’s penis with pepper juice still on her hands. His penis starts burning and they have to use yogurt in order to get it to stop hurting. Luckily, it helps for the most part and the two are laughing about the situation shortly after.

The next morning, Kelsey announces that Liza is on-board with the coloring book idea and tells Josh to come to the company picnic with Clare. Josh doesn’t want to go and play nice with Charles considering their history, but Clare encourages him to attend so he can get closure and move on from Liza.

Liza is clearly shaken up when she spies Josh and Clare at the picnic together. There is also obvious tension on Josh’s end when he’s forced to shake Charles’ hand and make polite conversation.

Charles and Pauline’s daughters are equally thrilled to see their mom and Liza, and Pauline is surprised when Liza shares that she sometimes pitches in and babysits. Pauline shares that she was in charge of overseeing the building of their family house and offers to give Liza a tour. She says it’s weird to be back and treated like a guest in her former home, freaking out when she spies Charles talking to another woman from the balcony. Pauline is convinced Charles has moved on and is dating again, putting Liza in an uncomfortable spot. Pauline apologizes for seeming obsessive and needy, admitting she’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Diana interrupts their conversation, pulling Pauline aside to promise that nothing romantic is happening between her and Charles.

Kelsey introduces herself to Lachlan Flynn’s (Burke Moses) wife Prina (Chivonne Michelle). When Prina lays eyes on Kelsey, she gets territorial and refuses to let Lachlan work with her.

Charles, Josh, and Kelsey go head-to-head during the potato sack race. Charles accidentally trips, causing both himself and Josh to fall down. When Charles tries to help Josh up, Josh punches him in the face, leading to him getting chewed out by Kelsey. Kelsey tells him that the punch cost him $10,000, and Josh says it was so worth it. When they get back to the apartment, Josh apologizes to Clare for how everything went down, but considering she has three brothers, she’s used to it. Josh admits he feels better after the hit and the two make out.

Liza follows Charles inside and confirms what he suspects—that Josh saw them kiss in the Hamptons. Charles says he had the punch coming and asks Liza to stay the night with him, emphasizing that his feelings for her haven’t changed. Liza says that everything has changed and goes back outside.

Kelsey asks Liza why Josh would have hit Charles and Liza tells her about her moment with Charles in the Hamptons. Liza denies the fact that they’ve slept together, though, and Kelsey tells her to keep it that way—sleeping with the boss doesn’t end well for anyone.