Younger – The Talented Mr. Ridley

By starrymag | July 2, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Diana (Miriam Shor) throws a game night with her coworkers and popular journalist Don Ridley (Christian Borle). She explains the rules of Mafia, saying that whoever gets assigned to be the murderer must kill a townsperson while everyone else has their eyes closed. Liza (Sutton Foster) gets chosen as the murderer and kills Zane (Charles Michael Davis). Kelsey (Hilary Duff) drunkly and playfully guesses Liza, and while she says it wasn’t her, Charles (Peter Hermann) is convinced that she’s lying, decidedly less playful about it.

 

Liza accuses him back, explaining that the real killer would stay off the radar before pouncing when someone else gets thrown under the bus. Things get real and intense between them, but eventually Liza convinces everyone that it was Charles by saying his cufflink clinked his glass when he motioned at Zane. Everyone votes to kill Charles, so he’s allowed to keep his eyes open during the next round. During this, he and Liza make pointed eye contact.

 

Don compliments Liza on her Mafia skills, asking her to be his date to a Celebrity game party. Liza says she’s not really dating, but Don invites her to be his plus one at the People’s One to Watch Party the next day, and she promises to think about it. Charles spies Don stuffing some food into napkins to take home with him and is disgusted by the behavior.

 

Zane grabs Kelsey a glass of water, hoping to sober her up. He tells her she can crash at his place, which Kelsey interprets as flirting. She says she’ll meet him at his apartment in a few minutes, telling him to go before she changes her mind.

 

Diana tells Liza to meet her in the bathroom, showing her that the toilet is clogged and leaking. Liza promises to take care of it while she continues talking to the hot men she was having a conversation with, but Diana informs her that they were gay and have since left. Diana wants to call it a night, but Liza refuses to let her give up that easily, urging her to mingle some more.

 

Later that night when the party is over, Diana’s former flame Enzo (Chris Tardio) comes by to fix the pipes. She offers him a drink, but he’s all business, promising it’ll be a quick fix. Diana apologizes for ghosting him a year ago, figuring he had many other options. However, Enzo is clearly still hurt by the abandonment. Diana says she was dating someone at the time but is back on the market, and Enzo asks her out to dinner. Diana is surprised but happily says yes.

 

The next day at the office, Diana spies Don’s party invitation to Liza and is annoyed that yet another man just wants another woman in their 20s. Liza says she won’t go, but Diana and Charles both urge her to. Charles snarkily encourages her to take some tupperware, telling her about Don stuffing a pork chop in his pocket at Diana’s.

 

That night, Enzo picks Diana up from work in his plumbing truck, taking her for Italian food in Staten Island. A man on the city council Enzo quickly installed pipes for buys him and Diana a fancy dessert. Diana is shocked by the $500 bottle of wine being delivered to their table, but Enzo says since it’s their first date he’s trying to impress her.

 

At the party, Don says he’ll introduce Liza to her choice of any celebrity, but Liza just wants to get to know him. She Googled him to get familiar with his work, and he’s impressed she actually took the time to read some of his more serious pieces. Don tells Liza some crazy stories about the Manhattan elite, and Liza tells him to hit her up when he’s ready to turn them into a book. Don tells her he’ll come in to pitch the next day.

 

During their meeting, Kelsey is mesmerized by Don’s stories. However, Charles soon comes in and sucks the fun out of the whole pitch, shooting down and belittling all of Don’s ideas. He smugly leaves, saying he has a conference call, and Liza and Kelsey have a private moment while an embarrassed Don uses the restroom.

 

Liza tells Kelsey that Charles knows everything, although she’s not sure how he found out. Kelsey is frustrated, wondering if Charles is going to punish her by trying to tank every author she brings in. Liza promises to handle it, marching into Charles office and resigning.

 

Liza tells Charles he has the right to be mad at her, but ruining Kelsey’s career along with her own isn’t fair, and he can’t take it out on the writers she brings in. Charles assures her that was just business—Don’s idea was clearly half-baked. He asks her if anyone else at the company knows her secret, and she tells him just Kelsey. Charles is irritated they’ve both been lying to him, but Liza explains she didn’t want to involve anyone else in the mess.

 

Charles apologizes for crashing her meeting with Don, admitting that she’s good at her job and Millennial needs her to survive right now. Liza begs Charles to let her explain, saying if he knew the real her maybe he would understand. She cares about him so much and needs him to know that. Charles says he needs her to forget about what they once had.

 

Kelsey and Zane are both at the office late. Kelsey notices Zane changed shirts, wondering if he has a date. Zane tells her he’s having drinks with a junior editor, and Kelsey thinks it’s practically the same thing. Zane notices Kelsey is reading a different manuscript than she was earlier, and she says she likes reading a few different projects at a time.

 

Josh (Nico Tortorella) tells Maggie (Debi Mazar) he’s giving up alcohol and sex for the next ninety days. A man asks if they would be willing to watch his dog while he runs a quick errand, and they happily oblige. However, the man never returns and Josh takes the puppy home.

 

Josh and Lauren (Molly Bernard) hang up signs about the dog. Josh is furious his owner could just abandon him, but Lauren reminds him of their apartment’s no pets rule. Josh replies that they’re technically not supposed to have three people in his space, either. A woman (Marisa Jade Parry) claims the dog from Josh, saying her awful ex must have left him alone. She and Josh are clearly attracted to each other, and Josh brings her back to his apartment to get the dog toys he bought. The two immediately climb into Josh’s bed and have sex.

 

Josh visits Maggie, telling him about his fling. Maggie pours him a drink to celebrate the end of his fast. She’s confident he doesn’t actually need to reset—he just needs someone to drink and complain about girls with him.

 

Don takes Liza out to dinner, but his card gets declined. He’s embarrassed, admitting to Liza he lost his job at the magazines he used to write for. He now barely scrapes by writing click bait and attending fancy parties for the free food. Liza promises she’s been there, offering to pay, but Don manages to pull together some cash and gift cards to cover it. They hurry out of the restaurant before the waitress realizes her tip is less than stellar. He invites her to another party and Liza accepts his invitation.