Younger season 5, episode 5 recap: You can’t go wrong committing to yourself
By Reed Gaudens
While Liza narrowly stops a tell-all piece from going viral, she starts an online movement and reconnects with Josh. Does Younger want us back on #TeamJosh?
Charles? So yesterday. Don? Zero sparks. Josh? Now this is what dreams are made of. If you’re a religious Younger fan, you have probably been switching sides from #TeamCharles and #TeamJosh depending on the season. For a while, it seemed as though Charles had the end game edge (though we also strongly advocated for Liza following whichever path she wanted), but the latest episode reminds us that Josh, the one true love of Liza’s life, stole our hearts a long time ago. Are we ready to place our bets on Josh?
It’s not as though any of us ever really left Team Josh. Granted, Josh still looks like Nico Tortorella and is super-sweet all of the time (except for that whole Irish wedding mess). Even though Charles was absent from the episode, his tense presence was still felt in the fibers of Liza’s latest brush with being exposed. Don shows his true colors with an ill-advised article, and you can almost hear Charles stress sighing over the simmering scandal. But in Younger star Miram Shor’s directorial debut, Liza makes it out kicking and screaming… and hugging Josh.
Liza ends one online trend…
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While Kelsey gets a little too close Jake for Zane’s liking, Liza’s daughter gets a little too close to a loaf of bread. Apparently, the latest trend on the internet is smashing your face into bread, or “breadfacing,” for money, which isn’t too far off in year where teenagers were eating laundry detergent pods. Caitlin’s friend’s parents bring the video to Liza’s attention, and it frightens Liza to her core. She’s learned a thing or two about decisions haunting you and coming back to bite, after all.
…and starts another.
Although Liza talks her daughter out of her breadfacing, she inadvertently ignites another online trend. Last time on Younger, Liza hit it off with a struggling journalist named Don Ridley. Remember those decisions coming back to bite? Well, Liza found teeth marks. During a date, Liza slips and falls, causing her two IDs to slide out of her purse. As a journalist, Don has questions, and Liza has no choice but to tell him the truth. Of course, he sells Liza’s story to Vanity Fair, and fact checkers are calling Liza, Kelsey, and Reese Witherspoon’s team. But Liza talks her way out of the impending scandal by referring to herself as “age-queer,” a term the internet runs with.
A love letter to the LGBTQ+ community that sticks the landing.
Let’s rewind from Liza’s invention of “age-queer” and focus on Lauren, our guiding light on Younger. She’s a true queer warrior, a hero on a show that’s on a network targeted to the 35-49, Everybody Loves Raymond rerun-loving crowd. Lauren throws a launch party for an edible makeup line (Jessica Simpson’s defunct edible beauty line is shaking), and introduces Liza and Maggie to Tam, her pansexual, genderqueer intern. Liza and Maggie are confused but accepting, and far less caustic than the women of Sex and the City would have reacted.
In a scene that should be shown in college courses and just generally everywhere, Lauren lays down the law on the beautiful spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities and explains the importance of proper pronoun usage. Because it’s a comedy, it’s done in a playful way, but the message and education remains. Still, Liza throwing genderqueer identities under the bus and appropriating queerness to get out of a jam feels kind of icky. But she (and the show) are self-aware enough to note that “age-queer” was offensive. Either way, Younger stuck the landing on sticking its neck out for the LGBTQ+ community, something it should do more often.
Next: Younger season 5, episode 4 recap: Will Liza ever win back Charles’ trust?
#TeamJosh rides again.
When Josh tells Liza that he will be vacating Inkburg, his Brooklyn tattoo parlor, instead of signing his landlord’s 10-year lease, she immediately springs to action. She doesn’t want him to give up on his passion and end up renting a chair in Silverlake or another city other than New York out of fear of commitment. Truthfully, commitment has used Josh as a plaything. First, his almost-proposal to Liza went down in flames. Then his green-card wife left him not long after their wedding. However, Liza’s speech to commit to himself strikes a chord and inspires him to sign the lease. Look out, Charles. #TeamJosh is back in action!
What do you think, Younger fans? Do Liza and Josh still have feelings for each other? Will they and should they act on these feelings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Younger airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on TV Land.