Younger season 5, episode 9 recap: Liza and Charles cause problems for Kelsey

Younger throws Kelsey an unfortunate hand of side effects from Liza and Charles’ secret relationship. How much will love cost the company?

The lie about Liza’s age on Younger is so yesterday. There’s a new secret in town, and it could be an even bigger scandal than finding out a 20-something assistant is actually 40-something. In case you missed it, after five seasons of non-starters and sidelong glances, Liza and Charles have put their feelings for each other to bed. Meaning, they have officially done the deed and given a relationship the old millennial try. Well, secretly at least.

While Kelsey prepares to accept the Maverick Award at the Glamour Women of the Year ceremony, Liza and Charles’ undercover arrangement threatens to sink her battleship in a big way. Keeping their romance under wraps appears to be an even more precarious operation than concealing Liza’s true age. Apparently, you can’t just appropriate 20-something style, tack on an extra layer of concealer, and call it a day when it comes to a secret relationship. Unfortunately for Kelsey, Liza and Charles prove the shaky ground of conflicting interests.

There’s a fine line between business and pleasure.

More from Comedy

• Get ready for laughs: Here’s who’s hosting Saturday Night Live tonight
• What time is Ghosts UK on CBS tonight? (November 16, 2023)
• The CW’s culture of pulling shows continues as Everyone Else Burns and Run the Burbs are removed from the schedule
• Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 to premiere in February 2024
• The White Lotus season 3 gets frustrating release update as fans brace for longer wait

Liza and Kelsey field two very different pitches. A literary memoir comes from an unreliable author, while a self-made billionaire brings a book that’s much more Millennial’s speed. Kelsey opts to pass on the literary memoir, but Liza later uses the manuscript as a scapegoat when she and Charles are caught out to dinner by Redmond. One thing leads to another and Charles decides to buy the memoir for Millennial, prompting Kelsey to fear the worst: Liza went behind her back to the boyfriend in chief. Of course, that’s not the case.

Liza wouldn’t go over Kelsey’s head to Charles, but it still sucks that she’s putting herself, Charles, and Kelsey in a position where book deals are the middleman. (Don’t think that Charles isn’t at fault here either!) Before Kelsey’s award ceremony, Liza reassures Kelsey that at the end of the day, she would choose her over any book or man. Kelsey shares her honor with Liza in her acceptance speech, and it’s the necessary feminist twist on a confusing, un-Bechdel kind of story. In the end, both books are purchased and everyone wins.

Lauren and Diana are the power duo we never knew we needed.

Freelance Lauren might be the best Lauren, and that’s saying something because every Lauren is the best Lauren. Since she’s not working for a public relations firm, Lauren has decided she’s Kelsey’s publicist, which is how Kelsey scored the Glamour award. Now Lauren has her sights set on Diana, queen of Empirical Publishing. When Lauren realizes she knows Enzo, Diana’s boyfriend, from an old porn video, she uses her PR prowess to sweep the video off the internet and, in turn, Diana off her feet. Get ready for the new Younger power duo we need but don’t deserve.

Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

We need to talk about Josh.

Is anyone else concerned for Josh? He hasn’t had much to do this season, beyond deciding not to sell his tattoo parlor and move to, like, Portland or something. On the one hand, it’s rather refreshing, given that he threw us through a loop and half with that whole Ireland green card marriage thing last year.

But with Liza and Charles thriving despite the forces of ethics working against them, it’s only a matter of time before he 1. finds out and 2. waltzes in to make a messy situation even messier. For the time being, let’s allow him the freedom to live peacefully on the sidelines until the other shoe drops. Seeing as there are only three episodes remaining, that will be sooner rather than later.

What do you think, Younger fans? Did Liza and Charles put Kelsey in a crumby situation? Did Kelsey overreact? Are Lauren and Diana going to run this town? Sound off in the comments!

Younger airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on TV Land.