We’re here once more to discuss everything about Younger! “The Unusual Suspect” has been like a second part of last week’s episode. That’s how I’ve taken it. It has not been of my favorites, but the truth is that it has developed much more what we were beginning to glimpse in the previous one, has closed some outstanding chapters among the characters and has opened others, secrets and lies are revealed and that changes absolutely EVERYTHING.
First of all and following the comments on the previous review, I just want to say that I’m honest in each of my reviews. This is not a recap. I will not limit myself to summarizing what happened in the episode. This is a review and, therefore, a sincere opinion of what I have seen. And I say sincere because that’s the way I’ll always be. I’ll tell you what I felt when I saw the episode, both good and bad.
What I translate into words is nothing more than my feelings about what the characters have done. Sometimes I will get angry, sometimes I will love them, sometimes I will hate them … that is my way of loving the series and my way of writing. Simply transmitting everything I felt about the different characters, as they are, that is, I will not be harder on a character because he is called Charles than on another because he is called Josh. I will say what I feel about their actions. The names will come later.
Of course, mine is an opinion like any other, there will be people who agree and some will not. I am pleased to debate, with respect, all points of view. I think it’s the best part of fandoms and the series: the debates and exchanges of ideas. I try to be as objective as possible but I think it is logical that, being an opinion as it is, sometimes it doesn’t seem to have some objectivity, especially in a season 6 where all the above has not been analyzed by the same person. But it has it, I assure you or, at least, I try. That will be my commitment every week at the time of doing the review: transmit everything I have felt with the greatest possible objectivity, and discuss all the different points of view and feelings about the episode.
Finally, thank all readers for your support, comments and trust, your fedback. Now, sorry for this rant, and … Here we go!
FAMILY
I’m very proud of Josh and Claire! As parents I think they are wonderful, in every way. Being a father is not only giving birth and taking care of the little one, but also wanting to give the best and knowing exactly what is best for them. Claire and Josh have passed this test and, at the same time, have closed a pending chapter between them.
Seeing them raise their daughter has been very tender. It is inevitable that both will consider the possibility of being together again. Why not? They have a daughter together, they are already married, they care for each other, Liza seems unreachable to Josh … and they would give their daughter stability and a family. But the problem is that this is a good reason, but it is not a correct reason, as Claire says. Every father wants their baby to grow up healthy and happy, in a stable environment with parents who care each other. It’s a good reason for Claire and Josh to consider going back together. The problem is that the right reason to decide to be together in a romantic way is for them to love each other, nothing more.
Josh and Claire love each other, but it is the love of a close friend. They don’t love each other as a couple, they never have. That is why the decision to be together only for their daughter and for the love they have is an error. That, in the long run, would hurt their daughter and them personally, because they would not be completely happy … and that would end up hurting their daughter in the end.
I have always thought that Claire and Josh had that special affection but that it was never love. They both came to each other’s life in a moment of need, they did not even really know each other … but they were attracted and needed and that was enough for them to get married. Claire needed someone to guarantee her stay in the country and, at the same time, be good and kind enough to help her and not take advantage of the solution. She knew that Josh was in love with Liza and that he had a heart of gold, so she said yes. And Josh, at that moment, needed to run away from Liza and pass that page of the book that seemed stuck. So he said yes to what seemed like a perfect escape: the wedding with Claire.
But both have matured since then enough to not run to the easiest solution at the first exchange. Claire doesn’t love Josh in a romantic way and she has realized that Josh continues to love Liza with all his heart because she is the only one … and that all three deserve something better. She deserves a man who loves her completely and who she loves and to be happy. Josh deserves to live happily with who he really loves, not to commit to a person who doesn’t love him that way; and their daughter deserves to have parents with a full and happy life. Josh has done the same.
As Claire said, it was normal to raise that question, even to be about to say yes, because there was a good and powerful reason in between … but not the right reason. Claire is absolutely right here. In the end, they ran to each other for good reasons and needs but never for the right ones. So they have committed themselves in the right way. Both have committed to raising their daughter together and fight every day for her. That adorable little girl and the love they feel for each other will always unite them but their romantic lives will remain separate because they are not soulmates and they deserve to have that kind of love in their lives.
I think that Claire and Josh’s decision is of an incredible maturity for the age they both have. And, outside of which trusts or not in Claire (although in this episode she has gained many points), I believe that it shows the evolution of both characters. Also, I think that the decision of both closes the chapter that was pending between them since Claire appeared pregnant at Josh’s door and, above all, that is the greatest act of love they could have done, both for their daughter and for themselves.
FEMALE POWER!
Quinn has run into an amazing Kelsey! I was not surprised that Quinn played dirty with Kelsey. I didn’t trust her and her malice and her ambition were seen from afar. But Kelsey has not remained idle, in the end, she has managed to handle the problem brilliantly. She has not shrugged off Quinn’s challenge and has shown her face. Quinn thought she had Kelsey in her handsm but it was not so. Kelsey has stood in front of her and has not let her manipulate them anymore. It’s over to follow her game.
As we said last week, we don’t have to be condescending or belittle Kelsey for nothing. Not even for her mistakes. Yes, she is young and will make her mistakes, she will need support to get out of them and also trust from the people around her. But that’s not bad. Everyone needs help and life is about learning. Like everything, you learn by living, experiencing … and drawing a lesson from your own mistakes. The experience is nothing more than the accumulation of all that learning.
Everyone has done it that way. Liza, Charles, Diana … everyone, simply because it’s life. Kelsey has the mettle and qualities for the position she is in. On this occasion, Kelsey has shown once again that she is qualified for the position. Her way is different from Charles’s but equally good. Kelsey has shown that she is able to realize the mistakes, learn from them and do what needs to be done to maintain her integrity as a person, editor and, with that, the company. Of course, this is not the end. I’m sure Quinn still has a few tricks up her sleeve, but I’m betting on #TeamMillenial AKA Kelsey, Liza and Diana.
Having said that, I have to highlight Quinn’s speech about women’s difficulty in asserting themselves. It is still a very current discourse. I give her all the reason in that speech. Women have to work twice as hard to be considered as valuable as a man. Even on those rare occasions when we manage positions of power, it is something that is stereotyped. While a man is the master of the universe , a powerful woman is considered cold, unattainable … and the worst is that many times you must show yourself to be this way to get over all the pitfalls until you reach the top. It is totally unfair.
Of course, that horrible and unfair situation doesn’t give Quinn carte blanche to do what she has done and it is no excuse for it. Quinn is simply a bad, scheming person trying to make herself look better, without more. But we can’t deny the sad truth and the reality that this discourse contains. A reality that we are struggling to change.
LIES & PROBLEMS
I knew it! I knew that the secret that Zane and Charles kept was going to explode in the face of Kelsey and Liza! It was clear that something like this was going to happen. Lying to your partner is wrong. I don’t care if the character is called Zane, Charles, Josh or whatever he wants to call himself. Charles should have been honest from the start. He must have told Liza what he was doing with Zane. As Zane should have told Kelsey. That said, Zane and Kelsey were not together until recently, and even now their thing was undefined … but he should have told her as soon as he started seeing her again, even if only to share part of himself with her.
Zane and Kelsey carry this kind of game of secrets, of annoying each other and forgiving each other afterwards. This tug of war. The love hate/relationship that we have fallen in love with. But that relationship is a very thin rope that, if it gets too tight, can break. Until when does Zane plan to do something that will eventually hurt Kelsey professionally? Until when is she going to end up forgiving him for it? And vice versa. These types of games have an extreme balance so as not to really hurt the loved one and also a limit, you have to know when to stop playing. Zane right now doesn’t know how to stop playing … and he needs to learn how to do it. Urgently.
Having said that, I think it is clear that the level of commitment that Zane and Kelsey have at this moment is much less than that of Liza and Charles. Zane and Kelsey, as we have said before, were not a couple and they were still in that flirt, in that we are everything and we are nothing moment. On the contrary, Liza and Charles are a couple. Therefore, although Zane should certainly have told everything to Kelsey, that Charles didn’t say anything to Liza seems even more serious.
I just don’t understand the reason why Charles doesn’t tell Liza anything. I don’t understand why he is hiding it. Besides that it is inexcusable, it doesn’t make any sense. And, besides keeping the secret, every time that Liza is going to ask him about it (because she knows that something big is happening), Charles distracts her, he lies or does both.
A couple is not based on lies, secrets, beautiful moments and sex. Not a couple that lasts. Yes, their moments are very sweet. But I have always said and thought that words are carried by the wind because of the amount of sugar they carry in them, and that what defines us are our actions, not our words. When it comes to the truth, Charles is not only hiding an essential part of his life from Liza – something that in itself would be enough to reflect on, because it is not a good basis for a relationship – he also lies about it or distracts her.
That is wrong and it is a serious mistake that I hope Charles will apologize for, and soon. I also hope that Liza will assert herself and put the dots on the i’s. She can not allow this. And Charles has to realize his mistakes and the consequences they have.
Another thing that I have always thought is that if you hide something with as much zeal as Charles conceals that purchase of the book from Liza it is because you know, deep down, that something is not right in it. Let’s be honest, I don’t believe at all, knowing his former company and the publishing world as he knows it, that Charles didn’t know that Millennial was in the bid for that book, or could be. Although he doesn’t get it at first, I’m sure he did know it later … and he kept on telling Liza nothing. And he lies to her, even by omission.
Once you lie the first time it’s hard to stop. One lie goes after another because from the first, the fear of losing that person for having lied overcomes the previous fear, which was the reason for lying in the first place. That’s why you can’t stop doing it and each lie is bigger than the previous one. Then, suddenly, what was a grain of sand, an unimportant obstacle, becomes a giant ball that crushes everything in its path.
Charles doesn’t say anything to Liza, he lies to her, he distracts her … he deliberately hides everything from her. Why? As I mentioned before, I don’t see any sense … more than, deep down, he knows that this can cause a problem between them. Then he lied to her the first time, hid it. After that, the fear that Liza finds out and something breaks between them for that lie makes him lie more. But lies are temporary, always. They can take two days to explode or two years … but they explode.
Now Liza knows the truth. She knows what the money was for. She knows what Charles was hiding. She knows the secret. And I’m sure that, although she will be upset about the purchase of the book by Charles, Liza will focus on what is really serious: the lies. Hiding the purchase was already a mistake, but they could have overcome it. After all, Charles was not supposed to know that Millennial was behind that book; but he was aware that he was hiding something important from Liza and that he was lying, that he was not trusting her, his partner … and he continued to do the same.
That lie and lack of confidence will be the catalyst to externalize all the ghosts and problems they have as a couple. Problems that until now they have decided to ignore and cover … but it was time to bring it to light: the sacrifice he made, his lack of trust towards Liza, her feelings about his secrets, Liza’s guilt because of Charles’s decision, the almost impossible balance between Liza’s life outside of Charles and her life with him …
All this has the potential to destroy them, maybe not at the beginning … but at the end. And the worst of it is that I’m sure that Charles will shield himself from the pact he made with Liza in the previous episode as an excuse for not having said anything to her. And, if he does, it will be like trying to cover the sun with a finger because that does not excuse him and they should not have made that pact in the first place. Eliminating an essential part of the other’s life to be together, not commenting on it, is never a solution. We will see how Charles acts … I may be wrong and I hope so. In any case, that remains pending for the next review.
I reaffirm what I said last week, I LOVE MAGGIE! She’s wonderful and those characters that give the perfect touch to the show. I also liked seeing Kelsey, Liza and Diana together. I think it’s the first time we see them like this, so united and rowing in the same direction. Their friendship is about one of the things that make this show great. Female power!
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion with us in the comments below! We’ll be back in two weeks with 6×04.
Younger airs on Wednesday, at 10 / 9c on TV Land.
