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After Sex and the City and before Emily in Paris, Darren Starr created a sitcom that bent norms by focusing on a 40-year-old woman who lies about her age in order to land a job years after being a stay-at-home mom. Although there’s been a resurgence in projects tackling ageism and age-gap relationships — such as The Idea of You and Babygirl — Younger has distilled those themes since 2015, with Sutton Foster‘s Liza pretending to be in her late ’20s to work as an assistant at a publishing firm called Empirical.
Throughout the series, the main character gets into various tight ropes in order to keep her identity a secret from work colleagues like Kelsey (Hilary Duff) and from her young and tattoo-covered boyfriend Josh (Nico Tortorella). Due to this, there are several shocking moments that stem from Liza’s secret being revealed and her complicated love life, with the character always torn between Josh and her boss Charles (Peter Hermann). Looking back at the TV Land original’s seven seasons, here is a list filled with the show’s most unexpected plot twists.
Younger
- Release Date
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2015 – 2020
- Network
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TV Land, Paramount+
- Showrunner
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Darren Star
- Directors
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Peter Lauer, Steven K. Tsuchida, Todd Biermann, Andrew Fleming, Jennifer Arnold, Tamra Davis, Tricia Brock, Brennan Shroff, Darren Star, Miriam Shor
10
Kelsey posts a compromising Insta story
Season 6, Episode 10
Millenial’s head, Kelsey Peters, is clever at signing authors, but often gets into trouble once she’s had a little too much to drink. In Season 6, after she is able to secure a much-needed investment during her work trip to Chicago, she goes out to celebrate with Charles and returns to her hotel room drunk. Unaware of what she was doing, the character blows off her partnership with the investors by posting a shocking Instagram story where she has her shirt unbuttoned and says, “Guess who got the money, honey!”
What was intended to be a flirty exchange with Zane (Charles Michael Davis) took a life of its own, with social media nearly ending her career in print with the speed of a click. Although Millenial didn’t lose the funding it needed, Kelsey did have to step down from her position as publisher, which was a major setback after all the effort she put into the business.
9
Liza tells Josh the truth
Season 1, Episode 11
The reason why Liza’s reveal to Josh isn’t as high up on the list, is because there were other times that the truth about her age came to light in a much more dramatic way. Even so, how she simply blurted out that she was a 40-year-old divorcé with a grown-up daughter during Lauren’s Hot Mitzvah got viewers off guard early in the series. After all, most shows would wait a few seasons before making the protagonist share their secret, but that was definitely not the case here.
After the couple have some spiked shots at the party, Josh tells Liza that he loves her, and she responds to him with a bombshell. Even though both of them weren’t sober at that moment, reality sinked in for Josh immediately, with him feeling betrayed by the girlfriend he thought he knew. Of course, they do eventually make amends, but this revelation was one of the first to hit Liza’s inner circle like a punch.
8
Charles admits his feelings for Liza
Season 4, Episode 6
When Jay Malic (Aasif Mandvi) from Macmillan finds out about Liza’s age, he doesn’t question her lie, but rather offers her the opportunity to sit down for a friendly dinner. As they share pop culture references with each other that only those over 40 would understand, Liza spots Charles from across the room and feels a bit worried about what he might think of her and Jay hanging out. The answer is, not that happy.
Fast-forward to the next day in the office, Charles isn’t even in a good mood about his birthday. He is both furious with Kelsey about Empirical losing an important author to a rival and nervous that Liza is dating someone his age that isn’t him. He even blurts that out to her, minutes before Diana (Miriam Shor) walks in with a birthday cupcake to lighten up the mood. Seeing Charles finally admit his feelings for Liza was surprising, especially how it came out of his mouth without him even noticing it.
7
Liza decides to quit Empirical
Season 2, Episode 12
When Thad (Dan Amboyer) dies (more on that latter) and Kelsey is left devastated, Liza feels guilty for keeping her secret from her friend and business partner. Although Maggie (Debi Mazar) warns her that it might be bad timing, Liza feels her conscience weighting in. If she can’t tell the truth, what else can she do to appease her mind? The only other option she can think of is quitting Empirical and letting Kelsey get on without her.
The way the main character simply lets go of her job just because Kelsey was mad at her felt like a bit of a shocking turn, given how much she had done to protect her identity and ensure she had a career in publishing. Although it didn’t take long for her to return to the office, given how everyone missed her presence and professionalism, it was crazy how she quit so easily to work at a department store in New Jersey.
6
Josh fails to propose to Liza
Season 3, Episode 12
The love triangle between Liza, Josh, and Charles has got to be one of the main reasons why fans are hooked on Younger. Until the very end, it was hard to determine who the protagonist was meant to be with. In Season 3, while she was still in a serious relationship with Josh, Liza proceeds to make out with Charles. The worst part is that Josh was there to witness the entire thing.
After Liza and Charles say goodnight and she opens the door to her room, she is caught off guard by the words “marry me?” formed by petals on top of her bed. Not only does that image make her feel awful about kissing Charles, but it also makes her realize that she is being unfair to Josh about how she isn’t ready to take a step further in their relationship, especially after their conversation about kids. Regardless of the character’s guilt, witnessing Josh looking at his girlfriend, whom he was this close to proposing to, kiss another man was heart-shattering.
5
Thad dies after threatening Liza
Season 3, Episode 12
Remember when I mentioned Thad’s death and how that influenced Liza’s decision to leave Empirical momentarily? Well, even more shocking than Liza quitting her position at the publishing house was Thad getting killed by a construction hazard. Although it is fair to say that no one watching the show liked him, no one expected him to get knocked off after confronting Liza about her lie.
As he was threatening to unveil her identity in their heated exchange in the middle of a sidewalk, it was impossible for viewers to get clued in to what was about to happen next. In a matter of seconds, a steel beam fell on top of him, and just like that, Liza did not have to worry about him letting others in on her real age.
4
Josh gets married to Clare
Season 4, Episode 12
Younger‘s unpredictability reaches a peak when Josh decides to say “I do” to Clare (Phoebe Dynevor), after professing his love for Liza the night before his wedding. This was one of those moments where those watching at home were secretly hoping that he would run away mid-ceremony or that Liza would get up and say something to make him change his mind. None of those things happened, and Josh soon became a husband.
Forever rarely means forever in the TV realm, so the couple do get divorced and Josh is left off the hook to pursue Liza again. But the fact that he actually tied the knot, couldn’t have been less foreshadowed. Still, if it weren’t for the tattoo artist’s brief marriage to Clare, he would’ve never become a father. Liza was vocal about not wanting to get pregnant again, so his relationship with Clare at least allowed him to still get the chance to become a parent.
3
Josh leans in to kiss Kelsey
Season 3, Episode 1
It’s normal for certain series to swap couples occasionally in order to keep things interesting — Grey’s Anatomy surely did this more times than we can count — but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a bit strange when two people who are not supposed to be together share a kiss. That’s why it just felt utterly wrong for Josh and Kelsey to lock lips, even if Liza and Charles’ relationship was making leaps.
In Season 3, when Josh, Kelsey and Lauren go on a trip upstate, they kiss briefly only to see how complicated it would be for them to be romantically involved. Kelsey is the one to stop things from escalating by bringing up the girl code, ensuring that her and Josh are better off as friends. Still, the fact that the kiss even happened was a bit disconcerting for viewers, given Josh’s past with Liza and Kelsey’s friendship with the latter.
2
Liza rejects Charles’ proposal
Season 7, Episode 1
For those who were certain that Liza would finish the show married to Charles, her response to his proposal in the first episode of Season 7 was not what they were hoping to hear. When the two of them are heading into a stable union, Liza tells Charles she will never be ready to get married again and that she would be more than happy to continue dating him without making that extra commitment.
Although she says this hoping he will understand where she is coming from, her rejection doesn’t rub Charles the right way. He can’t be in a casual relationship with someone for the rest of his life. He is looking for a partner that wants to have a family with him, and he wants to get together with a person that is ready to put a ring on it. This conversation is the confirmation that they needed to know that they aren’t supposed to stay together, and although the show spends the entire final season trying to get them to reconcile, their relationship hits a point of no return after this particular instance.
1
Pauline reveals Liza’s secret
Season 6, Episode 8
Out of all the times Liza’s identity was revealed, Pauline’s (Jennifer Westfeldt) speech at the Debutante Ball was by far the most dramatic of them all. Yes, Charles and Kelsey were already aware of Liza’s secret, but many viewers failed to consider how hurt Diana would be as the last person to find out about the protagonist’s lie. Seeing her stand up to defend her former assistant only to realize that Pauline was saying the truth was a gut-wrenching experience for fans of the show.
After all, Diana might act tough most of the time, but she’s shown in several instances that she is sensitive. For her to know the truth in a public place wasn’t fair. Even though Diana does eventually forgive Liza, it doesn’t take away from how affecting that moment was for the marketing maven, who even had a panic attack after leaving the event. As her and the protagonist have a candid conversation in her office the next morning, it becomes clear that Liza’s boss has more appreciation for her than she can put into words.
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