‘Younger’ Season 6 episode 8 Recap: Hurricane Pauline
This is a really good episode!
Younger is back. In a show that is consistently bright and bubbly, this week’s explosive Debu-Taunt (please, keep the pun titles coming) is an oasis of warmth and emotion. It’s time to meet the final boss at the end of Liza’s big secret saga.
Liza and Charles are unbearably content and coupled-up, kissing in the kitchen and talking about Charles’ daughter Bianca, who forgot her book report at school and needs it delivered. Liza decides to! What could go wrong?
Hopefully something so I never have to watch one of these sickening kitchen kisses again.
Liza is cold, and takes a coat out of Charles’ closet (weird that you still have that, mate) and heads to school, but isn’t on the pick-up list to be able to bring the report to Bianca.
But look who is here! It’s Pauline, and it’s her coat. But Charles’ ex-wife is suspiciously all smiles, telling Liza she wants to bury the hatchet, and that Liza should be on the pick-up list. Everything is peachy, much like this hideous coat.
At the office, Liza tells Charles she has been roped into lunch with Pauline tomorrow. He then suggests that instead of forgetting coats, Liza should simply MOVE IN.
“Don’t overthink it,” he says, making me wonder if he has ever met Liza.
Back to work, and Publishing Weekly is holding some kind of debutante ball, where first time authors are accompanied by their editors. Zane suggests Pauline as the debutante, and Liza is happy to accommodate. More importantly, Diana announces her engagement and asks Liza to be her maid of honour. GOD BLESS DIANA TROUT.
At home, Liza bakes a pie and tells Maggie the bad news: she’s going to move in with Charles.
Why would you ever leave this wonderful exposed brick loft in the city that everyone on sitcoms can suspiciously afford?
Liza goes to lunch with Pauline, arguably the show’s realest villain. She tells Liza she should never have left Millennial, and wants help with her upcoming book. Liza invites her to be the debutante, and she says yes!
It’s a very normal date, just a couple of gal pals, just a pairing of ex-wife and girlfriend he cheated with, hanging out.
Pauline goes to pick up her daughter, and the school lady (official title) remarks how nice it is she’s friends with Charles’ girlfriend.
“In my circles, men are always running off with their 20-something assistants,” Pauline says. But school lady scanned her license when she registered for school pick-up, and so Pauline learns Liza’s deeply shocking (really, it’s not that dramatic) secret.
Off to this weird debutante ball, where shit is about to go down.
It seems Pauline couldn’t hold onto this one for very long, as she shows up and tells Charles immediately, “Liza is 42,” as though it is the most horrifying thing she has ever heard. Charles is not shocked. Pauline is upset and feels betrayed by this completely innocuous fact that is frankly none of her business.
The shit and the fan are about to meet.
Pauline, an evil harpie, decides to announce Liza’s secret on stage.
Precious Diana immediately jumps to Liza’s defence, calling Pauline a “sad and petty person, simply jealous of the person your ex-husband is in love with.” I mean, she’s not wrong.
Liza tells her the truth.
Diana leaves and is straight up not having a good time on the streets of New York, collapsing during a panic attack while still looking incredible in bold red.
At the hospital, a disheveled and visibly upset Diana doesn’t want to see anyone but sweet Enzo. You can’t blame a gal. This brief unguarded moment with Enzo is beautiful, and probably the first time we’ve seen Diana so stripped-down and vulnerable.
Liza collapses on her bed, and receives a phone call from Josh. On the verge of tears, she tells him she’s made a mess of everything and isn’t moving in with Charles.
Everyone at Millennial is dealing with the fallout, and attempting to work up a press release. Lauren is being extremely rude to ‘Ms Miller,’ but I will give her a pass on account of her adorable sweater.
Liza goes to see Diana and apologise, and things get uncomfortably real. Liza and Diana’s bizarre friendship has been blossoming for 6 seasons, and its undercurrent of snide humour gives way to real warmth and connection in these final scenes.
Miriam Shor and Sutton Foster are magical.
Diana is angry, and says she is drafting Liza’s termination letter.
“For the life of me, I cannot come up with one good answer to the question — what self-respecting adult would go to those lengths for this job?” she says. “To get me coffee and chopped salad? To hand-stitch my pants? To clean out my birdcage? To bring my urine sample to the doctor? To hold my hand when I was alone on the red carpet? To convince me to fight for Enzo when he chased me away? Who would do that?”
Diana is crying, I’m crying, it’s a whole thing. She wants to move forward with honesty, and goes to tell Liza one last thing. She hesitates, and asks for the numbers for the new releases.
Liza says “I love you too.” I need a drink and a tissue.
This week’s fashion champion:
Diana Trout (and by extension, the magnificent Miriam Shor) is an absolute star all round this week, but I adore this corporate and leather dominatrix combo.
Team whom?
I am delighted to move away from Liza’s love triangle and bring Diana’s relationships to the forefront. Team Liza and Diana Friends 4EVA.
Younger season 6 is currently streaming on Stan.
Lucy Valentine is a freelance writer, political satirist, podcast co-host and all-round Melbourne stereotype. She is extremely online and tweeting at @LucyXIV