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“Younger” recap (2.8): Beyond Therapy

If you tuned in last night for a fresh episode of Younger, you probably noticed once again how little Maggie popped up into scenes. She barely has a B story going. It’s Season 2-it’s Darren Star. I think I speak for fans of the show when I say: Give us more Mags. Debi fucking Mazar, you guys. The stuff that legends are made of. And she plays Craigslist Maggie, the lesbian artist and keeper of Liza’s secrets who doles her free advice, so damn well.

Anyway, Liza’s preoccupied with other things than home life and art shows, because Josh is about to be featured in T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Their Creative Director Greta is covering it. And Liza’s dodging the entire piece-it’s for their “young creatives” issue. She’s so good at playing herself down in this ageist world she’s become more aware of that she doesn’t want to ruin a good thing while she’s ahead. Little does she know, she’s about to feed the truth to the one person-but it won’t be anyone we’ve seen yet this season.

Kelsey is trying to land the “biggest book of the decade.” It’s called The Dealing Decade, based off a podcast by the famed Dr. Jane Wray (Camryn Manheim). Just seeing Manheim in this role is a relief and a bonus in the middle of the season. You might remember her from her crazy ass role as Veronica Bloom in The L Word. I’m possibly still haunted by those chemical peel scenes in which she hoped Shane would join her in bed for a movie marathon and pain killers. Also: “Fuck you, Toby.” Name that movie!

Kelsey tells Liza that Dr. Wray is so good at sussing out the truth. Now Liza’s worried Dr. Wray will smell her lie a mile away. Kelsey, as per usual, has set the tone for what’s to come without even realizing it-totally her M.O. Speaking of suss, Liza runs into Cheryl Sussman (Martha Plimpton), the rival publicist who tried to blackmail her in Season 1 because she was so pissed that Liza was moonlighting as a 26-year-old. Well, Cheryl’s still pissed-even more so now that she sees Liza’s part of Kelsey’s millennial imprint, and wants the same book deal she wants.

At home, Maggie catches Liza anti-age creaming with a new bottle of Olay. So Liza was able to fool Dr. Wray once, it doesn’t mean she’ll be able to hold on for much longer. Cheryl’s threats are stumbling back into the picture-it’s no good. Maggie tells Liza to cream up her neck and calls Cheryl a “She-Devil.” Liza updates Maggie on Josh’s magazine spread and asks her what a creative director even does. Maggie doesn’t skip a beat: “Other people’s coke, mostly.” But other than sitting on the couch and twiddling her thumbs, that’s pretty much all we see from Maggie because she doesn’t even get an invite to Kelsey’s birthday party.

Kelsey is about to turn 27, and she’s freaking out about it after some of the things Dr. Wray said. In the end, after a heated conversation with Cheryl-who’s still out for blood, Liza decides to go for the gold, she tells Dr. Wray herself. “I’m 40.” Dr. Wray is intrigued. This is exactly what she needs. She’ll make Liza an anonymous case study. “You’re pulling it off,” she finally says to Liza. And, fuck yeah for Camryn Manheim being the ultra-savvy, therapeutic, 20-something analyzer who steps in as one of Liza’s new confidants. Liza needs more people in her corner who know what’s up. Hell, maybe Maggie and Dr. Wray should meet. Can you even imagine?

Finally, at Kelsey’s low key #squadonly birthday, she and Lauren are berating Josh’s T magazine piece. Liza can’t get a word in. They don’t understand why he didn’t even act like he had a girlfriend. The title: “The Lonely Artist.” Liza can’t explain to them the truth, but if she could, she’d tell them this happened because she said it was okay-because she wanted it that way, because if anyone found out about her in the NYT, her job at Empirical would be toast and she’d have an even harder time explaining to everyone why she’s been lying, who she is.

The only problem is: she’s still lying, it’s happening right now, and when Josh shows up with a birthday card for Kelsey, she lays into him hard, and he ditches. Outside, it’s a scene we’ve seen all too often for Liza and Josh. He says he can’t do this anymore-he’s done, you guys. (Again.) Liza should feel relief and accomplishment for not only sharing her secret with another human today but also landing that huge ass book deal. But she failed to remember Josh just had a big day, too-it’s not every day your S.O. lands a spot in a big magazine. Here, her friends can throw stones at him all the way, and she doesn’t stop the mess because she’s still holding onto her lie. For Josh, it’s just too much to keep doing. But, he’ll be back.

Also: Thad shows up at Kelsey’s birthday party with a stupid apology and a ring. She accepts and Liza’s heartbroken for her. Now, at 27 years old, Kelsey’s engaged. Funny, because just last night she was 26 and single. I guess anything really can happen in your twenties. And Liza’s living that life twice.

Tune in every Wednesday night for new episodes of Younger on TV Land and follow me on Twitter @the_hoff to discuss!

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