After five years of buildup, one of the major players learned Liza's secret on Younger Season 5 Episode 1 in a most devastating way.

With the way Liza feels about Charles, we can only imagine she would have wanted to share her truth with Charles, her boss, friend, and romantic interest, herself and not leave it to be discovered in a revenge trap set by Edward L.L. Moore.

That's what happened, but we have some follow-up from Sutton Foster and Peter Hermann on how their characters might weather the storm.

Before jumping straight into the discussion of the reveal, I wanted to hear from both Foster and Hermann in what head-space their characters were living after the Younger Season 4 finale and in light of the highly topical storyline with Edward L.L. Moore and the Pam Pams.

"Well, what's fascinating about our show is when we filmed Season 4, it was before the whole MeToo movement," Foster began.

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"And so as we were on our hiatus, all of that was kind of happening, and writers amazingly looked at that and then looked at our show, and we had a character who fell into that category, and they had to kind of look at their own writing and at the character and everything.

"At the end of Season 4, they had no idea what the phone call was about that Charles makes to Liza at Josh's wedding. But that's one of the beauties of our show and our writers, that they really incorporate what's going on and what the conversations are that are happening in the world and put them in our show."

Foster, continued, "But as far as Liza heading into Season 5, she's walking away from Josh now being married, she's heading back to her job, she has immense hope in whatever this could possibly be.

"At the end of last season, she professes that she's in love with Charles to another man, in the arms of another man but she can't deny that she's in love with him and the fact that she sort of needs to explore that and sort of see what that is. And then, of course, everything is thwarted by this whole L.L. Moore thing."

Considering that others would think Liza's been less than courageous in being who she is because she's afraid of letting people know she's not a woman in her 20's, I wondered if they thought Liza's decision to act would work in her favor as showing there are some things that are easier to stand up and say and this is what society does to us and there is a moment for everything?

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Hermann weighs in, "I think that if we talk about the whole MeToo movement right, talk about a movement or a cultural moment, I think that it's important to remember that any moment, any shift of the culture, any movement is always made of individual acts of courage.

"It's not a general cultural movement, it's people making individual decisions, and I thought it was a remarkable thing that the first episode back we see great courage on display, and I think it is an act of courage of Liza to go to the Pam Pam hall. You know it's all in the context of a romantic comedy the fact that we're talking about Pam Pams," Hermann laughed.

"But it is. It's not to be forgotten. What it actually takes and what kind of a male-dominated cultural environment this group of women is speaking into when they say, 'He did this to me,' 'He did this to me,' 'He did this to me.' I thought it was a great; Happy is not the right word, but I liked our writers even more that there was that moment of that very, very strong group of women doing that in the first episode."

Foster said, "I think Liza is her most empowered in this season. She's becoming tired of secrets and lying and wants to be her true authentic self. She is being her true authentic self but always with some type of condition, and I think she's just tired of all of that.

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"It's a very empowering season for Liza and the show is already very woman empowered show but this is even more so now."

Despite the title of the series being Younger, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be associated with a number. Age is a number, youthfulness is a state of mind. Foster shared her thoughts on the erasure of the initial premise of the show as it continues.

"I mean, that's been happening slowly over the seasons, and the show has been able to be much more than its original concept and has evolved in such an awesome way. And this season takes it even further."

"I mean the fact that another major character finds out her secret in the first episode only shows that the show has evolved somewhere. It's beyond that original concept."

"I feel like this is the season for Liza and Charles. It's a rollercoaster; we're not skipping off into the sunset together, but it is a first time that Liza and Charles have kind of ... There's a arc there, I can say that."

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"As far as how it all pans out, no idea, Foster claims. "I don't even know if the writers know. I don't know what I hope. The reason why Liza went into all of this wasn't to find romance. You know she went in ... She did all of this to get a job that she loves and to get back into a world that she thought was over for her.

"She's re-invented herself so I think ... I don't know if that means she's with someone at the end. I don't know. I don't know what it looks like for her, but I think she's really making a name for herself and really doing incredible work at this company and with Kelsey ... So, I don't know what the ending will be."

On Hermann's part, he wants the writers to keep doing what they're doing. "It feels like this is a season of consequence and of reward somehow.

"That you know in the beginning, you start on the show, and you kind of push the ships out to sea, and now we've journeyed with these characters. and we've journeyed with these stories and their complications for some time now, and I think the reward of having stayed with these stories for so long, that really comes into play this season.

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"And I think that every time that a new script comes, the writers push the envelope further and further and not gratuitously, not because they have new wacky ideas, but it's like they tighten the screws and they write with even more integrity.

"The promise of what the storylines of this show could be are paying off so beautifully this season. And I think that we ... Charles certainly hopes for union and happiness and peace, and the journey there is just never uncomplicated."

If you missed the premiere of Younger, you can catch it tomorrow when you watch Younger online. Until then, find and read our latest Younger review!

Younger Season 5: Everything We Know So Far

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.