Younger Season 7 Episode 10 Review: Inku-baited
Jessica Lerner
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It's beginning to feel a lot like the end.
Younger Season 7 Episode 10 was the antepenultimate episode of the entire series -- also known as the third to last one -- and the writers have started dotting all their i's and crossing all their t's in typical fashion.
This season may have dragged at times and been repetitive, but at least we're getting a happy ending with closure, so there's that.
If the show hadn't made it abundantly clear by now about Liza and Charles being endgame, it more than did so during the final few moments.
Charles is starting to see what's been right in front of him the whole time: that Liza is all in, even if she doesn't want to get remarried, while Liza has learned that she wants Charles to be happy.
Charles: As if it’s that easy.
Liza: Isn't it, if you want it to be.
Charles: I don’t know what I want.
Liza: I’m so sorry. It’s none of my business.
Charles: No, don’t apologize.
Liza: I just made it weird.
Charles: No, you didn’t.
Liza: I only meant… do whatever makes you happy. That’s all I want. It doesn’t matter how you get there.
Is that desire to see him happy enough to get Liza to change her tune on marriage? It could just be.
We don't whether wedding bells are in their future or not, but reconciliation is on the horizon.
At this point, the only thing standing in their way is Quinn, who was thankfully MIA this installment.
It's still unclear what Charles has been doing with the supposedly reformed queen of mean -- I mean, other than killing time before he and Liza get back together.
However, it appears that Quinn was just a warm body for Charles, someone to help soothe his broken heart and ego after Liza rejected his proposal.
He never got over Liza, and it's hard to imagine he feels more than slight affection or attraction for Quinn.
As they say, 'the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else,' and Charles has been trying his hand at that.
He keeps finding that no matter how "serious" things get with Quinn, she doesn't hold a candle to Liza.
Charles: Thank you for reminding me why I got into publishing in the first place.
Liza: You’re exaggerating and drunk.
Charles: Just means I’m telling the truth. God, you are a remarkable woman, Liza Miller. You have a way of making me see things in a completely different way. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.
Liza keeps surprising Charles and making him remember who he is at his core, and it's hard to compete with that.
Liza, for her part, hasn't so much tried to move on with someone else but rather done her best to get over Charles, which, again, isn't working too well.
Liza has pretty much resigned herself that a part of her will always love Charles, and now, it's just figuring out a way to move on with her life.
Of course, we all know they'll be moving forward together, but Liza just's trying to do her best to get by.
She has no idea the effect she has on Charles, and her simple involvement with Inkubator was enough to remind Charles about why he got into publishing in the first place.
Had it just been Kelsey spearheading Inkubator, there's a chance Charles wouldn't have changed his mind, even if Azalea King read new material that night.
Kelsey would have been right that Charles would try to poach Azalea and then ignored them subsequently.
However, because the idea was also Liza's, Charles went into the evening with a more open mind and was more willing to take a risk than he would have had Liza not been attached to the project.
Liza: The draw is completely random. We can’t stack it because we don’t know what we’re looking for until we hear it. That’s what makes it exciting. We’re not looking for something marketable; we’re just waiting for something to inspire us, you know.
Charles: I do or I used to. Publishing has been so fragile for so long, and I’ve had to focus too much lately on blockbusters and safe bets just to keep the lights on. It is not quite as romantic as your Brooklyn roundtable.
Liza: Well, you’re running a business. You have to lead with your head, not your heart. We have a freedom that you don’t because Inkubator isn't a business.
Charles: Yeah, but I think that it could be. Empirical is on solid footing, and I think that we’ve earned a little leeway from our investors to follow our heart more.
Liza: What are you saying?
Charles: I’m saying that I want to bring Inkubator into the company. Maybe it is an imprint. Maybe it’s just a talent magnet. But you have proven it’s valuable, and with Azalea King on the roster, I think we can convince Chicago to get onboard.
For the record, Inkubator and the app are great ideas, and a pre-Younger Season 7 Charles should have given them a fair shake.
However, Empirical's publisher lost his way a bit this season, throwing himself dispassionately into work after his breakup with Liza, prioritizing profit over product.
Now that the company is on sturdier footing, and Charles is emerging from his heartbroken state, he's starting to see things clearly, and Liza's a big part of that.
Inkubator has the potential to be big for Empirical, and it could be if Kelsey can make things right with Clare.
We all knew things would hit the fan with Clare once she found out Kelsey and Rob were dating, but we couldn't have seen it derailing Inkubator like this.
Bringing Clare on to design the app was an ingenious idea by Lauren, and if Kelsey had only listened to her bestie, she wouldn't be in this situation.
Kelsey may still be able to launch the app, but now she may have to find a new place to live, as Clare isn't keen on having someone she distrusts around Gemma.
As intolerable as Clare has been in the past, she's in the right here.
Kelsey broke the girl code, and Clare has the right to be pissed, especially since Kelsey didn't even have the decency to tell her the truth.
Clare: How long? Were you screwing him when you were holding my hand at brunch?
Josh: Clare, Gemma’s trying to sleep.
Clare: Oh, did you know about this?
Josh: No, of course not.
Clare: Was it going on before that? Are we true tunnel sisters now?
Josh: I don’t think tunnel sisters has a temporal requirement.
Kelsey: You said that it was a mature breakup.
Clare: It’s just a thing you say. It’s not a greenlight to every blond woman in the tri-state area to begin the hunt.
Kelsey: That’s not fair.
Clare: Is that why you took me out to brunch? To see how long you were going to have to wait?
Kelsey: No, I was trying to be friendly.
Clare: You are not my friend.
What makes it more frustrating is that Kelsey is acting like Rob is one in a million.
Yes, she may like that he's not hypercompetitive and doesn't squash her ambition, but there are plenty of other guys like that out there.
It's not like Rob is some magic unicorn; he's just a random guy Kelsey bumped into and started something up with.
It's still early enough in their relationship that Kelsey isn't head over heels in love with him yet, so breaking things off should have been an easy call, especially once Clare agreed to do the coding.
Everything that Kelsey's dealing with right now is because of her bad decisions, not anyone else's.
She needs to figure out how to make peace with Clare and Josh, even if she does end up moving out because they've been there for her always.
Josh and Clare are her friends, and friends come before pretty much everything else.
Lastly, Maggie's art show blew up in a big way, thanks to Cass.
After everything Cass did to Maggie, it was only fitting that she tries to make things right.
Cass: I won’t stay if you don’t want me to. I just came to say how very sorry I am for the way I behaved. I don’t know what came over me.
Maggie: Well, it wasn’t your wife. That’s for damn sure.
Cass: For the record ex-wife. We’re separating.
Maggie: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.
Cass: I’m not. I was so focused on trying to make her happy that I never questioned if I was happy myself.
Maggie: Well, were you?
Cass: I was miserable. Why does everyone want to date younger women? It’s so draining. No offense, your Lauren’s great.
Maggie: Lauren is great, but she’s not mine.
Cass: Oh, wow, OK, well you got a hot show. She got a rave from Clive Wexler, and you’re single. Congratulations on the review. That’s huge.
While having an art critic friend review Maggie's show doesn't make up for tweeting that she's transphobic and getting her art show canceled in the first place, it is a good start.
Cass was unfairly taking her anger out on Maggie and, after some reflection, realized she wasn't even happy being married to Camila.
And with Cass separating from Camila, it paves the way for Maggie and Cass to end up together.
I'm not in favor of this pairing, as Cass nearly ruined Maggie's career and livelihood all out of spite, and doing one nice thing doesn't make them even, not by a long shot.
However, unless Maggie and Lauren are about to give it another try, the show seems to be setting up a romance between Maggie and Cass.
I'd rather Maggie stay single and have her art career finally take off than have her put together with someone like Cass to wrap everything up in a nice little bow, but we'll see how that plays out.
Some stray thoughts:
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Lauren is an amazing friend. She shows up for those around her time and time again but isn't afraid to tell it like it is. We should all be so lucky to have a Lauren in our lives.
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Shouldn't we have gotten another Diana or Zane sighting by now? It's been 10 episodes, and we've only seen each character once over video chat. That's unacceptable.
So what did you think, Younger Fanatics?
How will Charles end things with Quinn?
Will Kelsey be able to fix things with Clare?
What does the future hold for Maggie?
Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch Younger online at TV Fanatic.
Jessica Lerner was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in October 2021.
