TV Review: Younger 1×09 “I’m With Stupid”

Thanks to Charles, Liza discovers the slush pile. The slush pile is where all the manuscripts that suck (really badly) have been thrown, Kelsey’s definition.

But Charles tells Liza to take a look at it when they run into each other at his secret breakfast place and he sees her reading Tolstoy. Indeed, Liza does find a worthy candidate among all the trash, a book called The Scarf. If Liza is able to get an author published and on the best seller’s list her career would greatly benefit! After all, Diana did say her assistants either move up or get fired. It seemed odd to me that Charles suggested the slush pile; almost as if he knew that Liza would find a story she could squeeze the potential from.

Kelsey says if she can make the book happen with the housewives, she could really have a hit on her hands. Liza calls her housewives book club from Jersey and gets together with them to discuss how they liked the book. They absolutely loved The Scarf and have written raving reviews online.

Liza is completely awe struck by the book herself but hits a wall when she tries discussing it with Josh. He definitely is listening to her as attentively as he can but has no interest in reading it himself; he’s simply not a reader. This becomes a huge deal for Liza—books are her life!

It doesn’t help that he takes her to a dodgeball game where she gets severely whacked in the face by some girl who “knows Josh well.” She then tells Liza to enjoy it while it lasts because he’s cute but so very dumb. It definitely got to Liza and she begins to make it a huge deal.

Josh doesn’t read and he dropped out of college. These two things are really irking Liza.

She asks Kelsey her opinion and I actually loved her advice. Not everyone goes to college (Mark Zuckerberg didn’t) but that if it’s a deal breaker for Liza that’s okay. She was so not judgmental of Josh’s education but also respectful of Liza’s feelings. Sometimes Kelsey does have a great head on her shoulders! Loved Kelsey this week.

But Liza continues so fixated on this that she is so rude to Josh to the point where he has to set her straight. He likes different things, he’s a visual person and his life is about more than “just tattoos.” Poor Josh just walks away obviously hurt by Liza’s depreciative words.

Liza realizes that she’s self-sabotaging, finding one thing that’s wrong with Josh and discarding everything else that’s great. She finds him at the dodgeball league and comes clean about her relationship insecurities. Josh graciously accepts because he’s just that kind of guy.

Josh has been nothing but good to Liza. Sure, does he have some areas he could be better at? Yes, like for example, replacing the missing door in his apartment. But Josh has always been honest and faithful to Liza. He has never compromised who he is. Liza will have to decide if her real 40 year old self can deal with a guy who sees life from a complete different perspective. She likes how Josh makes her feel, but will that be enough? I do enjoy that we get to see that their relationship isn’t perfect.

However, I have a feeling Charles will make things more complicated in the following episodes. There’s a spark there. But for now, Josh and Liza are back to paradise.