TV Review: Younger 3×03 “Last Days of Books”

Bryce continues to keep Charles and Diana on their tippy toes this week on Younger. He’s not satisfied with the publicity that he’s getting and feels like they’re cramping his style. Charles is frustrated but does anything to try to please Bryce because like he tells Liza, “he’s got a lot of money.” So basically Bryce is keeping the whole company afloat! Yikes. This also means that Bryce’s character won’t be disappearing anytime soon.

Lauren takes Kelsey out so that she can get back on the dating horse after Thad. Kelsey is reluctant but down for it, except she’s having zero luck. Well, maybe it’s because she’s spooking away every single guy when she mentions her ex is recently deceased. Poor Kelsey. At least she’s trying! The night ends with a twist of events as Lauren runs into a guy she knew from her childhood camp days. Kelsey leaves them as they reminisce over drinks and wake up in bed the next morning. Lauren is freaking out for two major reasons: one, she just cheated on Maggie, and two, why did she have sex with a guy!?

I love Lauren, though. She’s so transparent and honest. Without a single doubt she rushes over to Maggie’s place and tells her what happened. She’s straightforward in saying how she does like this guy, as unexpected as it may have been. Maggie in hand is understanding (or so it seems) and lets her know they’re still cool. As Lauren leaves, she proceeds with her new art piece, which consists of pouring paint on naked women laying on the floor. Needless to say, it looks like she will be okay after the breakup.

Meanwhile, Liza is trying to save her hometown’s bookstore. It’s a place where her and her hometown mom friends would take their children on Saturday’s for story time and where they would meet for their book club. It’s a special place that holds many of her other world’s memories. Heartbroken at the thought of its closing, she comes up with a brilliant idea to save it.

She tells Charles that Bryce’s public image would improve if he donated a large sum of money ($300,000) to save this landmark bookstore, showing the public he’s not in favor of obsoleting the former way of book publishing. Charles agrees that it’s fantastic, and even Bryce and his publicist prepare the check for his grand philanthropic gesture.

Except there’s a major problem. Charles and Bryce insist that since it was Liza’s idea, she should ride over with them to New Jersey to deliver the check to the store. Cornered into a helicopter, minutes from landing in front of her hometown friends and beside her boss who thinks she’s 26 years old, she’s about to have a meltdown! There’s no other choice but to come clean and she begins to, as she tells them that she’s not the person they think she is. Then in that same instant, Bryce gets a phone call saying one of his competitors has done this before, and if he delivers the check he will look like a copycat. The helicopter turns away and Bryce is over saving the bookstore just like that. Liza is saddened but they ask her to finish what she was going to confess. She ends up telling them she was a big slut in high school. Classic!

I’m not sure if Bryce totally bought it. It seems that he can somehow read Liza and he’s not certain about her completely. Bryce is not only rich but incredibly smart, which could be Liza’s demise.

Either way, this was the closest that Liza’s two worlds have come to crashing. I genuinely thought she might’ve confessed everything right in that helicopter. My heart was about to drop as she got ready to fess up. Could this be a premonition that this season is when she will finally come clean? Could it be that she’s subconsciously ready to, since her idea was so reckless? She also seemed quick to just do it. Liza knows her time will eventually run out, and the reality of that definitely hit her hard this week.

For now, she’s still safe, and she meets with her book club friends at the bookstore one more time. Josh drives her over and waits for her in the parking lot, knowing she will need a designated driver. It’s the only appearance we have of Josh this week, but it’s significant. Liza’s hometown friend, who knows about Josh but doesn’t know about her secret life, sees him in the car waiting for her and she tells him he’s “the real deal.” His smile is heart melting as you can tell he’s smitten. Michelle tells Liza that Josh is a good guy and gives her seal of approval. Josh isn’t just a boy toy and an experienced, married woman is able to see this, too. Josh is racking up points for #TeamJosh, as he’s greatly matured just three episodes into this season.

Charles is just being devilishly flirtatious with Liza, and he’s losing points in my book for all his major mood swings. He should be too old for that. Unfortunately, Liza seems to be intrigued by it.

Also, Bryce doesn’t care that Kelsey’s ex is dead, and makes a pass at her. Kelsey swerves him, but is relieved to find someone who doesn’t care about her past. I just seriously hope that Bryce is not involved in any of Kelsey’s amorous future.

Let’s see how things continue heating up this season.

Rating: 8/10