Younger 4×03 Review: “Forged in Fire”

One thing to know about Kelsey— do not cross her. Granted, Kelsey has every right to be as hurt as she is with Liza but she’s taking their drama into the work place.

Kelsey and Liza get invited to a work retreat in the woods where they will be on a publisher’s panel for Millenial Imprint. This is great news, if it weren’t for the fact that a weekend away together is not exactly what Kelsey’s idea of a retreat feels like.

In fact, when Charles calls Kelsey and Diana into his office to discuss a promotion for Liza, Kelsey adamantly says Liza is not ready — obviously out of spite. Charles seems confused by her response, but respects her decision as the head of Millenial.

Meanwhile, Liza plans to return Josh’s stuff as an excuse to see him again. But Maggie, the great roommate / best friend that she is, takes care of it for her. She meets up with Josh at the coffee shop nearby and despite the intense breakup Josh and Liza have gone through, I’m glad that Maggie and Josh are able to keep their friendship intact. Maggie makes a solid point stating that Liza went wrong when she met him at the bar, not expecting the kind of real man she was meeting. I love Maggie’s sincerity— she’s objective and never confuses the reality of a situation despite her loyalty to her best friend.

While at the coffee shop, Josh puts his eye on the cute barista girl, who’s also Maggie’s new assistant. Josh is a good looking man, so you can imagine what went down between these two when Josh asked her out. Maggie becomes aware Josh has moved forward when she sees barista girl walk into her loft wearing his leather jacket that Maggie had returned. It’s only a matter of time when Liza finds out.

Back at the retreat, Kelsey is pushing Liza hard. She’s still hung up on the fact that Liza doesn’t know what a meme is, hounding her for not representing Millenial’s young brand well enough. Which apparently also means getting super drunk and rage hard all night! What Kelsey doesn’t realize is that her nagging is pushing Liza away to another job offer she received from a publishing house looking to start up a new brand for young people. After Kelsey’s lack of concern for Liza getting sick from too much tequila while trying to keep up with her, Liza lets the publisher know she’s interested in the job.

On the way back to the city, Liza notices she has numerous missed calls from Caitlyn, her daughter. It turns out she had to be rushed to the ER to have her appendix removed—terrifying news for a mother to receive being far away from her daughter. Caitlyn is alright, but Kelsey witnesses Liza’s sheer panic and the fact that Caitlyn was holding out from going to the hospital for fear of it being too expensive to cover the medical costs. It hits Kelsey that Liza’s life is more complex than she could have ever understood. She’s a single mother who does anything necessary for her child’s well being.

As Liza catches a plane to meet with Caitlyn, Kelsey steps into Charles’ office and tells him that Liza is more than equipped to handle the promotion. She’s even willing to take a pay cut so that Liza can get a raise. It seems like Kelsey’s heart has softened quite a bit after seeing Liza’s real life struggles as a parent. The only problem is, what will happen when she finds out that Liza expressed interest to a rival publisher? Not to mention, will Liza take up the job offer because of the great career opportunity? What will this mean for the restoration of their friendship?

A lot has been left open to resolve in next week’s episode.

Younger airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on TV Land.