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“Younger” recap (2.12): No Weddings and a Funeral

We open the Season 2 finale of Younger with a scene reminiscent of Sebastian Valmont’s untimely funeral in Cruel Intentions when he dies after being shoved into NYC traffic, and Annette reads his diaries to learn the truth about his conquests. Only here, Kelsey doesn’t have the passwords to Thad’s devices, so she has yet to learn about Thad’s office bathroom affairs, and there’s no 1956 Jaguar Roadster to fly Kelsey off into the sunset. The dose of reality here is that Liza was there to witness Thad’s death. He asked her to meet her there to discuss the terms of his secrets (and hers), and now she feels guilty for keeping her secrets-all of them-the one about Thad, the one about her age from everyone, ’til death came knocking.

Maggie warns Liza not to say a word: “You may wanna consider your timing.” At Thad’s funeral, we learn he has a creepy twin brother named Chad. Liza and Maggie sit next to each other in the pews, but Lauren is seated a row behind them, minding her own business when she overhears the girls having a moment about Chad. She motions forward to get in on the gossip, and later at the reception, she tells Liza she’ll keep an eye on Maggie while Liza tends to Kelsey. So, that’s cute.

But otherwise, it mostly seems like whatever happened between Maggie and Lauren has faded into something way more casual. And that’s fine. But they barely acknowledge each other. I want to believe it’s because they’ve hooked up with other people since their two-month slumber party and that they happen to have advanced personalities that rise above all those nuances that keep people from remaining friends after they have sex. Awkward might be what you assume when you look to a character like Lauren, but she’s far from it-she owns herself, as does Maggie.

Anyway, after the funeral, where Liza runs into Josh, they end up hooking up back at his place-and then Greta shows up. Josh makes Liza flee to the fire escape to hide while he rushes to the door to kiss Greta with his delightful afternoon mouth. Liza fears she’s the “Butterfly Effect.” Maybe she’s right.

Meanwhile at Empirical, a celebrity astrologist is in for a meeting and Diana Trout lets us know she’s a Taurus with a moon in Virgo. Duh. Chad arrives just then with Thad’s computer and says he has surveillance of the moment he and Liza were out there on the sidewalk. Phew, okay, so he doesn’t make Kelsey watch the moment of impact-but they do see now that Liza was pulling away from Thad, as if they were in an argument.

So, finally, Liza tells Kelsey the truth about Thad. Kelsey doesn’t take kindly to this news: “Maybe if you’d stayed out of it, Thad would still be…” Oh, it so sucks. Liza decides to leave her job at Empirical right then and there. She trades in her publishing gig for a retail job at the mall in New Jersey. Maggie already seems to know about this when Liza gets home from her first day, and Maggie points out that she’s just running from her problems.

No one can track down where Liza is-because, once more, she’s in a mall in New Jersey. But finally, Kelsey locates her and Charles’ heads over as fast as he can with dimples on. In fact, the moment Charles arrives and Liza turns from the tie rack, I can’t help but think they somehow made Charles look more attractive for this scene. He’s grinning through his pleas with Liza to come back to Empirical, and then he just goes ahead and kisses her.

“Think about that, too, while you’re at it,” he says. Damn, Charles is so in charge. It’s a really great time to point out that Liza’s “Butterfly Effect” is flapping with all kinds of love ripples. So far, ever since Thad’s funeral, despite Liza’s mounting guilt, she’s only gotten luckier in the love department by the hour.

Apparently the kiss seals the deal because Liza heads back to Empirical to take her job back. Although, does that mean Charles can kiss her again now that’s she’s back has his employee? All I know is, Kelsey is relieved Liza’s back, and she’s finally crying-yes, Hilary Duff, those are real, magical, glittery tears in the palm of your hand. Is she crying because she’s finally realizing her fiancĂ© Thad is gone? Is she crying because Liza meant that much to her? Whatever the reasons, Liza’s secret, the one she’s been harboring all season, remains intact by the time we reach the close of the finale.

And then there’s Josh standing outside Liza’s apartment, laying that predictable make-up-after-we-broke-up kiss on her. Something is different about it this time though, because his charming eye-dazzle and his sly lean-in-it’s monotonous now. Liza kisses back, sorta. But you see it, don’t you? Her head is like: Charles though?

Alright! Cue “Bittersweet Symphony” because this season of Darren Star’s Younger is officially over. TV Land’s hit series was renewed for Season 3 back in January. So stay tuned and check in with me on Twitter @the_hoff for updates!

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