BWW Recap: Liza Pursues an Author, The EmpiriConda on YOUNGER

Welcome, YOUNGER fans! Had a good week? Ready to dive in to this week's recap? It seems the cast and creators are making good on their promise to deliver "bolder, wiser [and] sexier" content, and this episode, once again, is no exception! As we saw last week, Millennial Press - Kelsey and Liza's new imprint - has officially launched and is now up and running! This week's installment sees the two of them pitching their first author and (hopefully) making a deal to sign her. How exciting!!

But first, we open on a completely different note than we have in the past: in bed with Maggie and Lauren. (Nice that the supporting characters are getting a little time of their own). After a little action, Lauren opens up to Maggie, commenting on how "sexually in sync" they are; as a result, the former vows to be "gender monogamous" and devote herself solely to Maggie.

Maggie's thrilled, but shares that she feels like Lauren should think twice before tying herself down, saying, "You need to learn to protect your heart." Which leads us to Maggie's mysterious Belinda tattoo, which has never been seen nor mentioned 'til this point in the series. Hmm... definitely smells like something's going on.

And it appears I am correct! Their conversation about finding "the one" indeed sparks something in Maggie, who's seen trolling Belinda's Facebook page later in the episode.

"Why don't you have Josh cover up that tattoo with a new one?" Liza asks her friend.

"No, I wear it like a badge of honor," Maggie replies. "This woman nearly destroyed me. I'm proud of myself for surviving it."

She goes on, saying Belinda "was one of those people that was afraid to live THE LIFE that she wanted to live" (which sounds a lot like an important message for Liza, but I digress). "Everybody's somebody's monster, right?"

Two points: A) Something tells me this Belinda ordeal isn't over yet, given that Maggie's stalking her Facebook page and saying she looks miserable (Could Maggie be jealous?? Hmmm...) The whole thing could actually build up and boil over before the season's end.

B) Given that she's not over Belinda, something also tells me Lauren could get really hurt really soon. Listen to how Maggie says, "A simple apology would've said me so much angst." Like, Maggie's so hurt over Belinda, she's oblivious to the fact that she's doing the same thing to Lauren, you know?

It's totally gonna come back to bite her... I just can't quite figure out how. Oh, well. We shall see....

At work, Liza and Kelsey nervously await their pitch to famed fashion blogger Jade Winslow (whose agent, Redmond, is played by none other than Michael Urie, late of Broadway's HOW TO SUCCEED and Off-Broadway's BUYER AND CELLAR) , as they hope to sign the author as their first for Millennial Press (as I noted earlier).

And it seems they're right to be nervous, as this girl does not seem to be messing around. "The beauty business is teaming with fake-ass sycophants and I'm planning on bringing the worst offenders to their knees," Jade tells the girls. "You can think of my tell-all as THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA but, like, on speed." To boot, she also openly criticizes Diana's fashion choices. (Which, to be fair, was actually a nice change of pace... interesting to see Trout Pout brought down a peg, and for the right reason!!)

Kelsey makes a whopping $250,000 offer - "enough to take this book off the market" - but Jade's still not budging. She insists Kelsey and Liza meet her for a night out to convince her they're fun and chill enough for her to work with - Jade's words, not theirs. ;-)

The meeting is definitely a little shaky to start, but Jade warms up to them, and it looks especially good as Liza and Jade find common ground when talking about how youth-centric (nay, youth-obsessed) the industry has become: says Jade, "All this business does is perpetuate the wanked-out notion that youth and beauty are the only things that define a woman's work. I would rather slit my carotid artery than spend one more day in an industry that faults me simply for growing older." (Um... kinda the whole reason Liza's doing what she's doing... amirite? ;-) Jackpot!!)

But that gradually burning flame is all but snuffed out when Josh shows up, and Jade throws a drink in his face before furiously walking away.

Yikes.

Turns out Josh and Jade had previously dated - but he left her 'cause "she's bats**t crazy," - and, as you might have speculated from the drink-throwing, she didn't take it well. And yes, apparently, because of Liza and Kelsey's friendship with Josh, it seems their deal with Jade is all but over. :-(.

So, did Jade plan that whole meeting just so she could get back at Josh? Like, she somehow found out he was dating Liza and used their book pitch as a cover to get Josh in the room? Unbeknownst to Liza and Kelsey? Like, she wasn't really into their book deal at all? Dang, that's low!

But, regardless.... Liza's too tenacious to give up without a fight. ;-) But, more on that later.

Instead, we'll move on to a separate storyline, wherein Charles is receiving a prestigious award for his charitable contribution to literature through his Books into Buildings organization, and Diana has been tasked with introducing Charles at the event.

But lest you think you know where this plot line is headed (as I did, based on the flirty, Diana-tries-to-go-after-Charles storylines of the past), you could not be more wrong. No, really. You couldn't be.

I mean, on one hand, no fear, 'cause we're still given our dose of Diana's fumbling, tongue-tied attempts at flirting (this week's gem of a quote is: "I am a meat-eater"), but on the whole, this plot is going in a completely different direction.

Turns out a particularly alarming photo of Charles has surfaced on the Internet, and if Liza doesn't get it off... er... down... it could definitely ruin both his and Empirical's reputation.

Liza, ever helpless when it comes to the Internet, enlists Lauren's help to remove the image (in exchange for giving her a few words with "goddess" Maggie [wink, wink, Lauren's not lettin' go]) but it proves near impossible, as #TheEmpiriConda has taken on a life of its own. Fortunately, with Liza's perseverance, it's knocked off of every gossip website - and every website, period, for that matter. So, things are definitely looking up. (Oops. Sorry!)

But back to Jade and Liza. With the help of agent Redmond, Liza locks Jade in a van with Josh (and Kelsey and herself) and forces him to apologize. It works, and Jade accepts both the apology from Josh, and the offer from Kelsey. Albeit not without a few choice words of her own, and of course, she throws another drink in Josh's face... but you can't have everything, can you?

But wait! The whole deal may have been a hoax after all, as Jade announces the big news with a tweet... that has a photo attached... of Charles and his #EmpiriConda. Uh oh. This is definitely blackmail, and it seems Jade's without a doubt out to get them all. Oooh... this is bad!! (But at the same time, sooo good!! I just can't stop watching and wanting to know what's coming next!!!)

But just in case that wasn't bad enough, Diana puts the cherry on the cake when she gives her long-awaited introductory speech to Charles - and acknowledges him for his "generous endowment." #ThereAreBetterWords. Instantly, all of the phones in THE ROOM go off - they've all received this photo. Did you get that? It's on every phone. Resurfaced. All because of Jade.

The man of the hour looks down at the table. He's, appropriately, mortified. Fade to black.

Uh oh. What did Kelsey and Liza do? It's clear Jade's a monster - well, as Maggie said, "everybody is somebody's monster" - and she doesn't seem to be lettin' up anytime soon. Poor Liza. Poor Kelsey. Damn. What's Jade's angle? (No, seriously. I'm dying to know!!) In any case, the girls certainly have their hands full with this one (but, I mean, would you expect anything less from this series?!). I just hope it all works out for them. 'Cause seriously... right now, it ain't lookin' pretty... and I'm not just talking about the #EmpiriConda. (All right, last one... I promise!!)

And speaking of the EmpiriConda (okay, this is the last one), just for fun, check out this link to a hilarious clip of Broadway's very own stoic Sutton Foster - who's "usually so serious on set" - struggling to get through the initial "Empiriconda discovery" scene... and see why co-star Molly Bernard deemed it "the funnest scene to shoot." Oh, we think we know why it was. (Okay, that was definitely the last one).

https://t.co/tQjEvc4cmK

Have a great week, y'all! 'Til next time, stay YOUNGER.

Photo and Video Credit: TV Land