BWW Recap: Liza Gets Under Her Ex, Discovers Secret About Thad on YOUNGER

Hey, you YOUNGER fans! Hope you've recovered from last week's traumatic sheep incident and are ready to plow through (sorry!) this week's recap.

We're heading toward the finish line (after this week, we've got just two episodes left in the season!! Where did the time go?), but the writers seem to have set the stage for quite the explosive last two episodes! And the beginning of the end (in many more ways than one) starts with this week's installment. Intrigued? Want to know more? Well, then... read on:

We open up to find what we kinda already knew: Liza's still reeling from her breakup with Josh. The feeling's not aided in the least by Maggie, who waves the New York Post photo, proudly displaying Josh and Greta, in Liza's face - but Liza clearly can't be bothered, as she's got bigger issues. Wait, bigger than Josh, you ask? The main man of the series? Pretty much the main reason she remained a 26-year-old for a whole season? Oh, yes. This issue is enough to qualify as bigger: Caitlin's wish for her upcoming birthday is to have dinner with Mom... and Dad. Wah wah. So, she's saddlin' up for dinner with the ex. Yee-haw!

At work, Diana, while surprisingly sympathetic (she not only tells Liza she knows how she feels - with a hilarious comparison of her own - but then actually invites her assistant to lunch, surprising after her earlier ruling of only having assistants "fetch lunch"), ultimately encourages her to "not wallow in it" and instead to "invest in yourself. Put everything into your career. Romance is incidental, but you work hard enough, and you will always have a job."

(Side note: I know it's a little far-fetched and optimistic, but could this be a turning point in their relationship? Diana's actually found common ground with Liza, which might hint at how she'd act if/when she found out Liza's secret (okay, again, there might be a little bit o' backlash in the legal department). No, but seriously. It's a major shift. For the first time, Diana is showing us that she actually trusts and believes in Liza - "Maybe someday I will join you at your power booth." Liza's response is actually pretty genuine as well, and you can tell by the sincerity in her tone of voice: "You'll be the first person I invite." The whole conversation is a really nice change of pace for these two; like, they're actually complimenting each other. And, regardless of how it may turn out, I love when Diana shows little signs of actually being a real human!)

Anyway... in an effort to get her to "lean in" to her work, Diana pushes Liza to attend a Young Professionals Mixer, and Liza obliges (I mean, does she really have a choice?). The mixer starts out great, albeit not with a few *HILARIOUS* age-related snafus (Just ask "Marta. Marta Beam"), but takes a turn when Liza finds out from attendee Sierra, who works at Onyx Capital with Thad, that "Thad is hooking up with his assistant. Apparently, they do it in the 30th floor bathrooms every single day." Oops.

Though Liza, in an effort to be supportive of her friend (remember, she's working on that after the blowup last week) dismisses the statement as a rumor - Sierra admits she hasn't actually seen it for herself either.... only heard from "very reliable sources" - she can't help but give in to those gosh-darn motherly instincts, and subtly drops hints to the oblivious Kelsey about what Thad might be doing behind her back ("Does he have an assistant he wouldn't mind asking for personal favors?" she says. And watch for that eye roll when Kelsey responds, "I think he shares an assistant with a bunch of other guys." LOL!)

But Kelsey, despite the fact that she doesn't even know to what Liza's referring, cannot be bothered. She's feeling a ton of pressure of her own, as Lauren the bridesmaid/wedding planner has gone full "Bridesmaid-zilla" on Kelsey's wedding. She's pitching OUTRAGEOUS suggestions, such as having a falcon ring bearer, a robotic photo booth, and putting Kelsey in a see-through wedding dress as she walks down the aisle. Yikes!!

Again, it doesn't help much that Thad is too busy with work to have a say in anything (hmmm... too busy with work. I think not.) Also, did I not say last week their whole "make-up" might be temporary? He's not interested in helping with the wedding, he's rumored to be cheating on Kelsey... yeah, I told you it wouldn't last. But then again, you never know with these writers!! Tricky, tricky, tricky. (P. S. Keep an ear out for the unknowing Kelsey's dig-of-the-week at Liza's 40-year-old life: "Says the person who's never had to plan a wedding." / "Ya got me there." :-D).

Hoping to rein in Lauren's craziness ahead of her wedding, Kelsey decides to hold a pre-wedding engagement party, so that the bridesmaid can "hopefully get the crazy out of her system." She invites Liza, making sure to point out that single guys will be there, and, as she knows, "there are benefits to rebound sex." ("Like confidence," she says, when Liza raises an eyebrow; Oh, Kels! If you only knew the truth of the whole situation!! Lolz!)

Liza's skeptical, but Kelsey's not giving up... telling her friend - as only she can - "Sometimes, you have to get under someone to get over someone."

So, we'll put that aside for a moment, and move to Caitlin's birthday dinner, where, again, Liza finds herself dining opposite ex-husband David. As you might expect, the evening starts off a bit rocky, when Liza refers to Caitlin as "sweetie" and David responds.

But, save for that initial awkwardness, the evening actually does start out - and turn out - pretty nicely. Caitlin, for one, is stoked that her family's reunited (if only for a night), and with that, the exes get to reminiscing about everything from Halloween with Caitlin as a kid to a particular night on their honeymoon where David drunkenly joined an accordion band at a restaurant (which Caitlin, of course, makes him re-create, much to Liza's chagrin).

And I have to admit, it is nice to see them (the three of them, but David/Liza specifically), together and getting along. It speaks to how much Liza has really changed and evolved as a human being, what with how she's able to separate who David is now vs. then, and reminisce without getting bitter - okay, but admittedly, that may also be the wine (haha!)

Nonetheless, the conversation they have once Cailtin leaves is incredibly significant, not only because it allows us to really evaluate how much Liza's changed over the course of the series (in relation to her life and her divorce/how she relates to David), but also, given the recent goings-on with Josh, allows Liza to really recognize the similarities between how David treated her, and how she treated Josh.

Essentially, David did to Liza what Liza did to Josh.

And given how Liza feels about losing Josh - and how much she wants him back in her life - she, sort of, realizes she knows how David feels. I mean, David did do whatever what is what he did (we still don't know), and she's obviously hurt and not completely forgiving of him, but knowing she'd want Josh to forgive her for her mistake, she realizes she can't be entirely unforgiving of David.

But it's interesting to note, because it's a gradual forgiving, and a gradual realization to boot, wherein Liza realizes the similarities between her two exes as she's telling David about Josh.

It's brilliantly captured in the following exchange: "I know you think I'm a bad person, Liza, but I'm not," says David (and wouldn't Liza - hasn't Liza - say the same thing to Josh?!)

"Don't tell me what I'm thinking. You don't know me. I've changed," she says, in a tone that suggests bitterness toward her ex.

When David asks her specifically how, she continues: "Yeah, in fact some people might say I'm a bad guy." She's trying to stick it to David, but sort of realizes as she's speaking that she's made her mistakes, too.

"Oh, yeah, well, I am cool," she says - wine glass in hand - back to joking and being friendly with him. "You'd be surprised."

Again, as I said, Liza's friendliness toward David could be the result of all the alcohol she's taken in. Regardless, what happens next surely is - no questions asked; Liza even acknowledges it would never happen if she had been sober.

Yep. They went there. The night ends with them sharing a passionate kiss, and we wake up with them the next morning... next to each other in bed.

(P. S. I love how the show played with "the horror" of the situation, what with the thunder clap and lightning, and the light flashing on to David as Liza sits up in bed, shocked at her drunken mistake). Well, at least she took Kelsey's advice. She did get under someone. LOL.

But to make matters worse (if, in fact, they can be any worse), the tryst does nothing to eradicate her feelings for Josh - she admits to Maggie, "I re-read all of our texts. I scroll through our photos whenever I'm bored" - and her one-night-stand isn't doing much to prove she isn't actually 26 (well, that's a different issue, but still...)

Cut to Kelsey's engagement party, where in between cringes over signs that her wedding may actually turn into a ridiculous, over-the-top Lauren-ifyed extravaganza (which, BTW, she eventually talks to Lauren about and reins her in), Kelsey encourages Liza - who, it should be noted, continues to point out to her friend how Thad's awfully busy throughout the night with female "work friends" - to get out, "get some" and get over her break-up with Josh.

Liza explains she's already done that - with a divorced accordion player she met at a restaurant (again, I love how cryptic she can be without actually making anything up... genius writing!! And listen for the HILARIOUS responses the ignorant Kelsey gives in return) - and while it didn't necessarily solve any of her problems emotionally, it made her realize "that I want to focus on work, and not guys and relationships for a while" (so, basically, Diana had a point earlier. Hmm... interesting... wonder if she'll bring that up at work later. Diana was actually helpful... and right? Maybe that's the new dynamic? Secret life coach?)

To drive the point home, in an incredibly cathartic moment, she *finally* deletes all of Josh's texts (!!!!)

Wait... so, what will happen next? Does that mean she and Josh are really over? Will Nico Tortorella not appear in the final two episodes? And if he is, that deletion pretty much confirms they won't be getting back together by the end of the season, no? I mean, I don't know. This is YOUNGER. Crazier twists have happened.

And speaking of the crazier twists... during their talk, Liza also apologizes to Kelsey, truthfully dismissing Sierra's statement as a rumor, and chalking her obsession with proving it true to her conflicted feelings for Josh (now resolved).

But just after she ends her romantic mess, she receives a text from Sierra, with the subject: "Stall Rabbits Caught!!!" And sure enough, up pops a video of Thad "doin' the nasty" in the 30th floor bathroom stall with one of the assistants. Liza's, naturally, shocked. (Good news, though: At least now she has video proof to show Kels if the latter questions Liza's loyalty again! BTW, how did Sierra get that footage?)

But wait! It gets better. Liza turns around to find that Thad over her shoulder, having been watching her watch the video - and he totally knows he's caught. As her eyes meet his, he takes a deep breath. There's simply no turning back now.

Liza smiles, slyly. (Oh, it's going down!) "Either you tell her or I will," she says, as she engages him in a stare-down.

Blackout.

And oh, I can guess where this is going! Welp, as promised, the stage is set for a fiery last two episodes! I have to say that from the looks of the earlier promos, I totally thought that moment when Liza turned around to see Thad would be one where Thad found out Liza's secret. What a twist!! Who knows how they'll handle it? I can't imagine it'd be anything good... but guess we'll find out soon enough!

Until then... stay YOUNGER, y'all.

Photo Credit: TV Land

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