“The Gift of Maggie”
Original Airdate: July 26, 2017
We are back for this week’s recap of Younger and let’s dive into what craziness this week has for Liza and company! This episode opens with the Empirical team shooting a book cover for a romance novel, that has no shortage of awkward poses. It is here that the team officially decides to get a ghostwriter to finish Belinda’s collection of books, after her untimely death.
After quitting as Maggie’s assistant, Montana keeps seeing Josh, and tricks him into going to her art studio outside of the city. This comes after Montana reveals that she will have an art show in which she paints over other artists’ works with her own “stamp,” and then resells the items for profit. When they arrive to Montana’s “studio” (really just a space in her parent’s house), it feels a little like she tricked Josh into meeting them, well before it was time. Josh is visibly uncomfortable by the visit, but then becomes even more shaken, when Montana’s (whose real name is Amy) mom, confirms not only that her daughter uses her charm to get artist to donate to her, but then rips them off claiming she is upping the value, but also that there are many lawsuits to prove it.
Back in NYC, Josh confronts Montana because he saw Maggie’s artwork at the studio and knows she will showcase it. Montana refuses to see how this is stealing and continues to justify her actions by saying her art classes taught her to be smarter and she is “building off the generation before hers.” Josh keeps pretending that he is cool with it as long as Maggie is, but he knows deep down that Montana would never reveal her full intentions to Maggie. Montana seems hurt by Josh’s lack of support. For a casual hook-up, this is starting to feel like a relationship — without a conversation about it being such. I think this is bigger for Josh. In this moment, he seems to be asking himself why he keeps dating liars. It is riding heavy on his conscience, so he decides to tell Maggie, who is understandably heated by the Montana reveal!
In an attempt to find a ghostwriter for Belinda’s romance novels, Liza reaches out to a colleague and literary agent about potential authors to ghostwrite Belinda's next few novels, and he finds someone who hates romance, but has four children who she needs to put through college, so will interview for the job for the extra cash.
In the land of dating, Kelsey goes out with Zane for a second time, but is reluctant because she is still poaching his client. Zane takes her to a cigar bar, just to get to know more about her. Kelsey reveals her love of books came as a child who grew up in a single-parent household. She pushes herself in her career because she wants to be better off financially than her and her mom growing up.
Back at Empirical, Lachlan (Zane’s client) makes a firm decision to meet with the team… and Kelsey feels bad because her dates with Zane continue to go well. Lachlan loves Kelsey’s pitch about casting a wider fan base net and Charles congratulates her on the new deal and that she was a shark! In a hilariously awkward moment, Kelsey says it is a good thing she is a shark because some sharks can reproduce alone. She’s obviously alluding to never seeing Zane and possibly anyone else again, if she keeps mixing business and pleasure.
Interviews with potential ghostwriting authors get interesting really quickly. But the final author just wants to make the book more grounded. She doesn't always want to deliver the happy endings and also wants to write under the pseudonym, because she still wants tenure as a professor.
Against Liza’s advice, Maggie is determined to go to Montana’s show, since she is charging $20,000 for Maggie’s work (with the state of Montana painted over it). So, she doesn’t have to do this alone, Liza offers to go as support. When Maggie confronts Montana at the show, Montana tells her that she's elevating the monetary and philosophical worth of the piece. She tries to convince Maggie that by her putting her mark on the gift that Maggie gave her, she owns the right to change it and do as she sees fit. Naturally, Maggie is fuming by this point and she tells Liza about a stash of bail money she has in the apartment. Maggie takes the switch blade she brought, slashes the canvas, and then walks away.
Montana confronts Josh, knowing that he told Maggie about the art show. He confesses and Montana thinks she's hurting Josh by walking away (she's not). Montana clearly is trying to find out who she is in life and who she wants to be. Well, we knew that this was casual and wasn’t meant to be long-term anyway.
Meanwhile at Zane's apartment, he cooks for Kelsey, makes her cocktails and Kelsey decides to tell him about Lachlan. Zane doesn't care because he read the Vulture article prior to her arrival. He says it's business and he's not mad, since his publishing house was about to drop Lachlan as a client anyway. Kelsey asks why, but of course he doesn't share. One thing is for sure: we're about to see if Kelsey can keep her business and personal life separate.
Josh and Liza run into each other on the street and Liza thanks him for giving Maggie the heads up about Montana’s art show. Josh asks Liza directly why she had to kiss Charles and Liza says she doesn't know. In some ways, a part of her needed to damage what they had. She felt bad for not wanting more kids and making Josh live with her firm decision and ultimately settling, without truly seeing if he wanted them or not. She sabotaged their relationship because she felt like he was sacrificing too much for her and she wanted him to be able to live fully and make these decisions on his own, without her influence. Liza, in that moment, instead proposes a better ending for them: a friendship or acquaintanceship. One in which maybe she can be the pseudo-aunt to his kids someday. Josh begrudgingly agrees and walks away.
The next day, Maggie has earned her title in the papers as the “NY slasher,” after the events at Montana’s show. Diana, after reading, wants to meet Maggie and see some of her work! There is clearly no such thing as bad press. Those two in a room together would probably be a comedic delight but also a disaster, so I can't wait!
When it comes to Belinda’s ghostwriter, Liza tells Charles she'd like to pass on the non-romantic mother of four author. Liza believes that happy endings in book are necessary and Charles fundamentally thinks readers deserve a chance to at least believe in them.
Can we just discuss how Liza and Charles still have the most incredibly underrated chemistry? I am glad Josh and Liza can be cordial, but I think it is too soon to ask him to be friends. Josh should say no and figure out what’s best for him and if he can even be friends. Will Maggie get more business after her slashing incident? Guess we shall see next week! Share your thoughts below.
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