“Irish Goodbye”
Original Airdate: September 13, 2017
The finale is here y’all, and it has been a rollercoaster of emotions this season for our Younger crew! The emotions do not stop when Josh calls Liza in the middle of the night and tells her he is going to marry Clare. How fitting, since we ended last season with him proposing to Liza and we will end this one with a true test of their friendship as Josh marries someone else. Liza is completely shocked, but he explains that he wants to know what his future holds with Clare. The wedding is so that Clare can get a green card and live out her dreams in New York City. Josh asks Liza to come to their wedding in Ireland to support them, because she is responsible for them getting together.
Liza promptly wakes Maggie up and tells her that they are going to Ireland. When Liza tells Kelsey, she thinks it is odd, but virtually reserves her judgment as Zane passes by and she realizes she has more to deal with at work with him. When Liza tells Diana that she needs some unexpected time off for Josh, Diana admonishes her for chasing boys and being in a perpetual state of distraction. While she is saying this, Zane pops in and Diana is immediately smitten! I mean, it makes sense — he is beyond handsome, but he is a snake, so Diana better watch her back.
In the morning meeting about the new hit Marriage Vacation, Zane and Kelsey clash more than ever. Zane takes over the meeting, dropping that Good Morning America wants to feature the book during a segment. Kelsey, having met the GMA contact at a networking event, already set this up. Zane, never knowing how to truly be a team player, lets it be known that this was his idea, since he and the contact are friends. He pitches for Charles to join Pauline on stage, and give the viewers an exclusive on their “reconciliation.” Charles immediately and vehemently declines, with Kelsey backing up and fighting for his family not to be exploited in the middle of the book release. Zane pushes back, but Charles stands firm on the matter.
In Ireland, Liza and Maggie arrive and walk into a trap — no one in Clare's family is aware that the couple is doing this for a green card, so they are having a very large, traditional wedding. While all of this seems fast, I had a feeling it was coming. Josh has yet to fully heal from his relationship with Liza and has fully committed to Clare, because instead of taking time to be whole again, he “needs” to be with Clare to get over Liza.
Clare ropes Liza into heading to Dublin to pick up her wedding dress and basically corners Liza into lying for her and Josh. Clare makes it seems like it is Josh’s idea to bring her to the wedding, so she could lie for them since she owes him or “them” this. I am not sure where Clare gets off feeling entitled to such things, but she makes it a point to let Liza know. Liza, feeling guilty for lying to Josh and then cheating, still seems conflicted and is really uncomfortable with lying to the government about Josh's marriage.
Liza immediately confides in Maggie that they want her to lie. She stresses that this doesn't feel right because Josh has barely spoken two words to her since she arrived in Ireland. Maggie also points out that this doesn't seem like Josh because he hates lying, and now he is okay with it? Although Maggie thinks something is fishy, she advises Liza to just play along. While giving her sage advice, she starts to sink into a hole in the ground, and Liza has to get Clare’s mom to help. Liza is determined to find Josh and sort this whole thing out.
At Good Morning America, Pauline shines in her interviews. While she is doing what she can, not everyone is happy with the segment and the producer want Charles to join her on stage for a juicier exclusive. Zane’s friend presses him for more and while he initially says no, she threatens to cut the segment if Charles doesn't appear on the program. Zane then indirectly gives her the go-ahead to request Charles’s presence on stage. Charles cannot say no in the heat of the moment, so he begrudgingly agrees to the interview. Kelsey is pissed, because she knows Zane someone manipulated this into fruition. Charles, meanwhile, is furious when he gets off the stage and Zane immediately tries to pin it on Kelsey. Charles’s face says he soon may come to regret putting Zane in this role. Pauline and Charles chat after GMA — she wants to reconcile and Charles says they are a work in progress. He begins to text Liza in that moment, but erases it. I really would finally like to see Charles and Liza just fully give their relationship a shot, but that never seems to be their fate.
After Maggie gets cleaned up, Clare’s mom starts to confide in her a bit. She tells Maggie that she is an "artist" and painted this landscape that she's been seeing on a loop in her dreams, since Clare's father died. Her mom reveals that she has thought a lot about dating women since her husband died, and after seeing the painting, Maggie understands why.
Liza finally catches up with a drunk Josh and their conversation goes just about how you would expect for one had with someone who has been drinking his way through Ireland. Liza honestly tells him that she doesn't want to lie to the federal government and Josh gets upset, asking her if she is only okay lying for herself, but not for him. Liza tells him that he and Clare have not been together long and she is not sure of Clare's intentions. Josh tells her if she doesn’t want to be there, she should go back home.
Maggie tells Liza to stay and be the best man that Josh needs her to be, if they are truly friends. Josh is making a mistake, but he needs to do this his way and learns these lessons on his own. At their rehearsal dinner, Clare's best friend figures out — by stalking Instagram — that Clare and Josh just met and this reveal threatens to blow up their happy evening. Liza stands up in the heat of the moment and covers for the couple, saying that she knows it’s been six months of true love because she introduced them, and when someone you love proposes, you say yes.
Liza goes back to her room to decompress and watch Charles and Pauline's GMA interview, when Josh knocks on her door. She keeps telling him to follow his heart and not get married if he isn’t sure, because she knows firsthand what it is like to be in a marriage that doesn’t end well. Josh, still drunk from the day, pulls her in and kisses her. In Josh’s moment of vulnerability, he tells her that it has always been her. I believe it. Josh was madly in love with Liza. She introduced him to so much more in relationships than he ever experienced, and unlocked so much in him. He wanted her to be his wife, and when he found her kissing Charles — right as he was about to propose — he was angry, but that love is still there.
I do not think he has allowed himself the time to move forward from that love and unless he deals with the end of that relationship, he will continue to taint all future ones. They kiss and Liza says they cannot do that. Josh knows they cannot either, yet somehow he says the life he wants is any life with Liza. In a beautiful scene between the two of the two of them, Liza goes to get him water and he lays down in her bed. When she returns, she lies down next to him, as Josh is already asleep. The song playing in the background is so perfectly positioned for this scene and could be the soundtrack to their relationship.
The next day, Liza wakes up alone and Maggie comes to find her, since they are late for the ceremony. After the night they had Liza assumed Josh would be backing out of the wedding. Josh tells Liza that because he keeps coming back to her, no matter how ill-advised, he needs to move on. In order to move on, he needs to put as much space between them as possible. For him, that means a marriage. So Josh goes all in with Clare, even if it could end up being the biggest mistake of his life thus far, and gets married.
During the final scene, Liza cries silently as Josh and Clare take their vows, getting understandably emotional about her ex-boyfriend marrying someone just months after he was going to propose to her. While in the ceremony, we see that Charles is calling Liza, only left wondering what could be about. I guess we have to wait until next season!
So, what did you think about the finale? How do you feel about Liza’s overall growth this season? Do you think Liza should take Diana’s advice and just be single for a while? Will this marriage between Josh and Clare last? How long will Zane and Kelsey be able to work together? Will Pauline figure out that Liza is the one that Charles is smitten with? Until next season, share your thoughts below!
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