S07.E03: FKA Millennial

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

With her personal life on rocky ground, Liza focuses on work and a new book pitch by sexy surfer, Kai Manning. The Empirical team meets with Quinn Tyler, whose latest book idea was inspired by Charles. Empirical rebrands.

Original air date: 4/15/21

Edited April 15, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Aulty]

This is the first time in a while that I am rooting for Josh. There was instant chemistry with the manager lady and the story he came up with to deter the singer from getting a face tatoo was effective. Loved the line about Zendeya.

That Charles thing is going to get messy fast, especially if Quinn goes in hard for him. She's gonna play him like fool.

I miss Diana.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Liza's reddish-orangish brown eye shadow is really bothering me. Do they only have one eye shadow palette available for the entire season?

Ugh, Liza being jealous of Charles and Quinn when NOTHING IS HAPPENING was not a good look.

But I don't know how Charles can trust Quinn about anything at this point. She is like Zane - she will do anything to further her career which is exactly why Charles should be wary. I have no doubt that she has an ulterior motive. But all that said, I love Laura Benanti!

Clare's boyfriend seems perfectly fine, so I'm questioning how long that will last. And has Clare already gone to Ireland and come back? In the first episode, they were talking about getting the baby's passport and Clare said she'd only be gone for a week to visit her family and she's already back, but it doesn't seem like a week has passed since the wedding.

[LuvMyShows]

On 4/15/2021 at 5:30 AM, Aulty said:

This is the first time in a while that I am rooting for Josh. There was instant chemistry with the manager lady and the story he came up with to deter the singer from getting a face tatoo was effective. Loved the line about Zendeya.

The only drawback was that whoever the actress was that played what I assume was a Cardi B knock off, did not do a good job at all portraying a diva.

On 4/15/2021 at 11:41 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ugh, Liza being jealous of Charles and Quinn when NOTHING IS HAPPENING was not a good look.

Clare's boyfriend seems perfectly fine, so I'm questioning how long that will last. And has Clare already gone to Ireland and come back? In the first episode, they were talking about getting the baby's passport and Clare said she'd only be gone for a week to visit her family and she's already back, but it doesn't seem like a week has passed since the wedding.

I really hated the writers making Liza's character be so stupid.

How on earth did Clare meet a guy like that?

[bilgistic]

I fell asleep three different times trying to watch this episode, so...

Charles is a sourpuss, and I am beyond tired of him. I will never understand someone telling their girlfriend/boyfriend basically, "I want to marry you, but if you won't marry me, I'm done with you forever." What? You love someone so much you want to spend the rest of your life with them but also want to leave them forever? I get wanting a certain ideal (marriage), but that's just it—it's an ideal, not reality. All kinds of relationships can work.

My mother gave my birth father that ultimatum when they were 21 (were together at 16 in high school), and their marriage didn't last 10 years. They split when I was five and my sisters were one and two. She says she should've never pushed the issue, but should've instead left him. I completely agree (even though I wouldn't be here in my current form!). If you're willing to end it, you don't love the person enough to be with them regardless.

Debi Mazar is a goddess.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, bilgistic said:

If you're willing to end it, you don't love the person enough to be with them regardless.

Especially because having that piece of paper doesn't change anything for people like Liza and Charles. They both have their own incomes, they have health insurance, they can give each other power of attorney in the event of a medical emergency, etc. Nothing in their lives would change if they actually got married versus staying unmarried. You can live together, raise the girls, and have a committed monogamous relationship without actually getting married (as opposed to the other big relationship deal breaker of having kids vs. not having kids because that changes everything in your life).

What Charles should be asking himself is WHY being married is so important to him. Is he concerned with his image? Does he feel the need to legitimize their relationship and have a wife as opposed to shacking up with his girlfriend? Is he afraid that she'll run off if she isn't legally married to him (if that's the case, that is a terrible reason to get married as already demonstrated by Pauline)? What if Liza said she would consent to a casual non-legal commitment ceremony with Charles and his daughters? Would that not be enough for him? If not, why is being legally married the sticking point? I don't have any answers but I think Charles is sticking to this principle of marriage pretty hard (to the point that he'd rather break up with Liza than stay in a relationship with her) without any of us knowing the reasons why.

[Yeah No]

15 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Especially because having that piece of paper doesn't change anything for people like Liza and Charles. They both have their own incomes, they have health insurance, they can give each other power of attorney in the event of a medical emergency, etc. Nothing in their lives would change if they actually got married versus staying unmarried. You can live together, raise the girls, and have a committed monogamous relationship without actually getting married (as opposed to the other big relationship deal breaker of having kids vs. not having kids because that changes everything in your life).

What Charles should be asking himself is WHY being married is so important to him. Is he concerned with his image? Does he feel the need to legitimize their relationship and have a wife as opposed to shacking up with his girlfriend? Is he afraid that she'll run off if she isn't legally married to him (if that's the case, that is a terrible reason to get married as already demonstrated by Pauline)? What if Liza said she would consent to a casual non-legal commitment ceremony with Charles and his daughters? Would that not be enough for him? If not, why is being legally married the sticking point? I don't have any answers but I think Charles is sticking to this principle of marriage pretty hard (to the point that he'd rather break up with Liza than stay in a relationship with her) without any of us knowing the reasons why.

I think some people feel that if their partner isn't willing to get married it shows a lack of real commitment to them and they need that extra layer of "sealing the deal" to trust that they're that committed.  Although like @bilgisticbrought out, if it happens as a result of pressure from the other person it likely won't be genuine.  Ultimatums like that have traditionally been a female to male thing, because men in general were supposedly more skittish about commitment than women.  I say "were" because that's not necessarily representative of the way people view the sexes today.  I find it interesting that in this case the traditional roles have been reversed.

So I think Charles would answer the question of whether he's afraid she'll run off if she isn't legally married to him with a "yes".  I'm not sure why he doesn't realize how committed to him she is in her heart and that she's right when she says that a piece of paper isn't necessary to confirm that.  Maybe he's that insecure?  Or maybe he's stuck on marriage for religious reasons?  But they've never portrayed him as particularly religious, so that doesn't make sense either.

I really can't take the show making Charles act this way seriously because I think it's being done as a plot device.  It really makes no sense for Charles to act this way. This isn't my first show since the pandemic that is writing its characters in strange incongruent ways compared with previous seasons.  It's like they're all suddenly different people or they're being written by different writers.  Do they forget that the audience remembers what they were like before?  And why the need to make them act in unbelievable/unrealistic ways?

 

[MaggieG]

I laughed at Liza and Kelsey screaming in the wine room.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Work gets rough

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

After show

 

[dubbel zout]

This whole business about Millennial being folded into Empirical is incomprehensible. The whole reason for imprints is so that they can have their own identities, strengthening the "parent" by not diluting it. The Chicago investors are idiots if they don't understand that, and Charles should have immediately started lining up other sources of money. But this show gets so much wrong about publishing I shouldn't be surprised this is wrong, too.

If Charles needs the piece of paper, he needs the piece of paper. I think he's an idiot (not the first time), because a marriage license is no guarantee of a lasting relationship, but he's entitled to want what he wants.