S07.E07: The Son Also Rises

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

After an Empirical author dies, Charles reconnects with the widow who was the real-life inspiration for his novel, The Miseducation of Henry Cane. Maggie teaches a class on her past art and is confronted with a big problem.

Original air date: 5/6/21

[Aulty]

DIANA!!!!! Best part of the episode by far.

Post break-up with Charles Liza is very much like post break-up with Josh Liza. She jumps into that caring friend mode and the boys immediately fall back in love with her.
That story about Charles and his maybe son playing out in a single episode felt both, crammed and rushed. It also wasn't very interesting. He will finish the book, it'll be published in the time it takes me to make a sandwich and it will be a best-seller.

They finally picked up on the living situation and now Kelsey gets the Selling Sunset treatment. Lauren had a few good lines.
Ohh Maggie. She is trapped between a rock and a hard place and its going to get really ugly really fast.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

In theory, I get why Charles thought it would be nice to have some people from their company at their former author's wake to show respect, but it didn't make much sense for "some people" to include Liza and Kelsey since they'd never met this author.

He said he wanted Liza to stay out of his personal life but then he essentially asked her to come be emotional support at an event where he was going to see an ex AND asked her to sit in on the meeting with his ex's son.

I'm glad that the Topher thing didn't get dragged out for multiple episodes. Now Charles will be motivated to finish his lobster townie book and he will become a best selling author too!

Maggie did a decent job coming up with a reasonable explanation for all the pictures that popped up, but it was not at all surprising that Cass didn't buy her story for a minute. Now the shit is really going to hit the fan.

I understand why Kelsey was so tempted to do the reality show but GIRL.

Come back, Diana!

[tennisgurl]

I feel like I skipped an episode.  Charles was really pissed at Liza an episode ago but they're totally cool and buddies sharing laughs about his ex? Did something change and I just didn't notice? The whole thing with Charles maybe having a kid with the older woman he slept with seemed like a pretty unlikely thing to throw in this late in the game, so I am not surprised that he isn't his son after all. I did like Charles and Liza jumping in to defend Hemmingway. We're not here to ignore The Sun Also Rises. 

This plot with Maggie feels really weird, has she actually told her bosses wife that she isn't interested? Or is she interested, and is just trying to hide it? I know that Maggie hasn't always made the best life choices, but sleeping with her bosses wife is a really bad one, I cant imagine she could be that dumb. If wants to stop getting boob pics, cant she just block her? 

Edited May 7, 2021 by tennisgurl

[BingeyKohan]

THAT was all we get of Diana?!?!!!! Don’t wrap a dog turd in red tinfoil and tell me it’s Dove dark chocolate! 

[gesundheit]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

This plot with Maggie feels really weird, has she actually told her bosses wife that she isn't interested? Or is she interested, and is just trying to hide it? I know that Maggie hasn't always made the best life choices, but sleeping with her bosses wife is a really bad one, I cant imagine she could be that dumb. If wants to stop getting boob pics, cant she just block her? 

Right? Why does she have to say nice things about these pictures, that's encouraging them! Shouldn't she just tell her to stop? She's not helping herself.

2 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

THAT was all we get of Diana?!?!!!! Don’t wrap a dog turd in red tinfoil and tell me it’s Dove dark chocolate! 

And yeah, that Dove plug was embarrassing.

What am I missing, does Kelsey have some trust fund tucked away that lets her look at purchasing a multi-million dollar apartment, but in the meantime she shares a room with Lauren? Or do I not understand how real estate shows work? It sounded like she didn't have to pay for the commission or decorating, but otherwise the market value of the apartment is on her, right? Or is this just more TV-fantasy-version-of-NYC stuff? They hadn't been this egregious before on that front.

I don't even know what we're doing with Liza and Charles. It's just recycling every other season that they weren't together but hung out all the time with longing looks and will get together by the end, why are we repeating that again? It feels weird.

Also did we need to hear about all the dick pics Josh apparently sent Liza when they were together? I don't know why that squicked me out so much, I must be getting very puritanical from all this social distancing or something!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

This plot with Maggie feels really weird, has she actually told her bosses wife that she isn't interested? Or is she interested, and is just trying to hide it? I know that Maggie hasn't always made the best life choices, but sleeping with her bosses wife is a really bad one, I cant imagine she could be that dumb. If wants to stop getting boob pics, cant she just block her? 

I don't think Maggie can honestly say that she isn't interested in Kamila since she already slept with her. I mean, she isn't interested in Kamila anymore but that isn't going to matter to Cass since they already slept together. I totally get that Maggie didn't know she was her new boss's wife at the time, but realistically she knows that Cass isn't going to care about that detail. I think the only reason that Maggie hasn't blocked Kamila or told her to leave her alone is because she doesn't want to risk angering Kamila and having Kamila tell Cass what happened.

[BingeyKohan]

Not that it matters really but I was trying to decide whether the old novelist cucked by Charles was the Younger version of Pat Conroy - his titles seemed very 'tides' focused a la Prince of Tides.

I am not a prude but I couldn't imagine my boss telling me during my second week on the job (or any week on the job) they'd accidentally stuck their finger up their spouse's butt when they meant to aim for a different hole. like, what? 

I don't personally care whether they go to any great lengths to hide Hilary Duff's pregnancy but this episode made me wonder if they were going to get to Will & Grace-like laxness, where they just leaned all the way into their inability to hide Debra Messing's belly.

eta: also -- like were we supposed to think Kelsey was crushing it on this tv show? She kept cutting Lauren looks like, 'this is going well! i'm nervous but exhilarated!" While it just seemed like she was being silent a lot on camera with sort of blank expressions.

Edited May 7, 2021 by BingeyKohan
thought of something else!

[bilgistic]

I don't have any room to talk since I am an actual bridge troll, but Liza telling Charles that Judith is "stunning" was a dirty lie, and I hope she was embarrassed that she was forced to say it.

I'M SO TIRED OF CHARLES.

[BingeyKohan]

3 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I don't have any room to talk since I am an actual bridge troll, but Liza telling Charles that Judith is "stunning" was a dirty lie, and I hope she was embarrassed that she was forced to say it.

I'M SO TIRED OF CHARLES.

Did you know Joanna Cassidy was in the running to play Wonder Woman but lost out (obviously) to Lynda Carter? I can't imagine. She's always bugged me a bit but that's probably partly intentional since she's almost cast as a prickly type.

[LuvMyShows]

Have the writers given up or are they just throwing things at the wall since it's the last season...#suchbadwriting...

On 5/6/2021 at 10:13 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

In theory, I get why Charles thought it would be nice to have some people from their company at their former author's wake to show respect, but it didn't make much sense for "some people" to include Liza and Kelsey since they'd never met this author.

There were undoubtedly employees still at Empirical who had been there during the author's time there...kind of insulting to the author.

On 5/6/2021 at 5:27 PM, tennisgurl said:

I feel like I skipped an episode. It feels like Charles was really pissed at Liza an episode ago but they're totally cool and buddies sharing laughs about his ex? Did something change and I just didn't notice?

THIS!!!!

On 5/6/2021 at 10:13 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

He said he wanted Liza to stay out of his personal life but then he essentially asked her to come be emotional support at an event where he was going to see an ex AND asked her to sit in on the meeting with his ex's son.

AND Quinn was nowhere in sight, when last we saw, they were joined at the hip.  No way would she have allowed Charles to go, so that must mean he didn't even tell her...yet the past episodes have showed hanging out all the time at the office and she would have known.

On 5/6/2021 at 5:27 PM, tennisgurl said:

The whole thing with Charles maybe having a kid with the older woman he slept with seemed like a pretty unlikely thing to throw in this late in the game, so I am not surprised that he isn't his son after all. 

On 5/6/2021 at 3:07 AM, Aulty said:

That story about Charles and his maybe son playing out in a single episode felt both, crammed and rushed. It also wasn't very interesting. 

Yep.

20 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Also did we need to hear about all the dick pics Josh apparently sent Liza when they were together? 

And apparently Liza was unable at the time to tell Josh how much she didn't like getting them...great relationship.

7 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

I am not a prude but I couldn't imagine my boss telling me during my second week on the job (or any week on the job) they'd accidentally stuck their finger up their spouse's butt when they meant to aim for a different hole. like, what? 

Yes, WTAF?  Did the writers think the audience would enjoy that little tidbit, cause it didn't seem they threw it in on purpose to be an example of inappropriateness in the relationship with the boss.

7 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I don't have any room to talk since I am an actual bridge troll, but Liza telling Charles that Judith is "stunning" was a dirty lie, and I hope she was embarrassed that she was forced to say it.

That was very confusing.  Did Liza's character say that because she was trying to be polite to Charles or did the writers put that in because the character was genuinely supposed to be stunning, but the casting was a fail? 

[gesundheit]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

 

That was very confusing.  Did Liza's character say that because she was trying to be polite to Charles or did the writers put that in because the character was genuinely supposed to be stunning, but the casting was a fail? 

I think a better word for Joanna Cassidy might be "striking," but she was certainly stunning back in the day (pre-having all the work done), so I just wrote it off to Liza sort of imagining what kind of a presence the woman must've been back when the fling happened. Because she does look like someone who used to be gorgeous before spending too much money trying to preserve it.

[bilgistic]

13 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

Did you know Joanna Cassidy was in the running to play Wonder Woman but lost out (obviously) to Lynda Carter? I can't imagine. She's always bugged me a bit but that's probably partly intentional since she's almost cast as a prickly type.

THAT'S who that was?! The hair, makeup and wardrobe folks did her dirty!

[Yeah No]

Josh was certainly attractive and sweet in his 5 seconds in this episode.  And I'm not even a big Josh fan.

Boo on the Diana tease.  She SHOULD be back by now!

Liza acting like the schoolgirl crushing and hoping her boss will notice her - NOT attractive.  Trying to show that she's the one that really supports and understands him may backfire.  But she knows it just may work and she's biding her time.  And Charles the "knee jerK' will take advantage of that without caring about what he's doing to her, because it suits him.  Unless he realizes it and sees it as self-serving, and tells her it's not going to work.

Charles should know what BRB means.  I used that on chats over 20 years ago and I'm older than him.

I didn't think Topher looked that much like Charles but I guess he looked enough like him to make Charles squirm.

Not sure I believe that Topher's mom really had paternity tests done or that Ian knew about most of her affairs.

Why didn't Maggie tell the truth?  I don't think it would have been any worse than lying.  She should have nipped that in the bud.  She wasn't thinking straight.

The only reason that apartment was "surprisingly affordable" is that it was a fake to hire people for a reality show.  And Lauren is responsible for pushing that ruse.  How stupid can Kelsey be?  And she claims to be smart, LOL.

Snarky but funny dig on the "Property Brothers", LOL

I'm having a hard time believing Charles is supposed to be only 46 in this episode.  Peter Hermann was born in 1967 and now pings squarely in his 50s to me.  Talk about "younger", LOL.

That park they were walking near in the rain - Was that Grammercy Park?  It's going to bug me now because it looked so familiar.

Shameless Dove product placement, ugh.

[gesundheit]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Why didn't Maggie tell the truth?  I don't think it would have been any worse than lying.  She should have nipped that in the bud.  She wasn't thinking straight.

The only reason that apartment was "surprisingly affordable" is that it was a fake to hire people for a reality show.  And Lauren is responsible for pushing that ruse.  How stupid can Kelsey be?  And she claims to be smart, LOL.

I'm having a hard time believing Charles is supposed to be only 46 in this episode.  Peter Hermann was born in 1967 and now pings squarely in his 50s to me.  Talk about "younger", LOL.

Yeah, Maggie's only making the situation worse.

I know the first apartment was a ruse but then after she signed on, she looked at another one that was easily a 7-figure value.

Charles has read as over 50 since the very first episode to me so this whole thing has been kind of funny. He's a very handsome man, but he absolutely looks at least his age, and the fact that all 7 seasons of this show have only allegedly spanned like 2 years max (wasn't Liza's 41st birthday in season 5 or something?) has been hilarious as everyone has aged in real time. But that's okay, pretending is fun.

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Yeah, Maggie's only making the situation worse.

I know the first apartment was a ruse but then after she signed on, she looked at another one that was easily a 7-figure value.

Charles has read as over 50 since the very first episode to me so this whole thing has been kind of funny. He's a very handsome man, but he absolutely looks at least his age, and the fact that all 7 seasons of this show have only allegedly spanned like 2 years max (wasn't Liza's 41st birthday in season 5 or something?) has been hilarious as everyone has aged in real time. But that's okay, pretending is fun.

It's unbelievable that Kelsey would be able to afford either of those apartments by herself.

Yes, he does look at least his age and I even wonder how old Peter Hermann really is, LOL.  He even acts older and as an older person myself it takes one to know one.  According to Peter's bios he spent his first 10 years in Germany so I suppose anything is possible.

[MissLucas]

Biggest laugh of the episode was Charles asking Liza 'what are we doing' and she answers with 'moving forward' (paraphrasing) - nope, that's not what you're doing.

So, Maggie's boss is now siccing her woke students on her? And she's doing that right after having told Maggie about her wife's orgasm problems and what caused them. That whole exchange should get her in trouble with HR. I have no idea where this plot is going beyond 'make sure you know who your one-night stand is before the action starts'.

Hi Josh, bye Josh - at least you're good for moving heavy objects around. Next time you might get a scene when a spider needs to be squashed/rescued.

Not enough Diana!

[HappyBerry]

 

On 5/6/2021 at 3:27 PM, tennisgurl said:

I feel like I skipped an episode.  Charles was really pissed at Liza an episode ago but they're totally cool and buddies sharing laughs about his ex? Did something change and I just didn't notice?

I had that same thought. He was so mad at her and then no apology or anything, just suddenly happily working together and in harmony. I know plotlines have to be rushed to wrap up by the end of the season, but that's some whiplash. 

What make-up person did Hilary Duff upset? Her bright orange make-up is distractingly horrible.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm his father

Bloopers

After show