S06.E04: An Inside Glob

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

In the wake of a book loss, Liza and Kelsey shift their focus to an author who is skeptical of millennials in charge; Kelsey deals with the stress of her new job; Maggie tries a holistic remedy.

Original air date: 7/10/19

[Aulty]

"I have only slept with my authors after I've signed them" ... oh Kelsey.

I know what's happing with Charles and his new company is a big deal from a business perspective, but it is really just the equivalent of Liza quitting to work for Chicky - its just on a different level because Charles was a business owner and Liza was just and editor/assistant.

As much as I would like the women to succeed, it is so hard to root for Kelsey in this situation. She and Millenial should be the ones out, working with little overhead in trendy locations using Lauren's whacky influencer ideas to promote new trends, but instead they are just trying to run old school Empirical under a new label. I think this whole story will always suffer from the terrible set up in the last season finale. They should have split Empirical and Millenial and let Quinn buy Millenial. There is also no way the Charles/Liza relationship is gonna survive that.

Josh and Clare are very sweet, it almost makes me root for them again. I like Maggie and her new squeeze and the garlic thing was both, hilarious and kinda cute. This episode needed these secondary stories to lift the mood.

[MissLucas]

Oh, Kelsey, your hair is not falling out because of Charles or Zane or because you have BDE; which you haven't btw. although the writing of this show really tries to tell us that without showing it. On the plus side - maybe it will regrow grey which would solve that whole 'lacking grey hair' issue Millennial is all of a sudden having. 

I'm not sure I should stick with this show since I keep rooting for the 'baddies'. But I'm sure ob-gyns have a word or two to say about treating your vagina like Thanksgiving turkey.

I love Maggie's fabulous collection of dressing gowns. Sadly they're not listed on wornontv-net.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm not sure if I'm too old to get the fashion on this show or if Kelsey just dresses like a complete maniac, but I cannot imagine a world where I decided to wear a  black jacket with black pants and WHITE SHOES. As a fellow short person, I can tell you that is not a good look for someone under 6' tall (or anyone, if we're being honest).

When Kelsey said she had the address for Mercury, I was hoping it was going to end up being a Starbucks that Zane had parked himself at with a laptop, but faux WeWork was almost as good.

I could not believe she had the nerve to tell Zane that it was unethical for him to sleep with an author, so I loved that he pointed out what a hypocrite she was being.

Kelsey is in way over her head as the head of Millennial. She was getting all huffy and exasperated at the thought of having to actually meet with Bronwyn. That's your job!

My one moment of sympathy for Kelsey was about her hair falling out. I have had stress related eczema and after my dad died, my eyebrows started falling out. As Kelsey told Beth, it sucks to be told that the solution is to relax because watching your stress manifest itself like that just makes you MORE stressed.

I'm glad that the "Charles is behind Mercury" news is finally out in the open because I did not want to see Liza keeping that secret from Kelsey, Diana, and everyone else all season.

[dubbel zout]

Even though Charles resigned from the Millennial board (or Empirical; whatever), I think he could still be sued for some sort of conflict of interest. You don't start a competing business when you still have a fiduciary interest in another. I doubt the show will go there, alas.

The business stuff is so dumb, but I loved Liza spitefully telling the writer that Charles called her books "matron lit." Hee.

Is Laura Benanti done? I know she has/had B'way obligations, but she's so good as the fly in the ointment.

[gesundheit]

Well, Charles continues to suck.

But seriously, if they thought calling themselves "Millennial" and having an infant in charge who seems to care more about fashion than literature was going to do anything but shrink their author pool, they were nuts.

That garlic thing was SO DUMB. I hate most of those "bits" on this show. Also, what the hell? The "key to lesbian relationships" is never telling the other about your yeast infections? Uh, that would be the opposite of reality for OBVIOUS REASONS.

Edited July 11, 2019 by gesundheit

[dubbel zout]

16 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

That garlic thing was SO DUMB. I hate most of those "bits" on this show. Also, what the hell? The "key to lesbian relationships" is never telling the other about your yeast infections? Uh, that would be the opposite of reality for OBVIOUS REASONS.

I KNOW. When Maggie said that, I thought, That's a huge violation, not to mention completely gross.

[LuvMyShows]

I like the show, a lot, but sometimes...ugghh.  The garlic thing was just gross, especially the girlfriend actually inserting it during the dinner party.  And how idiotic to think that it wouldn't stink...that was my first thought! 

And if it were me, I could never trust Charles again.  She point blank asked him if there was something he's not telling her, and he didn't say a word about Mercury.  Then he has the nerve to defend it as trying to find the right time but it never happened...yet the right time had been right in front of him, when she gave him the perfect opening with her question, and he still chose not to tell her! 

Also, asking her to keep quiet about his secret was soooo inconsiderate (and not at all equal to when he had to keep her secret).  First of all, he had plenty of time to 'figure it out', which was his reason for asking her to keep it secret for now (and how the hell long was he planning to take to figure it out?).  In fact, it is unconscionable that he didn't already have a plan for how he would handle that enormous conflict-of-interest that he created.   Second, although I don't know all the ins-and-outs legally, I do know that having a low-level employee lie about their age is nowhere near as serious to a company as having a member of the Board of Directors cook up and launch a competitor while still actively serving on the Board.  Third, Liza did it out of desperation, but Charles had the money to go in any number of directions.  Fourth, when Liza initially created her lie, she didn't know anyone who would be directly hurt by it.  But when Charles created his, it would by its nature hurt Liza because her livelihood and all she has fought for is with Millenial.  So not only would she know something very bad, she would be compounding it by keeping it secret, professionally and personally.

Not sure why Josh hadn't already thought about what kind of time arrangement he wanted with his kid.  And uh, no Miss Thing, you will not be telling Josh that he can't bring the baby to the studio.

There's one thing I didn't understand about when Maggie and Kelsey ran into each other at the drug store.  It sounded like each of them had come to that out-of-the-way drugstore for some privacy because of the embarrassing nature of what they were dealing with.  But it was also right near Maggie's apartment, so how could it have been out-of-the-way for her?  Also, for two people who were trying to get away for some privacy about their medical conditions, they each immediately spilled the tea about what was wrong with each of them!

I have to admit that it was funny how when Lauren changed Kelsey's job title to Creative Director, she immediately got hits.  If it was just a hook-up app, then it makes sense.  But if it was a relationship app, then, wow, that is not very flattering about NYC men! 

And I'm with Miss Lucas above, Kelsey so doesn't have BDE.  Someone who really has BDE would never have had the shrewish hissy-fit that she had in the restaurant...it would have been much more low-key powerful with only a few well-placed words.

[gesundheit]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

Not sure why Josh hadn't already thought about what kind of time arrangement he wanted with his kid.  And uh, no Miss Thing, you will not be telling Josh that he can't bring the baby to the studio.

I have to admit that it was funny how when Lauren changed Kelsey's job title to Creative Director, she immediately got hits.  If it was just a hook-up app, then it makes sense.  But if it was a relationship app, then, wow, that is not very flattering about NYC men! 

Seriously, why can't he bring the baby to the studio? That made no sense. And he immediately agreed as if it were obvious why he shouldn't. It's not a friggin' shooting range!

I did enjoy the "What's a Creative Director" "No one knows, that's why it's perfect!" exchange. Because lordie a lot of people's job titles are vague. And I've heard that one a bunch of times and haven't a clue.

That said, what kind of idiot actually lists her place of employment on a dating app? Say you're a publisher but not where for crap's sake! That is begging for creepos to show up.

[bichonblitz]

Another disrupting outburst in a restaurant. Come on, show. That's absurd. 

I'm happy Josh loves his baby but he doesn't belong on the show any longer. Or his baby mama.  The entire storyline doesn't belong. Although, I have feeling baby mama is going to up and leave him with the baby and Liza will swoop in to take over, then Josh and Liza will live happily ever after. 

When is Diana going to find out about Liza's lie? Or did I miss that? 

[bichonblitz]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

There's one thing I didn't understand about when Maggie and Kelsey ran into each other at the drug store.  It sounded like each of them had come to that out-of-the-way drugstore for some privacy because of the embarrassing nature of what they were dealing with.  But it was also right near Maggie's apartment, so how could it have been out-of-the-way for her?

Maggie said they were at the drugstore in Greenpointe. Maggie, Liza, and Kelsey all live in hipsterville Williamsburg. Different neighborhoods for sure so maybe that was a writer's mistake. If that's the case, one would think Debra Mazar should have pointed it out to the writer's, after all she lives in Brooklyn in real life.  

[Ms Lark]

Maggie looked stunning in the opening scene. A good look for her. Thought the garlic business was pointless filler. Plus, gross.

I think Charles can still be sued since he was still on the Board when Zane poached that author (I forget her name) earlier in the season.

I'm not sure how much longer I can hang on to this show. It's gotten inutterably stupid.

[slowpoked]

56 minutes ago, bichonblitz said:

Another disrupting outburst in a restaurant. Come on, show. That's absurd. 

I'm happy Josh loves his baby but he doesn't belong on the show any longer. Or his baby mama.  The entire storyline doesn't belong. Although, I have feeling baby mama is going to up and leave him with the baby and Liza will swoop in to take over, then Josh and Liza will live happily ever after. 

At the beginning of the season when Claire was pregnant, I thought it may not be Josh's baby. But when it ended up being Josh's baby, I thought it was a ploy to give Josh a baby AND still leave the door open for a Liza reunion. And since they had Josh and Claire divorce - what else would it end up to be? Since both Josh and Liza know he wants to have kids, but it's something Liza cannot do anymore, so Liza wanted him to be with someone whom he can have kids. 

[BabyVegas]

4 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Even though Charles resigned from the Millennial board (or Empirical; whatever), I think he could still be sued for some sort of conflict of interest. You don't start a competing business when you still have a fiduciary interest in another. I doubt the show will go there, alas.

Most likely. And it doesn't matter that he resigned from the board. He violated his duty of loyalty before his resignation and in the real world he'd probably be looking down the barrel of a lawsuit. 

It really is a bummer that they've made Charles suck so much. Especially him calling that author "matron lit." Good for Liza for telling the author what he said. I was looking forward to him and Liza being together and it has just been cringefest after cringefest. He was being awful putting Liza in the middle of his bullshit. 

And as heated as Kelsey was being, I honestly kind of can't blame her. She was thrown into the deep end by people who should have known she wasn't ready but did it anyway because it suited their purposes. I see now why they couldn't make Diana publisher. She's too competent and all this nonsense wouldn't be happening. Quinn is clearly no help. Charles is actively working against her. It's unreasonable to expect a late twenty-something who hasn't shown any particular business acumen to be a turnaround artist for a company that has been circling the drain while handling bad actors within the company. Hell, my hair would be falling out too.

ETA: While I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure that even leaving would allow him to work at Mercury right away. (If he's meeting with authors and trying to woo them over, that's more than just pure financing.) If this were the real world, I'd imagine that there was a non-compete clause in Charles' contract. If there was an actual board, that would mean it wasn't just Charles running the whole show and I can't believe they wouldn't insist on at least some kind of non-compete. For me, the only way this storyline can end up anywhere believable is if Charles gets sued by Millenial/Empirical.

Edited July 11, 2019 by BabyVegas

[slowpoked]

42 minutes ago, BabyVegas said:

It really is a bummer that they've made Charles suck so much. Especially him calling that author "matron lit." Good for Liza for telling the author what he said. I was looking forward to him and Liza being together and it has just been cringefest after cringefest. He was being awful putting Liza in the middle of his bullshit. 

I could see this coming a mile away as a ploy to get Liza back to Josh again. Keep the triangle alive. 

43 minutes ago, BabyVegas said:

And as heated as Kelsey was being, I honestly kind of can't blame her. She was thrown into the deep end by people who should have known she wasn't ready but did it anyway because it suited their purposes.

Exactly. She's not blameless, but I understand coming unhinged in that situation. Your ex-boss made you the main guy in his old company and everyone thought he's gone for good, only to turn around, build another company from scratch and essentially be the rival of his old company??? I wouldn't shake his hand if I was Kelsey either. And to have the gall to actually be in a friendly dinner with Kelsey just the night before as if everything was peachy keen?! That's not a stab in the back. That's a soulless dagger to the heart.

When the female author was complaining about Millenial lacking the "gray hair in the room", I thought about two things - Diana may not be her age, but she's not exactly an intern fresh out of college either. Why doesn't her gray hair count???

Second thing is, I thought it would be a way for Liza to come out with her real age. Not exactly an ideal scenario, but I thought she would give up her real age just to keep the author in their fold.

Speaking of age, how come Liza's true age is all of a sudden a nonfactor in the plot? Maybe I missed it, but Diana still doesn't know, does she?

[MissLucas]

12 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

I could see this coming a mile away as a ploy to get Liza back to Josh again. Keep the triangle alive. 

Exactly. She's not blameless, but I understand coming unhinged in that situation. Your ex-boss made you the main guy in his old company and everyone thought he's gone for good, only to turn around, build another company from scratch and essentially be the rival of his old company???

Speaking of age, how come Liza's true age is all of a sudden a nonfactor in the plot? Maybe I missed it, but Diana still doesn't know, does she?

To be fair: Charles did not make Kelsey publisher - that was Quinn and her investors who had forced him out (put to pasture in Diana's words) by giving him the more or less symbolic position of Chairman of the Board since they were not happy about his involvement with Liza.

Diana still does not know about Liza's age.

[gesundheit]

55 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

When the female author was complaining about Millenial lacking the "gray hair in the room", I thought about two things - Diana may not be her age, but she's not exactly an intern fresh out of college either. Why doesn't her gray hair count???

The really bizarre thing was that the author specifically thought Diana was her age. So the complaint was confusing.

[slowpoked]

21 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

The really bizarre thing was that the author specifically thought Diana was her age. So the complaint was confusing.

YES, that too! Thanks for pointing it out. Really confusing sequence by the writers.

If she meant the young/no experience thing with Kelsey alone, as the big boss and publisher, writers should have made it clearer.

[MissLucas]

The grey hair thing was confusing since we all know some people get their first grey hairs in their 20's. I took it to mean that Bronwyn was looking for someone of her generation/age group and that would be the Baby Boomers (Becky Anne Baker is 66). Diana is Gen X, Mirjam Shor is 47 and according to the rules of tv-land Diana is probably younger.

It's also possible that Bronwyn suspected some ageism going on at Millenial - but if that's the case the writing should have been clearer. Anyway I doubt it since not an episode passes where we are not told by various characters that Kelsey is great and deserves her position yadayadayada.

[gesundheit]

15 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

The grey hair thing was confusing since we all know some people get their first grey hairs in their 20's. I took it to mean that Bronwyn was looking for someone of her generation/age group and that would be the Baby Boomers (Becky Anne Baker is 66). Diana is Gen X, Mirjam Shor is 47 and according to the rules of tv-land Diana is probably younger.

It is probably true, but Becky Anne Baker's character specifically thought Diana was a Boomer. So yes, it wasn't actually about shades of hair, it was about there being no one her age "in the room" when at the same time she specifically thought there was. It made no sense.

What really sucks is that I find it delightful to watch Kelsey fail, but not if it's due to Charles's success. I like to watch him fail even more!

[slowpoked]

40 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

It is probably true, but Becky Anne Baker's character specifically thought Diana was a Boomer. So yes, it wasn't actually about shades of hair, it was about there being no one her age "in the room" when at the same time she specifically thought there was. It made no sense.

It seems to me the writers just want another instance to make fun of Diana's age. Never mind it's such a nonsensical sequence - this beautiful, smart, experienced woman is mistaken again for an old lady, ha ha ha, OMG, isn't that so funny. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bronwyn assuming that Diana was her age (when they are clearly at least 20 years apart) was as absurd as the guy who assumed Monica was Ross's mom on Friends. Anyone with eyes can see that's clearly not true so it makes no sense.

[allonsyalice]

14 hours ago, MissLucas said:

I love Maggie's fabulous collection of dressing gowns. Sadly they're not listed on wornontv-net.

Here’s one!!

[MissLucas]

Thanks!

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, BabyVegas said:

It really is a bummer that they've made Charles suck so much. Especially him calling that author "matron lit." Good for Liza for telling the author what he said. I was looking forward to him and Liza being together and it has just been cringefest after cringefest. He was being awful putting Liza in the middle of his bullshit. 

Yeah, I agree.  I'm down on this show in general because of it.  They didn't even get to have a decent "Paris scene" before all the crap started happening.  I don't know why unless the show is in a rush to wrap things up like they think it might end sometime soon.  Why deny the fans a taster of what they wanted?  Liza and Josh at least had a good season of romance before things went south.

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Bronwyn assuming that Diana was her age (when they are clearly at least 20 years apart) was as absurd as the guy who assumed Monica was Ross's mom on Friends. Anyone with eyes can see that's clearly not true so it makes no sense.

The whole thing made no sense but if I had to try to come up with a reason maybe it's a dig on Diana's appearance.  IMO she dresses a little matronly for her age.  I know some people don't agree with that but this is NYC and people tend to dress younger or at least unidentifiable in terms of generation.  I am almost 61 and I think Diana's wardrobe is nice but even a little "old lady" for my own taste!

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm not sure if I'm too old to get the fashion on this show or if Kelsey just dresses like a complete maniac, but I cannot imagine a world where I decided to wear a  black jacket with black pants and WHITE SHOES. As a fellow short person, I can tell you that is not a good look for someone under 6' tall (or anyone, if we're being honest).

White shoes with a black outfit seemed to be a thing last season in NYC.  Rachael Ray wore a hideous pair of chunky white boots with black a lot last season and I cringed every time I saw her in them since she is short too (so am I) and they looked awful.  Her stylist should be fired.  I remember she had on a stylist that was pushing the white shoes with black thing.  It seems more and more that the trendy stuff from NY doesn't migrate anywhere else.

[bara007]

On 7/12/2019 at 3:33 AM, allonsyalice said:

Here’s one!!

Not the same dressing gown - but others from the brand https://www.net-a-porter.com/cz/en/Shop/Search?keywords=meng

They do look really great on her.

[Heathrowe]

On 6/14/2019 at 11:33 AM, gesundheit said:

On 7/11/2019 at 10:25 AM, dubbel zout said:

Even though Charles resigned from the Millennial board (or Empirical; whatever), I think he could still be sued for some sort of conflict of interest. You don't start a competing business when you still have a fiduciary interest in another. I doubt the show will go there, alas..

I'm not a business lawyer, but I do know of at least one publisher (a person) at a major sci fi house who is also an investor/board member in another smaller, sci-fi house.  Not sure if publishing is a different kind of business than selling widgets because each publisher is unique, each book is unique-it's not so much about going head to head to see who can be the #1 seller of one product.  Publishing also has a lot of rules about transparency and discounting so that big and little publishers and chain and indie bookstores are on a level playing field. 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Heathrowe

[BabyVegas]

I'm not a lawyer, but I am studying to be one, so I decided to go look this up in my bar outline. I would certainly defer to anyone who actually practices in this area, but here's what my bar outline for Corporations says:

• "A director is elected by shareholders, responsible for major corporate decisions, and appoint officers."
• "An officer runs the corporation on a daily basis."
• "Directors and officers cannot receive unfair benefits to the detriment of the corporation unless they effectively disclose and obtain ratification of those benefits."
• "A director or officer usurps a corporate opportunity when that director or officer prevents money from coming into the corporation." 

So, I'm guessing it would come down to whether Charles is considered a director? I'm not sure of the exact structure of Millennial, but since he's supposedly "Chairman of the Board" I'm guessing he would probably be considered a director.

[wovenloaf]

A fair portion of my work involves suing directors and officers for breach of fiduciary duty.  This is glaringly (like, neon-flashing-light level) disloyal conduct.  The Chairman (who is a director, yes) secretly starts a competing company, and the "in competition" isn't just hypothetical - the new company already swiped one big deal out from under Millennial and got caught trying to woo another client to leave Millennial.  And the Chairman discloses none of what he's up to, is fully aware of and participating in the client-stealing, and is apparently using his inside knowledge of Millennial's biz to do it.  I wish the show would have him get sued.  But that would distract from his boring, overwrought relationship with Liza, so it won't happen...

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bloopers

Clip:

The after show (as per usual this season, this video is not embeddable so you have to click the link to watch):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqWbkh_6w-E

[aradia22]

Kelsey is being so childish. So she really wanted Audrey's book? I'm sure a lot of other publishers did too. She's reading into it because she and Zane have a personal relationship. But she can't expect to get every book she wants. And if she's good at her job, she should be able to sell plenty of "celebrity" memoirs. Notorious people and faux-celebs are a dime a dozen. 

The whole BDE thing was so SATC. Except SATC would make up its own nonsense. And Younger feels behind the curve just trolling twitter for things the youths are saying.

That's not how alopecia works. I thought Kelsey had cancer or something.

Becky Ann Baker! This show wins me over with its casting even if the writing could use a lot of work.

And then Kelsey had a big public tantrum. Woo. It worked for Carrie Bradshaw but she wasn't the kind of professional that Kelsey is supposed to be. And her tantrums weren't work-related.

[love2lovebadtv]

On 7/11/2019 at 2:23 PM, slowpoked said:

At the beginning of the season when Claire was pregnant, I thought it may not be Josh's baby. But when it ended up being Josh's baby, I thought it was a ploy to give Josh a baby AND still leave the door open for a Liza reunion. And since they had Josh and Claire divorce - what else would it end up to be? Since both Josh and Liza know he wants to have kids, but it's something Liza cannot do anymore, so Liza wanted him to be with someone whom he can have kids. 

I haven't watched this in a while and I'm late to season 6 so maybe I'm remembering the details incorrectly. I thought Liza and Josh broke up because she was not interested in raising a baby. So wouldn't partnering with Josh as a single dad of a newborn be the opposite of what Liza said she wanted? I thought Liza said she was done with that part of her life. 

On 7/11/2019 at 4:56 PM, MissLucas said:

The grey hair thing was confusing since we all know some people get their first grey hairs in their 20's. I took it to mean that Bronwyn was looking for someone of her generation/age group and that would be the Baby Boomers (Becky Anne Baker is 66). Diana is Gen X, Mirjam Shor is 47 and according to the rules of tv-land Diana is probably younger.

It's also possible that Bronwyn suspected some ageism going on at Millenial - but if that's the case the writing should have been clearer. Anyway I doubt it since not an episode passes where we are not told by various characters that Kelsey is great and deserves her position yadayadayada.

I don't think she meant literal gray because, as you pointed out, people gray at different ages. And there's also hair dye😂. 

And I also agree that the writing was unclear here. I think someone on the team just liked that line about gray hair in the room. 

On 7/11/2019 at 3:29 PM, slowpoked said:

I could see this coming a mile away as a ploy to get Liza back to Josh again. Keep the triangle alive. 

Exactly. She's not blameless, but I understand coming unhinged in that situation. Your ex-boss made you the main guy in his old company and everyone thought he's gone for good, only to turn around, build another company from scratch and essentially be the rival of his old company??? I wouldn't shake his hand if I was Kelsey either. And to have the gall to actually be in a friendly dinner with Kelsey just the night before as if everything was peachy keen?! That's not a stab in the back. That's a soulless dagger to the heart.

When the female author was complaining about Millenial lacking the "gray hair in the room", I thought about two things - Diana may not be her age, but she's not exactly an intern fresh out of college either. Why doesn't her gray hair count???

Second thing is, I thought it would be a way for Liza to come out with her real age. Not exactly an ideal scenario, but I thought she would give up her real age just to keep the author in their fold.

Speaking of age, how come Liza's true age is all of a sudden a nonfactor in the plot? Maybe I missed it, but Diana still doesn't know, does she?

Diana still doesn't know and it's ridiculous that so many other people already do.