S06.E09: Millennial's Next Top Model

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Millennial deals with the fallout over the Debutante Ball; Liza is pulled into a media frenzy, led by a publicity-hungry Quinn Tyler; Maggie dates against type; Kelsey and Zane reset.

Original air date: 8/14/19

[Aulty]

WHY WAS JOSH AT THE FECKING SHOOT? The shoe-horning is so riddiculous this season. (Nice mention of all the forms he had to sign to get in, because one of the surely covers him allowing them to use the pictures he is in)

Diana and the mouth vibrator was a funny visual, but she is better than that. I'd rather see her crushing it professionally than be the interlude joke.

Now Kelsey is the one banging with a lower level employee - is that ok now?

I didn't like Maggie's story at all. Surely there are ways to tell interesting stories that do not rely on a lesbian banging a guy.

Quinn is such an alpha. How does getting rid of the company straight after the interview not look petty?

Oh, and if you have an important meeting in the editor's office: CLOSE THE FECKING DOOR!

Edited August 15, 2019 by Aulty

[MissLucas]

*sigh* Who thought it was a great idea to bring back the girls in the very episode they bring out the sledge-hammer to tell the world that Liza has better chemistry with Josh than with Charles (nevermind context)? @Aultygood catch on why they made Josh sign all those forms.

So, Liza's officially 42 now? Which means she was 38 when the show started but she told Josh in season 1 that she was 40. Oh well, not the first show that can't remember what happened in its first season.

I laughed at 'Gen X Grifter' but I still don't like the flippant way the show deals with the massive amount of lying involved by simply turning it into a weapon in the battle against ageism. That was a valid point in season 1 but along the way there were plenty of opportunities to come clean and make the point without being caught red-handed. IIRC Liza has been offered at least two good jobs by people who knew her real age.

At least Kelsey had some good scenes: I really liked the conversation she had with Zane (and that Diana was the one who had to send her there). Of course they should not have ended in bed together due to their work relationship but when has that ever stopped this show?

Another stupid plot wasted on Debie Mazar and Oded Fehr. And as much as I like Laura Benanti, I'm not really interested in Quinn who is such a cartoon villain in order to make sure we all side with the folks who kept lying and putting their company (and plenty of jobs) in jeopardy for years when they could have come clean a long time ago.

On the plus side - plenty of great outfits: Kelsey's two print dresses (yay, finally freedom for Hillary Duff's neck), everything worn by Quinn and Diana, the metallic print dress and the map-print dress worn by Liza.

[luna1122]

And why are they still trying to push on us the idea, even tho everyone knows her real age now, that Liza LOOKS 27---annaleigh Ashley being astounded that liza and Diana are the same age, diana asking contemptuously, upon seeing the shots of Liza and Charles together 'is this a daddy/daughter shoot?'. Liza looks great, but the idea that everyone still thinks she looks 20 something is stupid.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ugh, Rafael was skeeving me out even before he declared he was a flipper. The less said about him and that entire stupid storyline, the better.

I'm glad that Kelsey stood up to Quinn. I know Kelsey is still adjusting to her new role, but I'm glad that she wasn't cowed by Quinn. I mean, yes, the result was that Quinn pulled her funding, but she has been nothing but trouble so good riddance to her and her endless agenda.

I was half convinced that Quinn's retaliation was going to be replacing Kelsey with Zane (I have no idea how she would have finangled that manipulation though - could the board vote to do that?).

You know that your relationship is not in a great place when you set a timer and tell the other person that they can ask you anything and you will answer honestly. Isn't that what you're supposed to do in a relationship but without the timer?

I think I have some residual paranoia left over from watching Dirty John and The Act because in addition to thinking that Quinn would put Zane in charge to punish Kelsey, I was also convinced that the whole photoshoot was just an excuse for the 21 company to get pictures of Liza so they could use it for a story trashing Liza for lying. I was surprised that it turned out to be a regular photoshoot. But OF COURSE Josh just showed up and they got cute pictures of him with Liza and Charles is going to feel jealous/threatened and freak out.

Yay for Annaleigh Ashford! This show gets so many great guest stars.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The after show (as usual, it's not embeddable so click to watch):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXO4Bn3P-BI

[Heathrowe]

I wasn't crazy about this season but I really liked the finale. The Infinitely 21 woman was great, everything she said about her brand-and the way she said it-was so spot on for anyone who has to work in marketing. Made me laugh. Another great line was Quinn's regarding the fact that no one outside of mid-town Manhattan publishing circles will actually care or know about Liza's scandal. Things that flummox me-if they want to push the Josh/Liza/Charles triangle-where is it supposed to go? They are all three nice people. It's not like Josh or Charles is bad for Liza or a bad choice. If she ends up with Josh but stays at Milennial with Charles...ew. Though, to be honest-she should probably just not be at Milennial anymore. I can understand that Josh is too important a character to let go but....it feels like both guys are getting jerked around? I don't appreciate it! I'm all in for Charles & Liza, but I cannot deny that Liza and Josh have tremendous chemistry. If Josh & Liza will be endgame, I could go back and rewrite the past few seasons so that there's no Enzo and Charles & Diana actually fall in love. And not for laughs, for real.

[Yeah No]

I have to keep reminding myself that this show has basically run out of new ideas so they have to keep recycling old ones.  Which explains why Josh keeps being forced into the show to keep him as some kind of perceived threat, and its use of the cheap trick of making Maggie "switch teams" temporarily ala Samantha in SATC (which was also done pretty much when that show was running out of ideas).  Same for Zane and Kelsey now being "on" again.  I don't trust him and don't understand how now he was the one taking some kind of moral high ground about Liza's lies when he would sell his grandmother down the river for a dollar....My eyes roll at Kelsey being in love with him and forgetting the past.  And ditto with turning Diana into the laughingstock of the show with that face exerciser - I cringed at the amazed comments about Liza being near her age but looking so much younger.  She does NOT look that much younger and it's just ridiculous by now that the show keeps wanting to push that.

5 minutes ago, Heathrowe said:

I wasn't crazy about this season but I really liked the finale. 

This was not the season finale.  I heard in the promo that there are 3 episodes left to this season.

Speaking of "Infinitely 21", too bad they couldn't use the real name of "Forever 21" as that would be a more relevant title for using a 42 year old as a model for their message.

[slowpoked]

4 hours ago, MissLucas said:

At least Kelsey had some good scenes: I really liked the conversation she had with Zane (and that Diana was the one who had to send her there).

Diana Trout has so much wisdom, yet they still relegate her to being a laughingstock with her age and looks. I wish they treated her character better - she's one of my favorite characters on TV right now.

[Winston Wolfe]

34 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

My eyes roll at Kelsey being in love with him and forgetting the past.  And ditto with turning Diana into the laughingstock of the show with that face exerciser - I cringed at the amazed comments about Liza being near her age but looking so much younger.  She does NOT look that much younger and it's just ridiculous by now that the show keeps wanting to push that.

Diana and Liza are so obviously contemporaries that it almost hurts, lol. So tired of Diana being used for comic relief, the actress and character deserve so much better.

From a male perspective, all the female leads are stunning in their own unique ways: Liza with her long legs and fantastic figure; Kelsey with her compact, curvy thickness, Diana with her sophistication and maturity, and Maggie with her exotic beauty (those eyes!) and Reuben-esque hotness. Even her overbite is sexy, lol.

ETA - Is it just me, or did Maggie seem open to another romp in the sack with Rafael until his smug "I flip lesbians" comment?

Edited August 15, 2019 by Winston Wolfe

[Ms Lark]

Hmm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember: if you don't make payroll on payday you can be sued by every unpaid employee. I had a boss who used to panic about all the wire transfers and direct deposits going through on time. They're in deeper doo-doo than they think, but that won't happen because: fairytales!

[LuvMyShows]

10 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I cringed at the amazed comments about Liza being near her age but looking so much younger.  

Whenever they put Liza's character in extra make-up -- like for the photo shoot and for fancy events -- she looks so much older.

2 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Hmm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember: if you don't make payroll on payday you can be sued by every unpaid employee. 

I don't know about that, but what I don't understand is how on earth did Quinn actually pull her money out?!?!  She had made the investment months ago, and that means turning the money over and it would now be in Empirical/Millenial's bank account that had been being used for payroll, and no way on earth would she have been able to access that money.  If she hadn't already turned over the money, then there would have been no reason to be surprised when payroll wasn't met.  Additionally, there would have been a legal agreement drawn up about her investment....oh, wait a minute, that's when Charles was in charge, so maybe not!

[LuvMyShows]

13 hours ago, Aulty said:

WHY WAS JOSH AT THE FECKING SHOOT? (Nice mention of all the forms he had to sign to get in, because one of the surely covers him allowing them to use the pictures he is in)

So why was he at the shoot?  He obviously didn't know that she was going to have a shoot there, because Liza herself didn't know there would be a shoot there.  So if he was just some rando who wandered into the restaurant/bar, they wouldn't have let him in because of the shoot going on, since I don't remember seeing other people in there (maybe I missed them or am misremembering?).  

And I def don't believe that they would have put Liza and Josh on those billboards and such without their knowledge.

[slowpoked]

5 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

Whenever they put Liza's character in extra make-up -- like for the photo shoot and for fancy events -- she looks so much older.

I don't know about that, but what I don't understand is how on earth did Quinn actually pull her money out?!?!  She had made the investment months ago, and that means turning the money over and it would now be in Empirical/Millenial's bank account that had been being used for payroll, and no way on earth would she have been able to access that money.  If she hadn't already turned over the money, then there would have been no reason to be surprised when payroll wasn't met.  Additionally, there would have been a legal agreement drawn up about her investment....oh, wait a minute, that's when Charles was in charge, so maybe not!

The only viable scenario I could think of is her investment was in a specific bank account, with just her investment and nothing else and therefore, easier to "pull". Other than that, yes the problem does not make sense.

[pivot]

That brief scene with Josh saved the episode. Josh has chemistry with all the characters on the show. It is such a mistake to sideline him from the show. And of course, I am rooting for Liza/Josh to get back together. They just work together. Charles/Liza make sense on paper but every scene with them is just like watching paint dry. I think it is the actor playing Charles. The guy is a block of wood and he doesn't really have chemistry with anyone.  

Any scene with Oded is awesome even if his plot line was stupid. He is crazy hot.

[Ms Blue Jay]

33 minutes ago, pivot said:

That brief scene with Josh saved the episode. Josh has chemistry with all the characters on the show. It is such a mistake to sideline him from the show. And of course, I am rooting for Liza/Josh to get back together. They just work together. Charles/Liza make sense on paper but every scene with them is just like watching paint dry. I think it is the actor playing Charles. The guy is a block of wood and he doesn't really have chemistry with anyone.  

Any scene with Oded is awesome even if his plot line was stupid. He is crazy hot.

I'm with you.  I understand why people say it's contrived that Josh is on the show, but I like Josh so much for Liza and it's clear she comes alive when she's with him and I just don't like Charles or Charles for her at all.  

[retrograde]

Please kill this tortured love triangle. I actually thought they were moving on from it a few episodes back when Charles had that whole parable about his affair with an older woman who thought being with a younger man would be validation. This week's return to the whole thing was particularly dumb. Liza has never acted that way around Josh before. 

Why would the Forever 21 knock-off want to be associated with millennials when its target market is gen z?

Yeesh, poor timing for NY1 given they were just sued by female anchors for age discrimination. At least this fictional Pat Kiernan had more journalistic nous than the fictional Pat Kiernan in the last Spiderman movie.

[tennisgurl]

I am still just so happy that we are finally at the point where everyone knows what Liza did, and knows how old she is, that I can kind of actually get into this season again. Well, sort of at least. Really, Millennial should consider themselves lucky that this is mostly a PR nightmare and not some kind of legal issue, considering all the times that Liza lied, and is now a major member of the company.

I knew as soon as they shot those sad chemistry vacuum pictures of Charles/Liza, I knew that they would have them take sexy awesome pictures of Josh/Liza later. God, will this love triangle ever end?! Josh and Liza have better chemistry, but Liza and Charles have more in common, even beyond their age. And while Charles has been kind of a dick lately with his vanity project, and   I am not a huge fan in general, he did turn his life upside down to be with Liza, and it would suck if she ended up just ditching him for her ex. Not that she is required to stay with him because of how things went down, but its still going to suck for him. Why was Josh even there? Moral support? Required love triangle drama?

The flipper guy story was super lame in how it all played out, and basically screamed "we`re running out of ideas for Maggie". 

How are we getting so little Diana at this point? Beyond her freak out last week, which she got over pretty quickly, she seems to be totally over it, despite her being one of the people who should be most affected by this revelation.

Edited August 16, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Ms Lark]

5 hours ago, pivot said:

Charles/Liza make sense on paper but every scene with them is just like watching paint dry. I think it is the actor playing Charles. The guy is a block of wood and he doesn't really have chemistry with anyone.  

Except Persil! He does a good commercial, but I keep wondering why does Mariska Hargitay's husband have to shill for detergent? I doubt seriously they need the $$.

[Aussie Grrrl]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

How are we getting so little Diana at this point?

I think it's because Miriam Shor is directing episodes as well.

[Winston Wolfe]

When art and life intersect: https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/ny-gabrielle-carteris-lied-to-90210-producers-about-her-age-20190816-zcw2vqzy6fhz5iearqs46cyygm-story.html

[Eri]

Can they please stop giving Maggie storylines with creeps? First the pervert from across the building, now the sexist "flipper?" It's not funny and wasted utilization of the actress's talent.

[MissLucas]

6 hours ago, Eri said:

Can they please stop giving Maggie storylines with creeps? First the pervert from across the building, now the sexist "flipper?" It's not funny and wasted utilization of the actress's talent.

Let's not forget that weird plot from last season involving jewelry handcuffs (or similar nonsense). This show has such amazingly talented actresses and over and over again rewards them with ridiculous plots.

[Aryanna]

This episode sucked. 

I thought after last week that there would be fallout from Liza's age revelation. I thought Millennial would have to deal with it in some shrewd or clever way. Nope. Liza has an outburst and Infinitely 21 decides they want her to be the face of their new campaign. 

Note to show runners. Stop trying to make us care about the love triangle. We don't care. I agree with others, Josh is just getting shoe horned into these episodes. He doesn't even belong anymore. It's getting to where I can't even stand him anymore. 

[Yeah No]

On 8/16/2019 at 11:34 PM, Aryanna said:

This episode sucked. 

I thought after last week that there would be fallout from Liza's age revelation. I thought Millennial would have to deal with it in some shrewd or clever way. Nope. Liza has an outburst and Infinitely 21 decides they want her to be the face of their new campaign. 

I agree with you that the way the show handled this sucked, but I did predict in Season 1 or 2 that once it finally came out Millennial would probably find some way to turn it around and capitalize on Liza's story because it was a great fit for their focus and could make them money.  I just think like you do that it wasn't done in a shrewd or clever enough way.

[Gothish520]

On 8/15/2019 at 11:25 PM, pivot said:

That brief scene with Josh saved the episode. Josh has chemistry with all the characters on the show. It is such a mistake to sideline him from the show. And of course, I am rooting for Liza/Josh to get back together. They just work together. Charles/Liza make sense on paper but every scene with them is just like watching paint dry. I think it is the actor playing Charles. The guy is a block of wood and he doesn't really have chemistry with anyone.  

Any scene with Oded is awesome even if his plot line was stupid. He is crazy hot.

I love Josh and I'm happy whenever he's onscreen, even if some feel that they "shoehorn" him in. Don't care. He's been there from the beginning and he deserves to have his story told, even if his big event for the day is stopping for coffee and running into one of the cast. Again, don't care, don't care, don't care, just make it happen, lol.

I love his relationship with Liza, and I can deal with it not being romantic. They have a wonderful friendship. I honestly don't think the show is trying to tease us with "will they get back together?" I think they are just showing us that they have a real, deep friendship, and that there is a side of Liza that isn't all work and Charles and kids. I like that they are emphasizing that Josh was not a dumb fling, and that there is a real connection between them.

I am also happy whenever Oded Fehr is on my screen, and kind of wish he was going to stick around awhile, lol! He looks great with the silver-gray mane. 😍

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Bloopers:

Clip:

[VelvetDreaming]

The Maggie plot was so cringeworthy. I'm surprised I didn't see any thinkpieces for it. I was actually sad at the moving out dinner last episode, too.

I'm confused for Quinn's popularity as a candidate because she seems too corporate/centrist without the political connections of actual centrist candidates.

[nara]

On 8/16/2019 at 4:41 AM, Ms Lark said:

Except Persil! He does a good commercial, but I keep wondering why does Mariska Hargitay's husband have to shill for detergent? I doubt seriously they need the $$.

I think that having a commercial during the super bowl is huge for an actor’s visibility, regardless of what he or she is paid.  Given that Younger is clearly winding down, it was smart for him to do it. However, I do remember AdAge (I think) overall reviewing the commercial positively, but calling him “blandly handsome”. I think some people on this forum would agree.

[Ms Lark]

On 9/16/2019 at 3:05 PM, nara said:

Given that Younger is clearly winding down, it was smart for him to do it.

He's been doing Persil commercials and print ads longer than he's been on Younger!

[nara]

8 minutes ago, Ms Lark said:

He's been doing Persil commercials and print ads longer than he's been on Younger!

Oh! Did not know that! I stand corrected.

[aradia22]

None of the nonsense Liza screamed at Shelly (Annaleigh Ashford) made any sense. Millennial is not a state of mind. And 40+ year olds really shouldn't be shopping at Forever21 (I know they went bankrupt, but the point stands). 

I keep forgetting how hot Oded Fehr is. Charmed, Covert Affairs, now Younger. Every time he appears on a show I watch he brings so much charisma. Even when he's evil or sleazy, he has this refined air. Even in this episode when he was playing a creep, I didn't find him gross.

He's pretty but I am so uninterested in Zane. They've done barely anything to develop his character from who he was when he first showed up and I don't care about him and Kelsey. As terrible as she is at it, I'm totally fine if Kelsey doesn't have a love life at all. Just focus on the other characters and Kelsey can just do her thing at work.

God, I love Laura Benanti. Her acting was great throughout this episode. And I love that she let Kelsey destroy herself. You can't get out of hard decisions with self-righteousness and sass. Kelsey thinking she could walk away after telling Quinn no but not coming to a mutually satisfying agreement was idiocy. Too much of this show is about characters not really facing consequences or having to struggle. I feel like they're writing Quinn off the show but I will miss her. She was much better than the boy genius character they came up with first.