Younger Recap: Who Knows Liza’s Secret?

Last we saw Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), she had told her 20-something boyfriend Josh (Nico Tortorella) that she had been living a lie—she was not a 26-year-old free spirited publishing assistant and was, in fact, a 40-year-old divorcee from New Jersey who had to lie about her age to get the job. We were left wondering if Josh would ever look at Liza the same way. We were left to worry about the arrival of Liza’s 18-year-old daughter, Caitlin (Tessa Albertson), who was set to return from studying abroad in India. And we had to wonder if heart-on-his-sleeve Josh would be as adept at keeping the secret from Liza’s pal Kelsey (Hilary Duff) and boss Diana Trout (Miriam Shor), as her 40-something bestie Maggie (Debi Mazar).

Season two picked up with Caitlin’s scent-imental arrival off a flight from India. (“Mom, don’t be so Western, this is how human beings smell!”)

Safe in the confines of Maggie’s apartment, Liza sits her daughter down. The dramatic music and Liza’s halting sentences can only mean one thing: Truth bomb time. Liza tells Caitlin she’s been going through an identity issue. “Gay or transitioning?” asks a super tolerant Caitlin, who adds, “Dad always said you had man hands.”

Unable to come clean, Liza admits only to loving Brooklyn. An unimpressed Caitlin excuses herself for a nap, leaving Liza in the clear.

At Empirical, Kelsey wants to pitch a book called One Hundred Things Women Think About While Giving a Blowjob. Not surprisingly, the fogies that be, Diana and Charles (Peter Hermann), are not into it. Even after Liza explains that it’s like “Goodnight Moon but with blowjobs.”

Charles tells Diana (has anyone else noticed this royal name pairing?) their proposed meeting about Bobby Flay’s cookbook has been moved to dinner at his restaurant. Excited about a night out with Charles, Trout Pout enlists Liza to prep so she can show him what a “perfect power couple” they could be.

Back in Brooklyn, Caitlin and her friends leave for a night on the town, freeing Liza to try and meet up with Josh.

Uptown, Diana and Charles enjoy some of Bobby Flay’s peppercorn shrimp…until Diana chips a tooth on one. At Bobby’s recommendation, Charles takes her to a late-night dentist.

Am I the only one who feels sorry for Diana? Sure, she can be a little Devil Wears Prada, but it was sad to watch her pander for Charles’ attention. And how ironic that she made two blowjob jokes after shooting down Kelsey’s book pitch.

The beautiful blonde dentist and Charles clearly have eyes for one another. The next day when she calls to follow up about Diana’s tooth, she asks to speak with him. Diana tells Liza to transfer the call to Time Warner Cable customer service.

In Brooklyn, Josh texts Liza (still waiting for him at the bar), “sorry can’t make it work.”

The next morning, Caitlin shows her mom the fruits of her night out: a Sanskrit Namaste tattoo. Upon hearing how hot the tattoo artist was, Liza surmises the artist behind it. “Mom, you can’t just go yell at the tattoo guy!” Caitlin says as Liza runs out of the apartment.

Liza barges into Josh’s studio. While ranting about the fact that he defaced her daughter’s sideboob, she tells him being dumped by text made her feel like crap. “I definitely didn’t break up with you,” a confused Josh tells her, pointing out that his text meant, “Sorry. Can’t make it. Work.”

“Have you ever heard of punctuation?” Liza asks.

Josh apologizes and offers to make it up to her with a quickie. As the two start making out, the camera pans to the shop window where Caitlin stands in shock.

Later, Liza returns to the apartment where Caitlin is waiting. “I gave him a piece of my mind,” Liza tells her. “You gave him a piece of something,” Caitlin counters.

Liza explains that she and Josh are “sort of” a couple, completely grossing Caitlin out. “You’re having a midlife crisis!” she tells her mother before deciding to move to her dad’s house.

Liza joins Josh for trivia night at the bar, where she excels at ’90s-era questions. The prize? A shot of whiskey for every correct answer. Josh gets wasted, announcing that she’s getting all the answers because she’s 40. In bed, he drunkenly rambles about their 14-year age difference. After he points out that Liza’s closer to his mom’s age than to his, Liza puts an end to the conversation by getting on top of Josh, who’s having a hard time finding his rhythm. “I have whiskey dick,” he tells a confused Liza.

Kelsey learns one of her authors is abandoning Empirical for another publishing house. After relying heavily on his former editor, he’s having a hard time writing his next big book, so he invites Kelsey to lunch for inspiration. He says she should leave Empirical with him, and that his new publisher has prepared an offer.

Liza brings Maggie and Josh to the opening party for Hector & Dorff’s new collection, which is inspired by Cold War-era ping pong and other topics that confuse young Josh. When he wanders off to get a drink (“no whiskey”), Kelsey and Lauren (Molly Bernad) pepper him with questions about why he and Liza broke up in the first place. He freaks and runs out of the party. The pressure of the lie is getting too heavy for this lightweight.

At home, Liza finds a naked Lauren wandering around while Maggie opens a post-coital bottle of wine. (Turns out their Hot-Mitzvah kiss was more than just a kiss.) Lauren suggests the problems with Josh may stem from the fact that Liza is a good girl and needs to “get agro with him” in bed. Liza heads to his apartment to tell him she’s never going to be that girl for him. He shuts her up by kissing her, explaining that he was just drunk the night before, and that he left the party because he was put in the uncomfortable position of lying to her friends. He convinces her to tell Kelsey the truth.

But Kelsey has news of her own. Charles, unable to match the offer from the rival publishing house, offers her own imprint—for millennials by millennials—and she doesn’t want to do it without Liza. “We’ll be 26-year-old bosses,” she tells her. Unable to let her friend down, Liza keeps her mouth shut and agrees. The truth remains a secret for another week.