‘Younger’ is all grown up, but we aren’t ready to say goodbye

Liza Miller has come a long way since her days as a 40-year-old single mom posing as a 26-year-old publishing intern.

Younger began with Liza (Sutton Foster) lying about her age to help her land a job and a hot young tattoo artist named Josh (Nico Tortorella), so it’s only fitting that the show’s seventh and final season, which premiered on April 15 on Paramount+ and Hulu, lets her publicly embrace life as a fortysomething.

While Liza’s age equilibrium has at long last been restored, in true Younger fashion, she and her friends still have their fair share of delightfully dramatic dilemmas to work through. Season 7 picks up right where the show left off: Charles (Peter Hermann) had just popped the big question to Liza on the dance floor of Diana’s (Miriam Shor) wedding reception; Josh was mastering life as a baby daddy while struggling to shake his unwavering feelings for Liza; and Kelsey (Hilary Duff) was set to make her Empirical comeback after an unfortunate social media mishap led her to relinquish her publisher title to Charles.

Darren Star’s effervescent dramedy returns on April 15 with the first four episodes of Season 7 available to stream on Paramount+ and Hulu. Remaining episodes will drop every Thursday, and the season is set to air in its entirety on TV Land later in 2021. With the first 11 of 12 episodes out for review, we’re not exactly sure how this story ends, but we can say that the lead-up to the series finale is well worth the watch.

Younger’s farewell season embodies everything there is to love about the show. Energizing pop songs and picturesque city shots connect scenes ripe with awkward moments, romantic tension, flawless fashion, and simmering secrets. But below the surface, Star’s characters are taking bold risks, flirting with introspection, pursuing ambitious professional aspirations, and working to strengthen enduring friendships. 

When viewers first reconnect with Liza and Charles they’re waving goodbye to the newlyweds with lit sparklers in-hand. Seconds later, those sparks extinguish before our eyes, and though you’ll have to tune in to learn whether or not the flickered flames foreshadow the couple’s future, we assure you that Season 7 will make you ricochet between #TeamCharles and #TeamJosh once again. Sorry, Charles fans — but mounting personal and professional pressures cause your guy to stray from the charming, mature, book-loving boss we’ve all collectively crushed on before.

Image: Nicole Rivelli / ViacomCBS, Inc. 

Image: Nicole Rivelli / ViacomCBS, Inc.

Back at Empirical, Liza and Kelsey’s once-celebrated Millennial imprint is fading into the past. The reality is both bittersweet and suitably symbolic of the show, its characters, and its viewers getting older and growing up. Though it’s difficult to let go of days spent tweeting as Jane Austen, hooking the latest Joyce Carol Oates release to the #ToplessTuesday hashtag, and carrying out a slew of other ridiculously cheeky marketing gimmicks geared towards millennial readers, it’s refreshing to see these two talented women craft and execute a fresh, groundbreaking idea to help Empirical remain relevant in the old-fashioned world of publishing.

Younger continues to dish out pop culture references and keeps with its amusing tradition of parodying books, authors, and famous figures such as Marie Kondo, Kellyanne Conway, and George R. R. Martin (whose inspired character, when the show addressed #MeToo). In Season 7, we meet Fupa Grünhoff, a teenage Austrian climate change activist with massive Greta Thunberg vibes, and the team acquires playfully provocative book titles like The F Word and Little Women in Space.

The series stays true to itself and its strengths to the very end, minus a few noticeable character shuffles. Season 7 introduces several new faces and brings back familiar ones like the extraordinarily extra literary agent Redmond (Michael Urie), Josh’s baby mama (Phoebe Dynevor), and Charles’ ex wife Pauline (Jennifer Westfeldt). The controversial Quinn Tyler (Laura Benanti) also reappears, while everyone’s favorite necklace-flaunting karaoke queen, Diana Trout, is noticeably absent thanks to 221 saved vacation days and a romantic honeymoon. Diana, along with Kelsey’s competitive on-again-off-again romantic interest, Zane (Charles Michael Davis), each make brief video chat appearances in the final season. And though Zane’s ending feels a bit lazy, his departure doesn’t sting nearly as much as Diana’s. Not even extra Lauren (Molly Bernard) and Maggie (Debi Mazar) scenes could fill the Diana void, though it’s clear writers tried.

Ultimately, the episodes are engaging as ever, and though it’s rare with final seasons, I find myself struggling to squash the belief that this show still has so much left to give. The book proposals, publishing parties, and fiery one-liners alone could sustain my interest for seasons to come, but it’s the characters I’m not ready to let go of just yet. I want to see which absurdly heavy necklaces Diana brings back from her honeymoon. I want to see what kind of father Josh becomes and where his business is headed. I want to see Kelsey stick it to all the rigid old men who doubted her. And I want to see Liza give her whole heart to someone — or keep it to herself — and enjoy that for a while without anything getting in the way.

Image: Nicole Rivelli / ViacomCBS, Inc. 

In one poignant, particularly memorable scene, Liza says to Kelsey, “I’m an editor. I know endings, and it doesn’t feel like that’s where we are.” It doesn’t feel like that’s where the show is either, and while there’s still a chance that the series finale will leap forward in time or hurriedly tie up loose ends, the farewell still feels premature.

There’s one day, but I’m holding out hope for a Younger reboot — possibly inspired by Pamela Redmond’s sequel, Older — down the line. I’ll reconnect with these characters no matter how much time passes, because if we’ve learned anything from this enchanting journey, it’s that age is irrelevant.

You can watch the first four episodes of Younger Season 7 on Paramount+ and Hulu, with new episodes every Thursday.

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