Younger is a TV show about 40-year-old Liza Miller, a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet after having divorced her husband.
When her daughter leaves for India to pursue further studies, Liza decides to pursue her college dream of working in the publishing industry. While she’s on the lookout for a job, she meets Josh, a 26-year-old tattoo artist who mistakes her as someone of his age. After this encounter, Liza decides to get a makeover (eventually facilitated by her best friend) and begins to play the part of a young, 20-something-year-old woman who has just started her career in publishing. She now has to struggle to look and act in a young and trendy way, while dealing with a struggling relationship with her daughter and a lot of office drama!
What truly struck me was an underlying idea that appears to serve the premise of the show: Liza’s situation is an exaggerated-but-still-truthful reflection of the circumstances many women are faced with as they age. It isn’t that easy for older women (and, perhaps, men) to break into an industry after a certain point simply because of their age. Liza feels like she has to undergo a massive physical transformation (in terms of appearance) in order to even think about getting a low-level job; starting out from a low-tier job at an older age is obviously a lot harder.
This doesn’t take away from the show’s naturally comedic (and occasionally chaotic) storyline: pitches for books titled One Hundred Things Women Think About While Giving A Blowjob, imposing gay neighbors, 18-year-olds telling their mother to stop being so western because ‘real people smell like this’ … Trust me, things can’t get to boring with this!
The show is a light-hearted rom-com-esque watch that you can indulge in when you want to take a break from daily life. It has a bit of everything but doesn’t dwell on any one scenario for too long (other than the major secret of course!)
Liza’s façade has to be kept up for a large part of her life and her complicated office relationships – with her co-worker, Kelsey, her bosses Charles and Diana (no, not a royal reference, unfortunately) – make it all the more harder.