Who Signed Off On Younger's Positive Reference To @thefatjewish?

Who would ever be persuaded by "I want to live an authentic life -- that's just who I am"?

Particularly someone who's forty?! I get that the infrequent and one-at-a-time announcement of Liza's age fraud and each person's reaction to same has to be a major plot driver on the show; I've seen pop culture products about the keeping of secrets before. And therefore I also get that Josh's reaction couldn't be "Okay, whatever, you're still hot af." But surely someone could have come up with a more compelling reason for Josh to balk at helping Liza keep the lie alive than this pinko nonsense. I honestly don't think it's possible for someone in Josh's circumstances not to know and accept that some people in his social circle are doing some sketchy things just to get through life. Josh is twenty-six and lives in Williamsburg: I guarantee he knows someone who's abusing rent control, someone who's in the country illegally on an expired student visa, and someone who has a prohibited barbecue on his or her deck, and if he himself is not using his parents' HBOGo credentials, it's because Liza gave him the ones she's had since she was living in New Jersey. Urging Liza to tell the truth about her age and the way she schemed into her job at Empirical because he's worried that she's going to get prosecuted for using a fake SSN would make sense. Whining that what she's doing to get by doesn't line up with his vaaaaaalues, maaaaaaaaaaaan is dumb.

Or...does Liza let Josh have that one for the same reason she later talks down Kelsey: maternal instinct?

Older women and younger men can date each other for all kinds of reasons and in no way am I suggesting that either Liza or Josh is acting out some kind of fetish. (Though I do think they don't have that much in common and that the relationship is doomed, but the difference in their ages is only part of it.) But as the parent of a person who's closer to Josh's age than Liza herself is, Liza has a lot of experience in letting younger people vent for a while and then not really let them have their way in the long run -- not to mention treating superficial opinions as though they have merit, and not as though they're poorly reasoned and silly. (See also: Caitlin's defense of her BO in the Season 2 premiere.)

Who signed off on that positive reference to @thefatjewish?

If you are not conversant with the outragerati, this week's episode of Younger might be the first time you, like Charles, have ever heard of The Fat Jew (@thefatjewish), and might even have thought that was just a fake Instagram account invented for the show's list of digital influencers Kelsey and Liza are inviting to the launch of Millennial Print, Kelsey's new imprint. Alas, The Fat Jew is all too real...and the subject of significant controversy. In August, he signed with CAA, which is when the backlash against him started in earnest, as comics and Twitter users started calling him out for stealing their jokes and reposting them without attribution. His fans don't seem aware of this -- he's added 2 million or so more Instagram followers since THR announced his new relationship with CAA -- but it was definitely A Thing online a few months ago. It was such a thing, in fact, that Liza's enthusiastic mention of him as a party attendee could have led to a story about her embarrassment when she found out what a problematic figure he is; I mean, the moms you're friends with on Facebook don't know how much shame he's brought on himself when they repost "his" stuff, and we're supposed to think of Liza as one of them. But Kelsey's sitting right next to Liza when she includes him in her list. Unless this episode was shot more than a year ago, this reference should have never made it into the final cut. (Younger? Fire your millennial consultant. He or she is not reading the blogs he or she should.)

"Is that some sort of plaid diaper?"

That's actually Diana's question, about Liza's confusing bottoms.

But I would like to know the answer as well.

Can I move in with Lauren's parents?

In the past, I've written that Lauren AND Kelsey's choice to live with Lauren's parents feeds bad millennial stereotypes, particularly when both young women let the elder Hellers baby them. And sure, Lauren's dad sometimes makes the home a battleground.

But it's not all bad.

How much longer can stupid Liza possibly resist Charles?

I know, I know: her secret, and Josh, and Charles is her boss. But it's clear that Charles is endgame and I WISH THEY WOULD START GETTING THERE BECAUSE HE IS FOINE.