Younger Review: The Gelato and the Pube (Season 4 Episode 8)

Younger Season 4 Episode 8 “The Gelato and the Pube”  is the first episode this season that has left me underwhelmed. There are still plenty of funny moments and bright spots on “The Gelato and the Pube” (including Maggie’s story on the namesake of the episode) but overall, it’s just meh.

Younger often leaves me smiling, squealing, or shouting (or all three) but this episode seems like half filler and the other half left me asking myself, “Did I skip an episode?”

On “The Gelato and the Pube,” Charles openly tells Liza how he feels about her and Kelsey and Josh’s kiss seems like it never happened.

Diana’s plot is also lacking. What did it have to do with anything? It produces some laughs, but story wise, it did not enhance the episode nor did it provide any story development for Diana. Are we supposed to see that she really does love Richard, so much so that she’s even putting up with his slovenly college aged son?

The look on Diana’s face though when Richard describes the “flesh flashlight” is hilarious and the boring storyline is almost worth it.

“Fever Pitch” left us with Charles telling Liza that he’d handle Pauline, his estranged wife, and Liza asks her for more chapters anyway.

But apparently, it’s no big deal because everyone at Empirical is reading the chapters from Pauline’s book and loving the dirty details of Charles’ life. There is no discussion about how Liza went against Charles’ wishes and reached out to Pauline for more chapters.

Maybe, that would have been uninteresting, but it still seems weird to go from Charles saying he’ll handle it to everyone reading Pauline’s book and Charles being kind of okay with it.

Although, seeing the ladies in the office talk about “page 58” is a highlight of the episode.

Liza tells Charles that he should have dinner with Pauline because Empirical will look good if they are the ones to publish her book rather than another company. Charles reluctantly agrees and Liza offers to babysit.

At Charles’ house, he tells Liza that he was really angry about his wife but Liza has lifted the cloud. It’s a sweet sentiment, but it seems out of character for Charles to be so forthcoming with his feelings.

It’s also the sort of declaration you’d think Charles would give at another time, another place. Not in the hallway of his house while he’s on his way out to dinner with his estranged wife.

Both Charles and Liza have shown restraint with their relationship in the past, so, it’s a little jarring to see Charles making big statements like this.

Later in the episode, he also tells Liza that he’s through with Pauline and that she won’t come between “us.” So, are Liza and Charles a thing now? Sure, they made out, but it’s just strange to hear Charles say things like this.

Also, Liza has hardly said anything about how she feels about him.

The other big moment on “Fever Pitch” was when Josh and Kelsey kissed. On “The Gelato and the Pube,” no mention of the kiss is made and they both try to find each other someone to hook up with.

I don’t mind that Younger is going down that route between Josh and Kelsey like the whole kiss never happened. BUT I don’t want it to come up again. Either the kiss should have been addressed on “The Gelato and the Pube”  and therefore, there could be more drama later, or it should have been a fluke and we should forget the kiss just like Josh and Kelsey have.

Overall, “The Gelato and the Pube” is my least favorite episode of Younger this season. As much as I adore Diana and Maggie, the storylines with them just feel like filler and the rest of the episode feels like a big-time jump, although not much time has passed at all.

Final Notes:

• Didn’t Claire, the Irish bartender, kind of look like Kelsey?
• Diana’s EARRINGS. Need I say more?
• There was not nearly enough Kelsey this episode. There needs to be more Liza/Kelsey time.
• Liza’s outfits are killing me. I have not seen one I have liked yet!
• Can we just appreciate Charles in that gray shirt a little longer?

What did you think of this episode of Younger? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Younger airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on TV Land.

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