Younger (TV Series) Review

When Liza Miller at 40 is going through a divorce, with her daughter off to college she attempts to get back into her career but the age factor is not on her side, so she claims to be 26 years old and that changes everything!

2015-2021

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Younger suddenly appeared on Netflix and as soon as I not only read the plot but saw that Sutton Foster was in the leading role with Hilary Duff also in it I knew instantly that it would be something I would enjoy watching. Throw in that Darren Star is the creator of Sex and the City, the only thing that had me a little confused was how I had never heard of this show before!

Anyway, it is easily the quickest I have ever binge watched a series that has seven seasons. Although I feel the need to state that the episodes are just over 20 minutes long as if to try and justify why I watched it so quickly. Starting when I was off work for Christmas probably helped in that exteme viewing, plus I was very quickly taken in by it. I couldn’t help but notice throughout how many Broadway stars and actors would appear in it, the amazing shots of NYC in the scenes and quite frankly the way it approaches the topic around ageism and in particular towards women!

We are taken on the journey with Liza and quite frankly wonder how she will manage to get away with it. Living with her friend Maggie, who at the start is the only person who knows of her double life and real age. Well, more like previous life rather than double life. She wants to get her career back on track to support her daughter Caitlin who is currently in college.

She quickly forms an alliance and friendship with Kelsey Peters who also works in the publishing house. She finds it difficult to work for Diana Trout, who is quite frankly a version of Miranda Priestley isn’t she! We then have Charles Brooks who is the boss of them all. It didn’t take long for Liza to meet Josh and this would form a rather intense relationship.

As a viewer we are constantly wondering how and when people are going to find out the truth about Liza’s age, and I felt as though it being dripped out at different times to different characters actually worked very well, instead of it being all at once. The fact that they were hurt with the lie, and we could feel that too. Although her original reasons for it would still stand, it just changed her as a person within some of the relationships, so that was interesting to see unfold.

I do have to state that the series was utterly brilliant up until that final season, and I get that the covid filming issues played a bit part in that with some actors not returning and it being tricky to complete which is such a shame as the first six seasons were honestly excellent. What they did to Charles’ character in that final season really made no sense at all.

We get a love triangle as Liza attempts to work out whether her life would be better with Josh or Charles and let’s face it both situations had positives and negatives. I actually did not see the ending coming, so I will give the final season a tiny bit of credit for that. Even if it wasn’t what I had been hoping for throughout the seasons. I did very much enjoy the odd musical number that popped up, with the Cabaret scene being a standout.

We are shown the big differences between the different age groups and the focus of this is very much on that Millennial group, which I am well and truly part of so that probably helped and you know Hilary Duff being a similar age to me helped with thinking about that age and how I was at that age. It also made me feel really old too, pushing towards that 40 mark although without any kids or previous family, so I guess the character I am closer to becoming is Diana, maybe?

It take on many different characters with representation shown from start to finish and I thought that was another very good and interesting aspect. I really do recommend this for anyone who is in that Millennial generation, I think you will enjoy the little trip down memory lane for some of the parts of this and then making you wonder about the future and how everything is going to potentially work out.

Sutton Foster was just great in the leading role, I am lucky enough to have seen her on stage in Anything Goes when it was on in London back in 2021 and it is seriously one of the best performances I have ever seen. Debi Mazar and Miriam Shor, both take turns in being utter scene stealers and I was appreciating that constantly. Hilary Duff and Molly Bernard both add so much to different scenes. We then have Nico Tortorella and Peter Hermann battling it out to be the top man, not only for Liza but for the show overall and they both have good moments, actually come to think of it they are both pretty decent characters and don’t really do anything wrong.

One final thought, make sure you give this show a chance. I am so pleased I did!