_
I know we agreed not to react to Liza's news...
Well, I didn't agree to that.
But it's getting hard to ignore the pushback.
Agents are cancelling meetings.
Others are showing up just to see the 40-year-old Millennial.
42 according to "New York" magazine.
Well, mercifully they have a paywall now.
And I got a call from Infinitely 21.
They want to have another meeting
to "clarify final details" of our deal.
The clothing chain?
What deal is that?
We negotiated a deal with them
to sell Millennial titles in their stores.
Potentially a major new revenue stream.
A 42-year-old shilling Millennial books
at Infinitely 21.
That'll be a fun headline.
Maybe we have her sit that one out?
We could... rest her for a bit?
I think we need to be more proactive.
Have her reach out to our authors directly.
I think this is crazy.
She lied to you, made you all complicit,
and now it's threatening your business.
But you want to let her get away with it,
allowing her to endanger the company.
You're refusing to put out a very preventable fire.
Write her a nice recommendation
and get her out before she poisons the whole company.
Knock-knock.
I pulled those comps on baby books, so... here.
Liza, wait.
Don't take this personally.
It sounded pretty personal.
It can't be. I don't know who you are.
- Zane... - Charles.
I know you love her, but as soon as you found out,
you should've reported her to HR.
Or at least told her best friend about it.
I actually knew before he did.
You're all insane.
Ignore him. Millennial is going to be fine.
Everything's gonna be fine.
You're killing the deal?!
Nobody said kill.
We just think, given the recent revelations,
that this union isn't as...
straightforward as we thought.
- Does that make any sense? - No.
Because this deal was about selling books,
not about Liza.
The deal was about the brand.
Our brand is fun, sexy, authentic, youthful.
And your brand now represents faking that.
The kiss of death in any youth brand
is being embraced by an older generation.
Do you know what I mean?
This is the exact kind of discrimination
that drove Liza to do this in the first place.
And she can wear all the rompers she wants.
We just don't think this is a smart partnership
for us anymore.
And that is the tea.
Well, uh, you want some tea, Shelly?
Everyone is pretending to be younger.
We dye our hair, we whiten our teeth,
we wear moisturizing face masks
that make us look like serial killers,
and we squeeze our widening hips into Spanx
because the most important thing to be
in the whole goddamn world is 27.
Should I have told the truth? Sure.
But you know what? So should you.
Millennial isn't an age. It's an attitude.
And if you can't sell that, we'll go somewhere else.
- Synced & corrected by MementMori - -- www.addic7ed.com --
- Hey. - Good evening.
Enjoying the show?
Oh, yeah, it's really timely.
I mean, the one thing we need more of
is male perspective on femininity.
So we agree this exhibit is dogshit.
Except that piece, no?
Hm. I don't know.
I mean, it's a little needy.
The artist is trying way too hard.
And, uh... and standing a little close.
So you know who I am.
Well, how come you're not flipping your hair
like the other girls telling me I'm a genius?
Honey, this hair took me an hour,
and I don't flip it for anybody.
- Well, you are gorgeous. - Oh, thank you.
- It's Maggie, right? - Yeah, Maggie Amato. Hi.
So, Maggie Amato:
tell me what you really think of this piece.
You know, it's less layered than your earlier work.
But it's stunning and interesting and...
Sexy?
I'll take that as a yes.
All right, let me do you.
Show me your work; I'll tell you what I think.
Well, I don't have any pieces here.
Most of my stuff's at my loft.
Oh, excuse me. Thank you.
All right. Off we go to your loft then.
You're not actually inviting yourself
to my place, are you?
Oh, well, you can invite me
if it'll make you feel more comfortable.
Mm, okay, I'm all out of toppings.
Okay, I am going to raise you...
my emergency bag of Hazelnut Spread M&Ms.
It's half-empty.
It was an emergency kinda day.
I'm out. I won't take your last bag of candy, Liza.
Aw.
Thank you, Bianca.
Okay, well, I'm in.
- Rats. - God.
Yes! I win!
I think that we've all had enough for tonight.
Why don't you two go and, uh, pick up cupcakes for breakfast?
Thank you for putting on a brave face for the girls.
I should be thanking them.
It's the first time I've smiled all day.
It is going to be fine.
Ugh.
You should wait with the girls; I might start crying again.
Hi, Shelly, what'd I do now?
Ah! Such a firecracker.
I love that. Okay, so I talked to our CMO
after your little outburst, and...
we have decided to unfreeze the partnership.
Wait, so you do want to sell Millennial books in your stores?
Yes, and we also want to embrace the brand
the way that you have.
How would you feel about being in our spring campaign?
In it how?
In a miniskirt.
Or a jumpsuit. We're still debating.
What you screamed at me today...
justifiably, we're still friends, promise...
it resonated.
Why should we narrowcast our brand?
We want you to be the face...
and legs... of Infinitely 21.
Uh...
I don't know what to say.
Say yes. I lobbied hard for this.
Uh...
okay?
Fantastic! We have to shoot tomorrow,
so get some beauty rest.
Maggie, you're very...
- Gay. - Well, I was gonna say "talented."
I just didn't say it before,
so I thought I should, you know...
say it.
I knew your sexuality when I met you.
If you knew, then why did you come?
I came because I met a stunning woman
who wasn't afraid to tell me the truth.
I wanted to get to know her better.
Why did you let me in?
Because you're an artist.
Because you're curious.
You're an explorer.
Have you been with men?
A few times in my 20s. You?
A few times in my 20s.
People are fluid.
If there's an attraction to someone,
who cares what you are and what they are except...
Attracted...
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. I don't have anything valuable.
Except our cookware.
My roommate won't even let me touch it.
Liza, Liza, relax.
He's with me. Here. It was under the bed.
Thank you.
I'm with her.
And now you're going.
- Ciao. - What...
Good morning. Are you bi now?
Oh, please. I'm still a Kinsey 9.
It only goes up to 6.
Liza, don't straight-splain sexuality to me.
Haven't you ever had a talent crush?
Not a big enough one to defect.
Well, every ten years or so,
I run into the path of a penis.
And for whatever reason...
whether it's a talent crush or ecstasy
or a good parking spot...
- What? - It just seems like a good idea,
you know, to sample.
Ugh, he's so into me.
Are you gonna sleep with him again?
Oh, please, no. I don't even know how you do it.
I felt like I was being suffocated by a damp rug.
I'm off to the shoot to steer Liza away from anything pleather.
I'll be back for the publicity meeting.
Zane, pick up the phone and call me back.
I'm still your boss as long as you have a job here,
which may not be that much longer
if you don't come in to work.
Still not answering?
No. He's just pouting.
May I ask,
when you found out Liza was lying to you for so long,
how did you take it?
I don't know.
I was angry and hurt and I was firing her...
but he and Liza barely know each other.
I don't think Liza's the one he's upset with.
Wow.
You look gorgeous.
You are literally aging backwards.
Yeah, yeah, and we got kills for the ones
where you look like a drag queen.
- Let's take five. - Oh, that's five!
We'll be back in five!
- Hi. - You look, um...
- Silly. - Uh, youthful.
I think Bianca has this onesie.
Mm.
I'm sorry, is the theme of this photo shoot
"Daddy-Daughter dance"?
That doesn't count against our kills, okay?
Who told you this was a good idea?
- Quinn. - That's right, it was me.
Hi. Shouldn't you be running your Senate race?
It's going very well.
I was just in town milking my Manhattan fundraisers,
and I got a call from our board
saying our most polarizing employee
is in an ad campaign.
I am so glad you decided to do this, Liza.
Really? You weren't super glad when you told me not to.
And the publishing reaction has been...
You know the good news about the publishing reaction?
Eight blocks outside of Midtown, nobody cares.
That is why we need to amplify this.
Okay, this is a good start, but...
you need some louder voices of praise
to drown out all that whining from your peers.
What do you have in mind?
New York 1 is doing a series
on corporate discrimination. And I think...
New York 1 wants to interview me?
No. They have no idea who you are.
They reached out to me to do a piece on corporate ageism,
but I'm too young to have ever experienced it.
However, you could use some press
that doesn't paint you like a Gen-X Grifter.
And you could use a prop to boost your campaign.
Besides those glasses.
These have poll-tested through the roof.
It turns out voters are way less intimidated
by a brainy woman than a beautiful one.
How does New York news help your race in California?
It's 2019.
All news is national news if you have the right algorithm.
And the board is okay with this?
You know what? You're right. Let me check.
They love it.
New York 1's gonna reach out to you.
Oh, this is a real one.
Hi.
I've come to cook you a peace offering.
You're gonna cook?
Do you know what a peace offering is?
I remember what it was like to find out someone
was lying to my face.
And I was angry and hurt for way too long.
I'm fine. I'm just...
You're pissed. Just say it.
You can be such a man sometimes.
Sometimes, okay.
You are really bad at this.
This meal kit takes 40 minutes to make.
I'm gonna set a timer.
And you can ask me anything you want,
and I have to answer honestly.
Alexa, how many tablespoons in one ounce?
One fluid ounce is two tablespoons.
Wait... fluid?
I'll cook, you answer.
Thank God.
So, this is the last shot of the night.
I'm gonna grab a Diet Coke. You want?
Think she's gonna need something stronger than that.
Josh, what are you doing here?
Uh, you mean at your modeling shoot?
Oh, stop. I'm not a model.
- Well... - This isn't real.
I had to sign like three forms just to get in here.
This is legit. You are a model.
- Oh, Josh, this is Shelly... - Rozansky.
Infinitely 21. Branded partnerships.
And who is Josh?
Josh is patient zero for all of this.
He thought I was his age.
Ah, well, I said about the same age.
You know, all she had to do was correct me.
Would you correct him?
So, how did this happen, Josh?
Well, um...
she wasn't all done up like this.
She was dressed way down,
and she wasn't really trying to impress anyone.
She didn't have to.
She was smart and...
sexy.
I would've believed anything that she said.
I just wanted to keep talking to her.
Plus I was wasted.
Right? And it was, like, really dark.
- You liar. - Oh, yeah, really?
I'm the liar?
Well, I still think y'all are insane.
And reckless. And bad liars.
But the wolf was at the door.
You did what you had to do.
We even finished early.
As long as I got more time on the clock,
I got one more thing I want to ask.
What did you really think
when I said I love you?
You didn't say that.
You said you "were in love with me."
Past tense.
You still can't be honest with me.
I was mad at you. That was...
a shitty and manipulative thing for you say to me.
But I was not myself too.
Maybe if we were just tougher and told each other the truth
about how we really felt,
then we wouldn't have wasted so much time and energy denying...
Looks like you're off the hook.
Denying that I felt...
I feel the same way.
Present tense.
Now.
Mm, mm.
- That timer's for food. - Right.
I love you,
but stay out of my kitchen.
You must be Liza. Pat Kiernan.
Hi, I have my coffee with you almost every single morning.
It is so nice to meet you.
It's nice to meet you. This is an unbelievable story.
I can't stop thinking about it,
How'd you keep it a secret for so long?
I don't know, I was just trying not to let other people find out
so that they would have to keep the secret too.
So nobody knew?
A couple people did. Some were really upset.
- Some tried to blackmail me. - Wow.
Most people agreed that I should keep quiet.
To her credit, Quinn was one of the few people
who encouraged me to tell the truth right away.
Based on her book, I wouldn't have thought she'd be so...
empathetic.
It was before she even really knew me.
She wasn't even an investor yet.
- Oh. - So sorry I'm late.
My fundraiser was delayed by 30 minutes.
We had to find a strong enough table for Beto to stand on.
Ready?
You know, I think this story's gonna resonate
with a lot of American women
who sublimated themselves
and their careers in service of their families.
Then when they finally got to the door of opportunity,
it was slammed in their faces
because they were too old.
- Liza, you... - But she had to deal with
institutionalized sexism and rampant ageism
simply to get the job.
Now, the work she's done since
proves that she's always deserved to be there,
but you know, if she hadn't broken the rules a little bit,
nobody was gonna give her a chance.
That's quite a stump speech,
but technically what she did was illegal,
and the company could have been sued.
Look, when Mark Zuckerberg "moves fast and breaks things"
in order to boost revenues, we call him a genius
and an innovator.
I'm sorry, but we can't offer that same sensibility
to a woman who's simply trying to survive?
I don't know.
And I hear you championed this right out of the gate?
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, when I read the article last week in the "New Yorker,"
I was shocked, but then I realized
we needed to be open about this immediately.
I run my campaign the way I run my companies...
with transparency and honesty.
That's interesting.
Liza told me you knew about this
before you invested.
No.
So that's not accurate?
I don't see how the timing is relevant
when we're here discussing this transparently and honestly.
"Honestly." You keep using that word.
You know, Liza's not used to being in the public eye,
and I think she was just confused
when you asked her that question off the record.
Good to see you, gorgeous.
- Yeah, hi. Can we... - Rafael!
I thought that was you.
Cassandra.
Mwah, mwah.
- Cassandra Vincent, this is... - Maggie Amato.
Pleasure. You certainly have a type, don't you?
Enjoy your evening.
What was that about?
You know art critics.
Always like torturing someone.
- Sit. I ordered a cava. - I can't stay.
I just came to tell you something.
I find you charming, handsome, and talented.
But, you know, I think my preferences are really fixed.
They seemed pretty flexible the other night.
I'm gay. I promise you. Like, turbo gay.
Why don't we enjoy our drink,
have a wonderful dinner,
and then you can come back to my loft.
You'll change your mind.
You all do.
"You all"?
What are you talking about?
What can I say? I'm a flipper.
Excuse me?
I flipped you, didn't I?
Wow.
Well, this has been a really nice reminder.
Of what?
That sleeping with a man isn't worth the effort
of the three seconds of mild pleasure
that I could've done better myself.
All right, you're angry now because I speak the truth.
But that was no mild pleasure.
I've done this before.
Yeah, I heard. You're a flipper.
But guess what? I'm a flipper too.
Whoa!
I came as soon as I could.
So, what's the emergency?
The same as it always is.
I'm sure you heard about New York 1.
I heard that Liza told the truth.
What you didn't hear is that "Morning Joe" has the footage.
And they're gonna show it tomorrow,
and you know what a human centipede MSNBC is.
It starts with Joe and Mika,
lasts all the way through Maddow.
Leave it to Liza to turn a local puff piece
into a campaign coffin.
I'm sorry that your publicity stunt got bungled,
but I'm not really sure what you want me to do here.
What you should have done from the beginning: fire her.
I'm not gonna do that.
I am going to be savaged until a head rolls.
And her entire persona is the girl who lied.
Only this time you lied.
I'm not firing her for that.
Okay, so now the truth matters.
Got it.
I knew that was gonna be hard
for Charles to see clearly, but you?
Charles isn't the publisher.
I am.
That's right, I forgot.
Especially now that he's back.
Please don't minimize the strength that I bring to this meeting.
Oh, the strength that I gave you and allowed you to keep
even when you tried to derail my campaign?
I did what I had to do for my company.
Yeah, I respect that. That's why I gave you a pass.
And now I am asking you, please do the same for me.
I cannot run my company based on your negative press.
Are we done here?
I guess we are.
You did the right thing.
I know that we need her money, but she is so insulting.
First she ignores our edits.
Then she buys herself a spot on the bestseller list,
and now she's demanding that we fire people?
I don't like the way she does business either.
We just need to let this blow over,
and then we can find someone to buy her out.
Sorry to interrupt.
Audrey Colbert's lawyer just called
and said that her manuscript delivery check bounced.
Uh, probably just an accounting error.
Why don't you call Accounts Payable?
I don't mean to alarm anyone,
but I just overheard one of the Jennifers...
the sloppy one from Publicity...
saying that her direct deposit didn't go through?
Okay.
She did it, didn't she?
Good morning.
Is the staff meeting in here today?
What is it?
Quinn pulled her funding.
We're broke.
This is all my fault.
Wow, I've been saying that a lot lately.
You keep forgetting that you attracted Quinn to the company
- in the first place. - Yeah, I think she was attracted
to more than just the company.
I'm spoken for.
So now what?
So now, we meet with all the investors
that I spoke with today.
I just can't believe that you're doing this for me.
It doesn't...
You know what's great about the worst thing happening?
There is no place to go but up.
So, only good things ahead.
Come on.
_
- Synced & corrected by MementMori - -- www.addic7ed.com --