Pilot

****Pilot**** is the first episode in Season 1 of *Younger*. It premiered on March 31st, 2015 on TVLand. The episode was written by and directed by Darren Star.

## SUMMARY

40-year-old Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) passes herself off as 26 to land a job in the field of her dreams. Now she just has to make sure no one discovers her secret. Also stars Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar, Nico Tortorella and Miriam Shor.

## PLOT

In New York City, Liza Miller is being interviewed at Stanford Publishing by two 20 something year olds. She is candid about taking 15 years off to raise her daughter Caitlin who is now finishing her last year of school abroad in India. She is shut down about the job because of her age. After the interview, Liza arrives to her home in New Jersey where it is being shown to a couple. The real estate agent is airing her dirty laundry. Her husband left her for a black jack dealer in Atlantic City, and he has taken multiple mortgages out on the house, leaving Liza no choice but to sell. Liza calls her daughter Caitlin who is Mumbai, India, to tell her about the house being sold. She encourages Caitlin to come home, but Caitlin is happy with her choice. Caitlin encourages Liza to get a job so that she has something to do.

Liza travels to Brooklyn where she is sipping a few skinny margaritas with her friend Maggie. Liza complains about the age discrimination she is feeling as every interview she has been on has not led to a job because of her age. When trying to order at the bar, she is ignored, causing Liza to take off her shoe and wave it at the bartenders face. A young tattooed 20 something male, Josh, approaches Liza, telling her to put her shoe away as it can be seen as offensive. They end up flirting, talking about Josh's job as a tattoo artist, and Liza lies about doing volunteer work in India. Josh asks Liza out on a date by adding a date into Liza's calendar on Thursday. When Liza tells Josh she is too old for him, he misjudges her age and believes she is somewhere around the age of 26. After Liza tells Maggie about the mistake, Maggie tells Liza she has always looked good for her age. She gives her the idea to go into the interviews saying she is 26. Maggie helps give Liza a makeover to make the lie more believable and offers for her to move into her loft apartment in Brooklyn.

Liza is interviewed by Diana Trout, keeping up the lie about volunteer work in India and writing a novel in her 4 years post Dartmouth. She is ended up being hired by Diana because she tells her she doesn't believe she is special - Diana assumes all 20 somethings think they are special. Liza calls Maggie in the bathrooms where she runs into Kelsey. Kelsey explains she was in Liza's shoes just 2 years before, but is now a junior editor. Kelsey also warns Liza that Diana can be a bitter 40 year old because she is a divorcee and hates the youth that she and Liza have.

On Liza's first day Diana asks her to create a Twitter account for Jane Austin for the release of the eBook of Pride and Prejudice, as well as a Facebook, Match.com and Christian Mingle account. Liza has to search how to create a Twitter account. Liza heads to Krav Maga after work with Kelsey and one of Kelsey's friends, Lauren. Liza almost gets caught in her lie when Lauren spots her bush when getting changed in the gym locker room. Kelsey invites Liza out for drinks with her and her boyfriend Thad. Thad asks a lot of questions which makes Liza uncomfortable and she gets really defensive. Liza notices that Thad doesn't treat Kelsey very well, making her fetch him a new drink when he has finished his.

The next day Liza asks Maggie about her bush, and what the current style is for body hair. She begins questioning if she has done the right thing in lying about her age just to get a job. Maggie tells her she has done the right thing. At work Liza is impressed when Jane Austin's twitter account has reached over 1,000 followers. Diana keeps calling Liza, Leslie, and then shuts down her ideas about promoting the reissue of Pride and Prejudice. Liza complains to Kelsey about Diana. Kelsey tells Liza that in a year she can help Liza tale Diana's job, because she is in her 40's. Liza tells Kelsey that she doesn't like the way Thad treated her at the bar. She tells her she is such a strong woman, she doesn't understand why she lets him walk all over her. Kelsey defends her relationship by saying she likes doing things for her man. Diana tweaks Liza's idea and presents it in a meeting, taking all the credit. Liza's phone goes off in the meeting, it is a text from Josh regarding their date that night. Kelsey asks Liza where they are going, Liza try's to get out of it but Kelsey tells her that she should go because you are only twenty once.

Caitlin calls Liza, telling her that she misses home and wants to come back home. Liza tells her to come home if that is what she wants to do. The episode ends with Liza walking into the bar with Josh for their first date.

## CAST

STARRING

* Sutton Foster as Liza Miller
* Tessa Albertson as Caitlin Miller
* Debi Mazar as Maggie Amato
* Nico Tortorella as Josh
* Miriam Shor as Diana Trout
* Hilary Duff as Kelsey Peters
* Molly Bernard as Lauren Heller
* Dan Amboyer as Thad Steadman

## MEMORABLE QUOTES

**Liza** - "Look, I know I've been out of play for a while, but I'm a much smarter, more capable person today than I was fifteen years ago."

**Liza** - "I call it my "Eat, Pray, Endure chronic diarrhoea" period."

**Kelsey** - "Of course. I didn’t mean to shit in your cheerios."

**Liza** - "How is it that the older, and the more experienced you are, the less desirable you become?"

**Liza** - "Whoever said diamonds are a girl's best friend never drank wine."

**Liza** - "t's like I woke up one day, relaised my marriage was a big lie and had become Ruth VanWrinkle."

**Kelsey** - "Liza, are you crazy? We are only in our twenty’s once. You got to live it. Before you know it, you’re gonna be in your 40s, living in a house in the suburbs with a husband who watches TV all night while you’re in your bathtub, spritzing your shower hose on your special place.”

## TRIVIA

* Tessa Albertson (Caitlin Miller) and Sutton Foster (Liza Miller), who play mother and daughter on Younger, played the same role (Fiona), at different times in her life, in Shrek the Musical on Broadway. Sutton Foster played the adult Fiona, while Tessa Albertson played one of the teen Fionas.