Warning: This article contains massive spoilers from Younger season 6, episode 8, “The Debu-taunt.”
“One of the writers just asked me, ‘How does it feel? Do you feel relieved? Do you feel a weight off your shoulders that it’s finally all revealed?’” says Sutton Foster from the set of Younger’s season 6 episode “The Debu-taunt,” where EW exclusively camped out to get the scoop on the season’s biggest episode. “Now that it’s been announced publicly, it’ll be interesting to see how the show moves forward.”
Yep, that’s right. During Wednesday’s episode, Liza’s (Foster) seasons-long secret was literally announced on stage. Charles’ ex-wife, Pauline (Jennifer Westfeldt), discovered the truth about Liza’a age during an authors debutant ball and, incensed that she’d been lied to all this time, decided to announce Liza’s real age to the crowd — and thereby the world beyond. While some members of the Millennial family were already privy to this information — Charles (Peter Hermann) and Kelsey (Hilary Duff) — the others were left flabbergasted at the revelation, and none more so than Liza’s boss and begrudging friend, Diana (Miriam Shor). After trying to defend Liza and accuse Pauline of being the liar among them, Diana was forced to confront the truth and fled the ballroom, with Liza in pursuit.
“I feel like Diana’s reaction is justified,” says Shor from the set — where she’s removed Diana’s enormous “chainmail with giant marbles” necklace between takes. “Diana doesn’t trust many people, and her trust is betrayed. We were talking about this and we were like, ‘What if we found out that Molly Bernard [who plays Lauren on the TVLand series] is 50 years old all of a sudden?’ We’d be like, ‘What? Why? Why would she do that? That’s weird!’ Then you’d just question everything. Your brain would still be spinning. Like a wheel on your computer just going round and round. What part is true? And who are you to me?”
All the betrayal reminds Shor of another TV series. Indeed, when waiting for the cameras to roll, she can’t stop humming a certain theme song. “Remember the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones?” she jokes about the tension in the episode, adding that Diana has at least come well prepared, since her necklace is comparable to armor Jon Snow might wear in battle. “But everyone stumbles, and that’s more interesting than everyone doing the right thing all the time. Diana and Liza’s friendship runs deep, and I do think they can survive this.”
First, Diana has to survive a panic attack — in Times Square, of all places. “I think I’ve killed her, basically,” says Foster. But after a night in the hospital, Diana is back at her desk the next day, with one noticeable difference: The armor/decadent costume jewelry is missing. “In that scene, I was like, ‘I can’t have lots of jewelry on or a lot of makeup,’” says Shor. “Diana’s tired and just can’t. She can’t put in the effort.”
Foster agrees it’s a “stripped-down scene” and big statement pieces would’ve been out of place. “For that scene, when I come into the office to talk to her, they had set out a dress for me and I was like, ‘No, no, no, Liza would never wear that,’” she says. “It was very youthful and playful. Jackie [Demeterio, the show’s costume designer] came in and we talked about it. She pulled a very simple dress, but not dark, instead. We didn’t want it to be somber, but still classic and simple. We just constantly have these conversations.”
While the episode ends on a high note with Diana being able to forgive Liza and understand her reasons for lying, that doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing for the rest of the season — after all, Millennial is now facing a huge scandal. “The next two episodes are huge!” says Foster. “So much happens in 8, and then 9 is [makes explosion sound] even more! That’s why I love our writers — they had a game plan for the end of the season and they changed it. They threw a bomb into it, and the last two episodes got completely jumbled. It’s so cool because as the season goes on, they see how things play out and they leave that room for discovery — which I think is scary, but also exciting.”
The titular lie may be out in the open, but Foster isn’t worried about the story’s continuation without it. “It feels like the show can exist without the secret,” she says. “It’s been feeling that way for seasons on end now, and I feel excited because there’s still so much story to tell.”
Intrigued? Okay, fine, we’ll tell you what we know via Shor. “The White Walkers come,” she says, refusing to abandon the day on set’s theme. “They come all the way to New York City and everyone on the subway is just like, ‘Get out of my way!’ The Walkers are just trying to get somewhere, but they’re lost and they get on the express train by mistake and we [New Yorkers] are like, ‘Move!’” Shor laughs, then glances at Foster and says, “We need to pitch that.”
Younger airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TVLand.
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