The publishing imprint Millennial is on its last legs, and Liza (Sutton Foster), the newly revealed 40-something who had been lying about being millennial in the industry, and her boss Kelsey (Hilary Duff), the millennial boss, are trying to find ways to keep the imprint alive.
Liza is glamorously walking in New York City when she notices the Infinitely 21 ad campaign she modeled for in last week’s episode on behalf of Millennial. But the rooftop photoshoot had been altered. The campaign is everywhere of Liza getting a smooch on the cheek by her ex Josh (Nico Tortorella), a natural scene from the bar they met at with company staff.
While Liza freaks out about the ad, Kelsey and Charles (Peter Hermann) head to Chicago to meet with investors. They nail the pitch session and celebrate later that night where Liza surprises them at the hotel lounge. During the meeting, Kelsey had told the investors how essential social media is to the new Millennial. And this foreshadows what comes next when Kelsey drunkenly flashes way too much cleavage for a photo, yelling “It’s All About The Money, Honey,” meant for her on-and-off boo/colleague Zane (Charles Michael Davis) but instead becomes an Instagram story that unfortunately trends all night.
The social media slip-up is brought up at the morning meeting with the investors. Kelsey argues it was bad judgment, but Charles presents Kelsey’s social media presence as helpful to the publisher’s brand. But the investors are not convinced and want Kelsey out as CEO. Kelsey agrees to step aside to let Charles be in charge again.
In stereotypical millennial fashion, Kelsey is ousted from her CEO post because she over-shared on social media after a night of over-drinking. She spent the entire season trying to prove herself as a CEO of the troubled Millennial imprint that was a part of the failing Empirical publishing house owned by Charles’ family, and now she forfeits her hard work to save it.
And Charles has been sneaky all season, though he’s portrayed as that older man heartthrob innocently in love with Liza. But he may have been worming his way back to the publisher’s reins with saying he doesn’t want to take charge. He started the rival Mercury publisher secretly with Zane, then he went along with a merger. His actions seem more sinister now that he’s back in charge, especially when he set up the investor meeting.
Kelsey’s selfie debacle can also show Zane’s intentions since he could be upset about the turn of events or happy that his Mercury partner Charles is in charge. The last few episodes of the season look like they will show everyone’s true colors when it comes to keeping Millennial alive.
