Original subtitles

- You are the reason Enzo is single.

Enzo, we were foolish to think this would work out.

We're from two different worlds.

- Which is why I'm moving to yours.

- I'm trying to be more real.

Come on, Liza.

You don't even know what real is anymore.

Anything that you think that you have

with Charles right now...

that's not real.

Clare just called.

- She's not coming at all.

- You are gonna meet that perfect person.

- I need to press pause.

You're amazing, but I've made this mistake before.

- Kelsey, she is not a bad editor.

I feel like the book belongs at Empirical.

- I got a job offer from Cheryl Sussman

at Plaza Publishing, and I'm gonna take it.

♪

- We're part of a very large multimedia company here, Liza,

which means we have deep pockets.

We're not some floundering family publishing house

like Empirical.

- I can see that. - But we are looking to grow

our young female audience, which is something that

you have impressively managed to tap.

- Well, I didn't do it alone.

- Now is not the time to hide your light

under a bushel, Liza. I'm trying to offer you a job,

here. - And I appreciate it.

- I saw what you did at Millennial

with that young blonde nothing.

That's why when I brought your name up

to run our new imprint,

everyone was very excited by the idea.

♪

- Wait, you want me to run my own imprint?

- It's called...

Chick. - Wow.

- It's targeted towards women, but we're not excluding

the Y chromosome.

Marketing spent a lot of time on this.

- Clever. - Mm.

- So... This would be my office?

- Liza, you've earned this.

Look, I admit it, at first I thought

what you did was crazy, but you've started

at the bottom and fought your way back.

And we're not ageist here.

If we were, I'd be out of a job.

So just sign right here, and we're in business.

And the starting salary's noted there on the top.

- Cheryl! Oh, my God. - I know.

It's quite a step up from what you've been making

as Diana Trout's assistant.

- Wow, um...

that is incredibly generous, and this is all--

it's all a bit overwhelming.

Do you think that I could have my lawyer

just take a quick look at that?

- Of course. Just, you know,

sign them and bring them back to me tomorrow.

This chick... is ready to hatch.

♪

- Charles just mentioned a Capitol Letters party

that Joe Biden is throwing in DC tomorrow.

Kelsey, how could you not inform me of this?

- Actually, it's the first I'm hearing about it myself.

I thought you, uh...

talk to your authors, Kelsey?

- We need someone there.

- Did something happen between you and your writer?

I thought you two had quite the tight relationship?

I'm happy to go to DC.

- It's my book.

I'll be there.

I'm sure it's a private party that he felt

didn't need mentioning.

- Still it's all very strange, Peters.

- Well, private or not, I'm getting a press release

out about this immediately.

- Sorry about the confusion with Devereux.

I will go down to DC for the Biden party

but I just wanted to give you the heads up

that I'll need to expense it.

- Not so fast.

Jake specifically requested that you not be there.

- This morning.

So obviously something went on between the two of you

that had nothing to do with the book.

- Okay.

Yes, we had a moment.

But I told him that my priority was the work

and that anything between us would have to wait

until after we publish.

- Well, after that moment, he met with me and asked

if I could make it an Empirical title.

He wanted Zane to finish the edit.

In fact, he was pretty insistent.

- No, actually Zane said no.

He said, you did the work and...

he didn't want to poach your book.

Your, uh...

moment notwithstanding.

♪

- Thank you. Hi.

- Hi. - Thank you...

So much for meeting me. - Of course, my pleasure.

How is the book coming along?

- Oh, it's challenging.

I'm beginning to understand why so many writers

become alcoholics.

Anyway, Kelsey and Liza are keeping me sane.

- Well, I hear that the first few chapters are...

Very promising. - Oh, I don't know.

I prefer to under-promise and over-deliver.

Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about the book.

- Okay. - Since we spoke

in Sun Valley, I have been...

quietly putting together a group of investors because

publishing needs angels.

And I like books.

Nothing has convinced me more of the need to save

a company like yours than working on one myself.

- I am thrilled to hear that.

what Bezos did for "The Washington Post"...

I wanna do for you.

And I've actually had my biggest success

investing in businesses

that the experts have left for dead.

- Not dead yet.

At this point in my life I just wanna

put my money where my passion is.

- Well,

obviously, I would love to hear more.

- Of course. I ask that you listen

with an open mind.

I have a very specific strategy on how I'd like to focus

my group's investment.

- Of course.

- I just had a very interesting lunch with Quinn Tyler.

She's uh...

very impressed with Millennial; the two of you in particular.

- She's pretty impressive herself.

- Yeah.

- Get ready for what I'm about to tell you.

She wants to make a significant capital infusion in the company

predicated on making Millennial

the prime driver of the company's business.

- Oh, my God.

- Okay...

what does that mean? - Uh, it means that, uh...

Millennial and not Empirical

would become our flagship brand.

♪

- I'm...stunned.

- Obviously I need to think about it.

- Okay, um...

You cannot leave now.

She is investing in us.

- No, this is all the more reason

why I should leave.

I'm ticking time bomb.

You both know the truth.

That I've been perpetrating a fraud here.

You're both part of it. You're as liable as I am.

If I'm not here, Quinn's investment is clean.

- I don't know if I could do this without you.

- Kelsey, you can.

- Kelsey, can I have a word with Liza?

- I'll be in my office...

trying not to pass out.

♪

- You know I'm right.

I don't want to leave but if I take this job,

I'll have a career and we'll have us.

And if I stay and you take Quinn's investment

based on me misrepresenting myself...

it's not gonna end well.

I just know it.

- And you think Kelsey can run Millennial without you?

- I do.

She's amazing.

And no matter what you call it, Empirical, Millennial...

at the end of the day, it's still your company.

All right.

- I'll tell Quinn. - I'm still her editor.

I'll tell her myself.

♪

- So there's no way of getting past this thing with Malkie?

- Well, she really wants a baby...

and I'm really high on a weeknight

and happy that way.

That sucks, though. I'm sorry, Mags.

- No, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that she made you

feel uncomfortable by asking you for your seed

over dessert. Ugh.

- No, honestly...

I mean...

it was kind of flattering.

Yo, how awesome would it be to a have a little kid

running around here, though?

- Well, I don't know...

I mean, for you...

yeah, I would have.

- Well, she asked me if you would consider it.

You know, for real.

- Okay. - You don't have to answer now

but...

♪

- I love everyone at Empirical, but this opportunity

it was too good to pass up. They're giving me

my own imprint. - Right.

Chick.

- I know it sounds silly but the name grows on you.

- Yeah, it sounds like beach reads

with hot pink covers which is fine,

it's just not you.

You have more sophisticated taste.

How much are they offering? - It's not about money.

Because I'm having a hard time understanding why a young woman

with no prior experience would leave a thriving imprint

that she helped build from scratch

just as it's about to blow up

and so far you haven't given me a compelling reason.

♪

- Because I'm not a young woman.

I lied about my age to get my job at Empirical.

I'm in my 40s.

♪

- Oh my God.

Why?

How? - I needed a job.

And this was the only way that I could get one.

But if I stay at the company, it endangers your investment.

It's fraud and now you know.

The optics aren't good.

- Neither are the optics of firing someone

who was fighting against ageism.

And that's if it even comes out.

- It's gonna come out.

plan to do about it?

- They're gonna bury it.

- I'm gonna do you one better.

I'm gonna celebrate it.

- Oh, God,

did you not read my book, Liza?

You embody every single CLAW principle.

You're gonna be talking about this on "The View"...

and "Ellen." This is gonna be huge for you

and for Millennial.

I didn't even think about that.

- CLAW chapter four. "Have a great idea,

let them think that it was their's."

Then you already know

I'm not gonna let you go.

- Thank you for coming.

I know this is slumming for you.

- Oh, on the contrary.

So I got some big news.

The city picked me for a special team

of sewage engineers for a really important operation.

- That's terrific. I'm so proud of you.

What, uh...

What exactly am I proud of?

- I've been named to a task force that's

gonna take down a fatberg.

- A fatberg. It's a big one.

It's below 68th and Lex.

It's this congealed mass of anything you shouldn't flush,

like cooking fat or condoms and wet wipes.

It's like an iceberg but it's made of, uh...

- Exactly.

Get this. They found one in London

the size of a 747. There's a chunk of it

in the museum now.

Sorry, I'm freaking out, it's just...

I'm on the fatberg five.

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry.

Alliteration is just-- it's my Achilles heel.

- You know this is dangerous.

Most plumbers' wives forbid them

from going anywhere near a fatberg.

Should you even be doing this? - Well, I have to.

I got a duty.

Sorry.

You said "duty." I...

I--you said "duty."

Come on - For a walk.

To the roof. I don't know.

- Okay, don't be ridiculous.

- That's what I am to you, isn't it?

- No.

- Look.

My job might not be as glamorous as yours,

but this is a big deal to me.

I don't want to feel bad about it.

♪

- I need you to book me a facial and a massage

at Guerlain after work. - Good morning.

Is this a couple's massage?

- I'm grown woman, Liza. I don't need a man

to hold my hand through a spa treatment.

- Got it.

Is everything okay with you and Enzo?

- It's not. He stormed out last night.

He won't answer any of my texts.

We may have come to the end of the road.

Why? You guys are so sweet together.

- Liza, I am old enough to know myself

and two things I am not are one: sweet.

And two...

compatible with a plumber.

- Well, who cares what he does if the feelings are there?

- Well, I guess they're not.

It was fun,

but it was doomed from the start.

And we were kidding ourselves to think otherwise.

Get me an espresso, please.

- I'm sorry, Diana.

Even when you know it won't work,

it's still hard when it doesn't.

♪

- I decided not to go.

- Oh. You decided that?

Why didn't you take Devereux's book

when you had the chance?

- Charles told me.

- Fine, I didn't want my name on a book that I didn't edit.

- You have never

passed an opportunity to take credit,

and that's gonna be the biggest book of the year.

So what did you feel? Sorry for me?

Or you thought it might be fun watching me go through the hell

of promoting an ex's book, why?

- Because...

I was in love with you.

- Are you screwing with me right now?

Because you don't say that to someone in the past tense

for the first time unless you're trying to

make them feel like an asshole.

- At least I said it.

And you should be happy.

You won.

- I didn't want to win. - Yes, you did.

All right? So did I.

Look, that's who we are. That's what we do.

Or did, before Millennial capsized Empirical.

- I talk to Charles too.

All right, I know what the new pecking order

is around here.

So this isn't even a competition anymore.

♪

So congratulations.

♪

Close the door on your way out.

♪

- There's no good way out of this.

I mean, if I go, Quinn could pull her investment.

If I stay, we're in the--

we're in the same mess we're in now.

- But it won't be the same.

I discovered that

the 20-something former assistant

is now a 40-something editor. I'm very surprised.

I look at her... completely differently.

I maybe even ask her on a date

and my only question will be, will she say yes?

- Tough.

They still have a reporting relationship.

- But she's not an assistant anymore.

She's a Millennial co-founder. She's an executive.

People meet at work all the time.

- And these people have no secret past?

- None whatsoever.

- Huh, well, hmm. He's a little stuffy.

Recently divorced.

Will they have any chemistry?

Is he fun?

- Well, she'll...

just have to find out for herself.

- Well, let's say she says...

yes.

They go to dinner and...

- Maybe they click.

- Maybe.

- And maybe...

he can hold her hand in the office.

And in the street.

Everywhere.

The way that he has wanted to do...

for as long as he can remember.

Is she going to get that?

- She'd rather not.

Damn it. I'm sorry.

- Of course not.

It's Cheryl Sussman.

♪

- You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

♪

- That's "Hamlet."

♪

- Hello, Zaddy-to-be. Please join me

in the meditation circle. Shoes off, okay?

I am so happy you came to me with this problem.

- It's a cacao ceremony.

It's a little bit like ayahuasca

but without all the puking and PTSD.

- I thought maybe we would just talk about this

over some tacos or something?

- Adorable...but no.

Fatherhood is far too great a decision for someone

to just tell you what to do, okay?

- Right. - Sit down.

- Okay.

Sacred cacao from Guatemala. - Right.

- Drink it.

Ugh. - Excellent, good, good, good.

That just means it's ready. Finish it.

- Good.

- Ah! - Good.

- Okay. Now what?

- We call the cacao mother. Lie down.

- So...

is the cacao mother supposed to tell me if I'm gonna be

a sperm donor or not? - Oh, stop being so literal.

No, she--she is merely here to guide you

to your truest self so that you can answer

this massive question without any regret.

- Kay.

- Kay.

♪

♪

Did you get your answer?

- Yeah.

I think I did.

- Hi, I'm here to meet Cheryl Sussman.

- You must be here for the Chick party.

- In the back.

They're just waiting for the guest of honor.

♪

- Oh, God.

- Liza. Come on over.

♪

Welcome to Chick.

- Hi. - Meet your new flock.

- Wow, what a surprise. I thought this was

just going to be you and me?

- Everyone was just so excited to meet you.

Cheryl, I--I have something I need to discuss with you.

Do you think we could speak away from the giant peep?

- That giant peep just happens to be Peg Dobson

our VP of special projects.

And there isn't anything you can't say in front of Meg--Peg.

- Okay.

Cheryl... - Mm-hmm.

- I appreciate everything that you have done for me

but I can't take this job.

You're going to

regret this, Liza! Are you kidding me?

♪

- Okay, now that you're not taking that job

can I just tell you that Chick is

the worst name for an imprint.

Like, do they not want one man buying their books?

- Well, it's actually Chick with a Y chromosome.

- Ew.

- Oh my God. Did you see the news?

♪

- A troubling scene here as a sanitation worker

has gone missing while trying to extricate

a large obstruction known as

a fatberg from the bowels of the New York sewer system.

Enzo De Luca was last seen three hours ago

while trying to dislodge

the enormous mass of calcified sewage.

- That's Enzo.

I've gotta get over there.

♪

Nobody flush anything.

♪

- So I thought about what you asked.

I mean, I thought about it a lot.

I meditated on it; I...

cacaoed about it.

- Never mind, um... the point is...

I've decided...

I mean, I got some real clarity.

When I do have a kid, I want it to be my kid.

You know? I want it to be...

With someone that I...

really love.

I know that sounds kind of selfish but--

- It doesn't sound selfish, it sounds...

Honest. - Mm.

- And I can't wait for that to happen.

- I thought you weren't into kids?

- I'm into spoiling them. See?

♪

- Hey.

Hey.

What are you doing?

- I quit.

Why? I mean, you know

what's going on. The company's changing,

and there's not room for me anymore.

- Well, you don't have to quit. Why don't you stay

and work for Millennial?

♪

- Oh...

I could never work for you.

- Because...

I'm so much better.

You already got another job, didn't you?

♪

- I am his girlfriend.

♪

Enzo.

- Whoo!

- There you go.

- I told you it was dangerous.

♪

- Let's get you a shower.

♪

- So we have a problem.

My entire group was just emailed a blind item

that's due to run in Page Six tomorrow.

- "What major publisher has been having a torrid affair

"with his 27-year-old assistant?

L.L. Moore was just the tip of the iceberg at this company."

Why would you base any decision on a blind item?

- Well, it wasn't hard to find the source.

She seemed pretty eager for us to know it was her.

Are you familiar with Cheryl Sussman

from Plaza Publishing?

- Ah, as you know, she's been...

trying to poach Liza from the company.

- So before I call my lawyer to deny this...

do you wanna tell me if it's true?

- It's completely consensual.

And Liza is not 27,

as you know.

- So her lie I can spin because ageism is wrong, but

having an affair with an assistant in your office,

that I can't spin. Not in this climate.

And you're the public face of the company, so...

- We're going to have to withdraw our offer.

We can't afford the liability.

I'm sorry.

- What if I'm not the public face?

♪

I think there's another way.

♪

- Josh.

Door.

♪

Oh, my God.

The cacao mother. We called her,

and she's here. What are you talking about?

- Open the door.

Get the door.

♪

- Hey, Clare.

- Hi.

- Excuse me, everyone.

Could I have your attention for a minute?

As you all know, Empirical has not been immune

to the turbulence that the rest of the publishing industry

is experiencing.

But I am pleased to say that we are more prepared than ever

to stay the course.

Thanks to a sizeable investment from our very own author...

Quinn Tyler.

- It's an honor to be part of such an incredible company.

The history is prolific, but I'm even more excited

about its future.

Now, I made this the home for my book not because

it offered me the most money or the highest profile

but because of the passion of two people:

Kelsey Peters and Liza Miller.

What they have done for Millennial print

is astonishing.

Because of their creativity and ingenuity,

they have made it the envy of the publishing world.

And we're gonna make it the focus of this company

going forward.

- And that is why...

it is my distinct honor...

to introduce you to your new publisher...

Kelsey Peters.

- Whoo!

Come on. Come here.

♪

Now...

Kelsey isn't the only promotion we have today.

It is my honor to introduce to you

your new Chairman of the Board, Charles Brooks.

♪

- Quite the palace coup.

I can't believe Charles would accept it.

- But he just got promoted, didn't he?

- The Chairman of the Board only comes in for...

quarterly meetings. The occasional budget approval.

They're putting him out to pasture.

♪

- Charles.

Is it true?

Did they force you out?

Why would Quinn do this?

- She found out about...

us.

And that didn't sit well with her investors.

- Oh my God, Charles, I am so sorry.

- The company...

survives. It's a good thing.

- This is not a good thing. This is your life.

- It...

it was.

And...

maybe--maybe it's time for a new one...

with you

and with my kids.

♪

My father's company is still alive...

and I get to watch you help run it.

- But-- - Liza.

I have got...

everything I want.

I'm happy.

♪

- Then so am I.

["Fallingwater" by Maggie Rogers plays]

- ♪ Set me free

♪ You were like falling water ♪

♪ Coming down on me

♪ I never loved you

♪ Fully in the way I could

♪ I fought the current

♪ Running just the way you would ♪

♪ And now I'm...

♪ In the creek

♪

♪ I never gave you everything ♪

♪ I wish I could

♪ And now I'm...

♪

♪ And it's getting harder

♪