TV Review: Younger 2×9 “The Good Shepherd”

Adjusting to life after a break up is never easy. Liza is certainly not having a good time but she’s finding a way to cope through baking. Maggie is definitely benefiting from her break-up baking funk but Lauren and Kelsey insist that she needs to get back on the dating horse stat. Lauren posts a picture of Liza on Tinder, and after just a few swipes, they see Josh’s profile… awkward!

To top it all off, Josh texts Liza about moving on so quickly after seeing her profile. Through their short text exchange you can see that there is still love and affection for each other, giving us a glimmer of hope for a reconciliation at some point.

Liza heads down to the farmer’s market for a breather from the Josh situation and to buy more apples for her pies. At the market, she runs into a shepherd, Sebastian (Matthew Morrison), who writes about his life of solitude away from the city. Sebastian appreciates the quiet of his farm and is all about keeping life uncomplicated and unplugged from modern technology. He doesn’t even have an email!

He comes into the city every so often to sell his woolen blankets which he names after his sheep. Liza ends up buying one of them named Stella and takes his writing pamphlets.

It turns out his writing is actually quite good. Liza drives up to Hudson Valley and convinces Sebastian into publishing his written work. It turns out he has five years worth of material about his simplistic way of living. Liza takes him back to the city with her because wherever the book goes, he goes. Kelsey was already sold on the idea from reading his previous work, and Diana jumps right on board after she sees his pretty face, figuring out just how to market this shepherd man. The contracts begin to get drafted to sign Sebastian to Millennial imprint.

Sebastian and Liza decide to go to dinner to celebrate and much to her discomfort she runs into Josh…who is with Greta. Are those two more than friends? We only got to see Greta for about one minute in last week’s episode as she styled Josh’s photo shoot. I didn’t like her then, and I definitely don’t like her now because “girl logic,” of course.

But despite the uncomfortable encounter with Josh at dinner, it’s evident that Liza and Sebastian have great chemistry.

Meanwhile, Kelsey is picking up on people’s less than enthusiastic reactions to her engagement to Thad. Her engagement ring has gotten less likes than her avocado toast on Instagram. Kelsey and her girls are  going to meet up for drinks. Liza arrives and all of Kelsey’s friends including Lauren choose Liza to tell Kelsey about how they really feel about Thad. Even Lauren has her doubts about him, feeling that he’s not good enough for Kelsey, a fact that she had never previously even shown. But given Kelsey’s intense reaction to Liza’s precaution to Thad, all of the girls back out leaving Liza in the direct line of fire. Kelsey defends her relationship, and Liza immediately backs up.

Regardless, Kelsey still remains on edge because Thad has yet to accept her engagement request on Younger‘s version of Facebook. So it basically looks like she’s engaged to herself… embarrassing. Kelsey has an intense talk with Thad, and they review all of his friends that may be “surprised” at the engagement news. She’s basically eliminating every female from his friends list. I don’t understand why anyone would be surprised at their engagement if they’ve been together for two years. I also don’t understand why she feels the need to screen his friends. It shows an insecure side of Kelsey that makes her more relatable but is also sad to watch.

It’s in those moments where we see Kelsey’s weakness, her self-value. She’s all about being a strong, empowered girl boss, but in her love life, she never has truly stood up for herself. Thad has consistently shown to be a jerk but Kelsey always excuses him. Can we call Dr. Way back in here for another session with Kelsey please?

Anyways, Thad finally ties up his “loose ends,” whatever that means and accepts the engagement request. Kelsey is finally at peace.

Liza meanwhile has to make a trip to Hudson Valley after she forgets to have Sebastian sign the contracts for his deal with Millennial. But as she goes searching for him in his barn, she runs into him seemingly having sex with one of his sheep. THAT HAPPENED.

Sebastian makes the argument that he was simply grooming his sheep, Stella. Liza’s not buying it and runs away speeding her way to the city where she tells Diana and Kelsey about the loss of their hot shepherd author.

Goodbye Matthew Morrison, we will miss you on Younger even though your time was brief.