In its third and fourth seasons, "Younger" seems to borrow heavily from "Sex and the City." That's as it should be. Darren Starr created both shows.
Remember, mid-way through SATC, Carrie has her "anti-heroine" story. She becomes someone we emphatically *can't* root for. Can't--really. She is with the John Corbett character, and he's mainly a good guy, but she's lying and sleeping with Mr. Big in secret. And Mr. Big is married. And there's really nothing wrong with his wife. This is a bit shocking--we expect better from Carrie--but, also, Carrie has that New York chic thing going on, and she's always smoking sexy cigarettes, so it's not a big leap to imagine her in a sophisticated and dramatic affair.
By contrast, Sutton Foster has a golden-haze-on-the-meadow image. Yes, she became famous in New York, but there's something strongly midwestern about her. She's the girl next door. You might expect her to play Marian the Librarian in "The Music Man," and, indeed, she will soon be doing just that. So, when her "Younger" character, Liza, goes on a "Carrie" journey, the result is a bit jarring. Liza cheats on her decent boyfriend! She does it a few times; she seems to inch closer and closer to a big kiss. She puts herself in situations where the cheating will be possible. She lies, also, to her friend, the Duff character, and the lies escalate until Liza is actually issuing a major contract behind Duff's back.
(I would have loved for Starr to *not* make explicit the link between the character name "Liza" and the idea of "lies." But we can't have everything in this world.)
What a pleasure it is, in Season Four, to see Liza attempting to correct major errors. It's a special delight to see her try to rush the Duff character along; "I'm really happy you invited me to this party," says Liza, "and that you're clearly willing to move beyond the whole betrayal-and-duplicity thing and welcome me back into your life." How offensive--and understandable--that Liza would anxiously try to provide Duff a script with each of the feelings Duff "should be" feeling. And Duff's response is satisfying and expected: "This is a business thing. That's all. I don't think I can ever trust you again."
In "Sex and the City," Carrie loses John Corbett forever. And I imagine this may happen in "Younger," as well. That said, the Josh character is so appealing--to so many, many people--that I think the idea of writing him out of the show entirely might be difficult. (Actually, Corbett's story in SATC was meant to be just one season. He came back for another season simply because so many fans loved him. They made their wishes known.)
Life is challenging; we say things and then we regret those statements; we struggle to win people over; we walk around with wounds that remain wounds; we try to correct some wounds and find that our efforts are just useless. All of this is addressed in "Younger." And there's an interesting array of clothing, and now and then you might spot Broadway's Norm Lewis, or Broadway's Kristin Chenoweth. If I haven't sold you on this show yet, I'm not quite sure what to say.
Remember, mid-way through SATC, Carrie has her "anti-heroine" story. She becomes someone we emphatically *can't* root for. Can't--really. She is with the John Corbett character, and he's mainly a good guy, but she's lying and sleeping with Mr. Big in secret. And Mr. Big is married. And there's really nothing wrong with his wife. This is a bit shocking--we expect better from Carrie--but, also, Carrie has that New York chic thing going on, and she's always smoking sexy cigarettes, so it's not a big leap to imagine her in a sophisticated and dramatic affair.
By contrast, Sutton Foster has a golden-haze-on-the-meadow image. Yes, she became famous in New York, but there's something strongly midwestern about her. She's the girl next door. You might expect her to play Marian the Librarian in "The Music Man," and, indeed, she will soon be doing just that. So, when her "Younger" character, Liza, goes on a "Carrie" journey, the result is a bit jarring. Liza cheats on her decent boyfriend! She does it a few times; she seems to inch closer and closer to a big kiss. She puts herself in situations where the cheating will be possible. She lies, also, to her friend, the Duff character, and the lies escalate until Liza is actually issuing a major contract behind Duff's back.
(I would have loved for Starr to *not* make explicit the link between the character name "Liza" and the idea of "lies." But we can't have everything in this world.)
What a pleasure it is, in Season Four, to see Liza attempting to correct major errors. It's a special delight to see her try to rush the Duff character along; "I'm really happy you invited me to this party," says Liza, "and that you're clearly willing to move beyond the whole betrayal-and-duplicity thing and welcome me back into your life." How offensive--and understandable--that Liza would anxiously try to provide Duff a script with each of the feelings Duff "should be" feeling. And Duff's response is satisfying and expected: "This is a business thing. That's all. I don't think I can ever trust you again."
In "Sex and the City," Carrie loses John Corbett forever. And I imagine this may happen in "Younger," as well. That said, the Josh character is so appealing--to so many, many people--that I think the idea of writing him out of the show entirely might be difficult. (Actually, Corbett's story in SATC was meant to be just one season. He came back for another season simply because so many fans loved him. They made their wishes known.)
Life is challenging; we say things and then we regret those statements; we struggle to win people over; we walk around with wounds that remain wounds; we try to correct some wounds and find that our efforts are just useless. All of this is addressed in "Younger." And there's an interesting array of clothing, and now and then you might spot Broadway's Norm Lewis, or Broadway's Kristin Chenoweth. If I haven't sold you on this show yet, I'm not quite sure what to say.
Comments
Post a Comment