- I'm Kelsey Peters, I'm an editor here.
- Liza Miller.
- I started working here right out of college
as an assistant,
and I just made junior editor six months ago.
- Wow! - Yeah.
So basically I was you two years ago.
- If you say so.
- As Taylor Swift said, there is a special place in hell
for women who don't help other women.
I've got your back, girl.
- Thanks, girl.
- Kelsey Peters.
I'm an editor at Empirical.
- Hey, Anton.
- I read a translation of your book in galleys.
I wanna sign you.
- Oh, that's quite forward.
- So, will you come in Monday morning for a meeting
and meet the rest of the team?
- Oh, that's very American.
Already closing the deal.
- I'm sorry.
I don't mean to be pushy, I'm just, I'm excited.
- I'm excited too.
- To Kells bells, all grown up and taking over the world.
- Uh huh.
(dynamic music)
- Hey, if Thad asks, I was with you both until midnight.
Got it? - Mm.
- His wife is coming?
Why would she do that?
- Because she's his wife
and she wants to share his life with him.
- I guess I never really thought about his wife.
(Liza sighs)
That's the watch I'm gonna buy Thad.
That's exactly what he wants.
- This feels like a guilt gift.
You might as well get it engraved
with a sketch of Bjornberg's penis.
- Thad never found out about Bjornberg.
And there's certainly no point in telling him now.
- You're a real friend, Kelsey.
The best I've made in a long time.
- I feel the same way about you.
- Thank you.
- Charles just gave me my own imprint.
- What?
- For millennials, by millennials.
I get to run it.
- That's fantastic.
- To Kelsey, the new editor in chief of Millennial Print.
I couldn't be prouder.
- I never thought that I would be here at this age.
- I definitely never thought I'd be here at this age.
- Thanks for wearing the dress, It really makes a statement.
- I look like an insane person.
I'm not qualified to run an imprint, I...
- Okay, breathe in through your nose.
- I feel like such an imposter.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
- Kelsey, nobody knows what they're doing.
You just fake it till you make it.
Now come on, if we're gonna run the world
before we're 30 we gotta get moving.
- It is my great pleasure to introduce
the editor in chief of Millennial Print, Kelsey Peters.
(audience cheering and clapping)
- It's okay, you got this.
- To the future, and to Millennial Print.
(audience cheering)
- You deserve everything that you want.
And I know that I can give it to you.
(Kelsey sobs)
Will you marry me?
- Still no tears.
I cried like a baby last week
when my favorite shirt shrank and the dryer,
but my fiance gets killed and nothing.
I'm an awful person.
- Hi, how's it going?
- Terrible. - What?
- As soon as guys find out about Thad, they bolt.
- Okay, how are they finding out?
- I don't know, it just comes up.
You try having a dead fiance and not mentioning it.
I have a sort of date.
- What, that's great.
- I'm just worried about the conflict of interest.
Like I don't want people to think I'm buying a book
because I'm sleeping with him,
and I don't wanna lose the book
because I'm sleeping with him.
- Ah, the old catch 69.
- To Millennial.
(audience cheering)
- Millennial.
- You okay?
- Kelsey.
I have to show you something.
This is my daughter, Caitlin.
- What?
- And I'm not, I'm not 26.
I'm gonna be 41 in a few weeks.
- I don't understand.
- Then let me explain.
- Are you crazy?
- I don't know any more, probably.
- If you tell people that you've been lying about your age,
what do you think is going to happen to Millennial?
- I just wanna thank you for forgiving me.
- That in there was business.
I don't think that I can ever forgive you.
You, you broke my heart.
- Wow.
Is it possible you got more beautiful
since last time I saw you?
- Nope.
You just weren't paying attention.
- Kelsey has a very specific type.
- No I don't.
- Okay.
Ah, here we go.
Thad, Chad, Tram Slam, this guy.
- This guy? - Yeah.
She can't help it.
She's a doppelbanger.
- What is it, Liza?
- Nothing, no big deal.
- Yeah.
I was out all night, I slept with a stranger,
I drank too much.
I have no problem being honest about who I am.
So go ahead, don't hold back.
Say what you were gonna say.
- Your tit's out.
- Keep up.
- I'm gonna cut myself off.
I've had four already.
I'm feeling a little woo, woo.
- What, we're having a great time.
- I barfed, Kelsey.
- Well boot and rally.
- No, boot and go home.
I just spoke to Rose, Caitlin's roommate.
She's out of surgery.
- Is she okay?
- Ah, I don't know.
I think so.
She's gonna call me when she wakes up.
God, I have been feeling like a shitty person lately
and now I feel like a really shitty mom.
- I wish there was something I could do.
(phone ringing) - Oh my god, it's her.
Caitlin, hey.
- Hi, Mom.
- Hey, hi.
You okay?
I am so, so sorry you had to go through this.
(dynamic music)
So are we in a good place now?
- Yeah, you did what you had to do for your kid.
I would like to think that my mom
would do something crazy like that for me.
We're good.
That's Zane Anders.
- He's really attractive.
- Yeah, he knows.
I had fun tonight. - You sound surprised.
- Staggered, shocked, stunned!
- Mm, stop flattering me.
- You know, Esquire was right about one thing.
You are a gentleman
- Good night.
Try not to be so obvious watching me walk away this time.
If I can be a gentlemen, you can try to be a lady.
- I've created a giant mess.
- So I take it the date with Zane went well.
- Yes it did.
Now excuse me while I go steal one of his top authors.
You're almost too perfect.
- Almost? - Almost.
(both laughing)
I have to tell you something.
- Yeah?
- We signed Laughlin Flynn at Empirical.
- Game on, I'll get you back.
- You're not mad?
- Not at all.
You just got a lot more interesting.
L.L. Moore just signed with Rivington.
- Rivington just stole L.L. Moore.
- Is this because of your feud with that Rivington editor?
- Zane is my friend.
We're more than friends, we're dating.
He would never do that.
- This is bad, Kelsey, disappointing.
- Zane, are you kidding me?
I could lose my job!
This is not a game, this is my life!
I'm kind of disconnecting, Upstate.
So it turns out that running away from your problems
is as dumb as it sounds.
- Why?
What's going on?
- I love my job and I could lose it.
- It's starting to feel like
everyone's just out for themselves.
- You and work, don't mix well.
- What about you and me?
Outside of work, how does that mix?
- That was never the problem.
Maybe we're great in bed, we're just bad for business.
- Then we won't talk business.
Now look up.
- Wow, okay.
Now I'm impressed. - Yeah?
How about dinner to celebrate?
- Good night, Zane.
- Can I kiss you?
- I am your editor.
- Still haven't answered my question.
(dynamic music)
- You're too smart to do something to jeopardize this book.
- You're right, I am.
So I don't need to hear it from you.
- You want someone who isn't
intimidated by your intelligence.
- So someone like you?
- Stop toying with my emotions.
- You have those?
- Jake and Zane.
I'm kind of like seeing both of them.
- What?
Why didn't you tell me?
You have been gaslighting an entire company since I met you,
can I have one secret?
Jake, um, I need to press pause.
- You're breaking up with me?
- You have had my back since the day I started
and I have had yours.
So if you are asking me to choose between the two of you,
I choose you.
- There are women who got to where they are
without needing help, but I am not one of them.
I have an amazing partner.
So thank you, Liza Miller.
(audience clapping)
You cannot leave now.
She is investing in us.
- No, this is all the more reason why I should leave.
- I don't know if I can do this without you.
- Kelsey, you can.
- It is my distinct honor to introduce you
to your new publisher, Kelsey Peters.
- You call the shots, Kelsey.
You're the boss.
- Do Kelsey's feet reach the floor in Charles' seat?
- How was your first day of being queen boss?
- It's harder than I thought.
How am I supposed to tell the woman who gave me my job
that her book sucks?
Everybody on that list has been in publishing forever.
I do not belong here.
- Kelsey, you're a messy bitch who lives for drama.
I stan.
- This isn't cute, Zane.
That book was important to me, and you know it.
You could've been upfront, but you played me.
- You've lost some hair here.
- Oh my God.
My hair's falling out!
What the?
- Oh god.
- You're the money behind Mercury?
- Kelsey, if you just give me--
- You're the chairman of the board.
You're working against your own company.
You're working against me?
How am I ever gonna make this work with Charles?
He was my mentor.
I owe him my career.
And now I'm supposed to tell him no?
I cannot run my company based on your negative press.
Are we done here?
- I guess we are.
- She did it didn't she?
- Good morning.
What is it?
- Quinn pulled her funding.
We're broke.
I feel the same way.
Present tense.
Now.
Guess who got the money, honey?
Hey, we might have a big problem.
- What is going on?
- A private video that I meant to DM to Zane,
I accidentally posted to my story.
Guess who got the money, honey?
- Oh, I see.
Well, you look good.
- I'm a meme!
- We're still interested in Millennial, that hasn't changed.
But not with Ms. Peters as publisher.
- I went to bed last night with everything.
- You'll get it back.
- I'm sorry, all right.
I feel partly responsible for what happened.
- If I can't run a social media account,
maybe I shouldn't be running a company.
Today's my last day at Millennial.
Thank you, Charles.
My time here is over.
(dynamic music)
- I'll give you a stake in the company.
Enough of my shares to get you a seat on the board.
- Yes Charles, I do want to come home.
I have decided to stay put at Millennial.
- So you're running home to Daddy, okay.
- Zane quit this morning. - Why?
- After everything that happened with Mercury,
he felt like I betrayed him by giving you the board seat.
- You quit?
You can't just quit.
- I need a fresh start.
- Are you breaking up with me
because I got promoted over you?
- At least for now, I think that's best.
I love you, Kelsey.
Take care.
(Kelsey crying)
- We just lost Millennial.
Everything's going back to Empirical now.
- Wait, what? - Yeah.
Everything that we've worked for, it's gone.
- Hasn't anyone told you?
Zane has been named publisher of Grove Atlantic.
- I should have teamed up with you
when you offered to finance me.
I went back to what felt safe and I didn't take a risk.
And I think about it every day.
- I understand why you stayed, Kelsey.
It's a wonderful group of people.
But you did blow a great opportunity
and that would gnaw at me too.
- We invite unpublished writers to come in, drink,
read a few pages to a like-minded audience.
And you and I get back to
why we got into publishing in the first place.
- Do you think we can pull this off?
- What have we got to lose?
I don't have a plan, yet, but I'll work on it.
We will.
- You know, you're kind of my hero.
Oh my God, our little incubator's taking off.
- I know.
- This thing is worth way more
than what Charles is thinking.
- How much more?
- There could be a bidding war.
This is our moment.
- I can't leave.
But I understand that you have to.
- I found a backer for my company.
- Kelsey, this is incredible! - This is awesome!
- There's one catch.
The company is not gonna be based in New York.
So I'm moving to Los Angeles.
(Liza gasps)
- Okay, I am shook.
But I, I am so proud of you, baby.
- Kelsey, this is so amazing.
(dynamic music)