*Warning: This article contains spoilers from the first two episodes of And Just Like That.
For better or worse, we’ve gotten another season of And Just Like That, the Sex and The City spinoff that has unnecessarily damaged my love for Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and traumatised me with the terror that is Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez).
And, just like that, season one was nearly universally panned – and, more often than not, rightfully so.
It was a long way from matching the enchantment of Sex and the City. When a show might have been celebrating Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte Goldenblatt, and Miranda prospering in their fifties, they became even more troublesome, anxious to be loved, and helpless. Everything I don’t want to be at the age of 50.
Their bond took a back seat to new characters we were suddenly meant to care about but didn’t.
The death of Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) was unforgivable, as was the absence of Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), and the well-meaning but agonising attempts to find atonement in Sex and The City’s lack of representation seemed tragically inauthentic.
At least 90% of the conversation was terrible (the woke button was a low point in the 2020s, and we’d gone through a pandemic), and there has been better performance in notably poor Drag Race challenges, which are notoriously hard to watch.
Nothing worked, and it gradually deteriorated to the point where Miranda left the finest man any of the Sex and The City ladies had ever found for a profoundly unfunny comic, and I have never been more outraged at a television show.
But I was gripped. The shambles was unmissable.
Despite the fact that the issues were unavoidable in season two, all fan input was ignored and, as a result, And the revival of Just Like That is a colossal flop. I was still clinging to a misfire, although grudgingly.
Miranda is now living in Los Angeles with Che because a TV production firm has deemed that their lives are intriguing enough to be turned into a comedy, which, predictably, looks terrible.
Carrie is having an affair with her podcast producer and learning how to cook an egg, while Charlotte is challenged by her eldest daughter Lily, who is rebelling against living in affluence.
Dealing with sexual taboos front on with no shame was part of Sex and The City’s achievement. After a dry break in season one of And Just Like That, the sex is back – and handled with the same brazen humour that made Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and, of course, Samantha genuine pioneers of the bedroom.
Charlotte declares herself to be a tremendous admirer of all things sperm; the mess, the taste, everything. Miranda attempts (and fails) to wrestle with a strap-on, while Carrie, well, Carrie has sex, which is about as thrilling as it ever gets for her.
Season two’s disadvantage is the newcomers. Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda should be present at all times in And Just Like That, just as they were in Sex and The City.
The sole pleasant addition is Seema Patel (Sarita Choudbury), who is a respectable substitute for Samantha without being an exact duplicate. Her one-liners are among the show’s highlights, and unlike anybody else in the group, Sarita Choudbury understands how to deliver a punchline. Her single status immediately elevates her above Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker) and Naya Wallace (Karen Pittman), whose marriages receive way too much attention when we just don’t know them well enough to care.
The success of Sex and the City was due to its friendships, not its romances. Naturally, those friendships have altered 25 years after the original episode aired, but if you’ve come for the nostalgia, what’s the point of a Sex and the City revival if the link between those women isn’t the major appeal anymore?
All of that being said, being among the ladies who have affected the lives of their fans in many ways is as comforting as meeting an old friend for the first time in years. And, while I’ve never been more furious with television, it’s because I care about these people more than any professional therapist would.
I’m not expressing anything new when it comes to ‘hate-watching.’ And Just Like That was enough to keep me, and most of us who stuck with it through season one, eagerly down the days until the next episode. I experienced the same urge to binge the rest of the series after moaning throughout the season two premiere.
With the revelation that Aidan Shaw will return as the love interest Carrie does not deserve, And Just Like That should feel more logical progression from Sex and the City than it has so far.
Of course, I’d skip my own wedding to see Samantha Jones return.
And Just Like That season 2 launches on NOW from June 22 with new episodes dropping every Thursday.
Source My Celebrity Life.