Dying is easy; living is harder.
In which Carrie takes Bitsy's advice and finds someone new to "get under."
Well, well, well. Episode 5 of the sophomore season of “And Just Like That,” titled “Trick or Treat,” was written by Samantha Irby and Lucas Froehlich. Samantha Irby can do no wrong in my book, which is why it sort of pained me to see her name in the writing credits for season 1 of AJLT. Regardless, despite its incredibly cliche title, we have here a great episode with some goofy sexcapades, Harry in a wig, Charles from “Younger,” and not too many storylines if you can believe it!
We open at 5 a.m. in Che Diaz’s bed—I’m sorry to report we’re not off to a strong start. Miranda and Che are clearly not managing their conflicting schedules well, as Che groggily tells Miranda they didn’t get to sleep until 4 while Miranda is running off back to Brooklyn to “wake Brady up.” She claims he’ll sleep all day if she doesn’t. Um…so what? This kid is at least 18 years old; is she really babying him this much? Ultimately, when she gets to Brooklyn, I realize Miranda is driven more by a desire to maintain a sense of normalcy for Brady vs literally waking him each morning (at least, I hope that is the case).
(It is also apparently Halloween? We just skipped at least three months, if not more. I have a feeling this was driven by the desire to show off some coats. But I love a good coat, so I don’t hate it? …who am I without this show to hate on?)
Miranda is going overboard trying to maintain a sense of normalcy, making pancakes for Brady, carving a pumpkin, and asking him to decorate the stoop with her. Ever Miranda’s child, he remains unimpressed.
Over in Central Park, a costume-less Miranda and Carrie-as-Helen-Gurley-Brown are attending a Halloween fundraiser hosted by Charlotte as part of some sort of charity committee, I assume.
Frankly, I adore Carrie dressed as Helen Gurley Brown, carrying around a vintage Cosmopolitan magazine. Gurley Brown was famously one of the first public figures to claim that women could “have it all” (love, sex, and money)—which feels like a thesis statement for the original “Sex and the City.” Considering we just saw Carrie interacting with Gloria Steinem in the last episode (which was at least 3 or 4 months ago according to the AJLT timeline), it makes perfect sense for Carrie to dress as the founder of Cosmopolitan magazine (right down to her love of the cocktail by the same name)! (I have to imagine Helen Gurley Brown was a little more sex-positive than Our Heroine, though.)
Miranda and Charlotte, of course, think Carrie’s outfit is normal for her and insist she isn’t wearing a costume (a fun bit I enjoyed).
Charlotte also appears to not be wearing a costume. She and Harry are dressed as Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings (aka Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys from “The Americans”). I adore “The Americans” but this is not the strongest costume—Charlotte in particular just looks a bit less dolled up than she normally does. Harry, donning a ’70s-looking wig and aviator frames, definitely reads as Phillip, though. I enjoy that Charlotte and Harry clearly binged this show and thought these characters made for a good couples costume—it’s such a specific couple thing.
This party, held at the Central Park Conservatory Garden, feels like it cost a lot of money for a relatively short part of the episode, but what do I know. At least we got some cool costumes out of it.
Nya looks fabulous as a Lycra-clad cat but is disappointed at the lack of available men. Seema, who keeps getting mistaken for Padma Lakshmi, offers to take Nya and Carrie to a hotel bar to meet men. Folks, we’ve got the makings of a classic SATC scene!
If there is a dance-off, LTW and Anthony are winning as they shimmy to TLC’s “Creep.” Unfortunately, Herbert is missing both his costume and his sense of humor as he chides LTW for “dirty dancing with the devil,” saying it’s not very dignified. We also learn LTW bought Herbert a George Washington costume, a fun nod to Chris Jackson’s role in “Hamilton.” Yes, Herbert is still running for city comptroller, a candidacy he is taking very seriously. (Maybe that is another reason we have fast-forwarded to Halloween—it’s closer to the election? I tried to look up whether or not someone could decide in late June to run for office for the November election and the plane wifi was too slow so I gave up.)
Anthony gets nothing to do in this episode other than a quick interaction with a man dressed as Spartacus who he seems to know “from the gym,” until the man’s wife arrives. Justice for Anthony!
At the Todd-Wexley home later that night, we are treated to Chris Jackson in one-half of his George Washington costume, misattributing “the British are coming” innuendos to LTW, who is rather into it. We never hear from them again this episode; I guess they took a break tonight.
Harry and Charlotte have settled in to continue watching one of the greatest shows of our time when they are rudely interrupted by Rock. They claim to have been discovered by a modeling scout while they were skateboarding; evidently someone from Ralph Lauren liked Rock’s look. Charlotte is psyched—she was a teen model at the mall back in the day, also for Ralph Lauren, which she takes great delight in reminding everyone several times.
After Lily’s rejection of her Chanel wardrobe and fancy piano, I’m sure Charlotte is excited to have an interest to share with her other child, especially as neither seems all that into “The Americans.”
Harry is much more negative than Charlotte, reminding Rock (and Charlotte) that anyone can make an embossed business card and pretend to work for a high-profile brand. (He’s not wrong.)
At the Mandarin, Carrie, Nya, and Seema are having a nice bonding moment. Nya reveals that she’s never dated as an adult (she and Andre started dating when they were in college), and Carrie reminds us how long it’s been since she picked up a man in a bar.
Carrie is famously not an early adopter.
Seema reels a man in first—a rep for a gin brand. (Potential red flag?) Nya also locks down the man who is soon to become her first-ever one-night stand partner. I’m excited for Nya! I’m not sure what happened to the sound guy from the other episode, though.
Later that night, the Gin Guy and Seema hooking up; Gin Guy has to pause their foreplay sesh to break out a penis pump.
Seema, who previously insisted she’s had enough men to not be surprised anymore, is…surprised but plays it pretty cool imo.
Over in Hudson Yards, Che and their friends are playing video games and smoking while Miranda is trying to sleep in the next room. And also, it’s 3:30 a.m. Their schedules are clearly incompatible, and they are refusing to acknowledge it. Why does Miranda have to spend the night at Che’s every night? There should be plenty of space in the Brooklyn townhouse. Whatever, I guess we need some sort of conflict.
The next morning, we are treated to a great little scene of a very confident Nya leaving the Mandarin after her one-night stand! She is feeling herself!
Though she played it cool, Seema clearly had to share the penis pump story with someone; she calls Carrie for a morning-after recap call (a great tradition imo). Both ladies are out and about in the city and it must be said that Carrie’s outfit is fabulous.
When Seema reveals to Carrie that her hookup from the previous night used a penis pump, Carrie literally stops in her tracks in the middle of a bike lane, and a very hot Peter Hermann (Charles from “Younger”!) crashes and breaks his wrist.
I broke my wrist falling off a bike when I was 9, so this is bringing up a lot for me.
Carrie very nicely offers to take Peter Hermann and his bike to an Urgent Care, where she learns more about him—he lives in Chelsea, never married, has a somewhat aggressive business partner, and is trying to sell an app.
Back on Park Avenue, Harry and Charlotte are both digging their heels in when it comes to the Ralph Lauren shoot; as a former teen model and noted Ralph Lauren enthusiast, Charlotte is of course very enthusiastic, while Harry has clearly been watching too much of “The Americans” and his spy spidey sense is tingling.
Rock has decided to spend their modeling money to “plant some trees in Israel,” which still doesn’t appease Harry. Oy.
Back at Urgent Care, Carrie takes a page out of Che Diaz’s stand-up notes and makes a joke to Seema about Urgent Care’s lack of urgency.
Up at Columbia, Nya is extolling the virtues of her one-night stand and walk of shame to Miranda. I’m happy for Nya! She reports that she and Hot Hotel Guy did it all night long, and then Nya went home and slept in her own bed until 2 p.m. Miranda is jealous—not of the sex, but of the sleep. She reveals that she’s getting no sleep thanks to Che and their merry band of friends who I assume are all comedians. (No word on whether or not they also make jokes about no one walking in LA.)
Nya offers Andre’s music room to Miranda—she doesn’t like living alone and Miranda is exhausted from going back and forth from Hudson Yards to Brooklyn (no neighborhood, just “Brooklyn”) to Columbia. A roommate sitch! I’m excited to see how this plays out.
A slightly stalker-ish Carrie stops by Peter Hermann’s apartment with two huge bags from Citarella which I assume set Carrie back approximately $500. His apartment is a huge, airy loft full of art. Clearly, he is much more successful than Carrie thought he was. (There is a bit about how because Peter Hermann’s credit card got declined at Urgent Care, Carrie thinks he’s in “a bit of a bind.”)
Peter Hermann swiftly corrects Carrie; he and his business partner are successful app developers. Carrie kindly offers to help Peter Hermann with his deck, but before they can get into it, their chemistry takes over and they start making out on the couch; soon after, they are rudely interrupted by business partner Paul who is unamused by the lack of progress Peter Hermann is making on their deck.
At dinner, Che and Miranda are catching up over curry; Miranda has ordered hers much too spicy and she is struggling. Che is telling Miranda (and us) that ABC is about to start testing the “Che Pasa” pilot with a focus group. I’m very confused by the timeline for “Che Pasa.” I know that traditional TV timelines no longer exist thanks to streaming, but if this pilot is supposed to air on ABC, I guess we can assume it’s got a mid-season (January) premiere date. Miranda also breaks the news to Che that she is going to move into Nya’s spare room; Che is unusually understanding. This entire scene seems to exist for just this pun.
At the Ralph Lauren shoot, Charlotte is in heaven and of course, she can’t help mentioning to everyone that she was also a teen model for Ralph Lauren. Kristin Davis is great; she plays Charlotte with just the right amount of manic effervescence.
The stylist seems unimpressed. This is a nice bonding moment for Charlotte and Rock, though.
Meanwhile, Carrie and Miranda are at some sort of antique warehouse looking for furniture for Miranda’s new room. She reveals that Steve has made no progress on moving out and that she feels like she can’t ask him to. At this point, why doesn’t Miranda just get her own place. And why is she shopping for used mattresses?
While Rock is having the time of their life jumping on a trampoline at the shoot (which feels out of character for them, but what do I know), we are treated to Undercover Harry (rocking his Phillip Jennings wig) trying to figure out if the shoot is as sketchy as he seems to think it is. Charlotte orders him to go home before Rock sees him and Harry’s reign as the “fun parent” is over.
Harry also reveals he can’t return the wig because he lost the receipt, and also Carrie likes it. I continue to love Charlotte and Harry’s dynamic; Kristin Davis and Evan Handler truly are great together.
At the “Che Pasa” focus group, Che is watching the proceedings behind one-way glass. I have a feeling this won’t end well. Things start off well, though; to no one’s surprise, everyone loves Tony Danza.
The group is reluctant to be negative, but a gender-queer person from Brooklyn eventually speaks up, saying that the Che character was “like a walking Boomer joke that felt so fake to me. Phony, sanitized, performative…bullshit version of what the nonbinary experience is.”
The floodgates open; everyone else also has negative things to say about the character of Che.
This all feels very meta considering the amount of criticism levied at the character of Che Diaz on “And Just Like That.” I have to assume the writers are self-aware because the Che character does seem like a walking Boomer joke. Or are they making fun of us for making fun of Che?! Who knows! Either way, I don’t enjoy sympathizing with Che!! Let us have our fun, writers!
Later that night, Miranda, of course, goes into protector mode.
This feels like a good time to say that I stand with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA; the AMPTP is awful, people deserve to be paid fairly for their work, and AI can replace neither background actors nor writers!
Miranda is doing her best to be their cheerleader, but Che doesn’t want to be cheered up, which is understandable. They need time to wallow and figure out what they’re going to do after the focus group tanked the show. And they need to figure out how they’re going to afford that new Hudson Yards (lol) apartment. Once again, Che and Miranda are not on the same page; Che asks Miranda for space, and Miranda reluctantly heads off to Nya’s.
At Seema’s, Gin Guy gets offended when Seema pulls out her vibrator to finish her business after he finished his.
This felt like a classic “Sex and the City” bit—the guy with the penis pump getting offended about a vibrator would not have been out of place on the OG show. This guy clearly has a complex about his ED and the pump and hasn’t learned to embrace sex toys. Get with the program, Gin Guy! Seema deserves better than B+ sex, too. (Don’t we all!)
Over at Peter Hermann’s, he and Carrie are about to get hot and heavy when they are interrupted once again.
It’s none other than Peter’s overbearing business partner Paul. Peter Hermann has forgotten to messenger (?) the deck so he runs off to handle that. While Peter Hermann is off messengering something that could be emailed, Paul, who is still on the phone, starts talking to Carrie.
He seems pretty intense, so Carrie winds up creeping out of Peter Hermann’s apartment, telling him it seems like he is married—to his work (and, by extension, Paul).
Now that the whiplash effect of our multiple storylines has died down, I am enjoying this show a bit more. I still sorely miss Carrie’s narration and how well it grounded each episode—the dialogue has to do a lot more work, and tbh, it’s not always up to the challenge. I’m unclear why they couldn’t continue Carrie’s podcast and use those audio bits as her narration, but I’m just a hater with a keyboard so what do I know.
We’re definitely still lacking some depth, but this was a fun romp as our gal gets back “back up on the bike”—a sure sign that Aidan’s return is right around the corner.
"a very hot Peter Hermann (Charles from “Younger”!) " - you mean Mr. Mariska Hargitay.