I need a shero.
Life after the death of this franchise: a storytelling event.
Halfway through watching episode 6 of “And Just Like That”’s second season, I had an inkling who wrote this disaster. Sure enough, our fearless leader Michael Patrick King is the top-credited writer for this episode. Sometimes I think I’m being hard on him, and then I remember the original show and how amazing it was and what we are now left with. In MPK’s hands, it’s a clunky, unrealistic portrayal of women in their 50s who un-ironically use words like “shero,” wear insanely stupid outfits in blizzards, and keep up goofy running gags comparing sharing a house in the Hamptons to getting married.
Sure, there were some bright spots (I’ll get into those) but we unfortunately have resumed our regular lackluster programming over here on HBO Max.
We open with Carrie zooming with a Gen-Z (or millennial?) writer (Internet personality?) to promote her book. I assume her publisher wants her to find a broad appeal for the book, but is this really her target audience? She does very relate-ably stack her laptop on top of a bunch of Vogue magazines and a box in order to get a good angle.
The girl has done basically no research on Carrie and her books, in particular the new book. She is visibly aghast when Carrie tells her the book is about death and then does a hard 180, asking Carrie about her favorite lipstick shades. At this moment, the laptop slides off of the box to its death; Carrie is very relieved.
Miranda is sleeping in her twin bed in Andre’s music room. She realizes she has overslept, but whoops—it’s actually Sunday so she’s fine. She and Nya chitchat about Miranda’s heart-printed pajamas while Nya works on her own divorce papers. Miranda is surprised to hear Nya is handling her own divorce.
Sigh. Miranda will go on to exclaim multiple times how Steve is the victim, but she is constantly throwing herself a pity party and just generally portraying herself as the victim and “bad guy” to her friends.
At the Todd-Wexley home, LTW, Herbert, and two of their kids are piled into a bed reading the newspaper. I feel like this is one of those things that only happens in TV shows and movies.
LTW sees Rock’s Ralph Lauren ad in the paper and promptly calls Charlotte, who is enjoying breakfast with her family (and Anthony of course). Charlotte says she didn’t even realize the ad was out until Anthony arrived with 10 papers. LTW’s kid starts jumping up and down on the bed like Rock in their ad, and promptly jumps on Herbert’s balls.
I’m unclear why this happens as it’s not a major plot point in this episode, nor is it funny.
Back to Charlotte’s. Lily asks Charlotte if she made a lunch reservation at Nobu for her and her boyfriend Blake. (Did we know Blake existed?) This is the same child who, a mere four episodes ago, was singing about examining her privilege. Clearly, that doesn’t apply when it comes to eating fancy sushi with her boyfriend. In all of the Polo excitement, Charlotte forgot to confirm Lily’s Nobu reservation.
Ever the voice of reason, Anthony astutely reminds her that she is 17 and should just go to Shake Shack. Lily exclaims that she can’t lose her virginity after Shake Shack, which brings the conversation to a screaming halt.
“Now, it won’t be the perfect day that I had planned,” Lily huffs as she turns on her heel. She is clearly her Type A mother’s daughter.
Back once again to LTW’s, she and Herbert have a little tête-à-tête about their conflicting schedules. Herbert has a campaign event and LTW has a “talk-back” after her documentary screening at the Museum of Modern Art. Herbert is all like, “are you still doing that,” which displeases LTW.
I guess we’ll see what happens with these two. (I really could not care less.)
Aaaaand back to Charlotte’s. Charlotte interrupts Lily’s keyboard jam session in the room she shares with Rock. (Why are these children sharing a room? There is no way on earth this apartment only has two bedrooms.)
Charlotte, clad in athleisure, wants to follow up on Lily’s virginity announcement. While I don’t really care about this story, I do feel like Charlotte handles it pretty well.
She tells Lily she’s glad she opened up to them, tries to be sex-positive, reminds her to use condoms, and Lily says “they’re on it.”
Lastly, Charlotte reminds Lily to focus on her own pleasure vs just Blake’s. All in all, a pretty good moment for Charlotte.
Carrie has dragged Seema to the Upper East Side Apple store. (Fun fact: I was just there and they fixed the battery on my phone, but now my mobile pay scanner thing doesn’t work.)
As if we needed a reminder that she is not an early adopter, Carrie says she had that other laptop for 8 years. Seema, of course, always has the latest tech.
While wandering around the Apple store, Seema asks Carrie to get a house with her in the Hamptons for the summer. I hope this plot leads us somewhere (season 3 in the Hamptons? god help us all), and I’m not sure why Seema hasn’t gotten her own house in the Hamptons vs just staying in a room at her married friends’ houses? Wasn’t this a whole plot point in like the third ever episode of the OG show (pepper mill dick guy, anyone?)
Over in Hudson Yards, Miranda wants some post-coital cuddles and Che is being, excuse my French because there is truly no other way to put it, a huge asshole about it.
I understand that they are depressed about their failed pilot (and let’s be real, we all saw that coming), but they should be able to communicate like an adult to Miranda.
After they exchange “good nights” and Miranda turns off her light, Che inexplicably starts trying to film Cameos for their fans. I am extremely curious as to how many followers Che has and am disappointed that MPK is depriving us of that information.
Che says they have to film their Cameos because they didn’t do them during the day, which leads Miranda to ask what they spent all day doing. Look, Che is clearly going through it and I actually do have sympathy for them, but if my partner started filming Cameos in bed while I was trying to sleep, I would promptly send them to the living room.
Che is not in the mood to perform their comedy concerts so the Cameos are the only way they can make money right now. (What are they charging per Cameo???? I need to know!) Che seems to think their followers don’t know that their pilot has failed and so they are pretending to be fine on social media. Wouldn’t the trades have reported on “Che Pasa”’s demise? If you are an ardent Che Diaz fan (and who isn’t??????), wouldn’t you seek out this information and be breathlessly anticipating their pilot? As usual, I am confused, as I so often am while watching this show.
Miranda encourages Che to at least go take a walk instead of moping around the apartment smoking weed (I assume) all day. Look, Che has just suffered a major career setback and I think some wallowing time is allowed. (My goodness do I hate sympathizing with Che, but here we are.)
As Che goes back to filming a Cameo congratulating Kyle for getting into Cal Tech early decision, Miranda decides to leave because she has an early class and can’t sleep.
Unsurprisingly, Che and Miranda’s communication issues seem to come to a head here. Miranda is upset that she gets “sad” Che and Cal Tech Kyle (and the tit in Arizona) get happy Che—which tbh is a little unfair to Che. It is also true that Miranda is, as she points out, trying to help Che move on and she deserves to be treated well.
These two are clearly on a collision course. Miranda should be willing to stand by Che through thick and thin, and Che should be more courteous and not film fucking Cameos in bed (among other transgressions) (like initiating a threesome with their husband and then promptly ignoring Miranda).
At her publicist’s (?) office, Carrie is lamenting the coverage she received from the Gen Z girlie. Amanda pivots, telling Carrie about “WidowCon” (aka Life After Death: A Widow’s Storytelling Event), an event in which “thousands” of women who have lost their partners come together for fellowship.
The event is organized by Rachel Dratch (aka Karen, aka Kerry, because it’s “not a great time for white women named Karen”), who we learn is a former writing partner of Carrie’s whom she blew off in the ’90s. Karen Kerry is still very salty about this, and frequently reminds Carrie that she has to show up on time for WidowCon.
Back in Hudson Yards, Che is lounging on their couch (which I can only assume is now fixed) eating Pirate’s Booty horizontally, when they are interrupted by a call from Carrie. Why is Carrie calling her apparent BFF Che? To ask Che to attend WidowCon with her as her support. Why on earth would Carrie ask this of Che? We have only seen them interact one-on-one one time so far this season, and it was a cross-country phone call in episode 1, which was months ago in this universe!
This was such a missed opportunity for the writers to have Miranda confide in Carrie about how tough Che’s work-related depression has been on their relationship, which would give Carrie a clear motivation to ask Che to attend the event with her. Instead, I remain as confused as ever.
Perhaps spurred by Miranda’s advice to leave the house, Che agrees to attend the event; Carrie is relieved.
Why is Che talking to Carrie like this? Why hasn’t Miranda confided in Carrie (and Charlotte) about their weird relationship with Che? When will this long national nightmare known as Che Diaz be over???
Over at Nya’s, Carrie and Charlotte arrive for paella night. They’ve brought wine (and fake wine for Miranda) and big smiles. As they’re eating, Nya responds to a text from Andre, explaining that they had a bad breakup so they’re trying to have a nice divorce. Miranda asks if she thinks they’ll stay friends.
You’d think a show that bends over backward to remind us they are woke now would know not to use the phrase “spirit animal,” but here we are. (Also, this line just makes no sense as Miranda has not gone “cold turkey” with Steve—she is still doing the dishes and laundry for him and Brady!)
At this point, Miranda mentions that she and Steve are “light years” away from talking about getting divorced.
Nya gently tells Miranda that she is probably the one who has to start the conversation.
Miranda emphatically disagrees, saying it’s gotta come from Steve. Ma’am what???? You are the one in a new relationship. Why on earth would Miranda think that Steve should initiate the divorce conversation?
Miranda says because she “did the damage” she wants to “give him time to find his bearings.” This makes absolutely no sense. She just doesn’t want to continue be the bad guy in this situation, but it’s too late! By continuing to drag this situation out, she is digging herself into a deeper hole.
Carrie decides to tell Miranda what Steve told her during the house renovation episode of season 1—that he has no intentions of ever taking off his wedding ring. Miranda is not thrilled.
Naturally, Carrie pivots the conversation back to herself, referring to Karen Kerry as “an ex” in an extremely clumsy attempt for the writers to work Aidan into the conversation.
Despite her aversion to technology, Carrie has clearly cyber-stalked Aidan; we learn that he lives in Virginia, got divorced five years ago, and sold his furniture business to West Elm “for quite a pretty penny.”
Later that night, Carrie drafts an email to Aidan. She leaves it unsent, but I think we all know that missive is going to make its way to Aidan before the end of the episode.
The next day, Carrie and Seema are looking up Hamptons houses. Carrie has found one that is about 1,000 square feet; Seema is insulted.
I’m not sure why Seema is even pretending to let Carrie look for one; as a real estate agent, she is clearly more qualified to find a summer home than Carrie is. (And, it’s soon revealed, she already has.)
Seema shows Carrie the house she’s found; of course, it is 3,250 square feet.
There is a running gag comparing Seema asking Carrie to share a house to Seema asking Carrie to marry her; they use the whole “do you take this house” and “I do” nonsense throughout which screams MPK. It’s not that cute. It’s just not.
The next day (I assume), Carrie is awoken by an early call from Che informing her that there is a blizzard outside which is projected to turn into a bomb cyclone later that day. Che is hopeful that the event will get cancelled; Carrie assures them that all of the widows have been at the Sheraton since Tuesday so it’s definitely still on. Carrie obviously can’t cancel since she blew Karen Kerry off 30 years ago and she is still holding a grudge. Gird your loins, people, we’re going to get some snow day fashion!
Over at Charlotte’s, she is making hot cocoa for the snow day because of course she is, but Lily arrives in the kitchen all bundled up—Blake’s parents are stuck in Connecticut so today is The Big Day. Charlotte is a little sentimental, Lily departs without fanfare, and Charlotte then informs Harry that his first child is off to lose her virginity.
At the Todd-Wexleys’, LTW is upset because her car service was cancelled due to the blizzard. Herbert helpfully suggests she just blow off her event and come to his because his car is a Tahoe. LTW is determined to get to her event, for obvious reasons.
Switching tactics, Herbert offers to have his Tahoe drop Lisa off at MoMA. (I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have suggested this first.) Lisa refuses.
At this point, I audibly exclaim “what the fuck” because Lisa…what the fuck. This is so dumb. Take the Tahoe. Don’t be a hero shero.
But Lisa’s gonna do her. She removes her wig, packs it up, and sets off to the MoMA on foot.
The shot of her walking through the snow in extremely impractical heeled white boots is lovely, but this whole situation was entirely avoidable.
Charlotte, Harry, and Rock are spending their snow day watching “Edward Scissorhands” when Lily calls with an emergency. She and Blake each thought the other was getting condoms and now they have none. Blake is afraid the drugstore will tell his mom he’s buying condoms, so Lily asks Charlotte to brave the elements so she can have sex.
Upon hearing that Blake googled “how to pull out,” Charlotte, too, sets off in the blizzard in search of condoms for her teenage daughter. The music during this montage is oddly Christmas-y? It’s all twinkly and sparkly-sounding as Charlotte pounds on independent drugstores’ doors, all of which are closed due to the storm.
Clearly, Duane Reade wanted no part of this show.
We are then treated to a shot of SJP wearing the most ridiculous snow coat I have ever seen. I am sure it is a luxury brand because she is Carrie Bradshaw and this show is what it is, but she looks absolutely batshit in this weather. On the plus side, Carrie’s coat seems more protective from the elements than Charlotte’s, which appears to be pink wool. Everyone knows you don’t wear wool during a blizzard; it will immediately get drenched and heavy and gross. God forbid any of these women wear practical blizzard clothes. I know this show is supposed to be sort of about fashion, but I just can’t abide this.
We then get treated to a phone call between Carrie and Charlotte, both of whom are trudging around in the snow. Charlotte asks Carrie if she has any condoms because she was recently sleeping with her podcast producer (whose name I cannot be bothered to remember). Carrie says she does not because she wasn’t exactly worried about getting pregnant, and then gets extremely offended when Charlotte suggests that Carrie perhaps used condoms for “STD” protection.
First of all, we are supposed to refer to them as STIs now, and second, Carrie, stop shaming people!! STIs are extremely common, most are curable, and you are just contributing to the stigma around them!
LTW arrives at the MoMA and promptly heads to the bathroom to put her wig on. She and an older Black woman share a little moment, which is nice. It’s a shame LTW’s entire storyline this episode is completely divorced (pun intended) from the others’.
At WidowCon, Carrie and Che explore the merch; of course there is a vibrator called the “Widow Wand.” The proprietor informs them it’s on back order. I couldn’t help but wonder, why would someone be displaying merch at a conference that isn’t immediately available for purchase?
I hate to defend Che, but they are wearing appropriate snow day attire, which Carrie promptly pokes fun at. Why does Carrie have to be such a bitch to the person who braved the elements to support her??
Drawn into the main room by a a bunch of laughs, Che and Carrie are surprised to see an older woman telling jokes (and not good ones; again, it is very clear MPK wrote this) about widowhood.
The crowd is eating up the material and Carrie is now worried about having to follow her as her book doesn’t have any laughs.
Carrie demands Che write her a joke on demand (something I’m sure professional comedians just love) and Che manages to say something almost funny about the Widow Wand.
Carrie tries to open her talk with a different joke, which of course falls flat because, as she says to Che in a moment of self-awareness, “I’m not hilarious.”
Over at the MoMA, LTW is being interviewed about her documentary, “The First But Not the Last,” which apparently involves LTW following three Black women in business, education, and law (I assume the last subject is Nya). I thought that Nya was just giving a quick interview for LTW’s doc, not one of the primary subjects. This show continues to give us conflicting information and just assumes we can keep up. Good writing gives good context, y’all, and this is not it!!
That “shero” line was delivered very seriously.
LTW also mentions that she spent eight years researching the film. I don’t doubt that documentaries require research, but we literally just saw LTW interview Nya earlier this year for what seemed like the first time? This writing is wildly uneven.
However, while LTW is talking about why the documentary is so important to her, Herbert walks in! Way to be supportive, dude. (I’m not being sarcastic; this is a genuinely nice moment.)
Charlotte finally arrives at Blake’s and presents a variety pack of condoms to Lily: classic, thin, ribbed, and the warming ones, which Charlotte warns Lily not to use. Lily is eager to get out of the cold, but not before giving Charlotte a hug and thanking her for being her condom delivery person. (This actually begs the question, why couldn’t Blake order condoms for delivery?)
Charlotte wistfully looks up into a window where she is clearly imagining her daughter and Blake consummating their relationship. I think we all could have done without this storyline.
Back at WidowCon, Carrie is reading from her book, which actually doesn’t sound like the worst book in the world, and some of it clearly resonates with Che. I miss Carrie’s narration sorely.
Carrie gets a lot of applause, although it must be said that there are not “thousands” of widows at this event. She and the comedian who preceded her share a sweet moment backstage before heading out to sell some books.
Che is highly complimentary toward Carrie; Carrie provided them a much needed perspective.
I fear Che and Miranda’s relationship is not long for this world.
In Brooklyn, Steve arrives home and finds Miranda folding laundry in the living room.
Miranda finally decides to ask Steve how his apartment search is going. You know, the one he told a therapist he would do back in July. Steve matter-of-factly admits that he’s not moving and that he lied to both the therapist and Miranda about this. Miranda says she can’t keep living her nomadic life, and Steve says it’s his house too.
Miranda, in a dirty, below-the-belt move, reminds Steve that her name and only her name is on the mortgage. This is not only an extremely low blow but also a confusing one. They were already married when they moved to Brooklyn, so why isn’t Steve’s name on the mortgage?? (I, a renter, do not have much insight into this but it feels strange, even though I know Miranda was the breadwinner in their relationship.)
Steve, in a fit of emotion that we have all been waiting for, starts yelling about how he renovated the entire house and how it was a shithole before they moved in. He feels, not wrongly, that the house is as much his as it is Miranda’s, despite what the mortgage may say.
And just like that, Steve finally lets Miranda really have it.
Miranda bursts out crying, grabs her stuff, and goes to leave. Steve immediately apologizes and begs her not to leave in anger. (I will say, I am sort of glad the show addressed that Miranda considered terminating her pregnancy! Although this was also a low blow from Steve, but c'est la vie.)
I know Miranda feels guilty about breaking up their marriage, but avoiding this conversations for months and months was always going to lead to something like this.
While Steve and Miranda are laying in bed, Miranda finds a condom wrapper on the nightstand.
Why on EARTH is Miranda upset about this??? She is the one who left their marriage for another person and she has the audacity to be upset that Steve hasn’t been celibate this whole time??? I am truly floored. I know that emotions are complicated and she is probably not thinking straight, but this narrative Miranda has built up in her head about the demise of her and Steve’s relationship is just not accurate.
Steve is quick to clarify that he’s not a victim. I must say once again that Miranda is the one who has been playing the victim—doing laundry and washing dishes at the Brooklyn house and tip-toeing around Steve as if he’s going to break. She has handled this situation so poorly, I truly do not even have words. (And y’all know that’s not common for me.) She departs for Hudson Yards in a huff, ready for Che to console her (I assume).
Miranda arrives at Che Casa in a tizzy, exclaiming that she and Steve should definitely have split up earlier when they had a chance to be friends.
This gives Che the opening they needed.
“From where we are not, this probably isn’t going to get better,” Che says. It could, if you two communicated or had anything in common or attempted to understand each other, but they don’t, because they are both selfish. The writing on this show has completely decimated Miranda’s character; I kept audibly exclaiming “what!!” throughout this episode; it just kept getting worse and worse.
Miranda and Che are now laying in bed in a shot very similar to the one mere moments ago of Miranda and Steve.
Of course, Miranda continues to cast herself as the victim and throw herself a pity party, despite being the reason she is in both of these situations.
Cut to Carrie’s desk, where she decides to finally hit send on the email to Aidan, because of course she does.
Was this Che Diaz’s swan song? Is next week going to magically be summer in the Hamptons? How will John Corbett come screaming back into our lives? Only time (six days) will tell.
You are doing the lord's work with these screenshots! Harry's pivot -- * chef's kiss *.
I also don't understand people who pile their kids and dogs and whatever else into their beds for a cute Sunday morning. Your bed is a sanctuary, not the booth at Applebee's ... definitely a TV thing.
Now with Steve and Che possibly out of the picture, it feels like everyone on this show is going to be upper tax bracket, right? Even Aidan got a "pretty penny" for his furniture line ... Idk, other people have written about the wealth portrayed on the show(s), but it's just another detail that adds to the un-reality of Carrie's friend group.
I am already bored by the Hamptons, but really can't wait to see how Carrie trainwrecks yet another Aidan reunion!