This post contains spoilers for the first episode of “And Just Like That,” the new Sex & the City reboot. I am not responsible should you choose to read further! Also, TV Club (we’ll be discussing the season 3 finale of Succession) is on hold until next week because I got so many messages to write about this show instead!
I totally agree!! Interested to see where it goes from here. It felt like they spent the first episode apologizing for sins of the past in terms of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ representation. So it all seemed a bit heavy and forced.
I had so many similar thoughts. I did find the episodes quite depressing and hope/assume there will be a bit of levity in future eps. The Samantha stuff for sure felt really forced and overdone. And Big definitely had to die to move the story forward. Watching Carrie navigate widowhood in her 50's is an interesting story, more than them living happily ever after. I did feel torn between being so happy to see my favourite characters on the screen again from my favourite show from long ago, and also feeling like, do we really need to know what happened to them? It had all ended nice and tidy, as a lot of shows do, and we could remember it like that in our heads. But now that's all undone and we have to watch Carrie lose big, Miranda start drinking, and who knows what else. I'm not sure I needed it to keep going. But I'll keep watching, of course!
I agree with ALL of this and you vocalized what I was thinking but didn’t know it/couldn’t quite figure it out. Also, I hope they’re not setting up M to be an alcoholic. And I hope C wakes up a little and sees her child for who she is and doesn’t buy any more OSCAR DE LA RENTA for teenagers.
What you wrote about Samantha is spot-on about people moving away and losing touch over time. HOWEVER, I hated how the show made it out that Samantha was being petty and ridiculous and the other women "did all they could". I read someone on twitter say that it reeked of "mean-girl passive aggressiveness" and I think that's the best way to put it. Of course I don't know what truly happened between Kim Cattrall and SJP, but it was hard to watch this and not feel like they were putting their real-life feud into their work and that is SO childish.
As for Miranda, it did feel out of character for her to be SO bumbling. She wasn't sheltered from what was going on in the world for the past 20 years since the show ended. She was working in the world with real people -- be it possibly heavily skewed towards other rich white people. What I think would have been more in-character would have been Miranda walking into that classroom feeling smug superiority that she knows everything, and then being knocked down a peg or two by the younger, more diverse voices in the room.
Charlotte just felt like a shell of the character from the series. But the over-the-top crying and whining just felt... melodramatic even for her.
I still don't see why Stanford and Anthony are a couple. Did this happen in the 2nd movie? I heard how awful it was and I never saw it. They are SO wrong for each other. The idea that any 2 gay characters on a show automatically should be together is pretty insulting and weak writing, IMO. Those 2 hated each other on the show, and it felt real that they'd continue to hate each other :)
I get that there's not much for Harry and Steve to do yet, but Harry was reduced to "Yes, Dear!" and Steve was reduced to hard-of-hearing-old-man jokes? They both deserve better.
Big dying is totally appropriate for the story to move forward. Even before the series was filmed I had a feeling he might be dead before the series started, and when I saw the first episode, they were SO over-the-top happy, I had a feeling it was going to end badly. Then the constant references to the peloton ride... and the big dramatic goodbye with the wedding shoes.... I had a bad feeling before the piano recital even started. Hell yes she should have called 9-11, but it made sense thematically for him to die.
I'm kinda sour on this show so far, but I feel emotionally attached to these characters because i loved the show when it was on (even though there were problematic aspects, and a lot of it didn't really age well). I'll probably keep watching. But I didn't find those first 2 episodes fun at all (even before the death). So far it's giving me Gilmore Girls Revival vibes and that's not a compliment....
Great post! I fully agree with all of it, but would just add that being in parenting mode is what snapped me to attention on the subject of race and social justice - my daughter asks a lot of questions (about everything) and when the subject of different skin colors came up I was not well-prepared and realized I needed to do some learning. She was a preschooler and I had just given her a pack of skin-colored markers to color her ballerina picture with, and she made a comment that told me we needed to talk. From there I vowed to read/follow anything I could to have a better foundation to teach her from. Anyway, I still think all your points about parenting are true - I have lost touch with all pop culture and only know the parts that my teen step kids tell me about. :) I'm not in my 50s yet, but I fully agree that with time life gets complicated and not at all how you think it will end up.
Uggghh...I am super sad and more emotionally rocked by this SATC reboot. The first 2 episodes made me feel depressed for what is ahead. Death, hearing loss, and your kid banging a headboard on the other side of your apartment wall. NOOOOO!!! I can't!
But as another commented below...I am quite attached to these characters and the SATC brand. I am committed!
I made a terrible mistake a watched reruns in the middle of the night last night when I couldn't sleep. Episode where Miranda meets Steve and where Carrie and Big solidify their first run of relationship. The newness of relationships, inside smoking, flip phones and hairstyles made me feel rocked by how "donna reed" it felt (if I were watching as a younger person than myself)...Ooof...I'll get a better nights sleep tonight and see ...And just like that...in a new light I am sure!
I agree with you on the Samantha plot line. While, yes, petty, I thought it also made sense. People do surprise you all the time. It hit home for me with a particular friendship that I'm also still mourning. A friendship that was so close that there was no way I ever believed we would not be friends anymore. But, my old friend didn't value or view the friendship the way I did, I guess. Lives and priorities change. So, I found the Samantha plot to be believable and bittersweet.
Enjoyed your post and although I was not particularly a fan of SATC I am curious as to how they are portraying these characters 20 years later. Both my daughters watched SATC religiously. I can relate to "falling behind" while I was raising my children in a small, privileged "village" just outside Chicago. I had grown up in NY and thought I would never fall behind but I certainly did fall into a rabbit hole of privileged women, who sponsored charity functions along with maybe working part-time as I did while carpooling and trying to be a somewhat perfect mom while taking care of my own aging mom.
At 50ish after my mother died, and my daughters were in college, I went back to graduate school to get another masters degree in social work. During my first class at Loyola University Chicago, we were discussing the topics of our term paper. One of my fellow students said her topic was going to be looking at the LGBTQ population in Chicago...I had no idea what she was referring to at the time, I knew at that very moment I had been living under a rock. I was completely taken aback and realized that I was completely out of touch with my "previous life" prior to having two children in two years and being married for 20 years taking care of my mom, husband and children. It did not help that we had lived in rural Florida for 4 years in our first years of marriage and I had spent 2 of those years pregnant with complications and I could not continue to work as a nurse. At 40 years old I lost my best friend to breast cancer...we were inseparable college friends and although we never lived close to each other we were each others support through the 20 years after our graduation. I have other friends but miss her to this day!
When I became a grandmother, I also became a blogger and interested in social media and made many virtual friends who were young moms. I had been a maternal/child specialist nurse practitioner and wanted to share with other moms and grandmas while I learned from them as well. It had been 30 years since I had a baby living in my house and I wanted to know about the challenges that moms in 2008 faced especially single moms. So I came out from under another rock so to speak in order to help relate to my daughter, who was raising her own daughter, first my grandchild. Life is such an interesting interconnected group of circles...we are challenged with all that we are faced with at any given moment. Every time I came out from under another rock, I was faced with a new learning curve. It has been a series of experiences that I would not change but perhaps it would have been nice to realize when I was actually living under those rocks consumed by living through daily life events as a mom, wife, sister, friend and daughter in the "sandwich generation". My virtual friends and, I include you Ilana on the top rung, have been a great support during this pandemic. Seeing and experiencing and sharing has been a real life blessing. Just to know none of us are alone is wonderful during this time of chaos and daily adjustments.
I agree with a lot of what you have written. The show was definitelt fluffy. Carrie definitely should of called 911. Who does what she did?. She should have called 911, given him his nitro pill and an aspirin. Lay him flat on the floor and started CPR (retired surgical tech). That really pissed me off. My one question is do we really know Mirandas age? I am 57 and yes, I am considered a boomer because I was born in 64. I am not the stereotypical boomer, but Miranda could be a boomer. Also agree that they just should have said Samantha moved and left it that. My second question is this - how are they going to cover the death of Willie Garson in real life? Will they have a second funeral?? He was freat character and actor and the show won't be the same without him.
I feel the same about this reboot as I did about Will and Grace. I feel like the political/social commentary is just a little too in your face. I feel like it was done is a more clever, subtle way on the original shows. This coming from a liberal who agrees with their perspective!
I was sad Big died but I can see it being a good storyline starter. What I cannot stand is what they have done with Miranda. I agree with another commenter on here that said she should’ve come in with that “I know this” ego and get knocked down a few pegs by her young classmates. She didn’t leave the workforce so she should be quite so out of touch. I hate all the hard of hearing jokes with Steve too. He was such a great character! Charlotte was just being Charlotte, but it would be nice if they let her grow and mature some.
I’ve heard it gets better after the first two episodes, fingers crossed.
I’m probably the only one who hasn’t seen it, but of course heard all about it which is fine. I did want to respond to the friends subject because I’ve had the same disappearance thing happen to me. I also always go to what did I do question when it’s not me at all. I’ve had several instances with different people happen this year that I finally just let them go as their problem. Trying to figure out people’s minds and how and why they think the way they do is insane. I just can’t worry about the ridiculousness of it all, even if I’ve known someone since the 6th grade.
As a woman who’s 59, I’m definitely an oddity, meaning I do younger things than most my age, and prefer being around younger people. I’m still the person in the front row at a general admission rock concert. No knitting or gardening groups for me. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. So yes, older people still like to dress up and go out and have a life. I think that needs to be normalized where we see older women like men, still alive and viable.
I agree with most of your thoughts, but I think they're doing too much with Miranda. They're setting up an alcoholic plotline on top of her trying too hard to be woke on top of maybe setting up a new relationship/sexual preference path? I wish they gave Charlotte's character a little more depth. Can she get some of this complicated stuff? I know it's early still, so hopefully that improves. I thought the Every Outfit on SATC podcast gave a good and funny assessment. Check it out if you get a chance!
I agree with all of this!!! Every bit!!
Ilana - you are so right on all of it! 💯
I totally agree!! Interested to see where it goes from here. It felt like they spent the first episode apologizing for sins of the past in terms of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ representation. So it all seemed a bit heavy and forced.
I had so many similar thoughts. I did find the episodes quite depressing and hope/assume there will be a bit of levity in future eps. The Samantha stuff for sure felt really forced and overdone. And Big definitely had to die to move the story forward. Watching Carrie navigate widowhood in her 50's is an interesting story, more than them living happily ever after. I did feel torn between being so happy to see my favourite characters on the screen again from my favourite show from long ago, and also feeling like, do we really need to know what happened to them? It had all ended nice and tidy, as a lot of shows do, and we could remember it like that in our heads. But now that's all undone and we have to watch Carrie lose big, Miranda start drinking, and who knows what else. I'm not sure I needed it to keep going. But I'll keep watching, of course!
I agree with ALL of this and you vocalized what I was thinking but didn’t know it/couldn’t quite figure it out. Also, I hope they’re not setting up M to be an alcoholic. And I hope C wakes up a little and sees her child for who she is and doesn’t buy any more OSCAR DE LA RENTA for teenagers.
What you wrote about Samantha is spot-on about people moving away and losing touch over time. HOWEVER, I hated how the show made it out that Samantha was being petty and ridiculous and the other women "did all they could". I read someone on twitter say that it reeked of "mean-girl passive aggressiveness" and I think that's the best way to put it. Of course I don't know what truly happened between Kim Cattrall and SJP, but it was hard to watch this and not feel like they were putting their real-life feud into their work and that is SO childish.
As for Miranda, it did feel out of character for her to be SO bumbling. She wasn't sheltered from what was going on in the world for the past 20 years since the show ended. She was working in the world with real people -- be it possibly heavily skewed towards other rich white people. What I think would have been more in-character would have been Miranda walking into that classroom feeling smug superiority that she knows everything, and then being knocked down a peg or two by the younger, more diverse voices in the room.
Charlotte just felt like a shell of the character from the series. But the over-the-top crying and whining just felt... melodramatic even for her.
I still don't see why Stanford and Anthony are a couple. Did this happen in the 2nd movie? I heard how awful it was and I never saw it. They are SO wrong for each other. The idea that any 2 gay characters on a show automatically should be together is pretty insulting and weak writing, IMO. Those 2 hated each other on the show, and it felt real that they'd continue to hate each other :)
I get that there's not much for Harry and Steve to do yet, but Harry was reduced to "Yes, Dear!" and Steve was reduced to hard-of-hearing-old-man jokes? They both deserve better.
Big dying is totally appropriate for the story to move forward. Even before the series was filmed I had a feeling he might be dead before the series started, and when I saw the first episode, they were SO over-the-top happy, I had a feeling it was going to end badly. Then the constant references to the peloton ride... and the big dramatic goodbye with the wedding shoes.... I had a bad feeling before the piano recital even started. Hell yes she should have called 9-11, but it made sense thematically for him to die.
I'm kinda sour on this show so far, but I feel emotionally attached to these characters because i loved the show when it was on (even though there were problematic aspects, and a lot of it didn't really age well). I'll probably keep watching. But I didn't find those first 2 episodes fun at all (even before the death). So far it's giving me Gilmore Girls Revival vibes and that's not a compliment....
Great post! I fully agree with all of it, but would just add that being in parenting mode is what snapped me to attention on the subject of race and social justice - my daughter asks a lot of questions (about everything) and when the subject of different skin colors came up I was not well-prepared and realized I needed to do some learning. She was a preschooler and I had just given her a pack of skin-colored markers to color her ballerina picture with, and she made a comment that told me we needed to talk. From there I vowed to read/follow anything I could to have a better foundation to teach her from. Anyway, I still think all your points about parenting are true - I have lost touch with all pop culture and only know the parts that my teen step kids tell me about. :) I'm not in my 50s yet, but I fully agree that with time life gets complicated and not at all how you think it will end up.
I agree with all of this. Life can be messy, people grow closer and apart from each other in different waves and that's ok.
Uggghh...I am super sad and more emotionally rocked by this SATC reboot. The first 2 episodes made me feel depressed for what is ahead. Death, hearing loss, and your kid banging a headboard on the other side of your apartment wall. NOOOOO!!! I can't!
But as another commented below...I am quite attached to these characters and the SATC brand. I am committed!
I made a terrible mistake a watched reruns in the middle of the night last night when I couldn't sleep. Episode where Miranda meets Steve and where Carrie and Big solidify their first run of relationship. The newness of relationships, inside smoking, flip phones and hairstyles made me feel rocked by how "donna reed" it felt (if I were watching as a younger person than myself)...Ooof...I'll get a better nights sleep tonight and see ...And just like that...in a new light I am sure!
I agree with you on the Samantha plot line. While, yes, petty, I thought it also made sense. People do surprise you all the time. It hit home for me with a particular friendship that I'm also still mourning. A friendship that was so close that there was no way I ever believed we would not be friends anymore. But, my old friend didn't value or view the friendship the way I did, I guess. Lives and priorities change. So, I found the Samantha plot to be believable and bittersweet.
Enjoyed your post and although I was not particularly a fan of SATC I am curious as to how they are portraying these characters 20 years later. Both my daughters watched SATC religiously. I can relate to "falling behind" while I was raising my children in a small, privileged "village" just outside Chicago. I had grown up in NY and thought I would never fall behind but I certainly did fall into a rabbit hole of privileged women, who sponsored charity functions along with maybe working part-time as I did while carpooling and trying to be a somewhat perfect mom while taking care of my own aging mom.
At 50ish after my mother died, and my daughters were in college, I went back to graduate school to get another masters degree in social work. During my first class at Loyola University Chicago, we were discussing the topics of our term paper. One of my fellow students said her topic was going to be looking at the LGBTQ population in Chicago...I had no idea what she was referring to at the time, I knew at that very moment I had been living under a rock. I was completely taken aback and realized that I was completely out of touch with my "previous life" prior to having two children in two years and being married for 20 years taking care of my mom, husband and children. It did not help that we had lived in rural Florida for 4 years in our first years of marriage and I had spent 2 of those years pregnant with complications and I could not continue to work as a nurse. At 40 years old I lost my best friend to breast cancer...we were inseparable college friends and although we never lived close to each other we were each others support through the 20 years after our graduation. I have other friends but miss her to this day!
When I became a grandmother, I also became a blogger and interested in social media and made many virtual friends who were young moms. I had been a maternal/child specialist nurse practitioner and wanted to share with other moms and grandmas while I learned from them as well. It had been 30 years since I had a baby living in my house and I wanted to know about the challenges that moms in 2008 faced especially single moms. So I came out from under another rock so to speak in order to help relate to my daughter, who was raising her own daughter, first my grandchild. Life is such an interesting interconnected group of circles...we are challenged with all that we are faced with at any given moment. Every time I came out from under another rock, I was faced with a new learning curve. It has been a series of experiences that I would not change but perhaps it would have been nice to realize when I was actually living under those rocks consumed by living through daily life events as a mom, wife, sister, friend and daughter in the "sandwich generation". My virtual friends and, I include you Ilana on the top rung, have been a great support during this pandemic. Seeing and experiencing and sharing has been a real life blessing. Just to know none of us are alone is wonderful during this time of chaos and daily adjustments.
I agree with a lot of what you have written. The show was definitelt fluffy. Carrie definitely should of called 911. Who does what she did?. She should have called 911, given him his nitro pill and an aspirin. Lay him flat on the floor and started CPR (retired surgical tech). That really pissed me off. My one question is do we really know Mirandas age? I am 57 and yes, I am considered a boomer because I was born in 64. I am not the stereotypical boomer, but Miranda could be a boomer. Also agree that they just should have said Samantha moved and left it that. My second question is this - how are they going to cover the death of Willie Garson in real life? Will they have a second funeral?? He was freat character and actor and the show won't be the same without him.
I feel the same about this reboot as I did about Will and Grace. I feel like the political/social commentary is just a little too in your face. I feel like it was done is a more clever, subtle way on the original shows. This coming from a liberal who agrees with their perspective!
I was sad Big died but I can see it being a good storyline starter. What I cannot stand is what they have done with Miranda. I agree with another commenter on here that said she should’ve come in with that “I know this” ego and get knocked down a few pegs by her young classmates. She didn’t leave the workforce so she should be quite so out of touch. I hate all the hard of hearing jokes with Steve too. He was such a great character! Charlotte was just being Charlotte, but it would be nice if they let her grow and mature some.
I’ve heard it gets better after the first two episodes, fingers crossed.
Call 911 and start chest compressions ❤️
I’m probably the only one who hasn’t seen it, but of course heard all about it which is fine. I did want to respond to the friends subject because I’ve had the same disappearance thing happen to me. I also always go to what did I do question when it’s not me at all. I’ve had several instances with different people happen this year that I finally just let them go as their problem. Trying to figure out people’s minds and how and why they think the way they do is insane. I just can’t worry about the ridiculousness of it all, even if I’ve known someone since the 6th grade.
As a woman who’s 59, I’m definitely an oddity, meaning I do younger things than most my age, and prefer being around younger people. I’m still the person in the front row at a general admission rock concert. No knitting or gardening groups for me. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. So yes, older people still like to dress up and go out and have a life. I think that needs to be normalized where we see older women like men, still alive and viable.
I agree with most of your thoughts, but I think they're doing too much with Miranda. They're setting up an alcoholic plotline on top of her trying too hard to be woke on top of maybe setting up a new relationship/sexual preference path? I wish they gave Charlotte's character a little more depth. Can she get some of this complicated stuff? I know it's early still, so hopefully that improves. I thought the Every Outfit on SATC podcast gave a good and funny assessment. Check it out if you get a chance!