A lot of queers who — very understandably — didn’t watch the original Sex and the City are watching And Just Like That, and even though I promised you’d be able to follow along anyway, I think I need to set the stage for this one. Big was, as both me and Susan Sharon pointed out last week, a real prick to Carrie for most of their on-screen relationship. During one of his and Carrie’s most wankery times, he went to Paris when he couldn’t commit to her, fell for this 20-something fashion phenom named Natasha, married her, and then cheated on her with Carrie in their apartment, repeatedly. And then! When Natasha caught them! She chased after Carrie and fell and busted up all her whole teeths and had to get an entire new mouth! Carrie is the one who had to take her to the teeth ER!
Oh ho, but Carrie wasn’t done. She later stalked Natasha to this restaurant where she was just trying to enjoy a nice meal with her new chompers, and made a scene about how guilty she felt. Natasha was like, “Well now you’ve ruined both my life and my lunch!” And that glorious one-liner was the last we saw of her.
Until now.
You know, I maybe should have spent less time asking my Black professor to tell me I’m not racist and more time pre-reading this will, now that I think about it.
It’s time for Big’s will reading. You know how these multi-millionaires are. Money to this museum, money to that major NYC hospital, this to Harvard Business School, that to whatever symphony, and one million dollars to his ex-wife. Carrie cannot believe her ears or her eyeballs when Miranda shows her the thing about the ex-wife. One million dollars. Natasha Mills. Right there in big bold print like getting punched in the head, or like someone ending a one-word text with a period. Horrifying. Conclusive. “OK.” “Fine.”
Carrie takes the information home and flips out, trying to log into Big’s computer, trying to open his phone, digging through his wallet and suit pockets. When she finds a photo of a dog named Gogi that she’s never even heard of, she decides it’s time to start acting like the living embodiment of some kind of Adele song. She emails Natasha, she DMs Natasha on Instagram, she goes to Natasha’s office. Nastaha wants no part of this grief tour: she doesn’t respond to Carrie’s emails, she blocks her on Insta, and she has her assistant tell Carrie she’s in Rome, even though Carrie saw her walk into the building from the back of the Uber where she was — once again! — stalking her.
That was a really sheep shot!
Miranda and Charlotte are with Carrie for her big adventure. Miranda tries to calm her down early on, suggesting that she is, perhaps, “a little wired.” To which Carrie responds, “Oh, I am! I’ve been spiraling all day!” She is also not sleeping or eating and is spending full days clomping around the entire island of Manhattan in six-inch heels. Miranda tries to talk some sense into Carrie, who will not hear it. She says she’s furious at Big for dying but also for ruining their happy-sad ending! They were happier than they ever had been when he had that heart attack! They were happy, goddammit! Happy! Now she’s feeling as insecure and impotent as she was when they were dating. Charlotte does not try to talk sense into Carrie; instead she takes one look at Natasha and says, “Ugh she’s wearing flats!”
Carrie finally gets a face-to-face with Big’s ex-wife — by walking in on her in a public restroom at a coffee shop on the Upper West Side. Natasha screams. Carrie screams. They both throw their drinks in their air. Natasha’s is, fortunately, iced. Carrie’s is boiling hot and she burns the heck out of her hand. It’s that, more than anything else, that piques Natasha’s sympathy. She makes Carrie a little ice pack out of her son’s snack bag and tells her she hasn’t talked to John since their divorce, that he was always a puzzle to her, that she’ll never understand why he married her when he was clearly in love with Carrie, that she will not be taking the money, and please stop trying to follow her on social media.
Do you think we’re the only people in this city who still have landlines in our homes?
Okay well I can admit when a bitch is cuter than me.
Carrie understands this enormous generosity for what it is. She thanks Natasha sincerely, and finally calms down.
Elsewhere, EVERYTHING IS SO GAY.
It all starts when Charlotte is reading Harriet the Spy to Rose before bed, just some very sweet mother-kid bonding time with a beloved gay gateway character. Charlotte calls Rose “baby girl” and Rose says they actually kind of hate it when Charlotte says that. Charlotte says, “You’ll always be my baby.” And Rose is like, “Yes duh TikTok has shown me that queers are totally fine being baby; my issue is with the ‘girl’ part.” Charlotte says sometimes she doesn’t feel like a girl either. Rose says, “I always don’t feel like a girl.” And Charlotte falls right off the bed.
Who all’s gay here?
ME! MEEEE!!!!
Miranda has a similar experience of falling, only less onto the floor and more completely and totally in love with Che Diaz. At Starbucks, while they’re waiting for Carrie to finish up her daily creeping, she tells Charlotte she doesn’t know if she and Steve are really in a relationship, or if they’re just roommates who both love their nightly ice cream routine.
And then off they all go to Che Diaz’s stand-up show, which is being recorded as a Netflix special. Che is somehow just as magnetic on stage as they are on their podcast, and in their one-on-one interactions. The audience is full of queer and trans Brooklynites, and Che’s talking about coming out as non-binary, about non-binary rep on TV and film, and about how everyone depicts trans people as walking around all lonely and sad with a single thunder-cloud over their heads while the Charlie Brown music plays. But that’s not their experience at all! Their family loves them, even though they’re confused by them; they have loads of friends; their career is on an astronomical trajectory; they’re sexy as anything no matter what they’re wearing; they’ve fucked or been fucked by two-thirds of the people in this room; and they have the face and charisma of Sara Ramirez. What else could a person want?
Che says most people want the boxes, because they’re comfortable, and it feels good to check stuff off. And then, a sermon: “You’re not happy with who you are? Step out of that box and change it! Change your address, change your job, change your mind, change your gender, change your shirt. I just wanna say, to all those people out there who are so sure — who write for TV and newspapers and magazines, to everyone who wants us to be alone and sad — I just wanna say, ‘Suck my dick.’ Actually, I don’t have a dick; if I did, I would have had this special five years ago.”
And then they drop the literal mic.
Charlotte goes outside and calls Rose and tells them that she loves them. She got some real bad advice from her cis gay BFF, Anthony Marentino, earlier. He said to just ignore Rose cause Rose is a kid and doesn’t know who they are and five years ago they thought they were a dog. It doesn’t sit right with Charlotte, but what Che says, that rings true. Charlotte is confused, but she loves her kid, and she’s gonna try so hard to get this right. (She’s also gonna get to the bottom of Miranda’s drinking and potentially the surprise rivalry she found out she has with Stanford, but maybe those two things can wait until tomorrow.)
Did you not watch Grey’s Anatomy? I made most people gay back then.
No I totally did but I spent the whole time worried about HIPAA violations!
Miranda just stands there in the stage lights stunned. Stunned. After shushing her friends, telling them they’re missing it, making literal cartoon heart eyes up at that stage, screaming and cheering with every queer in the crowd, she is amped. Miranda thought Carrie was wired earlier, but she herself is actual lightning right now. She’s been fine with her and Steve not having sex, she hasn’t even really thought about it. But now she’s watching Che on that stage and getting born again right there in that club in Brooklyn like it’s some kind of Baptist tent revival. And she is not going home! All that’s there is chia seeds and fro-yo and she’s got a VIP bracelet to get into Che’s afterparty (not a euphemism).
She whirls into the bar like a middle age tornado, talking like she’s on speed, even by her own very sparky speech standards, telling Che they’re a genius, a composer, a comedy prophet. Che’s face. They know. First of all they tell Miranda to take a breath for just a second before they pass out from revelatory lust. And then they offer Miranda a joint to calm down. Miranda says she can’t smoke. Che says it’s cool, they’ll just shotgun her. Miranda knows what’s coming but she is not ready.
*whispers* I learned this from Naomily.
Che inhales, leans forward, gently blows smoke into Miranda’s open mouth. The camera goes slow-mo, in a circle, smoke and lips and Miranda never even blinks.
You know what you’ve never seen on TV in your entire life? A Mexican-Irish non-binary goddexx doing blowbacks with an uptight middle-age married woman who never even considered she’s anything but straight before now. This, my pals, is a first. A hot as literal hell-fire first and I know that I am not the only person who ended up on the floor watching it. (I actually for real know that because Autostraddle EIC Carmen Phillips told me she did too.)
And just like that, Miranda Hobbes is gay.
God who fucking cares?????
This show’s gone way past the point of whipping a dead horse. It died the moment it came on screens.
Trying to make it woke as fuck by matching the actress’s real life sexuality with the character is lame as it can possibly be.
Seems like you care, given that you insisted on commenting. Sorry if you’re annoyed by the show, but no one is forcing you to read a recap of it.
A great recap, by the way. Not sure if I’ll watch the show, but I might for Sara Ramirez. And I’m glad they’re not keeping everything straight and narrow in the reboot.
I love the mental image I have of Heather and Carmen on the floors of their respective homes, watching this show.
Yayyyyy! Can’t wait to watch the ep!
Also I really appreciate the Natasha recap since I never got that far in my initial Sex&theCity watch.
Cynthia Nixon: someone called me an unqualified lesbian.
Sara Ramirez: i’ll be right over.
(at least, that’s how it went in my head when i saw this post’s cover image…)
Ok yeah yeah Miranda is finally gay blah blah.
But can we talk about that I might be so old as to yet again be behind in slang that it’s called a ‘blowback’ and not a ‘shotgun’ now? Or is this a regional thing? Are there other variations? These are my burning questions!
I’m out of the loop too. However I did notice you referenced it as Shock on instead of Shotgun in the previous paragraph Heather.
I always knew it as a blowback.
I wish the show was as good as this recap, I don’t know if I’ll keep watching it but I’ll definitely keep reading!
I think the word you’re looking for is goddexx!
YES! That’s it!
All roads lead to Rome and a pair of burnt hands I suppose.
1. So glad that Charlotte has somewhat returned to herself this episode. Her getting flustered and anxious about doing right by her daughter AND being clued-in enough to have some concern for Miranda’s out of character drinking is a testament to the Charlotte we know and love. I am supremely distracted by the filler in her lips and I wish it would go away!
2. Carrie’s psychic death roll with her own long-buried demons really took me back to the old show. Her obsessive, blinkered and boundary violating desire for… ok let’s call it mystery solving, was super entertaining and I really enjoyed how swiftly Natasha mollified her but still came away looking dignified and, well, Natasha. It was a sweet piece of closure.
3. Miranda kissing Syd in the original series and then saying, “Yeah, definitely straight.” rang out big time here. I’m a little miffed as to why the writers appeared to have deleted Steve’s soul, having instead left Miranda with a shuffling, geriatric man who doesn’t seem to notice much of anything. This is a man who was devoted to Miranda and highly emotionally attuned. I hope we get some more insight on the slow dissolution of their marriage. Steve is a crier, a feeler and a lover, not a bloody ghoul!
That said, Miranda’s abrupt pivot into queerdom still seems plausible but a little weird and hysterical. Che gives me some MGK “I am weed” vibes but I’m trying to overlook that to see what on Earth the pull is for Miranda here. I’d have thought it’d be more likely that she’d be enamoured by her professor. Maybe Che is just the catalyst for Miranda’s big queer journey. Shrug. The podcast is so needlessly crass. Vulgarity and charm bind together very well with charisma, but there’s none of that on that podcast.
4. I’m still finding the wokeness difficult to not cringe through. The best way to showcase a diverse set of human experiences is to get a diverse bunch of characters and tell some stories about their lives; in this case it seems more an exercise in box ticking or really obnoxious, grating exposition that has all the nuance of an after school special. I’d prefer the characters take us through their lived experiences, not act as tokenistic mouth pieces that say so much everything that they end up saying and being nothing!
5. Miranda’s OTT reaction to Che’s show and her incessant sychophantic babbling have made her seem a bit unhinged. I mean fuck maybe she was always a bit unhinged, but perhaps my favourite chocolate-garbage-cake-eating lady has had one too many mojitos. The more generous view here is that she’s so desperate to crawl out of whatever numbing nothingness she’s found herself in that she’s flailing flailing flailing and, this is where she’s at.
6. I missed Samantha so much when it became apparent that Carrie was heading back to her old apartment. I kept expecting her to materialise out of nowhere and provide that no-nonsense comfort that I think we all need.
7. I bet Big’s password is Gogie65
i am still mad about that ‘definitely straight’ moment because it was A PECK ON THE LIPS what do you learn from that miranda!!!? obviously nothing because look at you now!
i am also cringing a lot — i actually believed that miranda would be bowled over by che’s set but i was surprised that the queers of brooklyn were, too — i feel like queer comedy is usually like 100x edgier than that. i loved watching them disarm miranda tho
i also 100% thought the point of the dog pic was for her to get the computer password!
God yes that peck was N O T H I N G. They both had mad chemistry though.
“I loved watching her disarm Miranda tho”
you’ve misgendered Che.
Maybe it’s the same autocorrect issue as Heather’s the past two weeks. I’m not trying to be overly negative, but I’ve read reviews/recaps of this show on about a dozen other sites and pubs and even though AS is the only queer one of the bunch, it’s also the one place I’ve seen Che misgendered. In 3 out of 3 recaps.
nope that was probably just me fucking up?? idk, i talk about this show privately a lot including in three separate chats while i was writing this comment, i’ve written about the show elsewhere, and i haven’t make this mistake before, so idk why i made it here! anyhow i am fully aware of their pronouns, so i simply messed up, whatever that says about me. i’m sorry and i fixed it. don’t hold heather accountable for my fuck-up.
I was also very disappointed at the random character assassination of Steve!
Yeah that was the most unerotic kiss in the history of television.
I used to watch SATC back in the day. I didn’t think it was the best show, but it was entertaining.
I’m amazed how many people are critiquing it now as if back then it was that awesome.
For myself, I’m enjoying it for what it is. For the diverse writing team, including Samantha Irby. It rings true to me that cis white middle-aged woman (or man) trying to be ‘woke’ comes off as cringe. I have experienced that in real life, especially being the only queer person at my work. Many of them live and work in a very small bubble and when they decide to expand these cringe moments are plenty.
Also, Kim Catrall was clear on not wanting to have anything to do with SATC after the fallout with SJP. I have no hopes or expectations of her showing up. I do miss her character tho, Samantha would have had a handle on Carrie spiralling and Miranda drinking problem. She was a no-nonsense multitasker.
I will keep watching it unless I lose interest. I’m curious what path Carrie will walk now, how Che and Miranda will develop and Charlotte’s daughter self-discovery.
I hope “She was a no-nonsense multitasker.” is what they put on my tombstone.
And I agree with you. Samantha would def have seen Miranda’s drinking problem and pointed it out (even as a sharp “joke” over brunch) way before this.
I love a gay reboot but I really wish this Miranda felt more connected to the Miranda of SATC: the sarcastic, ambitious, successful, feminist badass that so many of us loved. She was always calling her friends out on their bullshit and was almost as sex-positive as Samantha. There are some glimpses of this character in And Just Like That (every once in a while when she makes a snarky comment), but her dialogue with Che (and with her professor in the last episode) came across as a totally different person. Why are they writing her as a bumbling, naive, manic person? I want to love this queer storyline for her, but it is really ringing false to me so far.
On another note, like another commenter I keep remember how homophobic Miranda was in the original series, especially when Samantha dated a woman, and am wondering if they will address that.
I really wish they’d bring back Carrie’s voiceover. It’s a character unto itself.
Genuine question here, please help me out because I really want to understand: if Miranda is now into a non-binary person, is the “gay” label correct? Or is there a more accurate label be for any cisgender woman who is into a non-binary person?
…asking for a friend :-)
I would go with “queer.” It would be my choice if I wanted to label such feelings. Maybe I wouldn’t use “gay” but bisexual or biromantic could also work.
I switched to using queer once my partner came out as non-binary! Everyone is different though.
I personally use Gay as an overarching word in the same way I would use Queer, and I also think that’s how it was used in this recap. I call myself gay even though I am actually bisexual haha but it depends on the person how they identify!
I never watched the original and honestly find myself very uninvested in the characters but the line in this episode “stalking is the sixth stage of grief” brought a smile to my face, great recap :)
I can feel myself becoming obsessed with Che/Miranda and I don’t mind a bitttt. If I should pick one thing they did right it’d be casting Sara, literal GODDEXX (what a cool term, btw)!! Ahhhhh. What saddens me is they picked Miranda’s character OF ALL to employ Karen-esque behaviour and white saviour complex and how cringe it is. I’d expect this from Charlotte but it’s obvious they’re planning a “redemption arc” of her becoming close to her teacher to discuss her confusion etc. I think that’s where it’s going, with Miranda attending pride and all (maybe even with some of her classmates?). I hope things won’t end badly with Steve, so far he’s just … there. I actually think it will be emotional and painful, but it could work out okay with Miranda and Steve, in any case. Right now, I just want sexy times between Che and Miranda, all I’m here for.
I especially miss Samantha to balance the dynamic of Carrie being self-indulgent and ignoring Charlotte’s worry about Miranda’s drinking.
I will admit I was a fan of the original SATC so I’m along for the ride on this one too. I don’t like what they’ve done with Miranda’s character though. She was always kind of awkward but they’ve taken that to cringe-level. Maybe she does just feel out of touch and out of place, surrounded by younger, cooler people now that she’s gone back to school. It could also be the drinking. But I hope they tone it down because it is hard to watch.
I’m here for whatever is going to happen with her and Che though. Sara Ramirez was SO HOT in that comedy show scene. They just radiate sex appeal, always.
I also assumed that the dog photo would be the key to Big’s computer password and feel cheated that that didn’t go anywhere! (Also is it realistic that Carrie wouldn’t know his password? I know all my wife’s passwords. 🤷🏼♀️)
Typo above regarding the Che/Miranda weed exchange… Che “shotguns” her not “shock on.” Definitely not a covid-safe practice, but highly effective for cinematography slo-mos.
Obsessed. All I want is more scenes with Che. well that and I would very much like to watch their full netlix special bc that was beautiful and wonderful.
I wonder if they feel at all bad about almost exactly copying the Meet Cute from Feel Good (Mae Martin).