It’s been 18 years since we last saw our “Sex and The City” ladies skipping around the big apple, and while three of our favorite New Yorkers haven’t strayed from the city that never sleeps, much has changed.
We remeet Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes, (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York Goldenblatt, (Kristin Davis) in the waiting area of a trendy New York restaurant. While discussing weekend plans, hair-dye treatments, and their children’s sex lives (yikes), viewers are thrown into the group’s conversation and quickly brought up-to-speed on the women’s new endeavors and daily routines as if no time has passed.
“We can’t just stay who we were, right?” says Miranda Hobbes less than five minutes into the season premiere of, ‘And Just Like That...’
Despite the familiar setting and fan-favorite characters, there has been significant criticism toward the reboot about its inconsistencies in the beloved characters’ behavior. For example, viewers were shocked when sex-positive icon Carrie Bradshaw got embarrassed when discussing masturbation, and things didn’t add up when the logical Miranda Hobbes dives into an LGBTQ+ love affair without even weighing the pros and cons.
I’m the first one to shutter at the phrase, “print is dead,” but to stay relevant in journalism, one needs to stay up-to-date on the latest platforms and trends. No one wants to read the news anymore, so it makes sense that Carrie has switched to podcast production. Writing about sex is very different from talking about sex, however, and this need to switch platforms to stay competitive in her field doesn’t make the transition any easier. Yet, she manages to master the world of podcasting and earns her very own show by the end of season one.
As for Miranda, she’s been partnered up with Steve Brady (David Eigenberg), since season two of “Sex and the City”. The two have had a consistent on-again-off-again relationship, throughout which Miranda has seemed uncertain more times than not about her desire to commit to Steve. Doesn’t she deserve to feel sure about someone? Ethical or not, Miranda becomes romantically involved with stand-up comedian Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), and for the first time, we see her toss logic out the window. Love can do that to a person, even the most rational like Miranda Hobbes.
I haven’t heard many complaints against Charlotte, and I myself have none. Prioritizing her family in this reboot, we watch Charlotte shuffle to-and-from parent-teacher association meetings, teach her oldest daughter Lily how to use a tampon, and struggle to accept and understand her youngest child discover their identity as Rock. She’s still the same Charlotte we know and love, quick to shed a tear the minute someone raises their voice and obsessed with keeping her reputation positive and polished. But now, at age 55, she’s learning to let go of the “perfect lives” she mentally planned for Lily and Rock, learning how to support them on their own individual journeys.
Sadly, Samantha Jones, (Kim Cattrall) doesn’t return in this reboot. In episode one of “And Just Like That…” Carrie mentions that with book sales declining, it didn’t make sense to keep Samantha as a publicist. Since letting her go, the three haven’t heard from her — most likely because she’s embarrassed, suggests Miranda. Throughout the season, we see an occasional text between Carrie and Samatha, and the finale leaves us with a glimmer of hope that a reunion may be in the works. Based on rumors around Parker and Cattrall’s working relationship, however, I doubt this reunion will happen on-screen.
I will confess, I watched “Sex and the City” every now and then and only years after the show was taken off-air. Maybe I’m quick to connect with the new Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte because I never fully bonded with the original trio. Regardless, I’m not the same person I was 18 years ago. Are you? How can we expect our characters to remain who they were decades ago when we ourselves haven’t?
“And Just Like That…” isn’t “Sex and the City,” and it never claims to be. We said goodbye to these three women in 2004, during their late 30s. Now, they’re approaching their 60s. While their stories weren’t being written, life went on. The first iPhone came out in 2007, gay marriage was legalized in all fifty states in 2015, and low-rise jeans have come in and out of style more times than I can count. “And Just Like That…” doesn’t pick up where “Sex and the City” left off, it launches audience members almost twenty years into the future. Now, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte are adjusting to their new lives in 21st century New York City, and we’ve been invited to tag along.
“And Just Like That...” is now streaming on HBO Max.