Spoilers ahead for the season finale of And Just Like That…
And Just Like That comes to a shambolic close with today’s season finale, wrapping up 10 episodes of cringe-worthy, yet undeniably compelling nonsense. The episode opens with Carrie and her podcast co-hosts Che and Jackie recording an episode, overseen by their producer…Silverfox Handsomeman? Seriously, did anyone catch this guy’s name?
Anyway, this scene, as well as certain other later developments, highlights something about this show that I just have not been able to let go: What does And Just Like That think podcasts even are? The show’s writers seem to have mistaken this popular medium for some combination of SiriusXM (possibly due to SJP’s proximity to Andy Cohen?) and old school drive-time shock jocks, with all Che’s sound effects and people calling in. And remember in the premiere when Miranda said she refused to listen to a podcast? If the folks behind And Just Like That knew what podcasts were, they would have known that someone like Miranda definitely listens to The Daily and maybe even Pod Save America at this point in her supposed political awakening.
But back to the sexy producer, who, I am given to understand, is named Franklyn—with a Y. Now, Franklyn has been kind of lurking in the background of all the “podcasting” scenes being all handsome and encouraging, while getting exactly zero development as an actual character. Not to toot my own horn here, but I did clock him early in the show’s run, and wondered whether he might be a potential love interest for Carrie. But then the show spent all this time on Peter, that sweet, wounded, bewidowed teacher with no last name and mysteriously abundant finances. In fact, we finally get Carrie and Peter’s long-delayed second date in this episode, which seems to have gone so well that they have a little smooch on her stoop.
But that’s the last we see of Peter, and Carrie tells Seema she’s still feeling kind of ambivalent about him. Fast forward to the final moments of the episode and we’ve got Franklyn producing Carrie’s new solo podcast, “Sex and the City,” and as they’re chatting in the elevator, they suddenly fall upon each other like wild horny beasts! I mean, it’s not entirely out of nowhere—the show was definitely telegraphing vibes between these two at Jackie and Smoke’s surprise wedding—but it is kind of a random, underdeveloped twist to throw at us at literally the last moment. Perhaps it’s meant to read as a cliffhanger, teasing a love triangle if the show returns for a second season. But that assumes we’re at all invested in either of these pairings, and at this point we really don’t know enough about either Peter or Franklyn.
This all seems typical of the show’s tendency to throw a lot at its audience in any given episode. A new man! Another new man! A podcast! (All Carrie’s.) A smoking new man! (Seema’s, literally and figuratively.) A haunting! (Also Carrie.) A random racist boyfriend! (Anthony’s, last week, but still, so random!) A difficult nonbinary teen! (Charlotte’s kid Rock, who refuses to do their they-mitvah.) A Hari Nef cameo! (Yay!) Jackie and Smoke’s wedding! (Fun!) An obligatory Carrie and Miranda fight!
So, this last is one of the SATC-verse’s most overused devices. These two characters had one really upsetting fight in Season 3, and ever since the various iterations of the show have been chasing that same emotional beat with diminishing returns. This time it’s because Miranda can’t go to Paris to help Carrie scatter Big’s ashes. She is, instead, going to LA with Che. Because that is the endpoint of Miranda Hobbes’s arch on And Just Like That. She started out going back to school to study human rights because of some vague political awakening that the show didn’t seem particularly interested in and has ended up the subby, bewigged girlfriend of a truly insufferable comedian. Oh, Miranda. Jesus effing Christ, Miranda!
Also, doesn’t this moving-to-another-city-for-a-partner scenario remind everyone of what happened between Carrie and the Russian? Why is nobody bringing that up?
Also: What are we supposed to make of the fact that Miranda has suddenly dyed her hair red again at the end of the episode? Is that supposed to signal…progress? Or is she just fully lost to this apparent midlife crisis and the dye job is yet another thing distracting her from the yawning emptiness inside?
Re: Charlotte… No notes. Charlotte is going to Charlotte, and whatever she does is going to be ridiculous. So, sure, have this 55-year-old cis woman do a they-mitzvah. Whatever!
Re: Seema: Girl, run! Run from that gorgeous dirt bag you’re shacking up with! I repeat: The sex-on-two-legs 50-something nightclub owner is one million-percent not good boyfriend material!
Re: the Ghost of Mr. Big: the less said the better. But, actually, it must be said that the episode suffers from what was likely a major re-edit in the wake of sexual assault allegations leveled at Chris Noth. The actor shot scenes with Parker for what was reportedly meant to be a fantasy sequence in which the two visit Paris. All of that has been cut from the episode, leaving a scattered, confusingly disjointed dream sequence in which Carrie is inexplicably wearing the same outfit she wears to Jackie and Smoke’s wedding. How these two sequences originally connected, we’ll never know. Also, the subtle but unmistakable use of Noth’s voice in this dream sure does undermine the decision to remove him from the episode!
And finally, re: the Ghost of Samantha… Sigh. All season, Carrie has been texting her former BFF, and the slow thaw of their relationship—Carrie’s eagerness, Sam’s reluctance—felt honest. It was as if, with every text, the show itself, its creators and stars, were sending messages to Kim Cattrall, letting her know that she is welcome to come back. All of which worked within the story and in the metanarrative of the show. The audience got what felt like a relatable subplot while MPK, SJP, et. al. got to look like they were taking the high road, whether or not Cattrall ever took them up on their imagined offer.
But these last texts from the bridge feel like a bridge too far. (What’s SATC content without a few puns?) Samantha’s absence made sense when she and Carrie were barely communicating. It highlighted the gulf between the former friends. But if they are actually getting together for drinks, the fact that that is happening off screen begins to feel artificial. Maybe the show’s producers are gambling on their ability to temp Cattrall back for Season 2. But if the once and future Samantha Jones has seen And Just Like That, I wouldn’t call that a safe bet.
