{"id":44069,"date":"2021-12-21T17:44:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T17:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=44069"},"modified":"2021-12-21T17:45:58","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T17:45:58","slug":"i-cant-stop-thinking-about-miranda-beating-up-chucky-on-and-just-like-that","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/i-cant-stop-thinking-about-miranda-beating-up-chucky-on-and-just-like-that\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can\u2019t Stop Thinking About Miranda Beating Up Chucky on \u2018And Just Like That\u2026\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cynthia
Cynthia Nixon and Niall Cunningham in HBO Max’s And Just Like That…<\/i> (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn\/HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miranda Hobbs<\/a>\u2026really hates her son. Right? I mean, a major element of Cynthia Nixon<\/a>\u2019s character\u2019s story arch on HBO Max\u2019s Sex and the City<\/em> reboot, And Just Like That\u2026<\/em><\/a>, has been her contentious relationship with her very sexually active teenaged boy-child Brady (Niall Cunningham). And, like, fair<\/em>. Teenage boys\u2014particularly the cis-het variety\u2014are disgusting!<\/em> Truly the foulest of creatures. Literally, in one of the new show\u2019s first scenes, Miranda is telling Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) about stepping on a used condom in Brady\u2019s bedroom. Ugh! And in every subsequent interaction we\u2019ve seen thus far, Brady has behaved like a predictably feckless, entitled little sh*t, and Miranda has been justifiably annoyed by, angry at, resentful of and just plain exhausted by her only son.<\/p>\n

Which has me thinking about the scene in the subway in the AJLT<\/em> premiere. You know, the one where Miranda saves her professor (all-around MVP Karen Pittman) from a mugger dressed as, of all things, Chucky. Now, apparently Chucky is having a minor renaissance among a very niche audience thanks to a new Syfy series all about the redheaded demon doll. He\u2019s even become something of an LGBTQ icon<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"Niall
Niall Cunningham and Cree Cicchino in HBO Max’s And Just Like That…<\/i> (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn\/HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But I wonder if the extremely random choice to dress a mugger as Chucky has more to do with the character\u2019s passing resemblance to another ginger scamp: wee Brady Hobbs. I mean, is it just me or does the way Miranda just fully wails on that mugger, beating them like, well, a redheaded stepchild, kinda suggests that she\u2019s subconsciously working out a lot of the unacknowledged and misdirected anger she harbors toward Brady?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, Miranda has always been an\u2026ambivalent<\/em> parent. The very fact that she kept the baby\u2014that of all of Sex and the City<\/em>\u2019s four central characters, she<\/em> was the first to have a kid\u2014was a pretty significant shock back in 2002. And motherhood didn\u2019t come easy to Miranda. Over the course of the original show\u2019s final two seasons<\/a> and its two dubious movie spin-offs, she struggled with this demanding new presence in her life. \u201cThis 13-pound meatloaf is pushing me over the edge,\u201d she said of her infant son in a Season 5 episode. She had to forego shopping trips with the girls and rearrange her life around childcare, etc. And there was that time that guy left in the middle of sex because Brady was crying! You know, normal single mom stuff. But for someone like Miranda\u2014a driven, career-oriented, Type-A borderline cynic\u2014it\u2019s basically established Sex and the City<\/em> cannon that she\u2019s always harbored a certain amount of, if not regret, resentment toward her son. The first image that comes to mind when I think about Miranda is usually Rachel Dratch playing the character in this 2004 SNL <\/em>sketch:<\/p>\n