{"id":49415,"date":"2022-02-04T17:50:12","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T17:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=49415"},"modified":"2022-02-04T18:25:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T18:25:13","slug":"and-just-like-that-finale-miranda-red-hair","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/and-just-like-that-finale-miranda-red-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018And Just Like That\u2019 Finale: Some Further Unsolicited Thoughts About Miranda\u2019s Hair"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cynthia
Cynthia Nixon sporting Miranda’s classic red hair in the finale of And Just Like That<\/i> (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn\/HBO Max)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miranda Hobbes is a redhead again. In the final moments of this week\u2019s season finale<\/a> of And Just Like That<\/em><\/a>, the character ended her controversial journey in front of her Brooklyn brownstone, sparring with her son Brady<\/a> as both set out on new off-screen adventures. He\u2019s headed off to\u2026um, I want to say the Peace Corps<\/a>? Or maybe Habitat for Humanity<\/a>? Meanwhile, in contrast, she\u2019s going to Los Angeles where she will spend the next few months just hanging out while Che<\/a> films their TV pilot. And to celebrate, she\u2019s dyed her hair red again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, are you ever going to say anything about my hair?\u201d she needles Brady, notably not<\/em> insisting that they discuss how he feels about the major upheaval she has instigated in their family life by leaving Steve<\/a> for a nonbinary comedian. (Do the Brady-Hobbeses all still live together? How is Brady handling his parents separating for the second <\/em>time? What is going on? Why is this show so disinterested in the complicated dynamics of this significant uncoupling? Why?<\/em>)<\/p>\n

His response is typically flippant\u2014though one detects an undertone of resentment in Niall Cunningham\u2019s delivery: \u201cWhat happened to all the gray<\/em> pride?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, Miranda? What happened to\u2026that? And to\u2026you?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Cynthia
Cynthia Nixon in And Just Like That<\/i> (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn\/HBO Max)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, you all remember that before this Sex and the City<\/em><\/a> revival ever premiered on HBO Max, I had some thoughts<\/em> about Miranda\u2019s gray hair<\/a>, mainly having to do with the visual trope of a blonde, a brunette and a red head, and trinities of female archetypes. Two months later, having lived through Miranda\u2019s \u201cdrinking problem,\u201d her mid-life crisis, her various supposed sexual and political awakenings, her silvery mauve wig, I have yet more thoughts re: the character\u2019s hair. Spoiler: It\u2019s not really about the hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like changing it up again.\u201d That\u2019s the sum total of Miranda\u2019s explanation of why, after so aggressively defending her decision to allow her hair to go gray in the premiere<\/a>, she\u2019s decided to dye it again. Nothing to do with dating a younger person. Nothing to do with the implications of the \u201cnon-traditional\u201d relationship Che is offering her and the potential insecurity that might trigger. Nothing to do with her growing awareness of the inevitability of death and the existential emptiness of the life she\u2019s spent shopping and brunching when not defending the interests of corporations. Nothing to do with any of that.<\/p>\n

For a show that is so preoccupied with personal style<\/a> and is usually so good at conveying character<\/a> development<\/a> through<\/a> aesthetic<\/a> choices<\/a>, And Just Like That<\/em> left us with a lot of mixed messages vis-a-vis Miranda. Her arch this season from newly activated progressive champion to lovestruck girlfriend has been incredibly frustrating, largely because the show hasn\u2019t been clear about how we, as an audience are supposed to feel about it. Or, rather, the show\u2019s apparent assertion that the character is exhibiting positive personal growth\u2014She\u2019s following her heart! She\u2019s breaking out of her rigid conception of herself! She\u2019s for realz in love with this feckless, insufferable comedian!\u2014could not have rung more falsely! Again and again, we\u2019ve seen Miranda make reckless, fear-based decisions that indicate a woman in crisis. And yet we\u2019re told in the finale that she\u2019s happy and fulfilled and riding off into the sunset to meet Che, her hair a russet blaze. I suspect that the return of the character\u2019s familiar look is the show\u2019s way of saying that Miranda has found herself<\/em>, when in fact it reads to me like another instance of Miranda flailing, uncertain of who she is or what she should be doing, unfulfilled and masking her unhappiness not with booze but with a superficial change.<\/p>\n

\"Cynthia
Cynthia Nixon in And Just Like That<\/i> (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn \/ HBO Max)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s worth pausing to think about how And Just Like That<\/em> failed Miranda\u2014in ways other than the terrible wig she wore all season\u2014and what might have been. When the show opened, she seemed like a woman with a purpose! She\u2019d been galvanized by the political turmoil of the past five years to leave corporate law and devote herself entirely to fighting for the disadvantaged. But, despite the show\u2019s sweaty attempts to diversify its cast and meet the moment<\/em>, it showed almost no interest in that<\/em> storyline. Having seen the full season, the decision to start<\/em> the character at that point reads like classic virtue signaling. This is the more palatable Miranda Hobbes for 2022, job done! On to some romantic and sexual tomfoolery!<\/em><\/p>\n

The braver and more interesting choice, I think, would have been to start Miranda in a place of career crisis, still working in corporate law, masking the guilt she feels about being \u201cpart of the problem\u201d with her drinking. Maybe instead of encountering Naya Wallace as her human rights law professor, they meet while arguing opposite sides of a case. (I mean, if nothing else, that solves the credibility problem of a university professor becoming gal pals with one of her students.) Nya challenges her to think about her life and the world differently, inspires her to finally make the change she\u2019s been putting off, and Miranda ends the season going back to school or volunteering or something. Rather than blowing up her family and careening into an ill-advised affair, she finds fulfillment and purpose in, I don\u2019t know, helping others? <\/em>Affecting positive change in the world around her?<\/p>\n

And how would Miranda\u2019s hair have reflected that<\/em> journey? I couldn\u2019t tell you. But one assumes that with so many other more interesting, relatable, relevant things going on for the character, maybe her hair wouldn\u2019t have been quite such a preoccupation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29097,"featured_media":49416,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,16,3925],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018And Just Like That\u2019: Some Further Thoughts About Miranda\u2019s Hair<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Miranda Hobbes is a redhead again. I have yet more thoughts re: the And Just Like That character\u2019s hair. 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