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And Just Like That… Review

And Just Like That… is a 2021 dramedy streaming series that premiered on HBO Max. It is a ten-episode revival of the iconic Sex and the City.

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“Life is too short to hold a grudge“

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Bringing back this show after so many years and with no Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones was always going to be a controversial choice and the show did end up receiving very mixed reviews, but I personally found it to be okay. It started off problematically, but the show was back in its signature groove from around the fourth episode onward and I at least had a lot of fun watching it.

The absence of Samantha left such a huge void that this revival never overcame. She was by far the most fun member of this foursome, so her exclusion led to the series leaning more into the dramatic instead of comedic storytelling, and I personally prefer the latter. They even desperately tried to include Sam into the season’s narrative in order to bring the actress back in the second season and have a joyous reunion, but if she declines once again, all of this build-up was done for nothing.

And Just Like That… is unfortunately so obsessed with appealing to the SJW woke crowd that many of the storylines and newly introduced characters are overly politically correct and/or needlessly diverse. Thankfully the series acknowledged the other side of the argument when it comes to teen transitioning and other thorny issues, but still I found it overly woke, which was ill-fitting given that the original show was anything but that.

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Of the new characters, I only really liked Seema as this confident, sexy and funny Indian woman who is looking for a partner. She became Carrie’s friend and even told her a lesson how to behave better, which was long overdue, so I loved her for that as well. All of the black characters are uninteresting. It was totally unnecessary to have Miranda befriend her black teacher and be so cringey and awkward in her presence.

Speaking of Miranda, she is now a lesbian I guess, but through the character of Sara Ramirez’ Che, the show became obnoxiously woke. Che is fun and I don’t understand the hate directed toward her character, but I simply do not support the idea of “non-binary”, so instead of portraying a strong lesbian romance, the series decided to go the SJW rote, thus becoming very limited in its appeal.

Miranda also behaved way too ridiculously throughout this season. She was always the calculated and cynical one, but suddenly she is the acting like a giggling school girl in crush. That’s the show’s tackling of the possibility of change even in middle age, but it still felt too implausible, though the performance from Cynthia Nixon is fantastic.

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What they did to Steve was atrocious. It was done in poor taste and also it felt ridiculous. I could never buy that he was this old deaf man when in reality the actor looks great even today. Through this arc, they disrespected both his character and this iconic romance from the original show. At least Big’s death was handled in a much better way, though it left the first two episodes too much of a downer.

Carrie is just as obnoxious as she always has been. Sarah Jessica Parker is excellent in the role and her grief arc was very well handled, but she did come across as very rude and unlikable on more than a couple of occasions, not to mention awfully narcissistic. She’s always been like this, so this was actually a solid continuation of her character. I also really liked her attempts at a new romance and especially her business ventures in a podcast and how difficult it is for older people to adapt to the sex-crazed woke crowd of today.

Charlotte was saddled with the mommy storylines, in particular parenting her transgender kid. That entire narrative was fine. It could have been much worse. At least we got to see the other side from the parents and how difficult it is for them to adapt to this new identity. But I wanted more from her character and more friendship scenes between the three as they were scattered individually and with other new personalities way too much.

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