Grab your squad and gird your expectations: And Just Like That… is back!
While the first season occasionally had us scratching our heads, by the time all was said and done we’d come around to its brand of chaos and charisma. (Is it camp or is it just kind of bad? We don’t know and we don’t care!)
From flashback frocks to the return of Susan Sharon, we gobbled up every crumb of Sex And The City nostalgia the series offered.
We can expect more of that in season two, with the return of two of original series’ most beloved characters: Samantha and Aidan. And going off the first scene of And Just Like That‘s big return, the series is bringing back some of its predecessor’s levity and raunch.
This season opens aptly to the dulcet tones of Britney Spears & Elton John belting the ‘Tiny Dancer’ remix. The scene? A montage of upper class sex and sleepwear.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Che (Sara Ramirez), Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker),Seema (Sarita Choudhury) and Nya (Karen Pittman) are all still in the building, and it doesn’t matter if each ep is only an hour long, the writers are set on splitting the plotlines equally. So, where did we leave off from season one?
Carrie kissed her podcast producer.
Miranda followed Che to LA.
Charlotte got ‘they-mitzvahd’.
Seema was hooking up relentlessly with the hot guy from Emily In Paris (whose name, I’d forgotten, is simply ‘Zed’).
Nya’s husband had ventured on a tour, leaving her in the lurch in regards to having kids.
And Lisa Todd Wexley (aka LTW) was just devastatingly hot and awesome.
Thanks to a brief and stilted chat between Carrie, Charlotte and Richard Burton (the dog), we find out a mere THREE WEEKS has passed since the previous season.
This definitely gives me the time/space twirlies but it feels even more bizarre when we delve further into the relationship drama of the next two episodes. Until then, let’s get into this ep’s major plot points…
Carrie & Crew Go To The Met Gala
Thanks to some mysterious connection, LTW is lording over a table at the Met Gala, and has naturally invited her friends (and their friends) to join her.
I don’t know about you, but I always thought you had to be Rihanna to get an invite to the Met Gala. I know people can buy tables and non-A listers do go (like that year Joe Alwyn went and met Taylor Swift), but it costs $50,000 per ticket — so, someone else do the math.
Ultimately, I figure it has something to do with LTW being a documentarian of status and style icon, in the vein of Ava DuVernay. But it’s doubtful DuVernay bought a whole table at the Met Gala and offered-up seats to five hangers-on, including some random mum from her kid’s school and a friend-of-a-friend’s realtor. But, okay, AJLT. We’re here for the fantasy.
The Met Gala theme is ‘Veiled Beauty’ and, for a fake theme, it is both hilarious and completely on-point. LTW and Charlotte wear custom Valentino while Carrie opts for a design by her former colleague’s wife — an ill-fated decision that flies in the face of SJP’s own Met Gala advice and occupies the entire second half of the show. (It is an anxiety-inducing sequence for anyone who has ever been behind-the-scenes of a wedding with a strung-out bride.)
Speaking of brides, the kerfuffle leads to the season’s first major sartorial throwback: Carrie’s Vivienne Westwood wedding dress — complete with the bird on her head.
Like a cream-puff through a keyhole, she bundles up that silk taffeta gown and cape, and, just like Cinderella, makes it to the ball.
Now, down to more serious matters…
The Miranda Problem
While the grey wig is gone and the red hair returned, my lingering impression of this character remains: happy Miranda is annoying as s**t. While gleefully showing off her sensory deprivation tank to a depressed Nya, Miranda actually utters the phrase: “It’s the new me. Best me everrrrrrr!” (And with the faintest hint of a sing-song inflection — I throw up.) As Miranda continues to coach Nya with the relentless positivity of a dodo, I remember the only thing worse than unsolicited advice, is unsolicited advice from a toxic optimist.
It’s circa this scene we also get the show’s first full frontal nude scene. I would desperately like to say a naked woman flailing out of her float tank is progressive in its nonchalant view of a human body, but given the moment exists in total narrative isolation, I dare say it falls more into the gratuitous and awks category. (#BlameTheEdit?)
In the past, both Cynthia Nixon and Sara Ramirez have spoken about their characters being perceived as irritating—and both have implied that any ill-taste towards them is basically subconscious homophobia: a frustrating (although, I’m sure, occasionally true) double-bind. But, as with last season, I’d wager many fans’ issues with Miranda will have nothing to do with any character’s sexual identity, but rather the neck-twisting departure from everything we loved about Miranda in favour of this needy and desperate imposter.
I just hope her mid-life crisis is building to something…
The moral of this episode…
Do not yield to your partner’s unfounded sense of entitlement! This could also be summarised as: Not everyone can go to the Met Gala!
Some of the main conflict in this episode happens because both Seema and Charlotte can’t say no to their partners. Harry thinks he’s coming to the Met Gala when he’s not, so Charlotte boots Anthony—her dear friend and STYLIST—off the guest list. Meanwhile, Seema’s lover—of THREE WEEKS—wants her to meet his son, so she declares she won’t go to the Met Gala.
I’m sorry, but Zed’s adult son will be fine if his cool new step mum (read: father’s girlfriend of three weeks) has to skip brunch because of the Met Gala. He’s a grown man. Not a toddler in a talent quest. He’ll be fine.
Also, can I please just be Seema?
Read our episode 2 recap here.
Where To Watch And Just Like That
And Just Like That… episodes 1 & 2 are now available to stream on Binge, with new eps arriving every Thursday.
