Episode eight, ‘A Hundred Years Ago’, is the hard launch of Carrie and Aidan 3.0. We pick up with them roughly where we left off (or so we think) in a hotel room, sans clothing but for black underwear.
“Whose turn is it to get up and close the shades?” Aidan asks, sun streaming onto his strategically covered body.
“I did it yesterday,” Carrie responds.
“I did it the day before that.”
“I did it the day before that and the day before that…”
Ok, we get it! You’ve been boning your brains out for days (weeks?) and the love bubble is well-and-truly activated.
Meanwhile, we receive some precious intel about Aidan’s life and children we’re yet to meet…
Everything We Know About Aidan’s Life
We already knew Aidan has a brood of kids — three boys, to be precise. This episode we find out they are aged 14, 17 and 20, and is anyone else’s mind blown by this fact?
The oldest is presumably Tate—Tater, as affectionately nicknamed by his dad—the baby Carrie met in season six of Sex And The City.
We discover in this episode that Aidan’s youngest boy is named Wyatt—and that a chicken likes to lay eggs in Wyatt’s bed. (A fact Aidan finds “cute” and Carrie finds horrifying. Ruh-roh?)
There’s no news on the middle child yet (classic middle child treatment), but we’re sure they also have an old-timey American farm name, like Noah or Hank.
We also get some intel on the ex-wife, who is a textile designer who also lives circa Norfolk, Virginia. It seems they have a week-on-week-off time share of the kids, though one wonders if the 20-year-old is even there. (Is Tater at college? Is he straight? Will Lily like him?)
We also find out Aidan lives in a “big, classic red brick farmhouse” dating back to 1816. We know this show is more about flashy bags than real estate (evidenced by the CGI apartment shown to Carrie in the first season), but I am genuinely excited to eventually see this house.
Between Aidan’s enthusiasm and Carrie’s desperate comparisons to Howards End, I’m sold.
Seema Struggles To Say Goodbye To Her Single Friend
“But how does the chicken get up all the stairs?” Miranda says, in what is perhaps the funniest line in the series. Seema, on the other hand, has a different take on Carrie’s Aidan-chicken story. She’s not keen on Carrie’s new romance, but it’s not immediately clear why.
By the episode’s end, it’s all cleared up in a masterclass of conflict resolution and communication.
In one beautiful monologue, Seema reveals she’s cancelled her and Carrie’s Hamptons house, while also explaining the very vulnerable and isolating truth as to why. “It sounds to me like you’ve had these two great loves—and I’ve had none,” she begins. “Please, don’t say I will because I might not, and I can live with that. But I can’t do this summer. That’s not true, I could. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to spend a fortune having this feeling.”
While I’m disappointed we won’t get a ‘Seema And Carrie Take The Hamptons’ bottleneck episode, I loved seeing Seema tackle this conversation head-on, and I appreciate the show allowing us to see this intimate side of adult friendships—which we know are just as emotionally charged and complex as romantic relationships.
Honestly, if Jonah Hill could have seen this, he might have had a better understanding of what healthy boundary setting looks like.
Seema = Goddess forever.
Now, let’s see how things pan out for her with the Marvel movie guy…
Is Third Time The Charm For Carrie And Aidan?
It’s clear from the get-go Carrie is all in with her new Aidan relationship. And, yet, we know drama awaits. The only question is… what?
Will Aidan’s kids hate their new ‘step mum’? Can Carrie even hold a conversation with Wyatt, Tate and what’s-his-name-the-middle-one? Will the chicken-loving kin of Aidan Shaw enjoy having the woman who jilted their father hanging out at the country compound? Can Carrie even survive outside of Manhattan? Do her vital organs malfunction when she’s not within a 50km radius of a Chanel boutique? Do the Howards End references extend beyond real estate? Is Aidan’s wife going to die and leave Carrie her Norfolk retreat, which Aidan will deny her until one of his sons kills Miranda’s baby daddy with a bookshelf?! (Sorry, iykyk.)
You also have to wonder… does Aidan feel the same? Sure, both he and Carrie seem happy to dive head first into their romantic renaissance, but the bubble is yet to pop. Aidan has kids, he’s a parent, he has an ex-wife and a farm and a small fortune from West Elm. Once the bubble pops, is he going to want to do this? Again?
Perhaps And Just Like That going to give us #JusticeForAidan, but I’m not-so sure the fans even want it now. I know I just want these two lovestruck kids to be happy, sitting on a wrap-around deck, slowly roasting themselves into raisins in the golden Virginia sun. I know what I think…
One Final Thought On Anthony And His Sourdough Twinkie…
What in the half-baked hell is going on here? Anthony shacking up with his poet-turned-employee is so many levels of wrong and confusing. It’s also worth mentioning that the actor who plays Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi) is 27. Meanwhile, Mario Cantone is 63. Just… make it stop?
You can read our previous recaps here:
