The first two episodes of And Just Like That… lobbed a few surprises (and deaths) our way, but there’s one detail you might have missed. Is Miranda an alcoholic now? Some fans certainly seem to think so.
Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon) is dealing with quite a few life dramas in her late 50s. She left her cushy corporate law job, is back to school to study human rights, can’t seem to stop putting her foot in it where matters of race and gender diversity are concerned, and on top of all that, has a son who thinks being ‘sex positive’ means boning your girlfriend so hard, his mum’s walls are shaking. Awful, no, absolutely not.
But a few fans are wondering if Miranda has a problem with alcohol. In episode 1 of And Just Like That…, she pops into a bar before her first day of school and tries to order a glass of Chablis. (Thank god we’ve moved on from the sickly sweet Cosmo era.) The bartender refuses, noting that they can’t serve people before 11am.
Later that episode, it’s Miranda who reveals she turned up to the piano recital with “handbag wine”. It seems innocent enough, and Miranda isn’t the only parent who needs a drink. Hey, it’s a piano recital! Charlotte’s daughter Lily might be a force on the ivory, but even that isn’t enough to make up for two hours of badly performed Mozart. A bottle of wine is some clever thinking.
In episode two, at [redacted’s] funeral, Miranda goes to order a glass of wine before delivering her eulogy. The bar staff are still setting up, and Miranda changes her order to a whiskey instead.
Separately, they’re all little incidents. Together, they start to paint a deliberate picture of a woman using alcohol to cope in stressful situations. And contrary to popular culture, this is often what alcoholism—or at the very least, problem drinking—can look like. It’s not a cheap vodka in a brown bag in the morning; it’s a dependency on alcohol that often hides in plain sight.
Of course, plenty of fans aren’t happy the Sex and the City reboot writers chose to give Miranda what looks like the beginning of an alcoholism storyline. (Of course, plenty of fans aren’t happy about the And Just Like That… series whatsoever. Writing out Samantha like that? Ouch. Ouch.)
But if it’s done well, the series could be a major platform to start a conversation about what alcoholism really looks like, particularly in older women. And to be honest with you, it’s a little more believable than Miranda not listening to podcasts. (PODCASTS?! You’re telling us this women who went to the airport to help out during the Muslim ban doesn’t listen to The Daily and In Focus on the reg? Sorry, but we’re not buying it.)
Guess we’ll have to keep watching to find out.
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