And Just Like That… Carrie Preston (better known as Carrie Bradshaw) finally returned to our lives. In this continuation of the famous show Sex And The City We’ve seen a bit of everything: From a tragic death on a stationary bike, to a reminder of that moment when Carrie had a problem with her birth control diaphragm.
The reboot from Sex And The City It has also returned us to the characteristic humor of these four New Yorkers, in the same way, we saw how it is possible to fill a soda bottle with pee. It should be noted that this episode was really hard and it also allowed me to reconnect with my old friends.
Carrie, Sarah Jessica Parker’s signature character, he has always been highly questioned for his outfits. However, in this edition she has offered us incredible looks, with the necessary crazy touch, including boleros, flower brooches and wedding heels (for daily use).
Charlotte, a character that bordered on the excessive in matters of education and courtesyNow she’s not afraid to tell Stanford she’s not invited to a girlfriends luncheon. For his part, Stan (thank heaven) gave us all the floral looks that we could need in this life and the next.
Anthony has also offered us many harsh and cheeky words necessary to deal with the post-pandemic world. Everything flowed perfectly … until Mr. Big, suddenly, dies. A strategic move by the writers, who immediately contextualized reality: Carrie is single again, otherwise why would we be here?
The conflicts of And Just Like That…
© Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max
In this season Miranda is more real and more unhappy than ever …
At this point in the fifth chapter of And Just Like That…, we are already well drenched in mourning for the death of Big, Charlotte’s daughter with gender dysphoria, and the great unhappiness of Miranda. But first let’s talk about sex, because to tell the truth we waited more than five weeks for one of the characters to sleep with someone (maybe this is the harsh reality of living in the 50+).
I’m glad HBO learned about sexuality queer. The fact that Miranda had one of the best orgasms of her life at the hands of Che, and that the camera did not discreetly zoom out or focus on the lights and the background of the kitchen was key. However, personally, I consider that the scene with Che, with Miranda’s screams and snorts, was somewhat crude. (If I woke up in my apartment to hear my boss and best friend having sex near me, I would just cough really hard.)
But what happened next between Carrie and Miranda, as they later described them emotionally, was truly devastating. A performance worthy of Cynthia Nixon. This scene opened space for a contrast that reminded us of the brilliance of the original series: an effervescent sexual encounter followed by a deep emotional blow that I managed to feel in my head and in the pit of my stomach.
The issue of age, however, is being portrayed somewhat oddly. It’s as if the cast had one foot in the graveyard and the other in the urn. Does Carrie need a cane? Is Steve completely deaf? Could Mr. Big’s heart really couldn’t beat it?
I know the opulence we saw in the second movie of SATC It was almost grotesque, but in recent years, we’ve apparently lost most of the escapist frivolity, the recreational zest of being a little older and filthy rich (no regrets).
Let’s not forget that we have spent years following the lives of these people because they could afford a certain vitality. When watching the series these days it is normal for you to ask yourself things like: “Where did all the fun go? Why is no one funny now?” And there are many problems and little joy. I know it’s a selfish thing but I would have liked to see Carrie Bradshaw 55 years old and Fabulous, with a capital “F”.
This leads to the death of Mr. Big. A plot so big that it seems that it stayed halfway. When I think about it, I can objectively see the sadness resulting from his departure: the disappearance of the man Carrie has been obsessed with since 1998. The problem is, that feeling of sheer, heavy, maddening injustice hasn’t quite come out in one scene.
(Carrie looked a lot sadder that time she was dumped in the library on her wedding day, if we’re honest.) At lunches with the girls, Carrie talks about her melancholy, but without reflecting it on the screen and we find ourselves in other scenes with which she has managed to rethink her life, without having really gone through a process of breakup and grief.
Yes, it is true that there are some moments of pain: like when he finds Big’s records and when he smells his suits. But in general, its mood it is more post-mourning than mourning itself. This series that I love so much continues to fail when I interpret some emotional notes, but I am still here, listening to the complete melody.
© HBO Max
Now the 3 in New York expand their list of friends in And Just Like That …
Finally: all the secondary characters “of color” make me a lot of noise. Carrie present at the Diwali celebration felt weird. Also about Miranda being insensitive to diversity issues at the beginning. Likewise, the whole argument that Charlotte had no colored friends; The same happened to me with Lisa, the “colored Charlotte” who also had no white friends in her contacts. This is not how white supremacy works.
I know I may sound a bit harsh, but it’s because I’m concerned about the series. It’s because I love this show and I love everything it has meant to me. And while I also love a scorching good product teardown, a tart, mocking review, in general And Just Like That… she is fabulous.
The forcefulness of the series and generating all those conversations online is exactly what the shows that define this new era should be doing. We are all talking about sex, fashion and friendship. But we are also talking about transition and racial segregation and a lawyer who does not listen to podcasts. (I confess that this is hard for me to believe).
And while all the plots unfold, many may feel a little disappointed, perhaps abandoned. But the space it occupies Sex And the City in our brain it is too big, perhaps insurmountable. It’s hard to point out specifically which parts of the show are not meeting our expectations, because perhaps we’ve let them grow out of proportion.
Our expectations will always exceed what we see. And to be honest: the worst reboot what could we have had of SATC it would be a production that does not generate discussion, something that would simply have caused a stunned silence and a few tweets. But look at how we are all here, without stopping talking about each chapter.
Article originally published in Vogue US, vogue.com.