BONUS! And Just Like That...

...it keeps getting worse.

As I type, I have just watched season two, episode three of the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That (and mild spoilers follow). I felt compelled to write a bonus newsletter and get these feelings out because guys… what have they done? Why is this happening? How did they not learn from the constructive criticism applied to the first season? How did the dialogue manage to become even more clunky, and the characters even less charming? I’m…. bereft. Because if you’re going to dig up and resurrect something that meant a lot to a lot of people, the least you can do is make it half decent.

I have a long history with Sex and the City, like many of us do. As a teenager in the throes of first love and burgeoning sexuality, it taught me a lot about relationships, friendships and life. As a wannabe writer, I was in thrall to Carrie and her column and shamelessly plagiarised her tone in my own writing. The fashion was secondary for me but undeniably influential. The whole package was brilliant, from the sharp scripts and storylines to the chemistry of the actors and the unending allure of New York City as the fifth friend. Rewatching it now, there are a few moments they could have skipped - the episode where they question if bisexuality is even real, for example. But it was both of its time and eternal, and the last episodes are perfect. They should have left well alone.

But capitalism means that we must flog a successful dead horse until it’s unrecognisable. The films were an insult to pretty much everyone, although in hindsight the first one isn’t AS bad as I’d remembered - but only because I didn’t know then what horrors were to come. The second movie is an abomination.

By the time AJLT rolled around, I thought they had learnt their lesson. I thought in renaming and rebooting the show, Sarah Jessica Parker as executive producer would at least would know what worked and what didn’t. And the most agonising thing about AJLT on the whole is that there are moments of brilliance. There’s diversity and inclusivity, something lacking in the original. But there is so much SHIT wrapped around it all, it’s difficult to feel anything but sad and a bit… icky.

I am also angry. Angry that the execs haven’t listened to the clever, astute, analytical fans (like

Evan Ross Katz

whose memes I have borrowed for this post - subscribe to his newsletter, he is the modern day Carrie if she cared a jot about pop culture). I’m angry that there’s this huge show about women in mid-life being glamorous and fabulous and they’re ruining it with cheesiness and clunkiness and frankly terrible writing.

A big problem is the lack of the aforementioned chemistry. While I have no problem with the new characters, Lisa, Seema and Nya (who are all fabulous in their own right) the attempt at shoehorning them in to the narrative is jarring. Are we suddenly supposed to care about these women as much as the originals? If not, why are they getting so much screen time? If so, how about you actually develop them beyond caricature and give them a bit of a back story? Of course, it makes sense that the OGs would have other friends from other parts of their lives but if you’re going to give us solo storylines for these gals, you better make them feel authentic. There’s one in episode three revolving around Seema and a Birkin, and it couldn’t be more Samantha if it tried. The problem is, Seema isn’t Samantha and it falls ludicrously flat. Kim Cattrall would have imbued yet another $20,000 dollar bag storyline with charm and charisma. We’d care because we love her. We don’t know Seema well enough to give a shit about her leather goods in a cost of living crisis. And all she does is smoke around her handbags! THAT WILL RUIN THEM, SEEMA!

It’s not ALL terrible. Carrie dealing with widowhood is interesting, and felt glossed over in the first season. She so badly just wants to be over Big’s death, but of course she isn’t. I also like her being a big sister (aunt?) figure to Carrie 2.0, her downstairs neighbour fashionista. And I YELPED at the Real Housewives reference.

I like Miranda as a ferocious mamma bear, because it’s a glimmer of who she was. I think everyone is in agreement that her character has been decimated beyond all recognition, not because she had a sexual awakening later in life and is living her truth (go off, sis) but because they’ve made her a dithering, blathering fool who suddenly loathed the existence we all watched her live happily and believed in. The Steve erasure is insulting. She’s lost any shred of cynicism or wit she once had, and we’re meant to believe she just did a complete 180 on everything in her life? Che Diaz, the most widely disliked character in season one is actually the reasonable one this time around, the foil to Miranda’s manic meandering.

Charlotte…. sheesh. She was never my fave, but she was an amazing character. Prim, poised and proper but with a devilish streak, she was beautifully performed and we felt every failure, every heartbreak. Now, she’s perving on teenage lads at her kids’ school. She’s thrilled at being on a MILF list. She’s going mad trying to track down couture gowns her daughter sold to fund her true passion. I like that she’s being forced to deal with real issues outside of her privileged bubble, like her child’s gender identity, but gah.. it’s so clunky. And shoehorning Anthony in to fill the void left by Stanford feels off (RIP, the brilliant Willy Garson). I feel like they could have given Stanny a fitting send off in season two, rather than permanently exiling him to Japan. Maybe it’s coming. Hell, the fact that he and Anthony were ever married is an affront. And by Liza Minnelli! With a dance routine to Single Ladies! Was everyone on drugs?!

Clunky is the word I keep coming back to. But I still watch, hoping it will get better because of those glimmers of greatness. I cried watching Carrie try and voice her book about losing Big. I laughed out loud at her faking covid. But Jesus, the heart and emotion is surrounded by so much shit, I’m struggling.

The producers revealing that they brought Aiden, and even Samantha back (for the finale) means they know they’re in trouble. They know they’re lacking. They brought in the big guns to get her back, and even then it was on her terms with no contact with her frenemies (SJP and showrunner Michael Patrick King). Text messages from Sam in London clearly weren’t going to cut it, and while her scene is sure to be a disappointment - how good can a phone call be? - it will keep us tuned in, and hoping she’ll be back for good. Because in showbiz, never $$$ay never.

Yes, it’s just a TV show. But it means something, both to the history of pop culture and to the fans that bought Manolos and drank Cosmos like Carrie. Has any other show ever had an iconography like it? Not that I know of.

I’ll never understand why they couldn’t just… make it good. They have all the resources any show could hope for and a global fan base like no other. But just like that, they’re destroying the goodwill and breaking the hearts of those who loved it. Dramatic? Me? Never.