And just like that, the Sex and the City spin-off has rediscovered its zing
And Just Like That... (season three) ★★★★
Ladies and gentlemen, I have not come to bury And Just Like That…, I have come to praise it. If you want a critical assessment of the Sex and the City spin-off, go elsewhere.
After two seasons, the show has finally found its feet – yes, they are still shod in Manolos – but they have cast off the grief of season one (RIP, Big), the ridiculousness of season two (bye, bye Che Diaz) and the shadow of the absent Samantha (Kim Cattrall). Now, for season three, it has found its rhythm in the joys and terrors of being a woman in her 50s, of managing teenagers and older parents, of finding meaning in work and lasting relationships.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Seema (Sarita Choudhury) in season three of And Just Like That...
Crucially, it’s also rediscovered its zing. It’s funny and flippant and light on its feet. Yes, it still probably has too many puns, but you know what, if you want serious drama, go elsewhere. We don’t need your cynicism here.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has a new address, having abandoned her West Village one bedder for a lush townhouse in the upscale Gramercy Park, but she is, essentially, unchanged. Character development be damned, when it comes to Carrie, we want the familiar. We want her in high heels, typing at her laptop, in love (even if that means accepting John Corbett’s Aidan again) and surrounded by friends, old and new.
By shedding two of the new characters introduced in season one – Dr Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) and Che (Sara Ramirez) – and beefing up the roles of real estate broker/Samantha substitute Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury) and documentary maker Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), the series has found renewed focus on friendship, which is what gave Sex and the City its strength.
Kristin Davis and Nicole Ari Parker provide the comic zing for season three of And Just Like That...
Once upon a time, fans, critics and the curious may have come for Samantha detailing her latest sex-capade, or Miranda’s cynicism or Charlotte’s prudishness, but they stayed for the bond between the core four. Carrie, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Cattrall) revolutionised television in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By showing four single women in their 30s – who enjoyed sex, spoke openly about it and weren’t ashamed of their choices – they paved a way for other women. Suddenly, you didn’t have to be a desperate housewife or a mob wife, or just the girlfriend, instead, you could, just like Carrie, be the narrator of your own story.
And Just Like That… has finally remembered this.
After two seasons of wild swings – a broken marriage, a sexual awakening and, yes, a strap on – Miranda has re-emerged as a whole character and not just a punchline. A new romance with BBC producer Joy (Dolly Wells, just delightful) has erased the cringe of her doomed relationship with Che, while not blunting Miranda’s spiky edges.
Despite living on Park Avenue, Charlotte and Harry (Evan Handler) somehow manage to be relatable as exasperated parents to two teenagers. Their relationship has always been sweet and finds new layers as they deal with the vagaries of getting older. Charlotte’s friendship with fellow school mum Lisa Todd Wexley has been a bonus and given And Just Like That… the comic jolt it so desperately needed. Along with Christopher Jackson, who plays her husband Herbert, Parker fizzes on screen, even when she’s mashing potatoes in couture (look, I never said it was relatable).
Carrie, meanwhile, carries on as ever. Seemingly free of any family ties – of all the characters, she is the one who has never been saddled with parents (apart from one brief mention of a father who left when she was younger) or extended family – she is still in the same loop, waiting for Aidan as he figures out his family life in Virginia. A new neighbour moves in downstairs, a famous British author (Jonathan Cake), and, well, that’s when the six episodes available for review ended.
For 20-plus years, Carrie Bradshaw has been wondering if women can have it all. Like Sex and the City, And Just Like That… doesn’t have an answer, but what it does is give fans what they want. And that counts for something.
And Just Like That… streams on Max from May 30.
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