Sex and the City successfully moves on from Samantha Jones
The latest season of Sex and the City spin-off And Just Like That has moved on from its cringeworthy PC posturing and the bold, brash fan favourite, Samantha.
The attack of the 50-something woman is on, but there is no Nancy Archer angst here. Midwinter is the season of the middle-aged woman having her moment.
Kylie Minogue is back in the charts, with the 55-year-old making up new words like “padam”, and finding new fans on new platforms like TikTok.
So too is Sex and the City.
However, something has shifted in the new season of the reboot of the groundbreaking 1990s series.
Turns out there is also space for Sex and the City minus it’s solar plexus – the sexually and socially liberated Samantha Jones.
Just like Carrie repurposing the pain of losing her husband by refashioning her cursed and elaborate Vivienne Westwood wedding gown from her failed first marriage attempt with Mr Big – she – and the show are back.
And Just Like That has landed for another season, and it’s better, bolder and more “binge-able” than the first.
The initial episodes where we’re back in the orbit of Ms Bradshaw and her older, wiser, woke buddies are forgettable and offer up as much cringe as they do couture. But something happens after the plates bearing the palette cleansers of episodes one and two are cleared away and the zest, spunk and (gentle) envelope-pushing of the original series reappears.
The reboot finds its groove this season.
The ghost of Samantha Jones has been given up (despite one throwaway mention in the opening scenes, that’s all there is for now until a hyped finale with her reportedly appearing “on the phone”).
However, another ghost enters the fold – John Corbett’s Aidan Shaw, Ms Bradshaw’s 12th man, who first made his debut in season 3 of the original series. His re-emergence – whether welcomed or loathed by fans – is not pivotal to the plot this time around.
The characters this season have been given more scope to develop their new-generation narratives. While last season the show tried harder to appear socially progressive and “inclusive” than some of us do squeezing into designer shoes on the sales rack, this time around it hits the perfect tone.
Just as long as Che (Sara Ramirez) stops doing stand up in the back half of the season, we’ll be all good. There is one horrifically awkward scene where they – Miranda’s Mexican-Irish non-binary comedian lover – finishes a set and hands over to a man whose only dialogue is: “Hey Che, congrats on the show, any room for a white man?” This gave me more ick than Ollie Robinson’s carry-on at Edgbaston last week.
But Tony Danza, playing Che’s father, saves the day. Yes, in 2023. His appearance is just one of the great nostalgic cameos. Candice Bergen is also back, bitter as anything after being made redundant by Vogue but she has a burgeoning online newsletter. Gloria Steinem appears too, in a wonderful episode focused on ageing and how you can’t keep a successful, savvy woman down. Hustling is not something you can retire from if Steinem and Bergen’s brilliantly acerbic character, Enid, attest.
There is, according to the show, life after 70 for women – as long as you have money. The show has returned to its ridiculous roots, especially in light of the cost-of-living crisis and a potential global recession. Turns out the secret to living well, or even just living in New York, is to be rich.
There is no “stealth wealth” here. The eye-catching fashion is, and always has been, a central character. Speaking of characters, a highlight of season two is the emergence of the three new personalities joining Carrie’s clique.
Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker) – Charlotte’s school mum mate – is a wonderful intersection of race, heteronormative gender roles and grit. As well as dealing with a mother-in-law with impossibly high standards and a husband running for local government, she also walks to the Met Gala in her Valentino creation and head piece that looks like a sunburnt peacock living with alopecia.
In a later episode, she braves a blizzard and walks to MoMA for a speaking event, in heels. So too does Carrie to present at “Widow Con” and Charlotte – with a quilted Chanel purse – to deliver her daughter condoms after she decides to lose her virginity on a snowy day.
Parenting, ageing, sex and evolution are also central themes this time around. It appears the writers and creators – including stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, who all take turns in the directing and executive producer chairs – listened to the critics of the first season of And Just Like That.
The New Yorker said the first season “struck many critics as a cringey apologia”.
NPR wrote “the creators seemed to be confronting past criticism of Sex and the City like “items on a to-do list’’.
The second half of season two is where you’ll find the good stuff. Don’t be put off by the opening scene – which features every character having sex to a soundtrack of Elton John and Britney Spears. I haven’t seen TV so lacking in chemistry since Paul Keating eviscerated the entire Canberra press gallery during his last National Press Club oration.
Despite this anti-climatic opening, the zingers are back, including jokes about sperm, “Karens”, and digs at Real Housewives stars. There is a hilarious breaking the fourth wall moment when Carrie is shopping with Charlotte and her phone rings with an unknown number and she says: “This better not be the Democrats again.” It’s Miranda calling after losing her phone while “saving the planet” by picking up seaweed on an LA beach. It’s a laugh out loud and self-aware moment: Cynthia Nixon unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of New York a few years back.
And Just Like That has recaptured Sex and the City’s magic, with the assistance of new characters who are a breath of fresh air including Todd Wexley, Miranda’s lecturer turned friend Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) and Carrie’s realtor Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury).
Australia gets a cameo, thanks to Covid, when Seema and Carrie flirt with some blokes visiting NYC on a “rugby tour” and contract the virus. The new series was created in the shadow of the pandemic but, despite no Mr Big and no Samantha, it has risen like a phoenix out of its ashes.
And Just Like That is streaming on Binge
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