This week’s episode of And Just Like That was equal parts cringy and fun. There were so many scenes that filled me with joy, but equally many scenes that made me want to melt into my chair and never look up again. To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m even still watching and recapping this show? But I’ve committed so deeply now that even if I were to never talk about it on the blog again, I’d still watch every episode, and I’d still hate every episode, so not sure what that says about me! I will say that it’s definitely evened out since the first 3-4 episodes, and I’m grateful for that, because it gives me hope for the future. I should probably stop rambling now and get into the recap. If you’re just now tuning in, you can catch up on all of my recaps here.
The episode opens with the world’s longest sequence of Carrie writing that I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through in my life. We listen to a song about Spring and watch the days tick by through her iconic apartment window. Later, we find out that it’s been three months since the last episode, and in those three months, Carrie has written an entire book that’s ready to be published by Christmas! We’ve really been flying through this past year with our friends over on AJLT- this isn’t the first episode to have a 3 month time jump. Unfortunately for suddenly efficient writer Carrie Bradshaw, her editor thinks that the book is missing an element of hope, and advises her to go out on at least one date to end the book on a positive note.
Carrie is unsure of whether she should take this advice, namely because (as she will remind you all too many times in this episode) her husband died, and she’s still not over it. When Oprah says that she loves the book with a hopeful ending, she has no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it. For Oprah. Luckily, Seema has been invited to the group’s dinner reservation, and she’s already been swiping on Tinder as Carrie for a while. I love that Seema got the invite! She’s not quite Samantha, but she has some of her sex positivity and dry humor that the show has been missing for a while.
Carrie eventually chooses one of these Tinder men, Peter, to go on a date with. Her and Peter have the world’s worst first 30 seconds of a date, and then he confesses that it’s his first time getting out since his wife died. That’s great news for Carrie, because her husband died too! The two of them order drinks, get way too drunk, and end up vomiting outside of the restaurant to end their date. Carrie thinks this is an absolute flop of a date, but it seemed like they were having a good time right before the vomit?
On the other side of town, Charlotte and Lisa are playing a great game of tennis. These are two competitive upper society women ready to put on their tennis skirts and kick some ass! When Charlotte gets home that night, Harry shares that he and Mr. Wexley would love to join for doubles some time. In an endearing moment (the only one of this episode) she invites him to come the next day, and the two couples head over to battle it out. At the court, the cute couple-ness is immediately over, because Charlotte knocks Harry over to win the point, and then won’t apologize after the game is over. Charlotte says she won’t apologize because Harry was mansplaining and that’s why she knocked him over, and also tennis is the one place where she doesn’t ever have to apologize and she doesn’t plan on changing that for him. The Wexleys see them fighting, and they awkwardly stop to avoid being “that couple”.
Miranda, meanwhile, has finally acknowledged that she has a husband on-screen. She’s on the phone yelling at Steve because he went to the wrong farmer’s market, and now Miranda is standing in front of the vegetable stand alone. No sooner does she hang up then Nya and her husband Andre appear. They’re very cool and very obviously in love, which makes 1 (one) couple. When Andre wanders away, Nya confides in Miranda that she got her period this morning and is not pregnant, but she hasn’t told Andre yet.
This whole teacher-student relationship feels so weird and wrong to me, I don’t understand why Nya would feel this comfortable talking to Miranda. Their relationship has been given 0% of a sensical backstory and I wish they would because right now I am simply uncomfortable with the friendship. Steve blusters up in an annoying and un-Steve-like way, continuing the And Just Like That character assassination of the one good man from Sex and the City. Steve shares that Miranda finds Nya intimidating, and Nya goes “i find her intimidating too”. I would argue that in any scene where the two of them have interacted (prior to the weird trauma dump dinner), I found Miranda more racist than intimidating, but to each their own I guess?
As Nya and Andre drive home, Miranda sends a text that gets READ ALOUD BY THE CAR about the fact that Nya is no longer pregnant. Nya understandably panics, Andre says he heard it now so just focus on driving but also why’d you tell your student before you told me, and Nya nearly blows a stop sign, slamming on her brakes just before hitting this white gay couple and their toddler. The white man comes over and bangs on the window screaming at them, and I hate this for Nya and Andre but on the bright side once the man leaves it’s a chance for the two of them to show that they still have a spark, because they make a joke. I love this couple and I wish the show would give them a different plotline besides just repeated traumatic incidents.
Miranda’s not just causing problems in other people’s marriages, she’s trying to destroy her own as well. In the 10 months interim between episodes, Che hasn’t replied to her really awkward Rambo DM, but Miranda still can’t stop thinking about them. Carrie reminds her of the fact that although Big is dead, Steve is not, and so maybe Miranda should just try to spice up that relationship. This is pretty bad advice and not really getting at the root of the problem, but when has Carrie ever cared about anyone besides herself, so we accept it. Miranda takes the advice and tries to get spicy with Steve in their kitchen by replicating everything Che did to her in Carrie’s kitchen. The whole scene is incredibly awkward, but not as awkward as Miranda is dry, and she gives up, to Steve’s disappointment.
Every cast member converges upon auction night, and what follows is some of the worst dialogue known to television. For those of you who are like me and went to public school, apparently an Auction is a well known part of the private school system, where they convince rich parents to pay quadruple the listing price for random items to raise money for the school. Lisa, a woman we all know as very competent and put together, is hosting the event with her husband but she can’t remember to speak into the microphone. She keeps putting it down and nobody can hear her and her husband has to correct her onstage. When he tells her that he has to go home early during an intermission, she crumbles and says that she’s horrible without him. Her being horrible is just not in character for Lisa Wexley, but this is all just a setup for him to accidentally agree that she’s horrible, and then for Charlotte and Harry to see them screaming at each other. Now they’re both “that couple”.
Carrie is complaining about how horrible her date was when said date shows up at the auction. She hides from him as if she’s in middle school, and actually attempts to leave altogether to avoid him. Alas, right at that moment a date with Carrie Bradshaw, sex writer, is being auctioned off onstage. Charlotte says that it was supposed to be a lunch date with relationship writer, and her correction draws attention to Carrie, who is brought up onstage. Nobody wants to bid on her because they’re all married, and eventually Carrie bids $1000 on herself just to get off the stage. Peter swoops back in from the bathroom and bids $1050! The two agree to go on a second date, and their chemistry is cute and awkward in a way that makes sense for two people who haven’t dated in years. I like him.
It’s not just Carrie who has a run in with a date tonight. Che Diaz has been requisitioned to perform. After their performance, Che gets cornered by two straight women who are obsessed with them, and they appear to be having a pretty good time as they get showered with compliments by these women. Miranda stares at the three of them for a while, and then calls an Uber in an attempt to scamper off home like a kicked puppy. Che sees her and goes over to talk. Apparently, they hadn’t seen her DM because they get lots of DMs, being a famous comedian and all, and they wish Miranda had just double texted. One thing leads to another and suddenly Miranda and Che are in bed naked having sex and Miranda is in love! Che does the only thing you can do in that situation and says that Miranda is in love with herself, good sex, and weed. Miranda needs some better friends or maybe a therapist to talk things out with because she’s spiraling! I love gay Miranda, I’ve been here for it since Sex and the City Episode 2, but I am not here for the way this is going down!
We end with Carrie sitting down to her desk yet again, this time to write an epilogue filled with hope. As we cut to credits, Billy Bossa Nova starts playing, which I guess isn’t really that interesting but I just thought it was notable that this show about 50 year old women is being soundtracked by a 20 year old. That is all. See you next week for another recap!
Write Through the Night 