“And Just Like That” Episode 8 Recap: Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

This weeks episode was an ode to getting older that was, if not more subtle than the previous episodes, at least slightly more palatable. I am obviously not the target demographic of And Just Like That, but I am someone that thinks shows about 50 year old women can and should be interesting while not ignoring the fact that they’re no longer in their twenties, and with the exception of one storyline (*ahem* Carrie) I think this episode proved that!

It took until about episode 6 for the writers to really get their groove and find their footing in this storyline, and I feel like we can say now that they have achieved that. Also, this episode will be known as the one where I saw two penises, so there’s that to add a little spice! There still some extraordinarily cringe pieces, most notably anything to do with Che Diaz, but the rest of it has leveled slightly to make for an overall enjoyable watching experience

You can read my past AJLT recaps here

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Speaking of cringe factor, we open the episode with one of the Motivational Comedy Rallies that Che appears to specialize in. I think if this was the route they were going, the writers should have made Che a motivational speaker who also happened to be funny, because the comedian who gives motivational speeches is not something I’m buying. We should also take a minute to talk about the AUDIENCE. Because I have never seen so much rainbow in my entire life. Unless Che is giving their show at Pride, which it doesn’t appear like they are, why are so many people wearing rainbow? But I guess maybe those are the type of gays to go to a Motivational Comedy Rally on a random midday at the park. (everyone should wear what they want! but in my experience of going to gay comedy shows, I have never seen more than 2 people in fully decked out head to toe rainbow! in my life! so why!)

Unfortunately for Miranda, not everyone there is wearing rainbow. In fact, there’s a couple of allies in the audience! Namely, Brady and his girlfriend, and Miranda needs to get out of there ASAP. This is conveniently timed with Che saying that nobody should be hiding anymore because the time for that was five years ago (which also, maybe it was five years ago for them but not everyone is in a safe/comfortable spot to come out right now just because they are), so we really get to set up the dichotomy between these two characters. After the show, Miranda gives Che some coffee and we find out that they’ve been hooking up for three weeks, and oh yeah, Che assumed Miranda was in an open marriage. Che is understandably pissed because they don’t want to be a homewrecker, and they leave Miranda standing there still awkwardly grinning and confused.

Miranda immediately decides that if she’s forced to choose between Steve and her married life and Che and the potentially new queer one, she’s going to choose Che every day of the week. That means she needs a divorce, ASAP. Carrie helpfully asks if Miranda even knows how Che feels about her, before she goes and blows up her whole life just for the chance to be with them. Miranda scampers off to where Che works, and I would like to give you two versions of the scene that follows and ask you to tell me which seems more realistic:

Version A: The Baby Gay

Miranda: Che I love you. Is this three week relationship real?

Che: Honey, it makes sense to feel a lot of emotions in your first gay relationship. We’re having a fun time.

Miranda: I want to have a whole big life with you!

Che: Let’s take it one step at a time, you uhaul lesbian.

Version B: Love is the thing with feathers

Miranda: Che I love you. Do you feel it too?

Che: I love you Miranda.

Miranda: So let’s live a whole life together!

Che: nontraditionally?

Miranda: yes!

If you chose option A, you’re correct! Unfortunately, the show runners chose option B, and so here we are. Miranda is on her way to divorce her husband and live happily ever after with Che despite not once asking them what nontraditional meant in terms of a relationship style.

The Miranda/Steve breakup scene is one of the saddest that I’ve ever seen on television, hands down. Steve says that their whole relationship, Miranda has been super oscillatory and Steve has been the one fighting for her, which was true at least in Sex and the City. Steve thought these last couple years were finally nice and normal and he felt content, which is funny because Miranda felt the exact opposite. This man truly did not see it coming at all, and my heart breaks for him. Miranda keeps saying that she wants “more” before finally admitting that she met Che. Steve (prior to the Che revelation) says that he wants Miranda to be happy, and Miranda carries that well wish with her smiling all the way to the airport to go surprise Che at their show. Miranda is crazy! I love it and I hate it!

In the Charlotte/Harry household, Charlotte is trying to convince her husband to wear a fitness ring, because she absolutely would KILL him if he died on her. Harry agrees to if she proposes with it properly, and one thing leads to another and before I could prepare myself, there’s a penis! and a young child at the door! and the door is swinging into her face! Charlotte, unable to bear the idea of Lilly seeing her have sex, tells the child that she was checking her father’s penis for cancer. When she relays this story to the women, they’re first shocked that she “still blows Harry” (not my words) and then amused by the rest of the tale. Charlotte wanted to be a sex positive mother, so she invites Lilly to lunch to tell her the truth.

Now, the fact that this is a truth that doesn’t need to be told is probably agreed upon by anyone with parents anywhere, minus Charlotte Carrie and Miranda. The lunch goes from a bad idea to actually bad when Lilly gets up to go get a straw (?) and Charlotte sees her phone beep. It’s an instagram notification, attached to a photo that Lilly posted of herself posing sex-ily in leggings. Charlotte freaks out and asks 100 judgmental questions before Lilly storms off in a huff. The next day, they have a real conversation and find out that it’s a finsta and only 13 of her friends follow it, which makes Charlotte feel a little better. She asks if Lilly knows what her and Harry were really doing in the bathroom, and Lilly asks if they found any cancer. It’s all very funny and cute and wholesome even if Charlotte’s parenting is questionable.

Carrie is living the most classic grumpy old lady life ever, mixed with a healthy dose of not wanting to be a grumpy old lady. I would say the best way not to be a grumpy old lady would be to not act like an old lady at 50, but Carrie takes another route. She has a downstairs neighbor who sits out on the stoop talking too loud, and she yells at them when she cannot sleep because of the noise. The neighbor, Lisette (who turns out to be a very successful jewelry maker) comes up the next day to apologize and Carrie pretends that she was not sleeping, only writing. The squabble continues when the next night, Lisette is playing music way too loud and Carrie storms down to ask her to turn it off. Lisette is asleep on the couch with her door open, it’s not even a party, so Carrie turns down the music herself and shuts the door on her way out.

Oh, somewhere in this Carrie also calls Jackie and we find out he has a girlfriend, which is a random interlude that must have been decided upon after they hired him for more episodes than they had podcast ideas.

Then, Carrie brings brownies to the girl to apologize, but it turns out she doesn’t eat sugar an also her boyfriend answere the door and drops his towel and we see penis #2! The saga comes to a close when Carrie witnesses Lisette kicking out her boyfriend for hooking up with all of her friends. Lisette is embarrassed, but Carrie shrugs and they bond about dating in NYC. I wonder if the writers are going to try to bring Lisette in as a younger voice / old Sex and the City vibe, or if this will just be a one off.

Throughout this episode, Carrie has been organizing all of her clothes to decide what to take to storage. She gets to hang out with Seema and eat sushi, and later enlists Lilly to help her catalogue things. This didn’t really seem to have any relation to the rest of the episode, but it did allow Carrie to end the show with “And just like that I realized there are some things that should never be put into storage”. And that’s the episode!