Latest news with #AJLT
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
And Just Like That ... The Sex and the City spin-off's surprising take on race
Are any of the writers on And Just Like That (AJLT) reading this? Because I have several helpful suggestions to bring the current series of your Sex and the City reboot into 2025: Charlotte's husband, the hitherto harmless Harry, could start pressuring her into an open marriage, involving whatever passes for wild sex parties on the Upper East Side. Miranda could soon enter her Chappell-Roan-power-ballad era by hooking up with a sexually captivating, but emotionally unavailable, decades-younger woman. And what about a big reveal involving Aidan, who has been draining Carrie's bank accounts all along (because he's secretly a Reddit-radicalised, misogynist crypto bro now). I'd also suggest we see and hear a lot less from the children. The existence of Brady, Brock, Tilly and Twerp should only ever be referenced occasionally and obliquely, for form's sake. Y'know, like how people of colour were treated all the way through the original Sex and the City series? Ironically, racial politics is the one area in which AJLT is doing just fine, even without my help. This is not the consensus view, I'm aware. Many fans entered a state of full-body cringe during the first season, when Miranda wondered aloud if she was having 'a white saviour moment' when fighting off a mugger attacking her Black friend, and are yet to regain full use of their sphincter muscles. But the fact is, AJLT understands the specific whiteness of wealthy white women, in a way that not only vastly improves on the original show's run, but which could also teach other contemporary TV shows a thing or two about 'diversity' and 'representation'. Principally, this show gets things right by allowing its characters to get things wrong. The Mirandas of this world – and I can say this, because I am such a Miranda – often get to ride the righteous train all the way to Smug Town without so much as a ticket inspection. But the truth is, even the well-intentioned – especially the well-intentioned – have blind spots, and most of us could do with some practice at keeping our cool when those are brought to the fore. AJLT leans into the cringe and, as such, acts as a kind of anti-racist exposure therapy for its middle-aged, white, liberal core audience. The secondhand embarrassment it generates is healthy, productive and funny. Because imagine the alternative: this show could have remade its central trio as ever-elegant, socially confident 'sheroes'. Girl bosses who get it. Women who never miss a beat and are always at one with the sensibilities of the age. It could have shielded them from ever looking uncool or out-of-touch, or jaw-droppingly oblivious, in the way that Carrie does in the episode where her new Indian-American friend, Seema (Sarita Choudhury), takes her sari shopping in preparation for the Patel family's Diwali party. Upon entering the shop, Carrie's eyes widen in wonderment. 'OK …' she says, 'These clothes … This holiday … I need to know everything about it!' Thus revealing that she is a fiftysomething woman, who has spent her entire adult life living in one of the most diverse cities in the world and yet – somehow – has never heard of Diwali, a festival celebrated annually by around a billion Indian and South Asian-descended people, worldwide. Get a clue, Carrie. When that episode aired, some commentators (mostly white women) bristled at the depiction of their carefree, curly queen. They said it wasn't plausible. It was doing Carrie dirty. But some of us (women of colour and the other white women) recognised the truth in that characterisation. It's Lana Turner in the classic 1959 film Imitation of Life, expressing surprise when Annie (Juanita Moore), her Black maid of several decades – and, essentially, her closest confidante – refers to a rich social life outside work. Annie's response? 'Miss Lora, you never asked.' Seema takes this in her stride. I suspect she too has met plenty of Carries in her time. The scene only begins to strain credulity when, moments later, Carrie follows up by asking her if she's ever considered an arranged marriage – What? Because she's Indian? – and Seema still betrays no hint of irritation. It wasn't the writing of Carrie's character that was flawed in that moment, but the writing of Seema's. It's because of moments like these that I'm glad the characters of Professor Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) and Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) have been phased out for season three. Or, as I prefer to understand it, set free to share a chilled bottle of chablis and/or weed vape with other friends who actually get it. I'm glad for their own sakes, because no human being wants to feel like a walking BLM reading list for someone on their solipsistic journey toward belated political consciousness. It was always clear why Miranda would want to be friends with Nya, the stylish, self-assured professor on her policies and principles of humanitarian law course – if only to improve her grades. But what is Nya getting out of the arrangement? After a long day of battling the ingrained racism of Ivy League academia, tending to her needy Gen Z grad students and her own underwritten IVF storyline, why would she want to spend her evenings further exerting herself by explaining micro-aggressions to Miranda 'give me a gold star' Hobbs? How is that relaxing? Nya and Che's departures also leave more room for AJLT's other two characters-of-colour to be fully realised. Lisa Todd Wexley, played by Nicole Ari Parker, is an upper-middle-class Black woman (she would probably prefer 'African American') with a busy career in documentary film-making and her scenes in the edit offer a way for AJLT to make meta-commentary on media depictions of Blackness – worshipful references to Michelle Obama are a leitmotif, for instance. Something similar was previously attempted in season two, when Che decamped to Los Angeles to get their semi-autobiographical sitcom off the ground and the Italian-American actor Tony Danza was cast as their Mexican father. Sadly, by that point, nobody watching cared about Che's tedious travails, so nobody cared about the politics of colour-blind casting either. Lisa isn't just a working mother with an impressive collection of oversized jewellery. She is also a classic example of the bad'n'bougie princess, a trope which allows TV to explore the intersections of race, gender and class, and has a noble lineage stretching back to Lisa Turtle on Saved by the Bell, through Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Dionne Davenport in Clueless, all the way to reality star Gizelle Bryant on Real Housewives of Potomac. Here, I detect the hand of Susan Fales-Hill, proud descendent of US 'afrostocracy', creator of original bougie princess Whitley Gilbert from A Different World, and a writer on AJLT since season two. Seema's type is more obvious. She is a new Samantha, brought in to replace our dearly beloved Kim Cattrall from the original SATC, a woman with so much charisma she could almost – but not quite – get away with wearing an afro wig to a post-chemo social gathering. Seema has Samantha's confidence and fondness for animal prints, but to that she adds her own top-note of vulnerability. Being a professionally high-flying, never-married, child-free woman in your 50s is fabulous. But, in a world that likes to constantly remind women of how they've failed to please the patriarchy, an occasional wobble of self-doubt is to be expected. It's in this wider context of the third season, with more screen time and better storylines, that Seema's ethnicity can be just one aspect of her character; neither defining, nor denied. Now, when Seema's cultural heritage is referenced, it's usually on her own terms, and in her own words. As she cautions bossy date-finder Sydney Cherkov (Saturday Night Live's Cheri Oteri): 'I'm Indian, we invented matchmaking'. And just like that, through an ever-enjoyable, show-your-workings process of trial-and-error, this show has landed on what it can most usefully add to the pop culture discourse about race. And that isn't shoe-horning in badly written POC characters to offer a hastily bodged version of racial diversity and representation. Rather it's exploring the whiteness of Miranda/Charlotte/Carrie as they move through this changed and changing world, but – crucially – always with a tad more self-awareness than the characters themselves possess. Now, back to more pressing matters: Should Charlotte order specially monogrammed stationery from Tiffany's for those sex party invites? And who's telling Anthony he's been cut from the guest list?
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Please, No More Aidan Shaw in 'And Just Like That'
This story was originally published in 2023, during 'And Just Like That...' season 2. We've republished it in honor of season 3, which is airing now on HBO Max. Like most of my fellow Sex and the City fans, when the new series And Just Like That... first aired back in 2021, the anticipation had me shaking in my Manolo Blahniks (JK, I don't own any). But it took me back to the days of SATC gone by, when I couldn't wait to see what epic fashion pieces would pop up in the show and what ludicrous relationship antics the girls would get up to next. I was prepped on the sofa, armed with snacks and ready to dive into the lives of these now more mature characters. Then…just like that…they killed Big. And in season 2, they put Aidan Shaw in his place. And it's really, really not working for me. To be able to talk about Aidan requires me to sort through my feelings about Big, because the men have always been two sides of the Carrie relationship coin. Carrie and Big's relationship had major issues. Big was never exactly Carrie's knight in shining armor, and thinking back, there were many times when his behavior was selfish and narcissistic. Leaving Carrie at the altar and embarrassing her in front of hundreds of guests certainly wasn't his finest hour, and we were all team Charlotte when she fiercely defended her friend in those iconic New York street scenes. Up until the first season of AJLT, the show's writers wanted us to believe in Carrie and Big at all costs. No matter what happened or how bad things got, the storylines would see them reunited. They pushed hard for us to view these two as endgame, so we rode loyally through the battlefield that was their relationship. And in season 2 of And Just Like That... we got the curveball that is Aidan. I have to question the decision to bring Aidan back. Where was the chance to see Carrie have a string of wild and wacky relationships and fall back in love with herself and NYC life after Big's death? I needed more of that and more time with Carrie learning about who she is now. So much of Sex and the City's original charm was its element of fun. With Carrie being single and navigating life again, there was a golden opportunity to bring back the 'boyfriend of the week' vibe but from a fresh and mature perspective. Especially considering that in pop culture, women over 50 very rarely get the chance to date around onscreen. Don't get me wrong—I love John Corbett as much as the next gal, but there seems to have been a harsh line in the sand drawn from the perspective of the show: If we bring Aidan back, we have to shove it down viewers' throats that Big is/was insignificant. In season 2, episode 8 Carrie even muses, 'I've been asking myself, was Big a big mistake?' The audacity! Even Miranda doesn't know how to reply. To ask viewers to spend so much time invested in a fictional relationship to then backtrack completely not only stings but is a bit nonsensical. To be clear, it's not only the retconning of Big in favor of Aidan that infuriates me. But let's not forget that Carrie and Aidan were also never the perfect couple. She didn't even like him enough to wear her engagement ring on her actual finger! She had an affair for a good chunk of the time they were together. And he spent much of this season refusing to come into her apartment. Just because Carrie had two loves doesn't mean we have to swap out one for the other. The answer to Big's death is not automatically Aidan! As season 2's finale aired, things got even weirder as Aidan told Carrie to wait FIVE YEARS for their relationship to resume so he can focus on being a father. That's one hell of a time-out, and with season 3 currently airing, I'm not sure how the writers will play this one. As of now, it looks like we will all have to suffer along with Carrie, but who's to say what the rest of the season will bring! Watching the show still somehow feels like receiving a warm hug from an old friend. It truly has become my favorite comfort watch, even if it does leave me baffled. But what will the rest of season 3 bring to the table? You can bet I'll still be tuning in to find out. Let's just hope that there's a lot less Aidan Shaw, at least for a while.
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Sarah Jessica Parker calls out male TV characters as she defends ‘condemned' Carrie Bradshaw
Sarah Jessica Parker is sick of the double standards on television. In a new interview with HuffPost UK, the 60-year-old actress defended her iconic 'Sex and the City' and 'And Just Like That' character, Carrie Bradshaw, from fan backlash and called out the fact that certain male TV characters don't get the same treatment. 8 Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in 'And Just Like That.' Max Advertisement 'It's always interesting to me that [Carrie is] so condemned, but a male lead on a show can be a murderer, and people love him,' Parker said. 'And if a woman has an affair, or behaves poorly, or spends money foolishly, there's a kind of punitive response to it,' she added. 8 Sarah Jessica Parker attends the 'And Just Like That' Season 3 photocall in NYC on May 21. WireImage Advertisement 8 Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth in 'Sex and the City.' Getty Images But Parker did admit that she finds the continued discourse around Carrie 'pretty fantastic.' 'That kind of connection and those kinds of strong feelings, both positive and negative, are pretty wonderful,' she acknowledged. 'People are kind of captive in those moments to something, and I think that's perfectly fine.' 8 Sarah Jessica Parker, John Corbett in 'And Just Like That.' Craig Blankenhorn/Max Advertisement The Emmy Award winner recognized that while there's been many times that Carrie has 'made mistakes' or 'not been mature in love,' she still appreciates her on-screen alter ego. 'I think, fundamentally, Carrie is an extraordinarily decent and good person – an extremely devoted friend, she's generous of spirit and time, in all she has to offer,' said Parker. 8 Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall in 'Sex and the City' in 2002. Getty Images 8 Sarah Jessica Parker in 'And Just Like That.' Max Advertisement After 'AJLT' premiered in 2021 and 'SATC' arrived on Netflix in 2024, Gen Z fans became Carrie's biggest critics, deeming her once-celebrated actions selfish and toxic. The younger generation's biggest issue with Carrie was her on-again, off-again relationship with Chris Noth's Mr. Big, which spanned six seasons and bled into 'AJLT,' in which Big dies in the first episode. 8 Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie) and Chris Noth (Mr. Big). Getty Images But Parker has firmly been on Carrie's side despite the online hate for the character. In April, Parker was on 'Today with Jenna & Friends' and dismissed the idea that she's ever wanted Carrie to make a different decision. 8 Sarah Jessica Parker at the 'And Just Like That' Season 3 photocall. WireImage 'It's been such a sort of extraordinary experience,' she said about portraying Carrie. 'I try to describe it as being contractually obligated to play somebody else — be somebody else — for about 27 years, to behave in ways which would be illegal if I, as a married person with children, ways in which I would behave in the city or with men.' Parker also explained that she has 'implicit trust and faith' in 'AJLT' showrunner Michael Patrick King to validate Carrie's choices.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cynthia Nixon Explains Why Miranda's Endgame Was Never Meant to Be Steve or Che
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Some Sex and the City fans may still be in denial over the fact that Miranda Hobbes and Steve Brady got divorced, but Cynthia Nixon is not one of them. In fact, Nixon isn't surprised by the dissolution of their marriage at all. Miranda and Steve's relationship came to a spectacular end with And Just Like That, the SATC revival series that saw Miranda come out as a lesbian—a sexual awakening that led her to pursue an affair with nonbinary comedian Che Diaz. Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, the star opened up about why Steve was never meant to be Miranda's forever person. 'Steve was a wonderful, wonderful antidote for Miranda for a lot of years, but I think, at the end of the day, the problems that they had in the very beginning of their relationship never totally went away,' Nixon says. 'She wasn't ever really sure if he was enough for her.' Nixon acknowledges that Miranda and Steve 'had a lot of good years together, but, in the end, I think she wanted something more, and Che was a different kind of something more.' Che and Miranda's relationship took a turn for the worse in AJLT's second season. The two made a brief and disastrous move to Los Angeles together, before returning to New York and calling it quits on their romance. According to Nixon, Che—one of the fandom's most divisive characters who ultimately did not return for AJLT season three—wasn't quite right for Miranda, either. 'Che was such a breath of fresh air,' she explains, 'but Che and Miranda are so opposite that they could never have really existed long term.' Season three sees Miranda back on the dating market—fully single and ready to mingle. Though the first two episodes show the lawyer stumbling over some awkward romantic encounters (from sleeping with a nun to hitting on a married heterosexual waitress), her next major romantic prospect has at last seemingly emerged. Joy, the British BBC producer Miranda first meets through her job at the Human Rights Watch in season two, has crossed the pond and touched down in New York City. 'Joy is a little younger than Miranda, but so much more experienced and sophisticated in this world in which Miranda is trying to make her way,' Nixon says. 'Miranda is so used to having—not with Che, but with Steve and other people that she dated—so used to having the upper hand, and she doesn't have that with Joy, and I think that's very good for Miranda.' It helps that Joy represents the possibilities of the new career path that Miranda has chosen for herself. '[Miranda] realizes now she wants to be... a global player in a more professional setting that can give aid and attention to people in the world, refugees, and other people who are really in crisis and need help and need assistance,' says Nixon. 'So I think she's dazzled by Joy in that way, with Joy's proficiency in that world. Also, Joy is a very serious and accomplished person, but everything is with an overlay of cheekiness of British funniness that's very diffusing to Miranda's determined pedantic seriousness. I think that Steve was able to diffuse Miranda in a particular way, but Joy is able to diffuse her with a lighter touch and in a more sophisticated manner.' What comes next for Joy and Miranda? You'll have to tune into the rest of season three to find out. You Might Also Like 4 Investment-Worthy Skincare Finds From Sephora The 17 Best Retinol Creams Worth Adding to Your Skin Care Routine
Vogue
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Why, Exactly, Is Carrie Bradshaw Living in a Gramercy Park Townhouse?
Finally, something to live for: And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City sequel most accurately described as a series produced under the influence of a gas leak, has returned to our screens for the summer. I love this show and wait for it all year long, ringing people's doorbells while muttering 'Hey, it's Che Diaz' to myself and having fever dreams about its Lynchian sex scenes (a term that is often misused, but not in this case!). If AJLT ever ends, I will have no choice but to take my own life atop a Peloton in protest; as a friend said to me way back when the pilot aired, this show must go on until we watch them lower Sarah Jessica Parker into her actual grave. In the first episode of the third season, Miranda deflowers a Canadian nun played by Rosie O'Donnell! I didn't know art could reach such towering heights—almost as tall as the doors in Carrie Bradshaw's colossal new Gramercy Park townhouse. For yes, Carrie has left her famous alcove studio behind, settling in an enormous mansion at 8 Gramercy Park West, just across the street from New York's prettiest and most exclusive little park (in real life, this is the address of an apartment building, and in a vaguely egalitarian twist, one of only two rental buildings that grant residents keys to the gated park itself). She bought the place in the hopes that longtime on-again, off-again love Aidan Shaw would live there with her and his three terrifying sons, only for him to put the relationship on ice to focus on caring for his 14-year-old down on the family farm in Virginia. Actor John Corbett is six feet and five inches tall, but he is still dwarfed by the Gramercy place's impressive doors, at least when he manages to get there. As far as life decisions go, this was not one of Carrie's finest.
