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And Just Like That... after 3 seasons, the Sex and the City reboot has come to an end. So now that it’s officially over, where did the show leave these beloved characters in what may be their...
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00:00And just like that, after three seasons, the Sex and the City reboot has come to an end.
00:05While the show had occasional bright spots, it was never able to truly capture the magic of the
00:11original show. The core four was whittled down to three, leaving the show missing one of the
00:16original's most important elements. And while many new characters were brought in to fill the void
00:23and try to make up for issues with the original, even those who seemed like they were meant to be
00:29permanent features of the show were never really allowed to get stable footing. So now that it's
00:35officially over, where did the show leave these beloved characters in what may be their final ever
00:41run on screen? Let's unpack where everyone ended up in the two-part finale, and then we'll dig into
00:46all of the reasons why the show's ending just doesn't work.
00:51Apparently not only is it tragic for women to be alone in the past, it's also an issue in the future.
00:57Charlotte was the romantic idealist of Sex and the City. While her three friends had become jaded
01:03by dating, she held tight to the belief that Mr. Right was out there, and she was going to hunt
01:08him down at all costs. I'm gonna meet the perfect guy, and I'm gonna get married!
01:14Over the show, she learned that her old-school ideas about what a relationship
01:17should look like didn't always map onto a happy relationship in real life. While original
01:23Charlotte could certainly dip into her associated stereotypes a bit heavily here and there,
01:28Charlotte treated marriage like a sorority she was desperately hoping to pledge.
01:32She was always a deeply drawn character with a lot going on under the surface. Unfortunately,
01:37that never quite showed through on it just like that. Most of the time, she was relegated to a waste
01:43of time filler storylines, and the only real thing she was given time to focus on was… her family and
01:51her relationship. In a mirroring of Rourke on the original show, this time the old-school thought
01:57pattern that she has to overcome is her hang-ups around her children and who they would or should
02:02be after one of her children comes out as non-binary. On Sex and the City, Charlotte felt herself pulled
02:08between the job she loved and the homemaker life she felt that she was supposed to have.
02:14I'm quitting. That's what I want to do. Yep. I'm quitting.
02:18This came back here and there across the reboot, but it never really felt like she was really
02:22grappling with having to choose between her passion and family life in an engaging way like it did in
02:28the original. And that problem of giving Charlotte such a narrow, shallow focus continued into the
02:34finale. Harry was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the final season, and in the end,
02:39Charlotte's final arc mostly just revolves around her ditching her friends for him,
02:44and then finally getting to have sex again. The final moment we spend with Charlotte is at least
02:49a happy one, of her and her family looking through photos of Rourke's performance in Thoroughly Modern
02:54Millie. Lisa Todd Wexley was brought on as a recurring friend of Charlotte's in season 1,
02:59and then moved into the main cast for seasons 2 and 3, but it never really felt like she was
03:05integrated into the core friend group in a meaningful way. The writers clearly weren't
03:10sure what to do with her character, and apparently weren't ever paying that much attention, as her
03:16father dies twice over the course of three seasons. She spends this final run attempting to keep working
03:22on her documentary. After her original editor leaves to work on a project with the amazing Steve McQueen,
03:27she brings on Marion. They have chemistry, and the will-they-won't-they floats in the
03:33background as she deals with her husband at home. Herbert is stalking because he lost the race for
03:38comptroller, putting strain on Lisa and their relationship. I failed badly. You didn't fail
03:45any of us. I have never been prouder to be your wife. Not helping. Go to work. In the end,
03:51she chooses not to take things to the next level with Marion, and reaffirms her love with Herbert.
03:57Go. Put your feet up. You cooked all day. I got this mess.
04:04You got this mess.
04:06After Stanford left him to become a monk, the very weird way that the show chose to deal with
04:10the real-life passing of actor Willie Garson, Anthony eventually gets into a relationship with
04:15the younger Giuseppe. Anthony also begins to develop this sneaking suspicion that he's looking
04:21more for a parent than a partner. Ever since we moved in together, I'm shopping for him,
04:26I'm cooking, I'm cleaning. I don't know if he wants me to marry him or mommy him.
04:30In the end, they have a heart-to-heart end realize that they do both want this relationship for real,
04:35and Giuseppe throws a pie in his face. This, and just like that version of Miranda,
04:40has just never really felt like Miranda Hobbes. What happened to my life?
04:45It's not that it's impossible that a once level-headed, focused person might start spinning
04:50out a bit, as they realize new things about themselves as they enter a new era of their
04:54lives, but this version of Miranda has felt essentially unrecognizable for this show's
05:00entire run. In place of the intelligent, no-nonsense person we knew in Sex and the City,
05:05I drink coffee, and have sex, and buy pies, and enjoy battery-operated devices. If you can't deal
05:12with that, I will find another housekeeper who can. Here, we got someone who was rather rude and
05:17abrasive and constantly fumbling through every aspect of her life. Her arc about realizing she's
05:22a lesbian coming out and going on a personal journey to find out more about her true self
05:26in middle age could have been really interesting if it was done well, but unfortunately, it was not
05:33done well. As the show neared its end, like Charlotte, Miranda's storylines all began to
05:39coalesce around her family and relationship dramas. Her son Brady has gotten a random woman that he
05:44doesn't seem to like at all pregnant, and Miranda's attempts to force them all into a happy family
05:49only pushes him further away, something that we never actually get a real resolution for.
05:56She has found stable ground of friendship with Steve, after the show torpedoed their marriage early
06:01on, and in the end, her major focus, outside of trying to make Brady's life choices for him,
06:07her relationship with BBC producer Joy. In the finale, Miranda attempts to have a big Thanksgiving
06:12dinner to bring together all of her friends and family, though it's mostly just a cover to attempt
06:17to connect with Mia, the woman Brady got pregnant. What the f***, Mom? You invited her without asking me?
06:22But nearly everyone has bailed by the time dinner rolls around. The only person she's really upset with
06:28for it, though, is Joy, because Miranda thinks she's just made up a reason not to come. It ends
06:34up being Carrie, of all people, who has to give her rational relationship advice.
06:39Well, before you air quote her out of your relationship, maybe pick up the phone,
06:44find out what's really happening.
06:46It turns out that Joy's dog was actually very ill, and Miranda rushes to comfort her.
06:50One problem people had with Miranda's ending in Sex and the City was that it was so focused not
06:55around her successful career or any of her interests, but her essentially abandoning her
07:00own sense of self in order to become a caregiver to others. Though she's much more open to blowing
07:06up her familial relationships to follow her own interests in the reboot, in the end, the final
07:11moments we see of her aren't focused on her friends or her career or anything like that,
07:15but yet again, her relationship.
07:18Dima was added to the reboot essentially to be the new Samantha.
07:22No one could ever fill Samantha Jones's shoes, but Seema did manage to carve out her own interesting
07:28place in the Sex and the City universe, with her confidence and adventurousness, and willingness
07:32to call a carryout when she needs it.
07:34Good for you, Seema, trying to find yourself a man to marry after all those years of no luck.
07:39No, no, that's not the way I meant it.
07:41No, I'm sure, but that's how I heard it.
07:43Tired of him not making enough time for her, Seema broke up with her boyfriend Ravi at the
07:47beginning of season three. Her work life took a turn when she decides,
07:51it's time to finally take a chance and start her own real estate firm.
07:55Starting her own business requires some changes to her lifestyle that she's not at all that into,
08:00but she knows it'll be worth it in the end, and so trudges forwards.
08:04This, combined with her budding relationship with Gardner Adam,
08:08gives her the opportunity to explore the more down-to-earth side of herself.
08:12There's a question of if she's giving up too much of herself for him.
08:15For example, she's always wanted to get married.
08:18He doesn't even really believe in marriage.
08:21But as with nearly every other character's arc, we don't really get a resolution.
08:26She chooses to go to Thanksgiving with Adam and his sister.
08:29You're wearing jeans?
08:31When in Rome!
08:32And the last we see of her is her maybe pretending, maybe for real,
08:36saying how she actually totally likes gluten-free pie now.
08:39But what does any of this actually mean for her future and personal happiness?
08:45We'll never really know.
08:47The lack of Samantha Jones has haunted and just liked that from the moment it was announced.
08:53The way they wrote out her character never made any sense.
08:56As if Samantha would throw away a lifelong friendship over some petty grievance.
09:01Well, you f***ed me.
09:04Oh honey, that's great! I knew you could do it!
09:07Thanks.
09:08And the minute and a half cameo she had at the end of season two only made us miss her more.
09:13Some storylines on the show have just felt like other characters being put through Samantha plots,
09:18but it not working out because they're not Samantha.
09:21And losing her sexually free, continually witty, always there for her friends energy
09:26really drained so much of the fun out of the reboot.
09:30Sex is something special that's supposed to happen between two people who love each other.
09:35Or two people who love sex.
09:36Unfortunately, after that paltry cameo, Samantha never returned.
09:42At least we can just imagine her living fabulously out in London.
09:46And then, there's Carrie.
09:48Carrie spent much of it just like that, but especially its final season, moving on.
09:53In relationships from Big after his passing,
09:56and from Aiden after he refused to really commit to Carrie,
09:59but also in other aspects of her life as well.
10:01Her apartment has always been a major metaphor for her life changes,
10:05and the finale brings that back once more.
10:08Missed the chipping woodwork?
10:10The sh**ty kitchen?
10:11The warped floors?
10:14Yeah.
10:15This time, she returns to her old apartment to find that Lisette has put up walls to separate the space,
10:21which rattles Carrie.
10:22An inverse of when she was so freaked out about Aiden trying to tear down walls.
10:26I'm having a very strong reaction to all this change.
10:31Okay, okay.
10:32I can't.
10:33Don't freak out.
10:33I am freaking out.
10:35Amazingly, by the finale, Carrie Bradshaw has no men in her rotation.
10:40Big is dead, Aiden is gone, the downstairs neighbor she was into moved back across the pond.
10:44While Carrie has long been a commitment-phobe,
10:47she has also always had a fear of being alone bubbling under the surface.
10:52Yes, I know, I've lived alone a lot, but I've never lived alone without the thought that I wouldn't be alone for long.
11:01Now, in these final episodes, we finally get to see her begin working through that
11:05and trying to figure out who Carrie Bradshaw is without some guy around.
11:10I have to quit thinking, maybe a man, and start accepting, maybe just me.
11:19She tries dining alone, but it definitely doesn't turn out to be the peaceful or powerful moment she might have imagined.
11:25Um, what is that?
11:28Tommy Tomato, you don't have to eat alone.
11:31She finishes the historical novel she's been writing, but her editor isn't too into the ending she's chosen.
11:37That's the last page. After her love dies, the woman is alone.
11:43So, uh, what you've written is a romantic tragedy.
11:49He suggests that Carrie change up the ending so that the woman doesn't end up alone,
11:54so that it doesn't feel so tragic.
11:57But in the end, Carrie finally realizes that there can be freedom in being solo and focusing on your true self.
12:03I was thinking, we return to something more wild, free, out here. Something more me.
12:11This is something Carrie and her friends have already learned a few times at this point.
12:16But to be fair, she's always needed to learn a lesson a few times for it to really stick.
12:21Carrie's ending kind of bookends the opening of the original series,
12:25both because they bring back the original theme song,
12:27And because the first and last things we see Carrie do are try to help other people with their relationship problems,
12:33and then write alone in her apartment.
12:35Her final moments see her alone in her giant apartment, dancing away in her pink tutu.
12:41Hopefully, finally accepting that she alone is enough.
12:46The woman realized she was not alone.
12:50She was on her own.
12:51Though And Just Like That did have its moments,
12:54it never really lived up to the things we loved about Sex and the City.
12:58And to be honest, it mostly never felt like it was trying to.
13:02Both Charlotte and Miranda felt like they were flanderized.
13:05Charlotte consumed entirely by her family.
13:07Miranda's slight awkwardness ballooned out to a level of bumbling around that began to skew cartoonish.
13:13The show over time came to feel less like an HBO show aimed at fans of Sex and the City
13:18who wanted to see more of those beloved characters' stories,
13:21and more just like a run-of-the-mill mid-week sitcom with flat jokes and cringey toilet humor.
13:27Literally in the finale.
13:29Though showrunner Michael Patrick King explained to Variety that this was very intentional, saying,
13:34Whenever anyone in this universe stands on a soapbox to make a speech,
13:38the soapbox breaks.
13:39We cannot take ourselves too seriously.
13:41For the gorgeousness of Carrie's pink, sparkly top and tulle skirt, that's the high.
13:46The low is a toilet filled up with s***.
13:49Because guess what?
13:50Being single, there's a lot of s***.
13:52And relationships are a lot of s***.
13:54It's the comedy with the drama with the romance with the fairy tale.
13:58I guess it's a response to the fairy tale.
14:01The finale itself definitely doesn't feel like a series finale.
14:05Like it was planned as possibly being the last time we ever get to see these characters' lives on screen.
14:10But then the entire show felt phoned in.
14:13So it's hard to tell if this finale fell flat because it was just hastily thrown together after they found out they wouldn't be getting another season,
14:20or if they just never really cared about it to begin with.
14:23The biggest reason the finale fell flat is the same reason the entire show didn't work.
14:27Because it missed the entire point of Sex and the City.
14:30For me, the show is really about the fact that women don't need to be defined by men or by marriage.
14:37Ultimately, the strongest relationships these women have are with themselves.
14:43Aside from nice moments here and there, these women often don't even feel like friends,
14:48or even people who enjoy being around one another.
14:51They all end the show separated, often their own lives that seem almost entirely disconnected from one another.
14:57This ending feels a little bleak, and seems to imply, along with the entire rest of the series,
15:03that these friendships aren't integral to these women's lives anymore.
15:07But that they also don't really have anything else that matters, except whoever they're in a relationship with.
15:13The original show kind of fell into this trap in the end too, of course,
15:16as it took a show about how women don't need relationships to be fulfilled,
15:20and paired them all off into relationships.
15:23But that show still made sure to always focus on how important these friendships were to these women,
15:28no matter what else was going on in their lives.
15:31And in just like that's final episodes,
15:33Carrie is the only character whose arc isn't entirely focused around a relationship.
15:37She trudges around Manhattan with a bunch of pies for everyone who ditched Miranda's dinner,
15:42happily sending them off to their different events.
15:45In a more well-written show, this could have felt positive.
15:47Like everyone's bond was so tight that they know they'll be there for each other,
15:51even if they have to miss one event.
15:53But instead, it just feels like a solidification of the broken bonds.
15:58And just like that felt beautiful, but empty.
16:01The exact opposite of Sex and the City.
16:03In the same way Carrie misses that quirky, kind of broken character of her old apartment,
16:07even as she settled into her fancy new one,
16:10we all miss the more raw, real feeling of the original show compared to this glossy new version.
16:16And the ending really feels like where the story should have begun.
16:19It's unfortunate that we had to spend these three seasons
16:22watching Carrie essentially go through the same arc again,
16:24instead of letting us actually watch her grow and find herself.
16:28Instead of letting us actually watch her grow and evolve into this new,
16:33confident, independent woman on her own.
16:36This reboot might not have lived up to what it could have been,
16:39but at least we'll still always have these characters in our hearts.
16:43Well, we made a deal ages ago.
16:46Men, babies, doesn't matter.
16:49We're still mates.
16:51That's the take.
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