And Just Like That: Everything I Hate About Sex and the City’s Reboot
I’m in a long term relationship with Sex and the City. Since middle school, I’ve watched the series upwards of fifteen times– sometimes lovingly, sometimes mockingly, sometimes earnestly, sometimes ironically– like Carrie and Big, it’s complicated. I don’t always know where we stand. But one thing I know for sure: I hate this reboot. Here’s just some of the reasons.
1) Samantha wouldn’t cut herself off from the group over a professional disagreement. In the original series, she and Carrie butt heads by trying to mix business and friendship (SATC S5E4), and they work through it. You’re just not going to convince me that Samantha, always the bigger person who admits when she’s wrong, would peace out to London and refuse to answer any of their calls.
2) They’re bullying Kim Cattrall. I don’t pretend to know the details of what went on behind the scenes, but after Kim made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in coming back for more Sex and the City, they should have left it at that. Instead, they filled the reboot with little conflicts that could only be resolved by Samantha’s return, in the hopes that she’d feel enough pressure to cave. Imagine starting a job in your 40s and being made to feel like a bad person for not wanting to keep doing it in your 60s. Leave her alone. She just wants to play upright bass and scat. Google that.
3) They tried to create complex new characters who were people of color, but it played out like each of the white girls went and found a non-white friend to solve all their problems.
4) Why is Miranda morally opposed to hair dye? We already know she colors her hair, as evidenced by the time she took Samantha’s hair appointment and came back a different shade. (SATC S5E6).
5) The tagline sucks. I knew we were off to a bad start when I saw HBO Max promoting the series with “Just like a good pair of shoes, friendship never goes out of style.” Not only would Carrie be the first to tell you that shoes very much go out of style, but the fact that Samantha is in another time zone and never speaking to us again proves that the second clause sucks, too.
6) I’d rather it exist in a fictional timeline where covid never happened than in a fictional timeline where it did happen but everything’s better now. I know they had to find some way to work with what they were given, but it feels weird to see Mr. Big’s vaccination record and then go to a crowded comedy show with no masks.
7) Why is Miranda bored of TV and dessert? That’s what she cites as the reason she can’t be with Steve anymore: All they do is watch TV and eat dessert. Canonically, TV and dessert are her two great loves! She eats chocolate cake out of the trash (S4E4). She has a breakdown over her TiVo (S6E2). Without TV and dessert, who is Miranda?
8) It’s missing some of our favorite characters. Is Smith Jerrod now a Marvel star? Does Aiden still work on Steve’s bar? No mention of Magda? Come on.
9) Charlotte states explicitly that she doesn’t like a certain type of intimacy (S1E7) to the point where it’s a dealbreaker in an otherwise great relationship, but suddenly she partakes all the time.
10) Carrie looks into cosmetic procedures for no reason but to bum the audience out. The episode doesn’t provide any real commentary on aging or self expression or the male gaze or choice. It just says “Hey you’re old and gross now” to an audience that likely already doesn’t have Carrie’s resources.
11) Charlotte’s child isn’t the first nonbinary Jewish person to come of age, but instead of using the episode to show Charlotte learning something about traditions that already exist (I myself just learned about the concept of a b’nai mitzvah from a queer Jewish blogger), they made a joke about a “they mitzvah” and left it at that. See:https://www.heyalma.com/what-the-they-mitzvah-on-and-just-like-that-got-wrong-about-queerness-in-judaism/
12) Why would Miranda be rude about Carrie believing in heaven? Her friends are there to back her up when she gets Brady baptized out of respect for Steve’s family (S5E2), they go to her mother’s funeral in a church (S4E8), and she speaks at Charlotte’s Jewish wedding (S6E8). It’s a weird time to dunk on religion, Rambo. Save it for any other time, like when your friend isn’t actively expressing her grief.
13) Mr. Big was a bad character the whole time and now we have an entire TV show about celebrating his memory. I’d rather see Carrie married to Petrovsky or Berger or the pee guy. Or the Peleton.
At the end of the day, all I really have to say to And Just Like That is… I’m sorry. I can’t. Don’t hate me.
