Hand Me My Pitchfork – I Hate And Just Like That Too!
Ok, I’ve got my torch, my pitchfork, and I’ve jumped on the “I hate And Just Like That” bandwagon. First, let’s talk about the original show. Although I found Carrie incredibly vapid and self-obsessed, I did really like Sex and the City. I was under no illusions that the lives of our four heroines were in any way similar to what life would actually be like in New York City, but the ultra-rich, ultra-white lifestyles they lived was fun.
Cynthia Nixon said that in the original series, there were “tone deaf” moments. I’m sorry to say they haven’t ironed them out in And Just Like That. In fact, I’d say they’re worse. So many moments are horrible and almost ruin how much I enjoyed the original series. I won’t say it couldn’t have used a great many more larger bodies, but bygones.
SPOILERS! I’m sure it hopes without saying, but I’m going to be talking about elements of the first five episodes of the season. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s best you don’t read on. If you hate it too, welcome! Let’s see if the reasons I hate And Just Like That match yours.
10 Moments That Make Me Hate And Just Like That
1) I don’t miss Samantha as much as others seem to. I enjoyed her owning her sexuality and straight-talking, but I believe the show can proceed and succeed without her. HOWEVER, I do not believe anyone who had spent two decades hanging out with Samantha and has had a sex column for most of her adult life would get giggly and embarrassed discussing masturbation. It was both annoying and cringy.
2) Carrie not calling an ambulance as Big lay dying. I read the interview with Chris Noth. He said that the focus was on getting a shot where Carrie and Big both knew he was dying and shared it in a look. It was powerful, but I believe they could still have got it AFTER she took the blindingly obvious step of calling an ambulance.
3) Brady noisily banging his girlfriend every chance he gets in his parents home! Even if some parents out there would allow their kids to do that, no kid would want his parents to listen to him having sex! I know teenagers are pretty self-involved and oblivious at times but puh-lease! If any of you parents out there do have a child that does this, please let me know, and I’ll stand corrected.
4) Miranda turning into a blithering idiot around her black professor. She was a smart, modern career woman. There’s no way a very experienced lawyer would be this inept.
5) Charlotte and Harry’s daughter Rose has become Rock, and the show tries to demonstrate how little Charlotte understands by her making her children wear matching dresses.
It seems like they’re just shoehorning another non-binary character in, and it’s not even subtle. We’ve barely had any time even to get to know Rose. If they wanted to go down this path, it should have been later in the series.
6) Getting rid of Stanford as they did. Stanford was an utterly beloved character, and the actor who played him, Willie Garson, tragically passed away in real life. That was unavoidable. Everyone who loved Stanford was owed a lot more than him leaving a note and disappearing to Japan. He wasn’t Jack Berger, for god’s sake!
7) Charlotte’s black friend, Lisa. Again, we are given no character development. In an extremely cringy moment, Antony even refers to her as “black Charlotte.” Ok, so the only identity this woman has is as a black mother who is a little like Charlotte? Groundbreaking!
8) I thought we might have turned a bit of a corner when Charlotte wanted to hold a dinner party to get to know Lisa better. Fab! I thought. We might get a chance to find out more about Lisa and her husband. Charlotte obsessing about only having one black couple at the dinner is totally who she is, no problem.
Similarly, when Lisa ends up holding the party, Charlotte would absolutely swot up on black culture and make sure Harry does too. I was starting to feel encouraged at this point. I thought the show might finally be hitting its stride. Then we reached the dinner party. Firstly, Charlotte mistook one of the women there for someone else. My first thought was, “because all black people look alike, right?” I’m sure I’m not the only one. Harry’s attempted save asking about the new Zadie Smith book was genius, though and reinforced my love of him as a character.
Then when Lisa’s mother-in-law, whose performance and personality appears to have been taken from “mother-in-laws for dummies”, criticises Lisa, Charlotte is there to save the day! Yay! Are we expected to believe that not a single other person around the table knew about black artists? Also, Miranda’s professor picked her up on her “white saviour” mentality in the first episode. Why do this??
9) The token Indian in the form of Carrie’s realtor. Again, zero character development beyond the fact that she has an Indian name, is a realtor and is single. As attitudes toward women and marriage are quite different in India and Pakistan, discussing the differences and the additional pressures they put on Seema would have been a great way to go. When The Big Bang Theory does a better job of exploring Indian culture, you know you’ve got something wrong!
10) We have reached the big one…Miranda cheating on Steve with Che! I don’t care that she has had no non-male leanings up to that point. Samatha became a lesbian for a while; we’ve been there. The issue is the HUGE fuss Miranda made when Steve confessed to cheating on her in the first movie. It was an incredibly powerful storyline, so for Miranda to turn around and do exactly the same thing makes my blood boil!
She says that the worst part was the cheating, the behind her back, the breaking of the trust. Then she does it and tries to justify it to Carrie by saying she is unhappy. How the eff does she think Steve felt when he did it? My only thought for that entire scene was, “you hypocritical bitch!”
They also appear to have retconned the movies as Miranda and Steve were shown to have a very strong, loving marriage after they got back together.
Honourable Mentions
The ten above were the things I hated most, but there are lots more. Here are a few in bullet form.
- Carrie stalking Natasha. Have she and Big not wrecked that poor woman’s life enough? No, because Carrie is always thinking only of herself.
- Chris Noth being in it at all, considering the allegations he is a sexual predator.
- Miranda’s sex scene being awful and uncomfortable to watch. I was peeking through my fingers for most of it.
- Ditto, Big’s masturbation scene.
- Carrie calling wearing flats a huge problem following her surgery. That woman does not know the meaning of the word!
- Everyone acting like Covid is over, taking no precautions and encouraging unsafe behaviour.
Ok, I need to stop now as I’m sure you get the idea and understand why I hate And Just Like That. If you think I’m being too harsh, or think there are things I’ve missed out, please pop them in the comments 🙂
