'And Just Like That' Is Laying The Groundwork For A Carrie-Aidan Reunion

Here comes Aidan! I wish this had been kept more of a surprise. — Marina

I'm skeptical about where this long-awaited Aidan-and-Carrie reunion is going to lead, but I’m glad they’re working it into the overall storyline with a wink to the original series (in which Carrie emailed him from an AOL account) and in the most natural way possible. — Curtis

“Oh my God, he's online! Can he see me?” I’m chuckling just remembering that scene. — Marina

I loved Carrie admitting to her girlfriends at dinner how much she’s stalked Aidan online. I mean, who among us hasn’t been there? If I were Carrie’s friend, I’d tell her that reaching out to him is ill-advised. But I’m not, and I think this will make for some very good television. — Lydia

It’s interesting that Miranda seemed much more devastated by Steve (David Eigenberg) seemingly putting the final nail in the coffin of their marriage than by the end of her current relationship with Che. I felt the same way, and I imagine most longtime "SATC" viewers did, too. On the bright side, it looks like the cynical, pragmatic Miranda we’ve known and loved is slowly re-emerging. I’m also glad to see Steve isn’t the victim in this scenario, as much as Miranda might have wanted him to be. — Curtis

Both of these breakup conversations were a long time coming, so I’m kind of glad the Band-Aid got ripped off, so to speak. The only silver lining of these back-to-back breakups is that hopefully we’ll get to see more of Miranda and Nya (Karen Pittman) being pals and roommates. I like the “two divorcées having dinner parties” situation they have right now. — Marina

Perhaps it shouldn’t have, but Che breaking things off with Miranda really caught me off guard. Their relationship dynamic has been questionable since the beginning, but the final straw was their conflicting schedules and Che’s disappointment in their failed pilot? I don’t buy it. — Lydia

Karen/Kerry’s claim about Carrie abandoning a Hollywood project they’d planned to work on together seemed dubious. Even when her private life was in shambles, Carrie was rarely professionally irresponsible. (Side note: I chuckled at the notion of Karen and Carrie coming up with the idea for “27 Dresses,” a movie with merits I’ll gladly defend to anyone who will listen.)

To further your earlier point about the ways in which film and TV misrepresent journalists, Marina: Screenwriting requires a vastly different skill set than traditional journalism, so it seems unlikely that Carrie would’ve attempted to segue into movies, at least before she’d truly established herself as a writer. Still, guilt has always been a powerful motivator for Carrie — and I certainly can relate! — so Karen clearly knew what she was doing. — Curtis

I agree this plotline seemed off, Curtis! While, yes, Carrie was “drunk for most of the ’90s” (lol), she wouldn’t have forgotten about a work meeting or completely erased a writing partner from her memory. It was, however, very fun to see Rachel Dratch pop up here. — Marina

I don’t know; I wouldn’t be surprised if ’90s Carrie was really not feeling this project with Karen/Kerry and, instead of formally backing out, just didn’t show up to their last meeting. Our girl is pretty conflict avoidant! Either way, I love a Rachel Dratch appearance. — Lydia

This is a small detail, but the opening scene of Carrie being interviewed about her book annoyed the hell out of me. The “journalist” (or perhaps influencer?) was so unprepared. I get that it’s the point of this scene. But even if you’re short on time and you have multiple stories or interviews that day, you’d never be that unprepared when sitting down to talk with someone who’s taking the time to talk with you.

Media illiteracy, and not understanding what our jobs as journalists entail, are big problems these days. And there’s often a conflation of journalists and influencers, even though the two groups do very different things and serve very different purposes. I feel there tend to be a lot of inaccurate portrayals of journalists in pop culture — and a lot of journalist characters who are just bad at their jobs — so this kind of character doesn’t help. — Marina

I agree, Marina! Most people don’t have direct interactions with journalists, so it’s really annoying that TV and movies regularly portray us as such incompetent and/or unethical. I do find it interesting that we’re getting such a big plotline out of Carrie trying to promote this book. We didn’t get that with her first few books during the original series, and she certainly had a lot more on the line then, before she married into Big’s money. — Lydia

If Carrie getting a new computer was an homage to the Season 4 "Sex and the City" episode “My Motherboard, My Self,” Seema (Sarita Choudhury) asking Carrie to share a summer home rental in the Hamptons felt like a wink at that show's Season 2. In the episode “Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women,” the original foursome headed to the Hamptons. At the time, Carrie balked at the suggestion of sharing a summer house with her single girlfriends, saying it was like being “the oldest kid at summer camp,” so I’m glad she’s come around to the idea in her 50s. The Hamptons episodes in the original series are among my favorites, so I hope we’ll get to see Carrie and Seema hit the beach later this season. — Curtis

Ah yes, good memory! I too hope we get to see the two of them hanging out in the Hamptons, maybe lounging poolside with cocktails in hand. I also like how the show, through Seema's character, continues to explore both the joys and challenges of being a single woman in middle age. “I can’t spend another weekend sharing a room with a married friend’s kid’s surfboard.” This is a very real challenge when you’re single and surrounded by a lot of coupled friends. — Marina

I’m SO excited to see these two head to the Hamptons. I hope we don’t have to wait until next season to watch that happen. Perhaps we’ll once again get to see Carrie in an absolutely deranged board shorts ensemble! My ears did perk up when Seema said it had always been “too Bravo TV” for her to ask another single girl to do a summer house share with her, because that’s the second dig thrown at "The Real Housewives of New York City" this season. Sarah Jessica Parker is super good friends with the face of Bravo himself, Andy Cohen, so I wonder what he thinks about these cheeky references. — Lydia

When Charlotte (Kristin Davis) made a brief reference to her first husband, Trey (Kyle MacLachlan), at a dinner party in this episode, it made me yearn once again for more complex storylines for her character. Now that they’re finding ways to bring Aidan and even Samantha (Kim Cattrall) back into the fold, maybe they can consider giving us a run-in with Trey and his mother, Bunny (Frances Sternhagen), at a gallery opening or something. However, we’ve been catching glimpses of Charlotte embracing being a sex-positive parent this season, so I like that they’re continuing to showcase her evolution from the character we thought we knew in the original series. The frenzied, mid-blizzard phone chat she and Carrie shared was a nice touch, too. — Curtis

I agree, Curtis! Bunny seems like the kind of person who would live forever, tormenting Charlotte with her tartan home decor and duck decoys for all of eternity. On another note, I would be completely fine with this show nixing any storyline involving the main characters’ offspring. Take Lisa and Herb (Chris Jackson): One of Lisa’s kids accidentally jumped on Herb’s penis before promptly exiting the scene — and that’s plenty of kid screen time for me! — Lydia

Since we no longer get Carrie’s voiceovers, Carrie speaking at WidowCon was a welcome reminder that she is a professional writer, even if things didn’t go exactly according to plan at first. Her decision to invite Che (Sara Ramírez) was somewhat inexplicable, though I appreciated getting to see Che in a different context and outside of their relationship with Miranda. — Curtis

Carrie begging Che to come to WidowCon felt very silly to me. I’m annoyed with the way this show throws characters together for scenes in ways that don’t make sense, even if it’s to move the plot forward somehow. Aside from that, I was glad this event went well for Carrie and that she had a good moment with the comedian after their speeches. — Lydia

The montage of various characters having to venture out in the blizzard, while decked out head to toe, was a really fun idea. I especially loved Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), with her cape and her very carefully transporting her wig to her big MoMA event and then putting it back on in the bathroom, looking incredibly cool and badass. And that moment with her and the older Black woman was very sweet.

I had to chuckle, though, because this whole plotline feels increasingly fictitious: We had virtually no snow in New York this winter, thanks to the climate crisis. So they must have had to haul in a lot of fake snow to film these scenes. — Marina

I’m a sucker for a fashion montage, and nobody does them better than “Sex and the City.” LTW’s look was especially breathtaking. But I, too, couldn’t shake the unsettling thought that it’s been so long since we’ve seen a major snowfall, and genuine winter wear, in New York City in real life. — Curtis

I am absolutely obsessed with Carrie’s feather-filled duvet of a winter coat. Do you think she needs to store that thing in her apartment in an air compression bag? Also, this coat was somehow the most practical bomb cyclone gear in this episode. — Lydia