By Beth Wheeler
*This story contains spoilers for “And Just Like That…”.
By now, the entire world is aware of the new “Sex and The City” reboot, “And Just Like That…” produced by Michael Patrick King. To put it short, “Sex and The City,” the show (and the movie, if I’m generous) was about four marvelous women in their 30s and 40s taking on New York and the trials that come with it. The show broke records and raised many young women (like myself), teaching us that we can, too, be successful women and enjoy the same pleasures as men.
The HBO hit ended off with Carrie (Sara Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) finally united, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) finally back together as a married family with their son Brady (Niall Cunningham), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) together and decided on adoption and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) and Smith (Jason Lewis) embarking on their PR journey and continuing love story.
So, naturally, when it was announced that they would release a reboot on HBOMax, I was practically peeing my pants.
Aired on December 9, 2021, the new show takes place right back in marvelous New York City, present-day, and includes the original characters now in their 50s. Right off the bat, viewers were shocked that Kim Cattrall (a.k.a PR queen Samantha Jones) would not be returning to the show.
To O.G. fans, this came as no surprise due to speculations and rumors that co-stars Kim Cattrall and Sara Jessica Parker had a rocky relationship during the original filming. A simple google search can lead anyone down a rabbit hole of instances where drama allegedly broke out among the group of co-stars over the past 23 years, many of it leading back to Cattrall v. Parker. (See this link for example.)
However, what made it worse was the excuse that the producers wrote into the dialogue, claiming that Samantha was angered that Carrie cut her from being her manager. Having watched all six seasons of “Sex and The City,” every fan knows Samantha Jones would never put her PR career above her friends. Writing her off as the bitter ex-business partner was a cheap hit.
On a brighter note, it was heart-warming to see Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte back together again with their respective partners. Carrie and Big, for once, seemed to be getting along with a successful marriage. Charlotte, in addition to her adopted daughter, has a daughter of her own (previously revealed in the “Sex and The City” movies that followed the ending of the original show). Miranda and Steve are raising teenage Brady. All is well.
Until…Big suffers a heart attack in the very first episode. Now, regardless of their toxic relationship, I shed a tear along with probably 90% of the viewers watching at the time. A legendary relationship would come to an end over a Peloton bike. The way this scene played out left viewers with many questions that they quickly took to online with –
”Why did Carrie just sit there and not call the police?”
“What was the point of killing a main character this early on?”
“Why bring him back anyways for one episode?”
The series unfolds into many more scenes filled with second-hand embarrassment and plot lines that could’ve used a few more revisions. Many fans cringed at the beginning scenes of Miranda trying to appear hyper socially aware in her classes. Critics complained about the unnecessary vulgarity of the scene of Brady being loud next to his parents’ room. Additionally, Miranda and Steve are even flown right back into their own toxic cycle, but I’ll leave that for you to watch. Am I happy that they’ve rebooted possibly one of the most iconic TV shows of all time? To answer that I say, don’t fix something that isn’t broken, and Kim Cattrall deserves an apology letter.
