And Just Like That

By Joanna Langfield

Too big and not Big Enough, the long awaited Sex and the City evolution pushes its embossed envelope in directions we need and some, maybe we don’t.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis have returned for this new chapter of life in the big city. Kim Cattrall took a pass and a few other actors are casually dismissed as well. You know the spoiler: (if not, please skip to the next paragraph) Chris Noth, aka Mr. Big, is killed off in the first episode, too much Peleton, we are told. And perhaps this all should have come with a trigger warning. Heart attack, Covid or being hit by a bus, are any of us really ready to enjoy watching Carrie, happy at last, cradle her dying man, losing his life in the closet of her dreams? Especially right off the bat of this series, just when everybody could have enjoyed a little bit more sexy fun and happiness?

But moving on is not all this next chapter has on its oh so coiffed mind. It’s been a while since we all checked in and times, as they say, are a changing. Carrie is now a guest contributor on a podcast, Charlotte is raising her two, very different daughters on the swell Upper East Side and Miranda is back at law school, trying to make the world a better place. Each realizes she needs to adapt to the socially new world and, one way or the other, finds a new friend, each of whom, go figure, is a woman of color. I mean yay, but all the Important Modern Life Lessons feel more like a list of obligations noted, however well intentioned.

I did like the idea of 50 somethings having to face their no longer first place in the world, the idea that some friendships, no matter how close, can end and that some New York real estate and wardrobes are just fabulous. But as nice a reunion as this promises to be, the MVP is not a repeat face, but a brand now one. Sara Ramirez is a true standout as a standup comic and very different friend, an actress who promises more than the press has gotten to see in the show’s first 4 chapters, both to her audience and to the women who may or may not just like that.