In the SATC franchise’s latest incarnation, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) are having sex (or not) in their fifties, giving viewers the first in-depth, witty and wise look at the love lives of the middle-aged and menopausal since Golden Girls. And while the new series has courted more than its share of controversy and backlash, those admirable bonds between friends are still a joy to witness. Now that the AJLT Season 1 finale has arrived, keep reading to find out everything that happened on Season 1 of And Just Like That…, including the finale!
What happened in the first episode of the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That…?
In Season 1’s opening scene, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte get together for brunch, minus Samantha (formerly played by Kim Cattrall). How did the show explain her absence? “She’s no longer with us,” Charlotte says, to which Miranda quickly clarifies that she’s not dead, but rather, moved to London for work. Later, Carrie and Miranda discuss how Samantha “fired” Carrie as a friend after Carrie decided she needed a different book publicist. That sounds a little dramatic even for Samantha—remember, they’d fought before about her role as Carrie’s publicist and worked it out—but the dialogue almost seemed as if the women were discussing the real-life alleged feud between Parker and Cattrall. Almost. Carrie makes a stop to record a podcast hosted by non-binary comedian Che (SaraRamirez)—and surprisingly, former sex columnist Carrie has a problem talking about sex. Maybe she’s getting a little uptight in her old age? Che tells her she has to “step her p***y up,” words that Carrie can barely get out of her mouth. Meanwhile, Miranda’s character—who seems transplanted from the super-white SATC of the 1990s, having never met a Black person—digs herself into a trying-to-be-anti-racist-but-failing-miserably hole with her new human rights professor, Dr. Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman). Later, the women and their husbands—minus Carrie’s Big (Chris Noth), who stays home to ride his Peloton bike—attend the piano recital of Charlotte’s daughter Lily (Cathy Ang), along with bickering couple Stanford (Willie Garson) and Anthony (Mario Cantone), and Charlotte’s new mom friend Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker). In the episode’s shocking and very-talked-about ending, Carrie comes home to find Big collapsed in the shower after riding his Peloton. Her reaction is to cradle his near-death body instead of calling 911—but hey, she was in shock, so who are we to judge her reaction? An ambulance probably wouldn’t have gotten there in time anyway… or would it? Debate forever. “And just like that, Big died,” Carrie says in voiceover. She also ruined her wedding-day Manolo Blahniks in the process, a loss almost as devastating for viewers as Big’s demise.
What happens in the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That…?
Here’s what’s happened on AJLT since Big’s death at the end of episode 1: Carrie plans a very chic, minimalist black-and-white funeral for Big, with only one display of flowers allowed because they were sent from Samantha (but really, she couldn’t have flown in from London?). The funeral scenes are especially poignant for viewers because of the real-life death of Willie Garson from cancer during filming of the show. We get a little levity with SATC alum Susan Sharon (Molly Price) remarking about Big, “Am I the only one that remembers what a prick he was to her?” This brings up the good point that we’ve romanticized Carrie and Big’s relationship over the years, when really, much of it was toxic. Once Big is buried, we see Carrie carrie-ing on remarkably well in subsequent episodes, doing her podcast—and apparently, even getting in some good zingers that impress Che—and trying to find comfort in the fact that she and Big had never been happier at the time of his passing. Then she attends the reading of Big’s will and finds out he’s left $1 million to… Naginsky?! That would be Natasha (Bridget Moynahan), his wife before Carrie. The news sends Carrie spiraling (and acting a lot like the old Carrie, as she later notes herself) and she starts stalking Natasha before ultimately bumping into her completely by accident in an Upper West Side coffee shop. Natasha gives Carrie some major cold shoulder at first, but hey do wind up talking, and Carrie finds out that Natasha had not spoken to Big since their divorce. Carrie surmises that the $1 million Big left for Natasha was meant to be his way of saying he was sorry. Carrie soon decides to sell the apartment she shared with Big, enlisting a super-high-end realtor, Seema (Sarita Choudhury). The two bond and grow to be close friends. Meanwhile, Miranda seems to be going through even more emotional upheaval than the grieving Carrie. She has a hard time in her human rights class at the start of the season because she constantly winds up with her foot in her mouth in front of her Black professor, Dr. Nya Wallace (KarenPittman), but ultimately they become friends. She is also questioning whether her life—in a sexless marriage, living with her ungrateful teenage son and his girlfriend—is something she actually wants. Her dissatisfaction comes to a head when she hooks up with Che at Carrie’s place as she’s recovering from hip surgery. Che and Miranda have sex standing up in Carrie’s kitchen, which Carrie wakes up and hears, right when she needs someone’s help going to the bathroom; it’s a messy scene, both physically and emotionally! Heading into the finale, Miranda leaves Steve (DavidEigenberg) and starts up a relationship with Che. In Charlotte’s world, the major news on the family front is that her younger child has rejected identifying as a girl, which Charlotte both tries to accept and heavily questions at the same time. Meanwhile, Charlotte also really wants to be better friends with her PTA cohort, Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker). At one point, Charlotte plans a friendly get-together at her apartment just to get closer to LTW, but realizes Lisa and her husband would be the only Black folks in attendance. Ultimately, Charlotte and Harry (EvanHandler) wind up attending LTW’s husband’s birthday party, where it turns out they’re the only white couple in attendance. While Charlotte has forced Harry to study up on Black literature in preparation, she winds up impressing LTW herself when she explains to her mother-in-law the value of her African-American art collection.
What happens in the And Just Like That… Season 1 finale?
Things are progressing nicely for Carrie at the start of AJLT’s final episode of Season 1. She’s continuing to get the hang of things at the podcast she does with Che, and she goes on another date with nice guy Peter (Jon Tenney), which results in her first romantic kiss since Big’s death. However, she’s not sure how she feels about the kiss and calls up Seema—who, unlike Carrie, is in the throes of lust, shacking up in a hotel with her new love interest, Zed (William Abadie). Meanwhile, Carrie suspects that Big’s ghost isn’t too thrilled about her kiss either, as her reading lamp starts blinking on and off for no reason, which she takes as a sign. Still not sure how she feels about the kiss, Carrie also texts Samantha to tell her about it, and the two ex-friends engage in another round of witty banter via SMS. When Carrie asks if Samantha wants to talk, Samantha replies, “Soon.” In Charlotte’s world, things are rocky with Rock, who apparently hasn’t been studying for their upcoming “they mitzvah,” while in Miranda’s world, she’s shocked to find out that meeting Che’s family for the first time also means finding out for the first time that Che is relocating to L.A. for a few months to shoot a TV pilot—and they want Miranda to come with them. Che also abruptly ends their podcast with Carrie and Jackie (Bobby Lee), which seems even harsher; we definitely agree with Che calling themselves a narcissist! Big’s older brother asks Carrie to meet him for lunch, apparently to quiz her about where Big’s remains are (on a shelf in her closet next to her best shoes, she tells him). He suggests placing Big’s ashes in the Preston family crypt, where Carrie is welcome to wind up too, if she likes! Instead, Carrie has a dream in which Big “visits” her and she realizes she’s meant to throw his ashes into the Seine River in Paris, at the bridge where they’d kissed in the Sex and the City series finale. At Rock’s they mitzvah, Carrie tells Miranda and Charlotte about her Paris plans and invites them to come with, but then Miranda reveals her plans to relocate to L.A. with Che. Carrie and Miranda have a bit of a fight in the bathroom over Miranda’s decision to throw away her prestigious internship to just sit around in L.A., but the rabbi scheduled to perform the they mitzvah overhears them and reminds them that their friendship is the most important thing. Carrie ultimately decides she can go to Paris on her own, and Charlotte tells Miranda, “You owe me a trip to Paris.” (Which, totally!) Rock’s they mitzvah nearly doesn’t happen after Rock reveals they don’t want to be labeled a Jew (or even a New Yorker, gasp!) Charlotte saves the day by performing the rite of passage herself. Then Miranda travels to L.A. (with her hair dyed red again) and Carrie travels to Paris and throws Big’s ashes in the Seine, after which, she texts Samantha (who, remember, has been in London this whole time) and they make plans to meet for a drink. The finale ends with Carrie getting her own relationship advice podcast called (whaddaya know?) Sex and the City, and her podcast producer kissing her in the elevator. (Apparently, this show still hasn’t quite gotten the message that unexpected romantic advances from colleagues in the workplace can be problematic, but hey, maybe we’ll hash that out in Season 2.) Still not over episode 1’s ending? Check out 40 And Just Like That… memes about Peloton, Mr. Big, and THAT Sex And the City reboot’s shocking death.
