Spoilers below.
On season 2, episode 10, And Just Like That… makes a shocking reveal: Carrie has lived in NYC for 35 years and never been to Coney Island. The only reason she finally drags herself out there is for Aidan, of course, who is visiting his bar partner, Steve. Steve is opening some sort of shack on the boardwalk as part of his breakup healing journey. Carrie has been pushing herself out of her comfort zone a lot for Aidan, but it is starting to look like her efforts might be in vain.
First of all, she’s sold her little studio apartment to jewelry designer Lysette and is moving into her new place with all the bedrooms for her boyfriend’s kids. Those kids are back in Virginia with their mom. His youngest, Wyatt, is struggling with his dad’s absence and FaceTiming him constantly.
Fans have been wondering how this relationship with Carrie could tank, because she actually seems to want to stick with him this round. In a conversation about “big” mistakes of the past, Aidan admits that he also tried too hard to force Carrie into some form of commitment that suited him and not her when they were engaged long ago. Having been married and divorced, he understands now that nothing is guaranteed in this life. Still, he refuses to attend the Last Supper party Carrie’s planning at her old apartment catered by a Michelin chef. Stubbornness boxes people out of so much fun!
Other invitees at the supper include not just Steve, but Che. The event is bound to be a veritable who’s who of Miranda’s exes. After watching Nya buy a $1,000 stroller for her ex-husband’s baby shower, Miranda feels challenged to bridge the gap between herself and Che, whom she hasn’t spoken to since their break up. As a surprise, she joins Aidan and Carrie at the first comedy set Che’s done since their pilot tanked.
Che’s new material comes from a pretty angry place. They watched some old footage of a comedy set from when they still went by “Cheryl Diaz” and relied on hack jokes about heterosexual dating. It brought up a lot of feelings. Not knowing Miranda is in the audience, Che makes some nasty observations about their confused ex-girlfriend who is bad at sex. Miranda leaves and Che sees her heading out the door looking devastated. They follow her to the street, but no feelings are soothed. Che insists on their right to be themself and talk about whatever they want however they want. While Miranda storms off, Che is affirmed by another enby named Tobey, who is clearly crushing.
At work, things are going slightly better for Miranda. Her boss is back from maternity leave, and the two of them are now working as a team at Human Rights Watch. During a brief at the U.N., Miranda meets Joy, a tall woman with Italian greyhounds and no kids. Seems like it might be a match? TBD.
Charlotte is also slaying at work, which is causing trouble at home. She’s getting constant calls and texts from Rock and Lily. Meanwhile, Harry is being pushed to do all the things he took for granted when Charlotte did them as a stay-at-home mom. When she sells a very expensive painting to guest star Sam Smith, Charlotte lets loose at after-hours drinks and tosses her phone into a margarita pitcher. Arriving home drunk, she finds her worried family and dismisses their concerns entirely. The only person she is worried about is her dog, Richard Burton.
Other couples having trouble at home include Herbert and Lisa, who are newly expecting. PBS has offered Lisa the huge opportunity to expand her documentary into a docuseries, but knowing there’s a baby on the way makes her think it might never happen. Her resentment boils over, and she lashes out at her husband for never getting a vasectomy.
The pair have a pretty candid discussion about why the birth control procedure never happened, but talk around the decision to have an abortion. Lisa says she can’t do it without really saying why, which is in line with how SATC has handled abortion talks in the past. It’s a mysteriously unfathomable choice even when it clearly makes sense. But before the episode is over, Lisa has a miscarriage. It’s a strange plot point to throw into the mix and then solve without much nuance or real insight into the character’s inner life.
Another odd plot point that doesn’t have any resolution is that Anthony won’t let Giuseppe top him. And it’s not just because the Italian poet is bigger than most first timers can handle. Anthony insists that the newer generation is just too vers for their own good. There’s a part two to “The Last Supper” next week, so stay tuned for bottoming. As Giuseppe asks, “Why would you be afraid of more love?”
Carrie says more or less the same thing to Seema after the latter tells her lover of three and a half weeks, Ravi, that she loves him while they’re in bed. (And he says it back.) The extremely practical Seema can’t believe she threw away all of her smart dating rules in a moment of passion. Carrie is very pro-love these days, and advises her, “If you feel love—run after it, give it all you have.”
Anthony makes another appearance at Carrie’s house, where she tells him his ex-husband Stanford (RIP Willie Garson) has moved to Kyoto permanently, where he has become a Shinto monk. After being fired by his TikTok client, he entered a temple and wrote to Carrie, “For the first time in my life I felt peace, real peace.”
Stanford has left Anthony all of his belongings and the apartment, and asks Carrie to tell him that he has “let go of all things that no longer serve me, with love.”
Things seem to be mostly peaceful for Carrie, too, until the blow lands. Aidan gets a call from his ex-wife saying Wyatt has broken his collarbone. He rushes back to Virginia to find that his son hitched to Aidan’s farm, drank a few beers, and drove his truck into a tree, breaking his leg as well. He cries into the phone to Carrie about how he “should have been there” for his son. Both Carrie and the viewers can see that the end is near.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.