SATC...And Just Like That Episode 1 Review

Sex and the City, or the Bible of Womanhood as I like to call it, is back. It's hard to navigate when the right time is to stop catching up with our old friends and let the rest of their stories live on in our imaginations.

The last episode of Sex and the City aired in 2004. The first movie came out in 2008 followed by the second movie in 2010. Three years later during my first year of college, I'd finally sit down and watch the whole series in chronological order. So I was never invested in the show at the same time they were filming. This new mini series gave me a second chance to be present in a reality where Sex and the City was still in active production. I could easily take a bus from Boston to New York and stand for long hours outside of filming locations hoping for a glimpse of these iconic actors.

With that being said, I wasn't sure how I felt about our girl Samantha (Kim Cattrall) not being included in this new material. And (spoiler alert) Mr. Big (Chris Noth) DIES in the first episode. That is teetering on the edge of too much change for me. When key components that made the show so special disappear, it starts to not feel like the same show. In my mind, Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are best friends forever and ever and ever. Hasn't the main point of the show been these women and their everlasting, unconditional friendship with each other? And in my mind, Mr. Big and Carrie live happily ever after because Carrie didn't spend over 10 years breaking her back trying to get this man just for him to DIE on her.

So let's back up and catch up with the girls....

Carrie's opening outfit is superb-- the hat she wears immediately did it for me. Sarah Jessica Parker honestly looked great the whole time. In 2021, Carrie explores the new territory of social media and podcasts which I think is a great transition from her 90's newspaper column and book deals. With that being said, she is pressured by the podcast host to talk in graphic detail about public masturbation. I get it-- people are a lot less shameful about sex now than they were years ago. But even so... boundaries are also a thing. I can't imagine someone being threatened of losing their job because they don't feel comfortable sharing personal, intimate details. You can still talk about sex without talking about your OWN sex life. The host sends Carrie home saying "step your pussy up." Has anyone literally ever said that? LOL. It was an uncomfortable scene and not because Carrie was uncomfortable, but because it was outside of reality and the whole show is about being real.

After that experience, Carrie goes home to Big and asks him if he masturbates. Sure, I can see that conversation privately happening. But then it gets WEIRD. Like cringey, 'I don't want to look at the screen, I love Mr. Big, please don't ruin this for me' weird. He starts masturbating in front of her and says "getting some lube, I'm not 30." I could have gone my entire life without hearing Mr, Big say that. During the series, we saw Samantha having graphic (and comedic) sex all the time...but Carrie and Big weren't portrayed like that. They always had passionate make out scenes followed by the close of a door to indicate that they had slept together. NEVER, EVER did we see any explicit touching, facial expressions, or noises. That scene low key ruined the romantic, idealist version of their relationship I've always had.

SO THEN when Big has a random heart attack and DIES, I'm left feeling kind of ANGRY. Recovering from the gross masturbation scene gave me less empathy for him but I was still missing the old Mr. Big and their marriage from the past two movies. I'm mad that the producers thought Sex and the City could continue without Big (and Samantha). I'm mad that Chris Noth didn't want to come back full time. And I'm mad that after all that heartache we all witnessed first hand, Carrie and Big's time together is cut short. Also WHY DIDN'T SHE CALL 911?

Almost instantly, I said out loud "Cynthia Nixon is performing the best." She still felt like Miranda. Her attitude and comedic timing was spot on. Even though she was obviously older and her hair is grey now, she never lost that 'Miranda spunk.' I love that she was so confident telling Charlotte why she wasn't going to dye her hair back to red and then privately asked Carrie what her opinion was when it was just them two. "We can't just stay who we were" was repeated a couple times throughout this episode and honestly, all the power to you, Miranda.

I can absolutely see her getting a master's degree in human rights but to be honest, I'm surprised her and Steve are still together. God bless that man LOL. When she has her first day of classes and her professor is black, she stumbles over her words and ends up over explaining why she didn't think her professor would have braided hair, making her look like an uncultured boomer. We've known Miranda for years and know she has the best intentions which makes it frustrating when her class judges her so quickly but I think it's an experience that a lot of people her age go through. Keeping up with the changes in society is a learning experience for all.

Kristin Davis if there is any chance in hell that you're reading this amateur blog right now, please don't hate me. But there is something off with her mouth. This isn't one of those things about age but rather one of those things about trying to reverse age. Lip filler? I don't know, but it was enough for me to notice.

It was great seeing Charlotte's daughters Lily and Rose grown up since we really only met them as babies. I love that Charlotte is a perfectionist and ironically gets stuck with Rose, who is very messy / tomboy / most likely queer. She really wanted the perfect man, the perfect marriage, and the perfect daughters but life has given her some curveballs. I think it portrays how we can make as many plans as we want but God (or the universe) laughs.

And finally, our dear Samantha. Right off the bat the girls run into a friend who asks where she is and Charlotte says "she is no longer with us" followed by Miranda correcting her "Oh, she's not dead she just moved to the UK for work." I thought the death joke was a bit odd. I know the whole fandom was speculating that maybe their excuse for no Samantha would be that she died from reoccurring cancer but to say it right after the mention of covid was poor timing. Carrie later says that she didn't need Samantha as a publicist anymore so Samantha stopped talking to her. "I didn't realize I was only an ATM machine for her" Carrie says. Correct me if I'm wrong but.. Carrie never had money? She could barely pay rent because she was spending it all on shoes. Samantha was the one with high profile clients going back and forth from New York to Los Angeles. It just didn't seem like a realistic excuse. Carrie says she's called and called and called but Samantha didn't pick up. Miranda says her and Charlotte reached out a few times too. They say "she's probably just embarrassed." I felt like this was the show's way of explaining to the audience what the situation with Kim Cattrall was behind closed doors. They must have asked her to do the mini series countless times and never heard anything back.

Am I glad that we're having another go with my favorite show? Abso-fucking-lutely. Could I have done without? Absolutely. Onto episode two,