The Reel Review
Carrie navigates a long-distance relationship with Aiden as Miranda and Seema each find themselves in new relationships, with Charlotte and Lisa each juggling their respective busy careers and families in this third and final season in the spin-off of HBO’s iconic series Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker.
After the clumsy, not-so-high bars set by Season 1 and Season 2, the first half of the season is a painful watch, with boring, poorly conceived and even more poorly written storylines that, instead of realistically embracing the challenges faced by women in their 50s, frustratingly turn the main characters into clowns while reflecting an off-putting tone-deafness and snobbishness. Miranda seems to have become an idiot with Charlotte the way-too-corny comic relief. The more minor characters are all but ignored, except for John Corbett’s Aiden, and even he has become insufferable. You know you are in trouble when the guest appearances (Rosie O’Donnell, Patti LuPone, Jenifer Lewis, etc.) outshine elements of each otherwise hate-watch episode.
The series does redeem itself somewhat in the last several episodes with glimpses of what made its predecessor Sex and the City so iconic with its message of female empowerment, but without Kim Cattrall’s show-making, sex positive vixen Samantha, this spin-off just never lived up to the edgy boldness of the original series, instead a bland imitation filled with missed opportunities to make these characters more relatable and lovable.
Then there is the shockingly feeble finale, a literal shitstorm of a Thanksgiving dinner party (did we need to see that?) with obnoxious Gen Z guests, followed by a sappy montage of the main characters as Carrie finally discovers what Samantha knew all along – that being on her own was different from being alone. Yawn.
REEL FACTS
• Other than that very brief cameo at the end of Season 2, Kim Cattrall has been busy with other projects – starring in the 2023 series Glamorous and appearing in the 2022 reboot of Queer as Folk and the 2023 comedy About My Father.
• Dolly Wells, who plays Miranda’s love interest Joy in Season 3, is also known for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Babygirl and the 2020 Netflix series Dracula.
• Sex and the City received 54 nominations and won seven Emmy awards during its six year run. And Just Like That received no Emmy nominations during its three year run.
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