AJLT... With spoilers!

[ReeseWitherfork]

Just finished episode one and need to talk about it!!!

Didn't like much of the episode to be honest. But the ending! I'm floored! Was not expecting that.

Hopefully!

I think the thing that’s bugged me the most about Miranda is Brady.

There’s no way the old Miranda would have stood for anyone dry humping their girlfriend in a theatre seat right behind her.

If she had stepped on a used condom left on the floor of a room in her house, she’d have cut the offender down to size very quickly.

Even with the post smoking, she was more upset at Che than at Brady.

She’s a walkover as a mother. Miranda was never a walkover in anything.

I have so many thoughts!

The writing was pretty lazy. Carrie was a proud technophobe throughout all six series and both films. Remember the flip phone? No way is she now an Instagrammer!

I am already bored of the Miranda-has-a-drink-problem arc. They also seemed to be setting her up for an attraction to Che and questioning her sexuality.

The Carrie hand-washing / sanitiser / gloves thing was quite big deal in ep 1. I can’t work out if they were just making it feel post-Covid or if they are setting up a plot for her to spiral into OCD in her grief.

I enjoyed the familiar faces from way back, especially Susan-Sharon, but the Bitsy von Muffling stuff was ridiculous. It was implied that they hadn’t seen her for ages when they ran into her at brunch, and it was all small talk about bumping elbows, then in literally the next episode we’re told that Bobby died at the beginning of the pandemic?! That would have come up. They went to their wedding, FFS.

Going forward, the biggest problem they need to resolve is that 85% of the sex came from Samantha. Carrie has always been incredibly prudish considering she is supposed to be a sex columnist. I wonder if they are setting up a ‘next generation’ series with Brady, Lily etc and if so I’d like to put in a request for Bitsy and Bobby’s kid to be brought in as a new character

Is che the lecturer?

"The writing was pretty lazy. Carrie was a proud technophobe throughout all six series and both films. Remember the flip phone? No way is she now an Instagrammer!"

20 years later with a career? She has to be. My sister didn't own a phone at the same time as Carrie had her flip phone. Now she has her own website and online training courses, all of which she had to record at home in lockdown.

@frogswimming

Is che the lecturer?

Che is the talk show host.

Oh, I thought they were going to get Miranda together with the lecturer not the talk show host. Did she meet the talk show host?

"I don't disagree, but she wouldn't have gone on the show. She'd have been doing her own thing which was relevant, but in her own style and personality. She'd be talking about the affect menopause has on mid life women, or dating after a mastectomy, or something. Not talking to a twenty year old about wanking in public."

I hope this is where she goes. Certainly, had she been British, all these things would be hot topics, and she's have got herself a podcast addressing the zeitgeist with a large and receptive audience. Not sure about NY culture though and whether any of the stuff relevant to 50 something women is quite so prominent as it is here. "Progressive" AOC is their Congresswoman, it's a huge artsy hub for the young and gender non conforming....And perhaps Carrie hasn't wanted to address her age but to stay in with that crowd. And funnily enough, I wonder if the lack of a Samantha - keeping her up to date with what all the hot, sexually adventurous older women are up to - has forced Carrie to seek out the professional company a younger generation, who aren't going to give her the same reception or news feed as her friends did. And, being a happily married, socially conservative older woman, she has no experience of her own to add to their type of conversation. Widowhood will, I presume, force her back onto the dating scene and she will have to now experience "Sex in the City" as the older, menopausal woman, in the company of other women like her, and thus be able to give her own insight in her own space ( I hope).

Apparently SJP wanted it to be more multicultural and less white ,than the original series which is fair enough ,but it doesn't feel natural it feels like they are trying to shoe horn lots of different genres ,,sexuality , ethnicities ,in to show how representative they are .

but it doesn't feel natural it feels like they are trying to shoe horn lots of different genres ,,sexuality , ethnicities ,in to show how representative they are

Yeah I agree. The way they introduced Lisa felt very natural. No one was talking about her race, she was just a woman they bumped into like they've done with so many friends throughout the series. Miranda's professor could have just been black, the whole storyline there didn't have to be about her race. And introducing Che could have just been because they were Che, not because they are nonbinary.

The comment from the other student "someone's quick with the pronouns" made me wince. So unnecessary. Unless they're trying to give us some sort of sly education.

@ReeseWitherfork

but it doesn't feel natural it feels like they are trying to shoe horn lots of different genres ,,sexuality , ethnicities ,in to show how representative they are

Yeah I agree. The way they introduced Lisa felt very natural. No one was talking about her race, she was just a woman they bumped into like they've done with so many friends throughout the series. Miranda's professor could have just been black, the whole storyline there didn't have to be about her race. And introducing Che could have just been because they were Che, not because they are nonbinary.

The comment from the other student "someone's quick with the pronouns" made me wince. So unnecessary. Unless they're trying to give us some sort of sly education.

Yeah as if all middle aged white women are just waiting to pounce on gender non conforming people with the wrong pronouns and point out peoples ethnicity. Much more realistic portrayal of the Samantha replacement character and in keeping with the old series.

They better not turn Miranda into an alcoholic arsehole. She was always my favourite character.

I used to work in a conservative, corporate American law firm, so I kind of believe Miranda being out of touch. These are not diverse places to work (not many black people at her partnership level for sure).

Her awkwardness in class was a bit over the top, but she'd had a drink and possibly she has just never been in an environment that has been anything other than the brutal environment of corporate law and her own very frank speaking, super white friendship group . Certainly universities today are full of hyper sensitive youngsters, she has her own hyper sensitive teen she struggles to communicate with, and the old Miranda had little confidence outside of being "Miranda the lawyer" so I can see being thrust into a group of twenty somethings would make her panic. Menopause can also kill your confidence, and who knows what other things will be revealed that explains why she might have had the stuffing knocked out of her and been driven to drinking.

Having said that, however, she quit her horrible law firm in the second movie and went to work somewhere where she could wear a flowery dress for work and have meetings on a roof terrace. Which I think was meant to be "progressive". So I am a bit confused at her confusion.

I wonder what the story of Steve's deafness will be. Living with a DH who should be in his prime, but who is behaving like he's elderly, and having to try to control their son acting like a dog on heat, would send me to the bottle for sure. I always hated Steve, so if they kill him off too, I won't be sad.

Maybe they will get rid of all the partners one by one, and C, M and C will be 3 singles on the dating scene again?

@DaisyNGO

"The writing was pretty lazy. Carrie was a proud technophobe throughout all six series and both films. Remember the flip phone? No way is she now an Instagrammer!"

20 years later with a career? She has to be. My sister didn't own a phone at the same time as Carrie had her flip phone. Now she has her own website and online training courses, all of which she had to record at home in lockdown.

But they didn’t set it up believably. It would be a believable arc if it were all for her work and if she had said to Miranda, ‘I had to move with the times and actually now I love it’. The implausible part is that she started an insta for her own interest!

The implausible part is that she started an insta for her own interest! That made me chuckle, it's like influencer 101. Such a cliche.

I liked Lisa and the set-up of her family dynamics. I hope they’re lining her up as the new fourth friend.

Is Adian coming back?

Like others - I dont like the way Miranda's character is developing and Brady is gross.

Shocking end to the 1st part though. I didnt see that coming and they kept it well hidden. I shouted out loud when Carrie found him on the floor and my DH came into the living thinking I had dropped something.

As a PP said I suspect Carrie and Big's lifestyle will come crashing down.

And I liked the second movie. Just a bit of silliness.

Lisa was great and I liked the lecturer. Her reaction and acting was great when Miranda was making a tit of herself.

Maybe the drinking bit does explain Miranda's erratic behaviour. But it's just disappointing to make her like that. They should have made her cool, spearheading something. Same with Carrie. They had aspirational careers now they're like a bunch of hasbeens. It makes me feel that's how the writers see middle aged women.

All the talk about the Peloton was a pretty big clue to Big’s heart attack. His heart problems were well-documented, going back to the TV show.

I guess my issue is not with Steve’s hearing loss, just the way it was shoe-horned in, Miranda telling everyone etc, but the first episode was a bit crap with the exposition. It did settle down in the second one.

Thinking about it, maybe I just down believe Miranda and Steve would still be together….but looks like they won’t be for much longer.

I think Carrie the technophobe has probably been in battle with Carrie the fashionista and narcissist, who will have seen Instagram as the place to which all the self-professed well dressed have flocked, and wanted a piece of that action. Lots of older fashion icons have them, like Iris Apfel. Also, perhaps she needed to do it to stay relevant for her Vogue column, which was mostly about fashion rather than relationships?

I don't normally share too much info but...

I find it totally believable, the struggles they have with culture. I normally work in a very on trend area where you're supposed to know this stuff. I'm three years out due to childcare and I can see from bits of consulting work, it's another planet and one I have to negotiate for work,
I ignore it when I can.

I'm 45. It all makes sense to me. (Also, I have a few health issues, and my gait is off, like a pp said of Miranda).

I'm also a woman of colour. I don't know what the right terms are. My sister recently turned away a potential client because she couldn't espouse their values, which they very much wanted. I don't want to turn this into a political thread. Yes, Miranda was OTT, but I can see what people can't navigate. Like Che saying they find it funny to sit with a beer at a ballgame while people try to figure out their gender.

I find London hard with all this - we're trying to move - and I can imagine New York is harder, especially with teenaged children.

The Todd Rundgren song, Hello It's Me, played at their last dinner together and Big's funeral:

I loved his taste in music

Totally underwhelmed by episode two. How long to give it before ditching is the question.

Lisa's race was referred to. Anthony called her "black Charlotte" at the recital.