And Just Like That (The Anthony Appreciation Society)

[ReeseWitherfork]

First thread….
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4819133-and-just-like-that

Spoilers etc.
Everyone posts when they’ve seen the episode so probably best to avoid the thread until you’re up to date.

I’m so glad this thread has brought the Instagram page to lots of peoples attention – it’s long been one of my favourites, the comments are always hilarious.

Why on gods earth would Aiden would go back to Carrie so easily? I had an Aiden figure in my life - there’s no way- decades on and a lot wiser - I’d be so deluded as to think a love that wasn’t there before could work now. So unkind of her and zero self-respect from him. Got me hooked though

Really bothered me that she did absolutely nothing to try and save him, no matter how futile it would have been. Also blaming Charlotte was really low. He had heart surgery in the original series so was already known he had heart trouble.

The more I see of Carrie now the less I like her.
i do think she mentally checks out of her “friends” and their problems. She seems to have no emotional compass - Miranda’s drinking being a prime example this series.
she obviously has way too much time on her hands to indulge in her favourite pastime - herself.

Let’s not forget, Carrie’s friends provided 3/4 of her material for her column and books. Her interest in their predicaments was as set out in her voice overs - not that of a friend, more like that of an anthropologist. Maybe she just lost interest in them when they no longer provided any useful material.

I think when Charlotte brought up the drinking , in an Uber, with Carrie, she told her she didn’t have the capacity to deal with it, because of Big. Dismissive really.
Wasnt it Miranda that then took her to the hospital for her hip op and fetched her peach Snapple?

I just think the 3 main characters are quite detached from each other in AJLT2. So Carrie coming across as nicer is actually Carrie getting her narcissism/narcissistic feed/enablement catered for by other characters.

Yes! I think that's it.

I never liked Carrie, the least in fact, but I didn't realise just how detached from her friends she always was

But Carrie had to use the aforementioned Snapple bottle to wee into because Miranda was so busy cracking on with Che in the kitchen she wasn’t there to help Carrie…so friend fail on both sides 🤷‍♀️

@NeedToThinkOfOne yes I’d forgotten that salient point! Which fed into Carrie having to accept that Miranda was acting out and was in need of support.

Miranda 2.0 is a body snatcher, Carrie is staying well clear of that one, so much narcissism colliding could blow up Manhattan!

Ok, I can’t remember Carrie blaming Charlotte for a big’s death. Can someone please remind me?

It never bothered me much that Carrie was a total twat in SATC. In fact it was refreshing to not have a super likeable and bubbly female protagonist. However I agree with that article in HOW was everyone so in love with her and relied on her opinion?! Why did her friends so rarely call her out on her bullshit? I remember when she was dating the Russian and didn’t meet at the coffee shop because of snow - when Samantha hung up on her they all looked at the empty seat and looked super awkward like they weren’t really friends if she wasn’t there.

My peak Carrie hate was in Atlantic City, after cock blocking Charlotte and insisting they spend loads of time together as Furness, they go on a buggy ride and then she tells Charlotte to go away as she wants to be on her own!

@WeetabixTowels the only single time I remember Carrie being called out on her behaviour was by Miranda when she came round with the 'bullshit bagels'

Sorry, I think I might have misremembered. Charlotte definitely felt guilty for making Carrie stay in NY to watch the piano recital which is when big did his peloton ride and had the heart attack. I sort of remember Carrie agreeing that she should feel guilty but I might have that wrong.

Carrie had a go at Charlotte about Big’s death for sure - that they’d wanted to set off for the Hampton earlier, but delayed for Lily’s recital. She had been cold and avoidant with Charlotte before that. Carrie had Stanford and I think Miranda over at one point, and asked them to hide when Charlotte called by, Charlotte got upset about this.

A great episode. Drew Barrymore was very good. Lots of Anthony. Lots of Harry. Brilliant chemistry between Lisa and Herbert. Subtle, nuanced scene with Nya and the soufflé - I suspect that her ex will marry and impregnate someone soon. Seema on top form. Aiden exactly how I’d have pictured him in 2023. SJP acting her socks off. Charlotte’s puffy face has settled down.

I prefer Che as Carrie’s friend as opposed to the non-binary-pronouns bore with Miranda. I liked the wisecracking vet nurse and the cute dog.

I loved the wee cameos from Drew Barrymore and Ross Mathews. Drew was hilarious and I don't blame her with the view she had.

I love how much Anthony we got.

I found it odd when Carrie was seated at the restaurant for a booking that wasn't even there. And Charlotte and Harry ended up getting a 5.30 booking because everywhere else was apparently going to be packed but the restaurant Carrie went to was practically empty and didn't look like it was Valentine's there at all.

Something else I noticed, Che mentioned AirBnBing their apartment but I learned on another MN thread recently that AirBnB is apparently illegal in New York? Although that probably doesn't stop people trying to use it I guess.

I was disappointed for Miranda that her hot date was so awful but I guess it was along the lines of "don't meet your idols", just "don't date your unknown crush" instead? It does feel like they're setting it up for her to get together with Nya.

I eyerolled at the Charlotte getting high story as the "eating random brownie then finding out later that it's a pot brownie" is just so clichéd now. But we would never have had her amazing line about Carrie picking her outfit otherwise so I can forgive it a little for that.

I was always more of an Aiden fan rather than Big back in the day and I was excited for him coming back but it all felt really awkward. The mistake about the restaurants you could see coming a mile away when Carrie was looking at the big number on the wall. Again a bit of a cliché with the whole "both of them thinking the other had stood them up" thing.

I don't expect award-winning writing from AJLT but a lot of it felt quite lazy this week, Anthony definitely saved the episode for me. As others have said, so many storylines all trying to be crammed in together, I'd prefer one character to have a main story one week and the others all have very minor stories (or even just a couple of them) and everyone gets their turn for a main story. It feels like everyone is trying to have a main storyline at the same time.

I agree it feels like they’ll set Miranda up with nya but not sure why. Nya is showing no signs of being bisexual either.

not every person has to change their sexuality in mid life! If only Cynthia Nixon would realise this!

I like the fact that Nya is now comfortable on her own.

I agree about Miranda and Nya. I really hope the writers don’t try and pair them up. They are good as friends and Nya doesn’t seem like she’s into Miranda so far (or any women at all) so it’ll be annoying if they go down the romance route suddenly.

Airbnb might be illegal in Manhattan, maybe? I stayed in one in Brooklyn last year, which I think is where Che’s apartment is located (although might be wrong what with Miranda’s to-ing and fro-ing between Che’s and her own Brooklyn home).

Carrie never really loved Aiden. He was just the anti- Big who validated her. I don’t understand why he gave her a second chance, or why she pushed her friendship with Big so hard on him, knowing that her affair had broken his heart. Can you imagine Carrie being so tolerant had Big remained close friends with Natasha? She’d have gone apeshit, as she did when she realised Big had left Natasha money. Her reasons for accepting his proposal had nothing really to do with love for him, but more about the romance of the moment. She barely mourned the end of her relationship with Aiden - most of her angst was around her living situation and then what Nina Katz and others might be thinking or saying about her. Same with the other person she apparently loved, Berger. Not a tear shed over that coming to an end. Don’t get me wrong, I think both them, and Big and Alex were arseholes (she sure can pick them), but she apparently loved them. She only really cared about one of them though - Big.

Completely agree with this.

I found Aiden's reaction to going to the apartment annoyingly teenagery or something? I get that he was hurt but he had been married and I presume divorced since then - him and Carrie breaking up in that apartment was no longer the defining moment in his life. I just found it a bit over the top.
But then again I find the likelihood of the two of them meeting up again in such a way entirely unlikely and unnecessary as well.

Hasn’t Carrie been smoking cigarettes with Seema this season ?
if so then Aiden will get all triggered by that again. Wonder if this time she will sneakily indulge behind his back and have to shower / brush her teeth before seeing him 😂

The Aiden and the apartment was weird. She broke his heart but was all up for going to her place (where she lived with big) and having sex until he saw she still lived at her old apartment.
Then it was all too many memories etc. But let’s get a hotel instead and shag.
Just weird. Don’t want to go in the apartment cause of bad memories but happy to go in Carrie.

Aidan's reaction to the apartment is all part of his dramatic/oversensitive ick IMHO, along with the chicken y front eating. Reminds me of an old boyfriend who played the guitar mournfully downstairs in my house after I broke up with him. All I could do was roll my eyes.

I just looked up the AirBnB/NYC thing as it was annoying me. Apparently lets for under 30 days are only allowed if the person renting the place out is also on the property (and staying together in the main part, so it can't be a private part of the same property). But longer term lets seem fine so I'm guessing that's more what Che would be doing rather than it being holiday lets.

It's probably the last time it'll be mentioned of course and Che will still be floating around and we won't actually know where they're staying.