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And Just Like That … Recap: Prelude to the Last Supper

Season 2 Episode 10 Editor’s Rating3 stars ***

Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/Max This week, And Just Like That … presents a horror show! You never know what you’re going to get when you turn this here program on, and this week we get so many scary things: A tall man blubbering in his car, whatever they thought that Stanford-becomes-a-monk thing was, and stand-up comedy (no descriptor there, just stand-up comedy full stop). What did we expect when they conjured up the ghost of Skipper Johnston? Terrifying things were bound to happen! Cover your eyes if you can! Or don’t and just enjoy the unpredictable thrill ride that is AJLT. You only live once, you know?

AJLT has been setting up Aidan’s son, Wyatt, as the major obstacle standing between Carrie and Aidan and their happily ever after for some time, so that obstacle finally rearing its head isn’t much of a surprise, but the timing sure is shitty. It looks as though Carrie moving out of her iconic brownstone is still very much happening — she, much to Seema’s dismay, sold the place at a bargain price to Lisette in single-woman solidarity — and things are quickly moving along at her Gramercy Park place. There are even plans in play for a Last Supper at the old place before Carrie officially moves. It honestly seems like there’s no going back at this point. Plus, Carrie and Aidan’s relationship couldn’t be in a better spot. He even owns up to several of the instances in which he was an absolute dick back on Sex and the City. Cue up that song from The Princess Diaries because sometimes miracles happen, folks.

But just as Aidan attempts to make amends for how terribly he treated Carrie back in the day, he gets a call from Cathy: Wyatt’s in the hospital, and he needs to return to Virginia. Later, he calls Carrie from the hospital parking lot to update her: 14-year-old Wyatt got into a fight with his mom, ran off to Aidan’s farm 30 miles away, got drunk, and crashed Aidan’s truck into a tree, breaking his leg, his collarbone, and totaling the truck. He wanted his dad, and his dad wasn’t there. Aidan is a complete mess over it. Listen, it’s great seeing a man who deeply cares for his children, but this breakdown made even me, a woman who loves to watch men weep in public, uncomfortable. It was a lot! And while Carrie tries to be supportive and sympathetic from afar, she also knows that this incident will jeopardize her future with Aidan. There’s no way a man crying that hard and feeling that much guilt isn’t going to reorganize his priorities.

The good news is that everyone’s sort of miserable this week, except for Charlotte, who gets to have a night out on the town with her new gallery girls. I guess that could also be considered bad news, should you have a soul. But for those of you here to relish in other people’s mess with me, let’s talk about Miranda! Miranda is thriving in her professional life. Her time filling in while her boss is on maternity leave seems to be going well, and when Reina returns, Miranda apparently makes an impression on some people they met with at the U.N. Personally, however, things are … not great. After Nya calls out the fact that Miranda completely cuts out her exes once she breaks up with someone (Nya isn’t judging, she is inspired) and Carrie makes a comment about how insane it is that Miranda knows absolutely nothing about Steve’s new hot dogs–and-clams stand/bar/restaurant/whatever on the Coney Island boardwalk, Miranda wants to make a change. She doesn’t want to be the person who ghosts everyone else. She certainly doesn’t want to treat everyone like she did Skipper Johnston. Although let’s not forget that Skipper was also Carrie’s friend, so technically, she also dropped Skipper. Skipper should definitely pop up in the background of this show sometime. He haunts us all!!

It’s because of this guilt and a desire to be a better ex that Miranda decides to join Carrie and Aidan at Che’s first stand-up show since their pilot got axed. Miranda does not tell Che that she’s coming. It’s a huge mistake. Che’s entire set is basically shitting all over Miranda and their relationship. It is so awkward for everyone, Miranda, Carrie, Aidan, me. Miranda can only take it for so long and mercifully decides to leave. Che sees her walk out and gets flustered, ends their set, and follows Miranda out the door. You’d think Che would be used to people on the street screaming “Not funny! Not funny!” at them, but when Miranda does it, they really get their back up about it. When Miranda tries to express how unbelievably hurt and embarrassed she is, Che tries to explain that they are a stand-up comedian; this is what they do. I’m no professional, but I do think that what a stand-up comedian “does” is tell jokes, and this set seems to be absent of those? If you’re going to be that mean, at least make it funny! Also, sure, Che didn’t know that Miranda was going to be there, but they knew Carrie was. Wouldn’t you assume Carrie would have an issue with it? Or go and tell Miranda? Che could be frustrated with constantly having to edit who they are to please people while also admitting that those “jokes” are pretty cruel and Che is a lot of things, but I don’t think they’ve ever been cruel. Anyway, if Che can’t come up with one funny joke about their eight-month journey of chaos with Miranda — the strap-on situation! The threesome with their husband, who hasn’t been mentioned again, sorry, Oliver Hudson! — they have much bigger problems than pissing off an ex-girlfriend. Regardless, Che self-righteously walks off into the night with Toby, the person who they were flirting with at the animal clinic, and seems more empowered than ever. Miranda remains hurt but also agrees to still attend Carrie’s Last Supper after Carrie reminds her that she’s alive and important to her. The gall of Carrie Bradshaw! Anyway, Steve will also be at this Last Supper, so it’s going to be a tragic mess, and I am already counting down the days.

Speaking of tragic mess: Stanford has apparently converted to Shintoism and is a monk in Kyoto now. Carrie and Anthony have tears in their eyes as Carrie informs her friend of Stanford’s decision and reads his letter about finding peace and letting all of his possessions go. They say good for him and toast to their Stanny. It helps Anthony realize that yes, he is stuck in his old ways and rigid beliefs about roles within a gay couple. Let me say that another way: Stanford becoming a Shinto monk helps Anthony accept that he doesn’t always need to be the top, and sometimes he should let Giuseppe fuck him instead. Carrie has made them cosmos ahead of time, so you know it’s serious. There had to be dozens of other ways to send off this character and pay tribute to Willie Garson, but we’re going with Shinto monk. It was the picture that really sent me, if I’m being honest, because, what? Sometimes when I’m watching this show, I do wonder if I’m being Truman Show–ed because there’s just no way this could be real. Please message me privately if this is, in fact, the case because it’s gone on way too long and I’m debilitatingly self-conscious. And if this isn’t the case, I guess, cheers to Stanny; good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

This and That

• I wish And Just Like That … would’ve given LTW’s pregnancy storyline a little breathing room because Nicole Ari Parker is so great in this episode. She breaks down into tears when she tells Charlotte the news because PBS has just asked her to extend her doc into a ten-episode series and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to do it. Her “I thought it was finally my time” is heartbreaking. She’s great in the scene in which she yells at Herbert for not getting a vasectomy, too. That “I’ll figure it out, I always do” kicker was also gutting. At the end of the episode, she wakes Herbert to tell him she’s miscarried. It’s a whirlwind storyline that I hope gets some more resolution in next week’s finale.

• Nya trying to stick it to her ex-husband by buying him and his girlfriend a $1,000 stroller? I FELT that. As always, more Nya, please.

• After Charlotte sells an Alex Israel piece to Sam Smith, her colleagues want her to come out and celebrate. Her family has been terrorizing her with non-emergency emergencies since she started back at work, and she finally gets to let loose — and toss her phone in a pitcher of margaritas. When she gets home, she tells them off for forgetting she’s more than just a wife and a mother. It seems quite cathartic! Her children remain menaces!

• If I ever tell someone they are “the main character” and/or that they are “slaying,” please shoot me into the sun.

• Seema tells Ravi she loves him during sex and he says it back. She is appropriately horrified by this development.

• Who’s the comedian who called Aidan “Country Lurch”? That’s the only person whose stand-up set I would like to see on this show.

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