In an episode with multiple explicit callbacks to the original series, Charlotte sets a progressive example and Miranda confronts painful consequences.
The O.G.s know this isn’t the first time Carrie has fanned old flames with Aidan via email. Way back in Season 4 of the original series, Carrie created her first ever email address (shoegal@aol.com!) solely for the ability to reach out to Aidan post-breakup in some way other than the phone.
“I miss you. Do you miss me?” it read.
This time around, her email says essentially the same thing, but is tied up in a more devil-may-care bow. “Was thinking of you the other day … and I wondered how you were doing.” That ellipsis is loaded. Pair it with the slightly sexy but nonchalant “Hey Stranger …” (another loaded ellipsis!) and it’s not hard to see what she is doing.
And why not? Google is free and Carrie has used it. She knows Aidan lives in Virginia, is sitting on a fat check from West Elm, and most importantly, is divorced. It’s almost surprising it took her this long.
It’s not the only callback to “Sex and the City” we see in this episode. In another scene, Seema “proposes” to Carrie that the two of them rent a summer house together in the Hamptons. Carrie giddily agrees, which is funny only because, just a couple of decades ago, she, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha all thought that as 30-somethings, they were too old for a shared Hamptons house, calling it “pathetic” and likening it to being “the oldest kid at summer camp.”
But now, in their 50s, Carrie and her gal pal can afford a luxury rental on the beach with more bathrooms than occupants. Nothing pathetic about that.
Alas, in this episode, summer is but a far away dream. It’s the dead of winter, and it’s snowing hard, which causes major issues for pretty much everyone.
MoMA is honoring Lisa as a Black woman filmmaker on the same night that Herbert has a campaign event. The two tussle over whose event should take precedence, but Lisa makes no bones about the fact that she’s going to “do me,” and Herbert can kick rocks. Then, her car service cancels. Herbert offers to drop her off, but Lisa’s pride won’t let him “save” her. She trudges in fabulous stiletto boots to the event and makes it to the stage with no help from anyone. She is pleasantly surprised, though, when Herbert shows up in support.
Similarly, Carrie absolutely can’t no-show “WidowCon,” where she will be reading from her latest memoir, “Loved and Lost.” This is partly because she couldn’t bear to let down the mass of grieving ladies, but really it is because her old writing partner, Karen (Rachel Dratch), whom Carrie apparently ghosted long ago before a critical meeting with a big studio (though Carrie has no memory of this), is the organizer, and Karen would never let her live it down I guess? How Karen wields this kind of power over Carrie is a mystery, but considering Carrie coughed up six figures to Enid because Carrie felt bad about a misinterpreted sext kind of indicates how big of a motivator shame can be for her.
In any case, Carrie is particularly anxious about this gig and needs a sidekick of sorts to keep her nerves at bay, and she decides Che is just the person for the job. When snow pummels the streets of Manhattan on the big day, Che tries to weasel out of the commitment, but Carrie uses her own status as a grieving widow to rope Che back in. In what is probably the genuinely funniest scene of the episode, dare I say the entire season so far, Carrie lumbers through the blizzard all the way to the Sheraton in what amounts to a fabulous down comforter, attempting to remain composed as Charlotte shrieks on the other end of a phone about condoms.
Yes, Charlotte desperately needs condoms, though not for herself. She needs to buy them for Lily and her boyfriend, Blake, who are about to do the deed for the first time. The snowpocalypse has shut down every drugstore, so Charlotte calls to ask Carrie if she has any spares. (Carrie does not.)
Despite what some of us may have predicted based on the “Sex and the City” version of her character, it turns out Lily and Rock are being parented by “Woke Charlotte.” She is a bona fide sex-positive mom, so much so that she makes sure her daughter knows to prioritize her own pleasure as much as her partner’s.
Eventually, Charlotte obtains a smorgasbord of condom options and drops them off at Blake’s parent’s house, giving Lily a quick hug before her daughter runs upstairs. It’s a little awkward, sure, but at the same time, it’s a surprisingly tender moment. Many of us born before the Clinton administration can barely fathom having this kind of exchange with our parents. Charlotte says as much when she tells Lily her parents made sex seem unmentionable. Maybe, just maybe, Charlotte doesn’t want her children growing up with the same stuffy ideas about sex that she had. Charlotte may be a traditionalist in so many ways, but this is progressive parenting.
Over in Brooklyn, Steve and Miranda find themselves alone in their old house, and Miranda takes the opportunity to do the dirty work she knows she can’t put off forever. She presses Steve about moving out, and almost immediately, they spiral.
Steve insists, loudly, that it is his house. He built the kitchen, he redid the floors, he put up the bookshelves. But Miranda’s money bought it, she reminds him. The jab sends Steve over the edge, and he cuts Miranda in the deepest way possible, screaming that she never wanted to move there, never wanted him, and never even wanted Brady.
There is suddenly far too much truth in the room.
Miranda nearly leaves, heaving sobs and she puts on her coat, but Steve manages to stop her, apologizing profusely. The two end up lying next to each other affectionately in bed, with Miranda apologizing in turn for causing Steve so much pain.
That moment, too, is surprisingly tender, at least until Miranda finds a condom wrapper on Steve’s end table. While she has been agonizing about whether or not he will ever be able to move on, Steve, apparently, has been sleeping with a girl from Whole Foods. Miranda immediately releases the guilt she has been shouldering for months and walks out, heading home to her true love, Che. (While Miranda and Steve finally have real closure, it’s still unclear who is going to find a new place.)
Except Che isn’t there to receive her with open arms. Che, it turns out, believes things with Miranda have taken a turn, and won’t get better. Miranda’s eyes well up, but she agrees.
It’s surprising how well Miranda takes the Che breakup, actually. Che’s magnetism was so powerful to Miranda that she blew up her entire life so they could be together. Then, Che’s pilot flops and their ego takes a hit, they spend a few weeks in the doldrums living on Pirate’s Booty, and that’s just it? The whole relationship has to sink with the “Che Pasa” ship? And Miranda just lets it all go?
For all those who missed the colder, more cynical version of Miranda, maybe she is on her way back. RIP, love-dovey Miranda. We hardly knew ye.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
