The Shattering of the Glass Slipper…Really Carrie Bradshaw???? Spoiler Alert…
Crossing back and forth from winter to mud season during a rugged hilly trek to deliver a couple of paintings to a collector of my work yesterday mid-afternoon. The views were spectacular when I dared to shift my gaze from wrestling the ruts and the long narrow windy climbs on ice and snow. The ride sporty. The landscape was stunningly Vermont.
I arrived at my client’s home. Proud of how I navigated my journey. We exchanged pleasantries and then she shared a recent sadness. A sudden devastating loss of a loved one. Our pandemic lives certainly have been challenged daily and the weight of our sadness is palpable. My drive home was quiet as I thought about the sadness I had just left, sad news in my own world had not spared my family either. I was needing an escape. Some happiness. Some fun…
I was so looking forward to visiting with the Sex and The City ladies in the premier of “And Just Like That” which premiered last night Dec 9th. My calendar had been marked. I was ready. I couldn’t wait to see the clothing styles Carrie would be wearing and listen to the clever chatter between old friends. A glimpse of life in Manhattan is always a welcome distraction.
The day nearly behind me. Fatigued from the work of the day I was finally ready to relax and settle into some much-anticipated television in my cozy little house on the hill. To my surprise my daughter Emily was sending me urgent text messages in bold warning caps not to watch the first episode. What? Why???? She begged me not to. She pleaded and did not understand why I was not taking her caring advice. If I was insistent on watching the show than at the very least wait until daylight as the show was just too sad. Emily knows how my heart works. She was able to see the first episode earlier than I. I had been waiting and waiting to see this next chapter of the lives of these fabulous women. Enjoyed the promos. The fashion. The friendships. I just couldn’t wait to enter that world again…
I was aware that Samantha was not to be included in the new episodes as all loyal followers know this has been an issue between the main actresses Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker. The rumor mill has swirled for years with suggested tensions between the two since character Carrie slipped on her first pair of Manolo Blahnik’s. Actually, they were Jimmy Choo’s, but Manolo’s got a heftier presence in the show ultimately. I was not happy with the exclusion, but I was prepared for it…
Samantha was poorly written out of the script. An exit that was uninspired and disappointing. Samantha reportedly had relocated to London after Carrie let her go as her publicist. She did not respond to any of the ladies’ text messages. Hurt? Angry? Samantha was much tougher than that Carrie…
Challenges for the character Charlotte revolved around with the personalities of her two very different privileged daughters. First world problems. Miranda, we learn is an alcoholic. Waiting at 10:45 am for a bar to open at 11:00 am to kick start her drinking day. Verbally disinhibited as is often seen in people suffering from dementia. What will episode three be Miranda’s early Alzheimer’s diagnosis????
We learn that Brady is a testosterone filled teen having sex with his girlfriend in the next room from his parents Miranda and Steve. Was this supposed to be a throwback to when Steve and Miranda were first married and living in a small apartment where they didn’t need a baby monitor to hear then baby Brady? They could hear Brady now and unfortunately the audience could too…
From the opening scene when Charlotte criticizes Miranda’s gray hair the topic of aging spills out all over their favorite coffee shop table. Many of us are living the business of aging but do we need to have our television turned into a reflective mirror? Where is the escape from reality I was so hoping for and needing?
During my texting with my daughter, she advised me that there was a death that I was going to be very sad about. I guessed it was the character Big. Carrie’s husband and the love of her life. A historically tumultuous passionate relationship that suddenly was all roses when we see them together in 2021. The writers crammed so many references into a scene only minutes long. From early day Carrie keeping her sweaters in her stove to her wearing her wedding Manolo’s out that evening. A foreshadowing event occurred during a bedroom scene when Carrie casually mentions Big’s supply of nitroglycerin. I gasped…the writing was on the wall. A “Big” fall was imminent…
Carrie attends Charlotte’s oldest daughter Lily’s brilliant piano concert instead of leaving for the Hamptons with Big that evening. This delay of plan sets every misstep in motion. As the concert is in full swing and Lily beautifully and dramatically plays the piano the audience switches between Big intensely exercising on a Peloton and not looking particularly well. I am certain Peloton’s marketing professionals are scrambling this morning to undo the association of using their exercise bike and heart attacks. Yes, you guessed it as did I. Off the bike, holding his arm as chest pain was indicated, he turned on the bathroom shower and was able to type one last text to Carrie. “Let’s leave for the Hamptons tonight.” He collapses near the shower. The water rains down. Carrie as she leaves the concert sees his text. Tells Stanford (actor Willie Garson tragically and sadly passed away prior to the completion of “And Just Like That”) that she will not be able to have drinks as she was going home so she could leave for the Hamptons that night.
Entering the darkened apartment Carrie calls Big’s name “John” with no response. Calling again and again. She finds him on the bathroom floor near the shower somewhere between this world and the next. She goes to him and holds him. He is just barely alive but looks at her. A forgone conclusion…Mr. Big dies. Her Manolo’s off and soaked by the water…
Why did she not give him a nitroglycerin and call 911? It was horrible! My daughter was right. Terribly sad and why? Is this so she can be with Aiden in future episodes??? We all suffered through Sex and The City 2 but there was still some light entertaining fun in the mix. The darkness that we equate with issues of aging hit like the lights going out on Broadway. The writing, the dialogue and the storylines were truly dark…from Steve’s hearing aids to Susan Sharon’s odd funeral rant I felt no pandemic relief. Reality reflected just a little too close to the bone…
Mrs. Maisel…please don’t just don’t …I am counting on you!
