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Sara Jessica Parker: "And Just Like That"

 Two-time Pulitzer winner Wesley Morris just released a podcast hour in defense of "And Just Like That." I think Morris wilfully overlooks some of the show's problems, but I admire his bravery.


One interesting move in the AJLT playbook was to keep Samantha alive. When an actor becomes "difficult," the character can die or even (in the case of "Fresh Prince") resurface in the shape of a *new* actor. Sara Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall had a fight; the fight seemed to be about money and ego. In a smart twist, Michael Patrick King wrote the fight into the show. We learn that Samantha and Carrie are having a fight--a fight about ego and money--and, although things "mellow," the fight never seems to end. There is a sense of irresolution. This is just like life--and it's something that seems not to find its way into many TV scripts.

OK, there are more things that I like. In the final episode, Charlotte tries to pair Carrie with legendary gay actor Victor Garber. Carrie observes that there is no chemistry--and that "he has been divorced three times." Charlotte shrugs and says, "He has a plane!" Critics observe that this moment of shallowness doesn't do justice to the Carrie/Charlotte friendship, but I'm not sure I agree. People say bizarre and irrational things. The fact that someone "owns a plane" can be dazzling, blinding. Also, people can be weirdly lazy and thoughtless about romantic setups. ("You're both homosexual, so you're perfect for each other!") I have a feeling that the airplane comment is linked with one writer's actual life--and I'm all for it.

Finally, the poop in the toilet. Many people are still shocked that this iconic story ends not with Paris--not with the Met Gala--but with cheese-poop in an old, tiny, malfunctioning potty. I'm not sure I really believe that King is happy to end the series here; I have a feeling we aren't getting the whole story. But I'll always defend the poop. That's because Carrie Bradshaw's world is not exclusively a world of glamor. People fall on their asses; people find themselves sprayed by golden showers; people suddenly lose all their hair. This show has *always* been interested in the indignities of having a human body. All the way back to 1999. Poop happens. I admire Victor Garber for "pushing the envelope."

All right; I'll stop. I (maybe? sometimes?) had a good run with Carrie.
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