Columns The sequel to a single life is completely classless in many ways, and yet I and many others devour each episode freshly – here’s the secret to the scorned series

Sex and the Cityn or Single lifeseries And Just Like Thatin all ten episodes are now available on HBO Max – and watched.

I thought the series wouldn’t interest me – but it turned out otherwise.

I watched each episode as soon as I could.

Why on earth?

That is a very good question that is not very easy to answer.

And Just Like That was received rather poorly in reviews published both in the world and in Finland. In Helsingin Sanomat, the series has been criticized, for example on top of the glued feel gender and ethnic diversity and highlighted lack of intelligence and fun.

(Warning here: if the series isn’t yet watched and you want to avoid any kind of content exposure, you shouldn’t read on.)

Of course, the critics are right. A lot is wrong.

I invented it myself at least four serious deficiencies:

1. New characters in the series, non-binary Che (Sara Ramirez), Seema with an Indian background (Sarita Choudhury) and Charlotte’s new mother-in-law Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker) as well as Professor Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) are all cardboard caricatures, characters of one characteristic.

It seems obvious that they were written into the series to bring to it the “diversity” for the lack of which the original series has been criticized.

2. Samantha. Or that there was no Samantha, that is Kim Cattrallia.

As Carrie texted Samantha to London in the last episode, I held out for a moment to hope that the character, like a miracle trade, would still appear under the canal on Eurostar. Of course not.

In real life, when there doesn’t seem to be such a miracle, adults would take a spoon into a beautiful hand and reconcile their disagreements. They would ask and forgive. (After clicking on the internet for a while after the first episode, I came to the realization that Sarah Jessica Parker had treated Kim Cattrall badly for a long time and I became quite angry. I don’t know what the truth is.)

3. The main plot, that is, how Carrie survives Big’s death, goes all the way forward as the season progresses. Otherwise, the web of stories and the spots fed to the viewer are not cared for at all. (Except for the handsome producer smiling behind the studio window. I guessed so as soon as I saw him.)

For example: At the end of one episode, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) unexpectedly leaves to meet Cheta in Cleveland. It seems certain that in the face of disappointment: other partners or at least a surprise annoyed Che. But no, the next episode continues as if there hadn’t been any Cleveland trip.

Or Charlotte’s hustle and bustle with other mothers in the parent association and the brilliant art knowledge that saves Lisa Todd Wexley from the dinner table from her mother-in-law: didn’t it really get out of it like making friends with Lisa?

4. With aging and its acceptance, there is little so and so. The series talks about menopause, cheers! In a few such exchanges, for example when Kristin Davisin acted Charlotte (of course) thinks she will perform menopause better than her friends is a bit Sex and the Cityn sparkle of words. It’s a laugh.

But in the end, aging seems to remain visibly taboo. When Carrie’s hip aches, the cause is revealed a congenital defect, not aging – or the fact that the character has stuck to high interest rates for three decades.

Beauty surgeries are also discussed when Carrie goes to Anthony (a very lovely Mario Cantone) in support of the plastic surgeon ‘s office and begins to wonder whether something should be done for his own face. However, lived life and naturalness win. This message is eaten hard by the fact that looking at each scene in Charlotte, one has to get over the changed appearance of Kristin Davis (presumably through cosmetic surgery).

Pretty much flaws. Still, I watched each episode and came to a good mood about them. I enjoy more than I suffer.

How on earth?

The overriding explanation, of course, is that Sex and the Cityn during which the characters became familiar, almost like real people.

They work the same way Horror and love extension sequences. It’s hard not to care about guys you’ve known for a long time.

But there is more to it.

Sex and the City was fresh and exceptional when it appeared: it had the power to draw images. Carrie raising her hand and shouting “Taxi” or jumping out of the shelter onto the cobblestones, Samantha sipping her cocktail: I can’t be the only one who has sometimes experienced a glimpse of living in those moments, for example.

And Just Like That Carrie no longer haggles over the taxi but picks Über on her cell phone, but the internalized memory of that gesture doesn’t go away. It’s not just a TV series but also your own past.

Absolutely also new stuff. Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda are about ten years older than me. And Just Like Thatin there has been a lot of ridicule in the critics about how the trio seems to have popped into the 2020s like a time capsule. The podcasts are marvelous, Miranda gets entangled in her attempt to be non-racist and fumbles first when using Chest they-person pronoun instead of Shen.

I identified myself. For example, I have (yet) never used them in a sentence. Seeing Miranda’s example, it feels like it’s going with exactly the same type of concentration as the once he- and she-pronouns in elementary English. You live you learn, not that much.

On behalf of viewers And Just Like That has been so successful that there has been talk of a second term. I really hope it comes.

Not so fast. A wise friend of mine – whom I have known for two years longer than Carrien – said it right after the first episodes: “Hopefully there will be another season when they are 80 years old.”