The first episode of the second season of ‘And Just Like That’ was a decent one, as it ended with all the women finding a way to head to the MET Gala with all the drama surrounding them in the form of personal conflicts and unfinished business. There are not many resolutions as such because the season has just begun, and many of them will get sorted out by the end of it. What is their story from here on?
Spoilers Ahead
Carrie’s Objection To A Certain Advertisement
As Carrie and Franklyn work on the podcast advertisement, it comes across as a rather crude one about the wellness of the women’s private parts, and she feels uncomfortable even speaking about it on air. Why exactly? Carrie is from another generation, and with that come apprehensions. Meanwhile, she also thinks it is not scripted the right way. It seems that Franklyn might not know how to write ads regarding women’s intimacy products. Since she is more than just an acquaintance or a friend to him, she is not sure how to address the issue or the fact that there could be a better way to market these products through radio. One of the producers, Chloe, also tries to convince her by stating she does not need to believe in it to endorse the product, which comes across as a decent justification for many celebrities who do not use the products they endorse. Carrie, being herself, cannot come to terms with it.
Seema Gives It Another Chance
Seema’s hair stylist, Juan Jose, rather rudely lets Seema know that she probably looks for red flags so that she can exit relationships before she gets hurt. This might be true, but she considers Juan to be her friend, and he should not judge her in such matters but support her decisions and life choices. It does come across as a case of a friend trying to advise the other about why they should probably think before making harsh decisions. Seema may have gone a tad bit overboard with snapping at Juan Jose because he was just trying to help her, but she chose to get offended by his words.
Seema gives Zed another chance because she thinks it would be good to give him the benefit of the doubt. Seema wants to prove herself wrong, and she would be happy if Zed turned out to be the opposite of what she had in mind. Unfortunately, she breaks up with Zed again because he proposes to invest with her in a private nightclub, which makes her angry. This proves the fact that he was courting her to make her his business partner, and he was probably never interested in emotionally investing in their relationship. It only makes sense because her red flag radar was right, and she is glad to have exited this relationship before it got messy, especially when money gets involved.
Miranda Makes New Friends
Miranda joins an AA meeting in Los Angeles as a way to get into the community and be open about her experience of being sober. She meets a woman who convinces her to join the community beach cleanup activity. Miranda takes up the job because she wants to keep herself busy, as it has been a while since Miranda has remained out of work for this long. This is unlike Miranda, who does not have a steady income for herself. The beach cleanup might come in handy as a project to get in touch with people and make steady contacts and friends.
Meanwhile, the guest star in the show is Tony Danza himself, who is cast to play Che’s father. This is the first time Miranda has been enamored by a celebrity, and she is excited to meet Tony Danza. Miranda comes across as a levelheaded partner, as she is never overly enthusiastic about meeting Che’s celebrity colleagues, but this time she is excited because Tony Danza happens to be the heartthrob of her generation, and not accepting his dinner invitation would be a catastrophe.
Charlotte’s Daughter Needs Money
Lily requests money from her parents as she wants to buy a keyboard for songwriting and recording her songs. She is not a demanding girl, but this time she wants it for a purpose, and she hopes her parents will support her dream. Since they are a family of means, Lily assumes her parents will not fret over the money, but she is wrong about it. Charlotte and Harry request that she find a way to earn money and indulge in her passions because that seems to be the right thing to do and would help her learn the importance of hard work. Charlotte and Harry come across as reasonable parents who do not believe in mollycoddling their children, as they are inculcating the habit of earning and spending money in the right way.
Lily ends up buying the keyboard by selling her expensive clothes on Real Deal, which buys and resells luxury items. This shocks Charlotte because she hadn’t expected Lily to take such extreme steps. This is a typical reaction of a mother because even for viewers, it seems like she found her way to get what she wants, but for Charlotte, it seems her daughter has abandoned her childhood and is moving towards following her dream of becoming a musician. Charlotte wants to get back at the Real Deal by forcing them to return the clothes, which is not an elegant solution because, at this point, it seems she is hiding behind the veil of the sad truth that her daughter is growing up.
Herbert’s Mother Shows Up
Herbert Wexley’s snooty mother shows up at their home to Lisa’s horror because, according to her mother-in-law, Lisa could not do anything right. This would remind you of Emily Gilmore’s mother-in-law, Lorelai Gilmore, who picked on her for every tiny detail of their lives. His mother turns out to be a prominent socialite not just in New York but in their hometown as well. Herbert ends up in a peculiar situation where he showcases his anger very publicly at a local taxi driver for not making the car available to him.
It is witnessed by his mother, who is embarrassed by his aggressiveness. Herbert did not want to be ashamed in front of his daughter. What he faced seemed like a case of casual racism, as the cab had one look at Herbert and chose not to make the taxi available for him. Ostracizing based on the color of the skin is wrong on many levels. His mother lets him know that instead of being angry at the man, he should have just let it go because this is exactly the kind of behavior people use against their community and create stereotypes, and Herbert should be the last person to be adding to the stigma.
This comes across as sound advice because, as a person of a marginalized community, he should be the bigger person here, but again, in the quest to be the bigger person, Herbert might lose his sense of individuality and won’t be able to address his issues the way he wants. So, the advice given by his mother, with which Lisa surprisingly agrees, does not come across as a tangible solution. Maybe we will get to see more about this in the upcoming episodes of this season.
Why Does Charlotte Want Lily’s Chanel Dress Back?
Miranda ends up losing her phone during the beach cleanup work, and with great difficulty, she manages to get hold of Carrie to get Che’s number. The problems of this era are such that no one remembers any phone numbers, and there is also no solution to a bigger problem, which is what would anyone do in case they lost their phone? Miranda’s stress is palpable, for she is helpless. Che sends across someone they know to pick Miranda up, and as it turns out, this man, Lyle, knows Che because the two of them are married to each other. Miranda is shocked to know there are so many things she does not know about Che. On confronting them about it, Miranda still does not get a decent response as to why this information was hidden from her. Che seems to have made quite an issue when they found out Miranda was married in the first season. Hiding the most important detail of their lives seems hypocritical of Che. The viewers have also not been clear about the circumstances under which Che got married to Lyle. Hopefully, in the upcoming episodes, this subject will be brought up again, even though it seems resolved between the two for now.
Che, on the other hand, is requested by Tony Danza to either make their father’s character Italian or it would be ideal to cast a Mexican actor to showcase their original ethnicity. His concerns come up because, in the age of cancel culture, he cannot face the issue of being rejected at an age where his steady income gets stalled. Che considers the option of making Tony’s character Italian because they realize the production and writing work can’t be stalled and must move on. This is one of the sacrifices they will have to make. More about this matter will most likely be touched upon in the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, Charlotte is obsessed with wanting the clothes that Lily sold back without having to pay for them because that defies the purpose of her fighting against The Real Deal. She comes across as someone with a persuasive nature, and she definitely wants the unsold pink Chanel dress back on her terms from their retail store. Unable to fight the fight with the Real Deal about the dress, Charlotte gives up when Carrie asks her the pertinent question, ‘is this all about the dress?’ and Charlotte says no. It can be understood from her answer that Charlotte is not willing to let go of her child yet and see her grow up to be a woman of her own. Letting go of the dress meant accepting the fact that Lily would soon be out of the house, paving her path. Charlotte forgets the fact that she has been a good mother so far, and Lily will never forget her roots, wherever her life takes her. The dress is probably Charlotte’s way of clinging to old memories.
As for Carrie, she is still not convinced about the wellness of women’s private parts advertisements. Her arguments come across as legitimate, but the producers have no choice but to listen to the bosses, for the revenue comes only from advertisements. This is something Carrie is not coming to terms with, as she has only worked with books and magazine articles. The broadcast media is new for her, and she has to comprehend the fact that revenue streams here are different. Her issues with Franklyn writing the copy for the ad irk her because it seems not many women resonate with the way he has expressed his idea. It could come across as a major criticism of his work, which might cause a rift between the two of them.
Franklyn and Carrie go to work to see the podcast division being closed for not running this one major ad, thanks to Carrie’s apprehension, and by the looks of it, all of them are now out of a job. The episode ends with Franklyn expressing his need to make his relationship with Carrie much more than just a casual one, which she is not ready for. Carrie had made her feelings clear before, and keeping that in mind, they break up amicably because they wanted two different things. It is the case with any casual relationship that ceases to exist when one of them starts developing feelings for the other. Carrie did not want to break his heart, and he did not want to look for emotions that were not there. Parting ways was the only right thing to do.
