The third episode of And Just Like That ended with Carrie finally coming to terms with the fact that John is gone, and her way of moving on is to make a recording of chapter three of her book on grief for her audiobook. Miranda finally comes back to New York to be there for her son, who is going through a breakup. Charlotte and Lisa had a surprisingly good week at school. It would be interesting to watch how the story unfolds from here.
Spoilers Ahead
Carrie And Enid Revisit
Carrie runs into Enid, her old boss and mentor from Vogue, during breakfast. The meeting was unexpected, but the reaction to seeing each other was very real. The two of them have moved on a lot since their last stint together at Enid’s party at her home. By the looks of it, the two of them have stayed in touch on and off ever since, and this meeting soon turns awkward. This scene was added just to reunite the old enemies and to help them understand each other based on the careers they always cherished.
Carrie, though a fan of Enid’s newsletter, quickly learns that Enid has not changed much, and she is probably still critical of Carrie’s work. Carrie requests that her book be mentioned in Enid’s famous blurb, but the lady politely declines to do such promotions. Though Enid invites her to the launch of the new online magazine “Vivante” for women of her and Carrie’s age. She ends up getting slightly offended because she knows she and Enid are in two different age categories. She still feels good about herself, and the fact that men still find her desirable is the reason Carrie is wondering if she should head to the party or not. All the above reactions emerge from some sort of insecurity and her refusal to accept the fact that aging is a natural process of the body and there is nothing wrong with being put into a certain age group. Carrie and Seema’s reaction seemed a bit dated and high schoolish. If only Carrie would move beyond her slight narrowmindedness and think of the independent, successful women she would meet at the party.
Amidst all of this, Carrie ends up receiving photos of an elderly gentleman who seems to have received her number from a mutual friend. This also makes her wonder why any of her friends thinks she needs to have a man in her life to be happy. It showcases the narrow mindedness of some women who want to act like an agony aunt and offer solutions instead of letting other women just be.
Miranda And Her Family’s Woes
Miranda, Steve, and Brady head for family counseling after their son’s breakup and speak about their challenges as a family because it seems they are going through a tough time as a group. Steve and Brady seem to be honest with the therapist, while Miranda acts very accommodating. It is very unlike Miranda, not being open about her feelings. Maybe with age, things have changed, and it makes it difficult for her to share her concerns. Miranda carries the guilt of the divorce with her. It seems like the makers have created another version of Miranda’s character where she is apologetic and it feels a bit bizarre.
On meeting Che and their husband, Lyle, she is delighted to have them back in town. She did not expect Lyle to join them from Los Angeles, and Miranda is trying to get used to the fact that this relationship is new, and so are the dynamics around it. Miranda is used to defining relationships along clear lines by labeling it, and it would be interesting to see how much Che and Miranda can get into the grind of things now that the honeymoon period is over.
The Kids Are Gone
Charlotte and Harry, and Lisa and Herbert, are finally happy to let their kids go to summer camp, and they will be child-free for a month. For long-term committed couples, this is like Christmas because, after years, they have their homes empty, and they can do things that they haven’t done in ages.
The Wexleys will get busy with their 20th wedding anniversary preparations, Lisa’s documentary, and Herbert’s desire to run for the post of City Comptroller. As a couple, they seem to be going ahead with these plans, except for Herbert, who does not want to burden Lisa with the additional work that would come with campaigning. The two of them come across as an ideal power couple who understand each other well and the pressures of the jobs they have taken on other than being parents.
Charlotte and Harry are having the time of their lives being intimate with each other as many times as they want. Unfortunately for Harry, he comes across a strange phenomenon while climaxing, and it is not sure if it is because of old age catching up with him. This show does a good job of talking about couples in the later stages of their marriage and how they managed to keep it healthy and steady and continue to be in love. The scenario seems too good to be true, but Harry and Charlotte are as real as any other couple; the only difference would be their wealth, but emotionally, physically, and mentally, they seem like any other people who have been in a long-term marriage.
How Did Lisa And Herbert Wexley Salvage Their Party?
Miranda and Che end up in a weird position at their new home as Lyle sleeps over in their bedroom, and there is no way he could be moved out. Hours before this, Lyle and Che spoke about how they both used to have a common girlfriend. Miranda’s relationship with Che helps the audience expand their viewpoint on what kinds of relationships exist in the real world and whether there is a way to label them as well. All of this is new to Miranda, and she surely is wondering if she is doing the right thing.
For Miranda’s girlfriend, the world is an open field, and they would like to explore plenty of options available to them. It is not clear if Miranda happens to be this open minded about things around here, which brings back what she feels in her relationship with her son Brady and her ex-husband Steve. There seem to be two different Mirandas here, and it is obvious neither of them is happy. Che tries to get Lyle intimate with Miranda, and being the third one, she obviously feels awkward and moves away from the setup. It proves why Miranda is not as new and improved as she thought she was. Maybe she should go back and reassess what she wants from her life and this relationship.
Herbert ends up messing up the invitations for their 20th-anniversary party, and Lisa faces the brunt of it from her mother-in-law. This brings to the forefront the inherent patriarchy of Herbert’s mother, who expects Lisa to be a sacrificial woman just like she was. This showcases Herbert’s mother as a hypocrite because, in his eyes, she is the epitome of perfection who did everything right, but she does not see the hardworking Lisa. This is all about how a woman of a different generation looks at things. Women of Lisa’s age believe in sharing work with their spouses. It is endearing to watch a show like this one address and put down age-old notions that women are supposed to be superwomen.
Lisa promptly announces that Herbert would be running for City Comptroller, as a way to show her support, and balance the fact that along with her accolades, Herbert is planning to do good things for the place he lives in. It would be interesting to see how the two of them would manage to make this work. This announcement totally went against their decision, and now they will have to chart out an elaborate plan to fit in their schedule.
The two of them were completely unable to salvage the party, as only seven people showed up. One of them turned out to be an interesting contact for Charlotte, and she showcased her love for art. This scene was probably added to help viewers understand that now that her kids have grown up, Charlotte might end up going back to work at museums and pursuing her first love, art. It would be interesting for the makers to take this route, and hopefully, viewers will be able to see her back in action as she was when she was younger.
Carrie, on the other hand, ends up attending the party, but it turns out to be a positive gathering of strong, independent, slightly aging women. Being in their company makes things alright for Carrie because all she can think of is becoming one of them, aging maturely and with grace. It turns out it was her old friend Bitsy who shared her number with an old friend of hers who kept sending her messages. This man ends up being Enid’s husband, and things become rather awkward from here on. This entire narrative was just added to continue the constant sense of weirdness between Carrie and Enid. It will remain like this for a long time from here on. Just when Carrie thought the party was a success in her opinion, she abruptly leaves the premises and goes as far away from Enid as she can, only to prove that she would never hit on a married man. Carrie, though, learned her lesson about not worrying about age from now on.
