Sitting in front of my MacBook, I couldn’t help but wonder: is the sequel to the iconic series Sex and the City was going to tarnish the reputation – and the patina of the pumps – of these New York friends with whom we have happily brunched since 1998?
Also, will this comedy-drama work as well without tigress public relationsist Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), the quartet’s most flamboyant character? If you’re fans of the franchise, the kind that the second 2010 film didn’t send to psychiatry, you’re going to adopt. And Just Like That, the first two English episodes of which have been available on Crave since Thursday.
That’s my case. I did not shy away from my pleasure while over-analyzing this comedy which is now more dramatic than comic. This is the biggest difference between Sex and the City and And Just Like That : the change of tone.
The sequel, stripped of its famous naughty puns, is less subversive and less funny than the first seasons. I specify that a terrible event, which occurs at the end of the first episode, tints the rest of the series black. And it hits hard. It’s amazing that this big punch hasn’t leaked before.
Like her heroines who are now 55 years old, And Just Like That has gained in maturity what it has lost in irreverence, in episodes lasting from 25 to 40 minutes. The most trendy accessory of the three musketeers of Manhattan? Reading glasses. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) wears her gray hair, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) finds it ages her, and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) ‘s designer clothes are as fabulous as ever.
In the days of the cosmos and cigarettes, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte’s talks were as salty as they were avant-garde. Sex and the City was a pioneering program for the emancipation of women on the small screen. Twenty years later, the authors are trying too hard to fit in with the times (not that of Nina Ricci) as well as to respond to critics who deplored the lack of awakening of its white and privileged protagonists.
Now Carrie is on a podcast hosted by a non-binary queer person (Sara Ramirez), while Miranda, who returns to college, gets caught up in a conversation about stereotypes with her black teacher. Malaise, malaise. Lord, who wrote that bad scene that makes Miranda look like a callous pitcher?
The first episode smacks of the rehabilitation exercise woke. You will hear lines on the use of pronouns, patriarchy, cisgender married women, consent, anti-racism and “sexual shame”. That’s a lot and Samantha would have hated that kind of moralizing talk.
As if we had to ask forgiveness for the mistakes of the past and announce to the viewers of 2021: you see, we understood, we know the current context, we are no longer in 2004, thank you for not canceling us. But where is the fun and spice of the original series?
Fortunately, it settles down in the second hour, darker. Yes, I seem to be moaning more than praising. Because I know very well that these elements will irritate the detractors of Sex and the City and I prevent blows.
Because despite the overcompensation, the clumsiness (more capable of references to COVID-19) and less scathing aftershocks, we feel great pleasure in reconnecting with these fifty-year-olds united by an unwavering friendship. Even absent, Samantha remains very present in the conversations of the girls and we feel that the door remains open if the actress Kim Cattrall wishes to return for a possible second season. Officially, Samantha has moved to London after a “professional fight” with Carrie.
At the start of the first season ofAnd Just Like That, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte live with their spouses Big (Chris Noth), Steve (David Eigenbert) and Harry (Evan Handler) respectively, the same as 11 years ago. A sign that everyone is aging, bar owner Steve is almost deaf without his hearing aids. And the only person who still has sex on the show, a lot of sex, is Brady, Miranda and Steve’s 17-year-old son.
Miranda sums up in one sentence what And Just Like That : “We cannot remain who we were. »Prude, Carrie blushes when she talks about masturbation on the radio and Miranda multiplies the micro-attacks towards her school friends. This is the new reality.
Even the coolest characters get overwhelmed over time. But since I love them too much, I refuse to believe that Carrie and company will not improve. I want to believe it and I’m going to believe it until Miranda turns red again, okay.