And Just Like That Series Finale: Did Carrie Write Herself A Happy Ending?
We closed the book on Carrie Bradshaw this week as And Just Like That... signed off after three seasons. But where did the finale leave Carrie and her pals?
As Thursday's episode opens, Carrie dines alone at a futuristic Asian restaurant with robot waiters whizzing past. When she asks for a table for one, the hostess plops down a huge stuffed doll to sit across from her: "You don't have to eat alone!" (Gee, thanks.) Lisa gets the good news that Michelle Obama might agree to narrate her documentary, but after a celebratory hug with her editor Marion lasts too long, they both agree to keep things professional. Miranda and Steve have dinner together and commiserate over Brady having a baby on the way — and wasn't it nice to see them banter back and forth just like old times? — and Adam bluntly tells Seema that he thinks weddings and marriage are "a waste of time." Ouch.
Carrie and the ladies head to a bridal fashion show, which brings up all kinds of mixed feelings about love and marriage. Seema confides in Carrie, "I think I'm in love with a man who will never get married," and Lisa complains that her marriage to Herbert is more about miscommunication these days than romance. Charlotte tells her about Harry's struggles in the bedroom, and Lisa wonders if they'd even want to get married again, if they knew then what they know now. But then the romantic side of them swells up, and they both agree they would absolutely walk down the aisle all over again.
On the way home, though, Carrie faces reality: "I may be alone for the rest of my life." Charlotte tries to tell her there's still a chance for new love — Charlotte, ever the optimist! — but Carrie admits that even when she lived alone before, she always felt like she wouldn't be alone for long. (Even though Duncan told her he wasn't coming back, she still held out hope.) Now she has to face the fact that it's "maybe just me." While Lisa reconciles with Herbert, vowing to love him whether he's "in Tom Ford suits or sweatsuits," Carrie confronts Adam about his feelings on marriage. He sees Thanksgiving as just another Thursday, and Carrie pointedly asks him: "Is Seema just a Thursday?" He reassures her that no, Seema is special: "She's a lifetime." And Carrie decides she loves the garden he's making, but she wants something more wild and free — "something more me."
As Thanksgiving dinner approaches, Harry interrupts Charlotte's cooking to announce that he's, um, ready for her: "I'm crisp and ready to baste, baby." Carrie picks up her pies and rides around the city delivering them to Charlotte, Lisa, Seema and Anthony before ending up at Miranda's. Joy isn't coming, though, Miranda tells her, because her dog swallowed something. Miranda thinks it's just an excuse because of the fights she's been having with Brady, but she calls Joy and discovers it's really serious, rushing out to join Joy at the vet clinic. That leaves just Miranda and Brady at the apartment when his baby-mama-to-be Mia arrives with her two insufferable Gen Z friends, Silvio and Epcot. Mia declares that she only eats cucumbers and seaweed, so Brady has to run out and get more ingredients, which leaves Carrie alone with the Gen Z-ers and Charlotte's boss Mark Kasabian, who arrives with a bottle of wine — and an eye for Carrie.
While Miranda and Joy get good news about Joy's dog (the surgery went perfectly!), Carrie is stuck at a nightmare dinner party with Mia and her friends and a flirty Mark. Charlotte pops by to drop off stuffing, and Carrie yanks her aside, accusing her of setting her up with Mark. Charlotte just wanted to show her there are still men out there — but if Mark represents the men out there, she'd rather just be alone. Miranda finally shows up, just in time for Brady to announce that the turkey is raw because Carrie and Mark took it out too early. He gets into a sniping argument with Mia, and Epcot ruins the bathroom after sampling the cheese plate despite being lactose intolerant. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
After dinner, Carrie and Miranda linger over a glass of wine, with Carrie predicting that Mark will try to escort her home. But Mark uses the bathroom and the toilet overflows on him, with feces spilling out everywhere, so the romance is gone, it seems. He hightails it out of there, and Miranda is left to clean up the mess, wondering what happened to her life. ("S–t happens," Carrie quips.) But Joy stops by after all, telling Miranda that "you spent the holiday with my family," so "I can spend it with yours." They share a hug — on the disgusting bathroom floor, we have to point out.
Carrie returns home alone and starts to take off her heels... but she decides to leave them on. (Duncan's not there to complain.) She flips on the karaoke machine and dials up Barry White's "You're the First, the Last, My Everything," dancing around to it as we see her friends — Anthony, Charlotte, Lisa, Seema and Miranda — enjoying their respective Thanksgivings. As Carrie sings along, she stops at her laptop to rewrite her novel's epilogue, erasing what she had and replacing it with: "The woman realized she was not alone — she was on her own." She sings and dances the night away on her own... and over the end credits, we hear the classic Sex and the City theme song.
Was that really a satisfying ending to Carrie's story, though? That barely felt like a season finale, let alone a series finale. Important characters like Charlotte and Anthony barely made cameos. And as much as we held out hope for an appearance from Duncan (or maybe even from Samantha), we didn't get one. We didn't even get a single scene with Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte together, which we would think would be the bare minimum. Aside from the Miranda-Steve scene, so little of this finale felt like Sex and the City. It's hard to accept that this episode was what the producers intended to leave us with, after nearly 30 years of knowing these characters — but maybe we can just keep our fingers crossed for another revival down the road.
What did you think? Give the finale a grade in our poll, and hit the comments to share your thoughts.