If you expected to flip to HBO Max and catch up with your favorite straightforward, red-headed, realistic lawyer who puts up with no crap from the world, then you will be sorely disappointed. TheSex and the Cityreboot,And Just Like Thatpremiered in December, but one fan-favorite character is almost unrecognizable from her character from the series and corresponding two movies. And it’s not just because her hair has gone gray — the Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) we knew and loved is no longer here.
This Miranda is not a celebration of the lives of older women - it’s a nonsensical mockup of what the writers may believe life is like now, and apparently, how a woman must torpedo her life and hurt those close to her to achieve fulfillment.
RELATED:‘And Just Like That’: Cynthia Nixon Explains Why She Was “Very Reluctant” to Return
It’s clear the writers tried to vastly overcorrect for the original series’ lack of diversity and sensitivity when discussing many topics that matter. The realSATCtroopers remember the episode where Samantha (Kim Cattrall) dates a Black man and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker)says, “Now that’s affirmative action.” The very next episode, is of course, involves the infamous bisexual discourse. In trying to correct the original series’ missteps, the writers have tried to throw ontoo manyissues into the script, and far too many cultural issues stuck to Miranda.
One of the most offensive changes to Miranda’s character is her inability to function in a diverse society. This is the woman who dated a Black man duringSATC’s final season, and even better, was tactful and respectful. She was often the most trailblazing of theSATCbunch in general. Remember when she had a baby as a single mother, continued to work as a lawyer and refused to be slut-shamed by her housekeeper? Well, those days of Miranda sticking it to the man are far behind. Now, she makes as many cultural missteps as she drinks glasses of wine before noon.
In the first episode ofAnd Just Like That, Miranda makes a cringe-inducing faux pas when she can’t recognize her Black professor because she’s wearing braids, and goes on a horrific tangent about how she’s not racist on her first day of school. After Miranda confides in Carrie that she doesn’t know how to exist in “this climate,” I couldn’t help but wonder: Why were the writers forcing these awful words to come out of Miranda’s mouth? This would be realistic behavior for Charlotte (Kristin Davis), but why was Miranda, who was supposedly so motivated by political unrest to go back to school, saying these things out loud? There’s even more proof Miranda had a secret lobotomy.
It’s wonderful thatAnd Just Like Thatis showcasing a woman — especially an older woman — exploring her sexuality. However, how Miranda does this is actually harmful to LGBTQ community, and vilifies women who are trying to figure out their sexuality. Miranda is portrayed as irresponsible, flighty and unremorseful, all things she never was in the original series. Visions of Miranda screaming to Carrie, “You’re living in a fantasy!” when Carrie was, in fact, living in a number of romantic fantasies during the original series come to mind as irony.
Once the audience is able to sort-of forget about Miranda’s cultural missteps, we are slapped in the face with her alcoholism. Next it’s her attraction to Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), Carrie’s boss. Then it’s her cheating on her lovable hard-of-hearing husband Steve (David Eigenberg). Finally, it’s her delusional unrepentant giddiness when she finally comes clean to Steve of her months of infidelity. But wait — it’s also her insistence that it’s not that she’s gay, bisexual or a lesbian — it’s purely Che that has caused her to lose her mind. It’s clear with all this in mind that the writers stuck just a few too many issues to Miranda’s character, and didn’t do the work to make any resolution earned.
Miranda’s kind-of-alcoholism appears in the first episode of the reboot, and is eventually discussed, but then immediately abandoned and written off as an easy fix of just throwing your liquor down the drain. This dismisses older women, and just people in general, who have a real problem with alcohol. But Miranda insists she’s actually just unhappy in her marriage, and in her life in general. That brings us to…
Che. The person that made Miranda lose her mind. It would have been great to see Miranda Hobbes explore her sexuality with Che in a meaningful, truthful way. That experience is more than valid, and there should be more of it on television, especially involving older adult women. However, if you’re looking for that nuanced portrayal, you won’t find it withAnd Just Like That.
Miranda disrespects Che, who she claims to be in love with, along with Steve, her family and her marriage in this affair. Instead of feeling regret for her dalliance with Che, Miranda longs for more of “the best sex of her life.” Instead of wondering how her husband of decades might feel, Miranda frets over a DM not returned from Che. And instead of telling Che the full story — that sex with Che is most definitely cheating — she leaves it out. From every angle possible, Miranda is disrespectful and self-centered in this entire realization, and it’s not as revolutionary as the writers hoped it would be. This storyline may actually do more harm than good — it perpetuates the idea that a woman exploring her sexuality has to involve imploding her life completely and acting erratically.
Instead of feeling joy for Miranda, it’s disappointing that a potentially meaningful storyline about sexuality has been bungled. Miranda doesn’t believe she’s discovered a new facet of her sexuality, all she knows is that she wants Che, and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt to get to them. And just like that, the writers missed an opportunity to tell the authentic story of a woman who has just discovered her sexuality.
When Miranda finally does decide to come clean to Steve and ask for a divorce, she essentially blames Steve for being “boring” and makes him feel bad for enjoying their current, comfortable lifestyle. She assumes Steve is fine post-talk when he’s clearly struggling to make sense of this bombshell, and she runs off to Cleveland to surprise Che in an extremely un-Miranda-like rom-com move.
And finally, the finale. Miranda has decided to abandon New York in favor of hanging around LA while Che tapes a likely horrible pilot, and she decides to inform her best friends of this decision at the last moment. When Carrie (and everyone else sane) questions why Miranda is giving up her competitive human rights internship in favor of following Che, she asks “Why am I not allowed to change a little? Or a lot?” While she is more than able to change, the idea of Miranda throwing away her goals of making a difference in the world, and leaving her friends after all the fuss they made about Samantha leaving, is laughable. Of course people are allowed to change – but that doesn’t mean Miranda’s actions are earned.
Of course there’s plenty more wrong with this reboot — the plot details that are never revisited again and the forced diversity, mainly. But for all the Miranda-lovers out there, our Miranda has fallen victim to the writers’ overcorrections of attempting to pin every possible issue a bored mother and wife may have. Instead of really dissecting even one of the issues, they skimmed over each one, and in turn, made it seem like Miranda is sabotaging her life and morals all in the name of some good sex.
