ivygirl

Minus the boots — It IS kind of “Makeup Artist on the Set of ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ Video.” But she is a lovely lady who manages to look confident in it. I’ll for sure give her that!

Haha! Probably! They were like TripAdvisor for Che’s liaisons. “In Tucson, stay with our friend Pat, excellent hugger but light on the cuddling. Don’t mind the dizzy spells… they pass quickly. Continental breakfast from 6 to 9 am. 4.25 stars” And, they probably would have started stealing fries (or whatever) off Che’s plate.

Oh, Steve. 💕 That little scene was the first really moving moment of the show for me. Though I do still like the teacher. And Seemantha. And Dr. Nya and Andre. I’m glad there was some likability somewhere in this morass. But then we still had Che and the cookies and the additional set of ADORING fans… and the guy who shows up to dinner and just ANNOUNCES his holocaust-denying self as like the third thing he says… like who DOES that, Show? Neither of those scenarios resonated with truth for me.

Hey, you never know! We still have a couple episodes to go! 😂😂😂 The “And Just Like That” Instagram account—which I realize is there for marketing purposes—also pretends that everyone’s in love with all these storylines, too. Like, everyone views Che as a hilarious and inspiring figure who can do no wrong, and their relationship with Miranda is like kismet or something. I mean, sure. Some people do. And others might say “well, I am not in love with the character, but I appreciate that the showrunners are being more inclusive in their casting and storylines.” But going by the discussion here on this episode alone, it’s certainly not an accurate representation of how people feel in toto. It’s like everything about this show operates in a vacuum that’s completely divorced from actual reality.

**Cough cough**Megan**Cough cough** I was just thinking about how Che is kind of the Megan of this show. Like Megan: We’re supposed to believe that Che (autocorrect keeps changing that to “ache,” LOL) is SO AMAZING and everyone just falls all over themselves around them. NOPE. Except I think Sara Ramirez is a decent actor doing all they can do with the material; not so with Jessica Pare (Megan). Still: Being told that we NEED TO LIKE A CHARACTER never ends up all that well.

Yep. Like a modern day morality play.

Mad Men is precisely the example I’ve been thinking of this whole time—the characters were flawed humans—to varying degrees of depth—but very rarely did I question *their choices as characters* or sit there in disbelief saying “Don (or Peggy, or whomever) would NOT have made that decision.” They could all be pretty awful at times but we also saw the consequences of their choices. Not so with this show—so many of the main characters make decisions that just bulldoze through reality in order to Make a Point, and the characters in their orbit are primarily just there to help that point along.

That’s it for me. I don’t find Sara’s ACTING bad—just that we are supposed to believe that this obnoxious character is supposed to be devastatingly, gravitationally attractive and funny.

Yes to so much of your post! I was really moved by what you had to say. Miranda seems to just toss everything aside for a shiny new object (person), and Steve deserves more respect from her. That said, I have seen some callousness and arrogance from people who decide they want or deserve “more,” so I guess it’s not totally out of line, but it’s been handled so poorly on the show as it seems we are still expected to cheer Miranda on. I’m not a huge fan of “I’m a WIDOW” Carrie, but it would actually be kind of sweet if we got to see her a bit nostalgic about her life with Big—not just what we saw in the original series, but in what we missed between the shows and movies and “today.” There have been touches of it. But is been more painful than sweet. Which i know takes time in real life as well.

“Hey, that’s MY line!” —Teacher Dude

On Wednesdays We Call Her Pinky

How gracious of Carrie to allow Miranda to speak, even though Carrie has a story and is, you know, a widow.

Oh yeah! Smith! He was a sweet character. Nice comparison. I prefer a Steve too 😊 That was the nice thing about the original show… the stories were good and if you didn’t connect or relate to one, you’d be sure to find another that you did.

I loved Steve as well—and I can’t stand this depiction either. He had a sweetness and his own confidence. And thanks for sharing why you enjoyed Richard!

Right? They may have had good points, bad points, but they somehow resembled real human men that someone, somewhere along the line would have been attracted to—rather than cardboard plot points. Men and women did rotten and hurtful things, but it was all (well, mostly all) acknowledged for what it was. Many of us had affection for the key players—I mean, I know Berger was kind of petulant, but I still found he had some appeal and humor; and someone here said they liked Richard (whom I never found appealing—but it shows there was something attractive about his character, to some women). LOL! Yes. We need a run-in with Skipper! [the quote got deleted!] I mean, even HE could probably find a lid for his pot. (Sorry, Che… not THAT kind of pot. On that note, maybe pot is the lid for Che’s pot.)

Oh geez. Great point. If a book was REALLY REALLY hot, you could or would MAYBE get a book out that fast. But a book like this? They’d take time to put together and market. And there would likely be a big lead time on printing.

That honestly made me sad, @RedHawk. Steve was up for it. And he was trying.

And just like that… this forum has writers far wittier than the people paid untold amounts to write the show we’re commenting on…

Writer *with a forthcoming new book*! Get a photo for IG and get the scoop on what’s coming from this bestselling author’s new book! It was practically a PR/marketing opportunity, but it was played as yet another Sad Carrie/Plot Device moment. Too bad.

Sure. But again—this show is doing its best to tell us how to handle racial, cultural, and gender issues. To just put those words in an character’s mouth… I dunno. I get that people joke like that, but it felt very uncomfortable to me *as a line on this show.* YMMV.

But if so… It’s a weird thing to just toss in there in the context of *this* show. It stood out like a sore thumb, in the context of how aware this show is telling us to be.

Even if it was supposed to be self effacing (har de har har?) Harry’s comment about being Jewish and, therefore, inept at sports was really, really bad. I guess in all the PC-ness this show wants to engage in, it’s still OK to make a joke like that. K.

The more I think about it this morning… the more I realize what adolescents these women are being. Miranda: Your husband doesn’t IMMEDIATELY satisfy you, so you throw in the towel and stop the effort to connect with him? (Somehow we are supposed to think this is all on Steve? Does she care about Steve AT ALL?) Instead of just saying: tennis is my “me time” (or whatever) and gently apologizing for hurting her husband, Charlotte refuses to apologize and turns the whole thing into Harry’s mansplaining (and he doesn’t strike me as the type to mansplain—another weird character turn, to me). Carrie awards WORST DATE EVER BY A WIDOW to her date with this otherwise nice and together guy that she’d connected with (even as a friend)… because he had the gall to get drunk and sick because they were drinking? Are these women adults?

Boy, between the barfing, falling down, mansplaining, ineptitude, and—as Carrie won’t let us forget, DEATH—most of the men on this show really can’t catch a break! This episode was not all that bad. I know that’s damning with faint praise, but there you have it. I really wish Miranda had just told Che: “you know, this goes both ways. You could have reached out to ME, AND DID NOT, and that tells me all I need to know.” And yet—nope, more Che scenes to FF. I’m starting to feel like Che is Miranda’s Big. I really, really liked the teacher. Gosh. I mean, he did BARF and everything 🙄, and it was therefore THE WORST DATE EVER ESPECIALLY BECAUSE CARRIE IS A WIDOW AND DON’T FORGET IT,* but hey, he’s an actual human. I can’t see Carrie staying with him, but at least he’s likeable, so far. * I did appreciate Anthony saying “You get one more of those!!!” It was an Anthony thing to say, but it also expresses how most of us feel.

I feel like not only Steve, but MOST of the male characters are really getting the short shrift. Big gets killed off in the first episode as a plot contrivance to give us Mourning Carrie. (One could argue the show dodged a bullet there with Noth, but I digress.) Steve is a non-entity in his own life, with literally no say. Poor Harry is there as a good father and husband, but he’s “treated” to a bathroom scene and a colonoscopy appointment that’s delayed because of Charlotte’s need to plan a very forced party. Stanford turns into a jerk—and, once Willie Garson passes away and had to be written out, he turns into an even flightier jerk that leaves Anthony, and the country, via note… to support a burgeoning Tik Tok star? Anthony—ironically, a character I DID NOT care for previously—is getting perhaps the best treatment as a character and comes off as an interesting and supportive (if kinda snarky) actual human who does actual human things. There are a handful of other men, but we see them so infrequently that they’re just paper-doll characters [podcast co-host who dated the producer, attractive PT guy, ha-ha-who’d-want-the-less-attractive PT guy (EYEROLL)] so it’s hard to say they’re treated shabbily… but they’re not even relatable. I know I left out a couple of them, but they’re almost the exception that proves the rule. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t need every individual male character to be a great guy. But at least attempt to make them HUMAN with actual thoughts, feelings, behavior, and agency. And some form of actual CHARACTER—good or bad.