S01.E06: Diwali

[mansonlamps]

1 hour ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Oh, I loved seeing those dolls. I had a few. The French doll, the Scottish doll, the Scarlett O'Hara doll

I think you really have to be searching for something to be offended about if these dolls are considered cultural appropriation.   

[monagatuna]

1 hour ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Oh, I loved seeing those dolls. I had a few. The French doll, the Scottish doll, the Scarlett O'Hara doll...

 

Did you notice Charlotte saying they were "MY dolls"? Well, put them in your room, Charlotte! You have two teens with their own style and their own stuff. Not everyone wants the same thing as you!

 

[greekmom]

13 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Yes, I thought Miranda was going to show up at the dinner. 

ditto. I thought she would come up to cockblock fertile Myrtle.  

How many episodes are there? I don't think they will be able to clean this up in 2 or 3.

[MicheleinPhilly]

UGH, this show. While I found this episode marginally more palatable than the others, it's a fairly low bar to clear. 

Once again, Carrie finds a way to make everything about her at the picnic by trivializing Miranda's transgression with her "Well, my husband died. This is no biggie in comparison." It's not a fucking competition, Carrie. Get over yourself. And in the long ago words of Miranda, "It's a BIG, FUCKING deal."

They really need to find something for her to do whether that's dating or writing or shopping or SOMETHING because I really don't feel like watching her moping around whatever apartment she happens to be residing in at any given moment. 

I never thought I would say this, but Anthony is the only redeeming quality for me with this. 

[Keywestclubkid]

1 minute ago, greekmom said:

ditto. I thought she would come up to cockblock fertile Myrtle.  

How many episodes are there? I don't think they will be able to clean this up in 2 or 3.

This season's finale will air on Feb. 3, closing out season one with 10 episodes total.

[GiveMeSpace]

4 hours ago, BeatrixK said:

Can someone tell me what the hell was the point of the beeping? 

I think this plot device represented Carrie's feeling of not belonging in the apartment and that *something* is bothering her, but she is unsure of what it is. She has looked in the obvious places, but hasn't quite found out the origin of the problem. It is a nagging problem that cannot be ignored.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 1/6/2022 at 5:03 AM, ivygirl said:

Oh Yay! Miranda and Che flashbacks. Just what we were all hoping for.

Other than that, this episode wasn’t *quite* as cringeworthy. Maybe because we had more Seema and more Anthony, and a little bit of humor with the mystery beeping (even though it was irritating! LOL). 

I was fine with everything except Miranda and the Che flashbacks.

[ifionlyknew]

9 minutes ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

Once again, Carrie finds a way to make everything about her at the picnic by trivializing Miranda's transgression with her "Well, my husband died. This is no biggie in comparison." It's not a fucking competition, Carrie. Get over yourself. And in the long ago words of Miranda, "It's a BIG, FUCKING deal."

Shades of paper covers rock when Carrie thought Berger breaking up with her (via a Post It!!!)  was more important than Charlotte getting engaged.

[monagatuna]

I agree, I actually enjoyed this episode except revisiting the cringe disaster of that scene. (And I am no stranger to queer couplings, I'm queer myself.) Much as I hate how people keep calling it a lesbian experience and keep calling Che a woman--and much as I find Che fiercely hot myself--I can't defend them. They're cringey and aggressive and boring.

It was mentioned upthread, I forget who, that Miranda should've had a crush on her professor. That is a person with real sexual energy, with whom Miranda has actual chemistry. It would've been neat to see her go through the experience of crushing on someone she can't get involved with, who is also of a different gender than her previously-assumed-preferred one. Rather than hitting us over the head with Che, who could still be Carrie's boss and still be inappropriate at the funeral and still inappropriately bring her tequila as she convalesced, we could have Miranda looking at a non-man with different eyes, and handling this with some angst but still a bit of class.

Oh, well. If they wanted me to write for the show, they'd have asked.

[bichonblitz]

18 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I know we all age, but damn. SJP needs a new hair style. She looks so damned haggard now.

She should not pull her hair back so severely any more. The plastic surgeon was right. Carrie has old lady hollow face. Thin people age like that. If you are overweight you get saggy face/jowls. I fall in to the latter category. I give kudo's to SJP for doing that scene because she knows her face is aging that way as opposed to most egotistical  actors that would refuse to have any spotlight put on their aging faces. 

Miranda masturbating with her son standing outside her door was disgusting. I know the writers (and Cynthia Nixon) probably thought that would be comedy gold but it was gross. 

Since when is Anthony buddies with Carrie? He was always Charlotte's go to gay bff and Stannie was Carrie's. Is Charlotte jealous? This reboot had her jealous of Stannie and Carries friendship so why not be jealous of Anthony and Carrie? 

Edited January 7, 2022 by bichonblitz

[luna1122]

1 hour ago, Rai said:

I guess I find it a little weird that Charlotte thinks Che is sexy. I'd take Charlotte as the type to be more threatened by Che on some level, but maybe I'm being unfair to her. (Caveat, I think Che is pretty hot, actually.)

 

 

I think Sara Ramirez is attractive, and when they still publicly identified as a woman,, i thought they were gorgeous. They still have charisma, but i just can't with that hair. I hate it on anyone.  Che's swaggery machismo isn't attractive to me, and I wouldn’t think it would be to Charlotte even in straight-woman fantasy land, but who knows. I'm boringly hetero, but if I ever fantasize about women, they're as far from men as possible: girly, voluptuous, hyper feminine. Kind of how SR once looked. But Che is non binary anyhow, so i suppose this is all moot. 

I hated Carrie and Big's affair, I remember being appalled by it. While it's kind of ballsy ( esp back then, before so many show protagonists were anti-heroes and meth/mob kingpins and serial killers) to make your shows's supposed heroine a big, lying cheater, it was still off putting to me. Big cheating wasn't shocking, he'd already been established as that. And Carrie falling back under his spell wasn't surprising either. It was all tacky and gross and I felt bad for Natasha,  but I got it. 

But Carrie staying with Aidan and telling him she loved him while actively banging Big was really infuriating to me. 

I don't even think most of us are necessarily judging Miranda for the Che infatuation or her reawakening or whatever they want to call it. It’s just the complete lack of respect for Steve and their history that is pissing so many off. That and Miranda's complete lack of apparent remorse. 

 

This was kind of funny: I watch a Spanish show on HBOMAX called Dafne and the rest (Todo lo Otro) and I hate dubbing, so I always have to reset the closed captioning to English and the audio to Spanish. When I first turned on the new ep of AJLT, Carrie and Anthony were speaking Spanish, so I had to reset. Apparently when I did, I hit the 'full dynamic range' option, which narrates what the actors are doing, gestures and facial expressions, for the hearing impaired. It’s intermittent, and took me a few minutes to catch on. But a woman’s voice informed me that Seema and Anthony were curling their fists into tiger-paws, then that Carrie’s eyes were scanning the room, then that Lily was before a mirror applying lip gloss. I for real thought we had the Carrie-like voiceover, except it wasn't Carrie. I was so confused for a couple minutes. Ha. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by luna1122

[Rai]

I mean, I am a long-time TWOPer and I read the recaps, so the overall Carrie bashing is familiar to me, but even so, calling her "disgusting" would've felt like overkill. Do I condone cheating in the real world? No. But do I think Cynthia Nixon has earned the right to imbue her character with some of her personal story? Yes. But also! She can't control how it'll be received, and I hope she was prepared for some blow back.

Miranda's in a bad place right now, somewhat through her own choices, and I'm interested to see how she'll climb out of that. Or if she'll climb out of that. I was kinda rooting for her and her professor to get together, but her professor seems happy with her husband overall. But why would there be so much focus on her without Miranda around if she isn't destined to play some bigger role?

 

[ifionlyknew]

7 minutes ago, luna1122 said:

I don't even think most of us are necessarily judging Miranda for the Che infatuation or her reawakening or whatever they want to call it. It’s just the complete lack of respect for Steve and their history that is pissing so many off. That and Miranda's complete lack of apparent remorse. 

Yes. This exactly.  The whole execution of this story has been a complete disaster IMO. They could have had Miranda and Steve recognizing they are having problems and had them separate to take some time apart.  And then Miranda could have met someone. Although I was never going to like Che.  

6 minutes ago, Rai said:

But do I think Cynthia Nixon has earned the right to imbue her character with some of her personal story? Yes. But also! She can't control how it'll be received, and I hope she was prepared for some blow back.

I would actually like to hear from CN about how poorly this storyline is being received.   I do wonder if she thought people would like it more.

[slowpoked]

1 hour ago, John M said:

Also, I'm going to push back on the Carrie's apartment not being her, I think that is completely wrong and probably a plot point. Like Seema said, and it's a cliche but true, buyers want to envision their apartment, not someone else's. That apartment is perfect for her, an huge empty white box with no fixed elements dictating design choices and high ceilings that can make Carrie's likely maximalist choices not be overbearing. By the end of the series I am sure that apartment will look incredibly layered with lots of bold color, High-Low, vintage-modern and look perfectly Carrie. It's a fresh start for Carrie, just like the big white box.

This. If you're going to use the moving as a plot point and symbolism of something important for Carrie to overcome, then don't just wrap it up in mere minutes, not even an entire episode. The woman didn't even make an effort to actually move AND live there. Where are her stuff, her boxes, her furniture, her shoes, etc.? So she had some breakfast, went to sleep, got annoyed by the beeping, and then was like, "nope, this isn't me, I'm out."

I can understand that if after a year or so, she decorated the place to her taste, bought her own furniture, had some parties she hosts, etc., then she comes to the conclusion that "this is too big for me, I'm just drowning in this huge place all by myself. I still want my old apartment where I can easily see the kitchen from my bedroom, etc"

It could have been an interesting storyline for Carrie but they just tut-tut it like they're doing everything else.

[Keywestclubkid]

47 minutes ago, luna1122 said:

 

I don't even think most of us are necessarily judging Miranda for the Che infatuation or her reawakening or whatever they want to call it. It’s just the complete lack of respect for Steve and their history that is pissing so many off. That and Miranda's complete lack of apparent remorse. 

 

^^^^ This 

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 1/6/2022 at 12:58 PM, 4evaQuez said:

I liked the scene with the professor at dinner, but I was also confused why it was there. The actors did a good job, but I'd rather spend the 38 minutes with the Sex and the City characters - Carrie, Charlotte, text messaging Samantha, Miranda, in that order. I kept waiting for Miranda to show up for the scene, and I was disappointed that never happened. 

Yeah but remember, the characters in these reboots would be terrified to hang out with all Black people.  Remember Charlotte at her friend's dinner party?  Remember Miranda flailing like a moron because her professor was Black?

Although, credit to Carrie, she's normal in any environment, like at Diwali.  I have to admit Carrie was very normal and likeable this episode and it takes a lot for me to admit that in 2022.

19 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I know we all age, but damn. SJP needs a new hair style. She looks so damned haggard now.

I DID like her hair in the last scene, I thought it was gorgeous.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I wish Cynthia Nixon could have just produced her own show where she plays a new and original character in a story about a woman who comes out later in life. It’s very frustrating that show is essentially telling Cynthia’s story through Miranda and turning Steve into a moron to justify it.

[Ms Blue Jay]

16 hours ago, bilgistic said:

So diversity is welcomed but don't make it obvious? Okay.

I think the point of the post is that white people on this show are allowed to "exist", whereas non-white people are often about their racial identities, like Seema with Diwali.  Lily is allowed to exist, but boy, I wish she was allowed to exist MORE.  With Rock's storyline, I don't get to see much about her and that makes me sad.  I was excited about her.  It makes me wonder (I couldn't help but wonder) if these idiotic writers are just so terrified to write for an Asian person so they just pretend Lily isn't a real person and doesn't really exist.  They probably think they have to give her Asian characteristics instead of you know, letting her be a human.

At the same time, I liked the Diwali idea very much, and while I haven't adored Seema yet this episode gave her a lot more to work with.  I agree with the poster who said that there wasn't enough about Diwali for an episode fucking titled "Diwali".

Who is writing for this show?  Is it all white people like I assume it was for the first 6 years?

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I wish Charlotte would get the stick out of her butt already! She seems so damned determined to shoehorn everyone into some mental box in which they have to remain unchanged forever, and gets so loudly offended if they don’t. It’s really not up to her or about her! I feel bad for Rock. Having a mother like Charlotte isn’t going to make their life easy. Hey, Charlotte: I’m a 64-year-old cishet woman and I have NO problem with the change of name or pronouns or clothing, so what’s your damage? Let people be who they are. Is the concept really that difficult? And as to hair: if your kid cuts (and/or dyes) their hair in a way you dislike, so what? It’s just hair, it’ll grow back, and you’re not the one wearing it anyway.

You must have a really cool mother!  My mother finds fault with everything I do, and I was a lifelong A student that earned my own money and never did drugs or anything.   I don't know, to me Charlotte is completely normal.  People see their children as extensions of themselves and I think a lot of parents have a hard time with control and individuality.

The scene that just featured Professor Nya didn't bother me at all.   Didn't LTW also have scenes that were just about her, like being at school and/or dealing with her mother in law?  Get used to it, these are the new characters and it's not all about the main 3 anymore.  Wasn't there a scene at the Podcast place that didn't involve Carrie?  Am I misremembering this?

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Toodleoo]

5 hours ago, RedHawk said:

Also, rewind and turn on your closed captions. Most of the time in current shows my closed captions identify the singer and the song title.

Good point, I forgot that because I always have CC on 🤣

Shazaming it helps if I really like the song, because then I have a record of it on my phone and the app easily sends you (on iPhone) to iTunes so you can throw more dollars at Apple. Har har

Edited January 7, 2022 by Toodleoo

[Jillybean]

I haven't made it through the entire thread, so this may have already been noted...Seema's dad is played by the actor who played Pakistani busboy Samantha let kiss her after being stood up by William the salsa club owner in S2. I recognized him immediately. Perhaps I've watched the OG series a few too many times.

ETA: oh yeah, I see now that I'm hardly the first to mention this.

Also, I can't recall ever seeing Carrie prepare food before.

ETA: although she allegedly made that apple pie in Suffern...

Edited January 7, 2022 by Jillybean

[Ms Blue Jay]

13 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I think they've just done a bad job setting up the relationship between Miranda and her professor.  Unlike with Lisa/Charlotte or Seema/Carrie, the relationship seems forced to me.  I feel like Nya in particular, as a professor, would be wary of blurring boundaries between being a teacher and friend with one of her students.    

I agree, I really like Nya, but it's weird that she would befriend Miranda.  I also think it's weird that a realtor would befriend their client, especially after such an awkward relationship they had at the beginning, but at least I can more easily handwave that one.  It's about Carrie's need for approval so if anyone disapproves of her she has to at least try to get that person to like her.

Just now, Jillybean said:

Also, I can't recall ever seeing Carrie prepare food before.

She did make fondue for Big.

[Jillybean]

2 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

She did make fondue for Big.

True, but I don't remember actually seeing her prepare it. And it was so terrible they went out to eat instead.

[Ms Blue Jay]

10 hours ago, Marley said:

The beeping pissed me off. It wouldn’t be that hard to figure out where it was coming from.

My first thought was that it was her security alarm at the front door.  The camera made sure that we saw it.

This actually happened to me, although the beeping was MUCH softer.  But noises drive me crazy.  It actually went on for a long time until we figured it out.

There was a light switch by my laundry unit that didn't do anything - or so I thought.  Because the light switch was turned ON, it was trying to run a fan that couldn't run - I think the fan was broken.  This was causing a soft beeping sound over and over and over again.  We had to get somebody to investigate in my ceiling.  So yes, it does happen.  

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Rai said:

Was everyone disgusted by Carrie when she was having her affair? I'm asking sincerely because I wasn't chatting with SATC fans back in the day when it was happening, so I am curious. Being unhappy with Miranda's (or Carrie's) choices is something I can understand, but finding a character "disgusting" seems pretty harsh.

Charlotte certainly was.  Samantha was the "I don't judge" friend.  I don't remember Miranda's reaction.  Back in the good ol' days Miranda worshipped the ground Carrie walked on so she probably thought it was amazing.  Now, in the AJLT days, Miranda gets fucked by somebody in Carrie's kitchen while Carrie helplessly pees on the floor.

Edited:  Oh, maybe you were asking about the fans?  Carrie wasn't having an affair, really.  Big was.  She was cheating, though.  I think it was more about how Carrie behaved that people disapproved of, like before, and after.  She practically courted that affair.  She knew what she was getting into.  Making a mistake once was shown pretty organically but she kept going back.  Then after she screamed at Aidan to forgive her.  She just handled a lot of that badly.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Jillybean]

Seema is no dummy. She's going to make TWO commissions off Carrie!

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

I think it is interesting that a cosmetic surgeon said there was no need to operate on Anthony, there is always tweaks to be made, a surgeon that does not want to cut is unheard of, lol.

I think he was hitting on him?  I don't know.  I agree, weird scene.

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, bichonblitz said:

Since when is Anthony buddies with Carrie? He was always Charlotte's go to gay bff and Stannie was Carrie's. Is Charlotte jealous? This reboot had her jealous of Stannie and Carries friendship so why not be jealous of Anthony and Carrie? 

GOOD POINT!!!!!!

[Rai]

3 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Charlotte certainly was.  Samantha was the "I don't judge" friend.  I don't remember Miranda's reaction.  Back in the good ol' days Miranda worshipped the ground Carrie walked on so she probably thought it was amazing.  Now, in the AJLT days, Miranda gets fucked by somebody in Carrie's kitchen while Carrie helplessly pees on the floor.

In-character/story reactions, yes, I totally get those. I'm surprised at the number of viewers here calling Miranda disgusting though. I liked Aidan more than I like Steve  (and I never loved Big) and recognized Carrie was doing Aidan wrong, but I wouldn't have called her disgusting and I wouldn't judge Miranda as harshly as Carrie deserved because she's in an unhappy place right now and got kinda caught up in a moment. Whereas Carrie knew exactly what she was doing and kept on doing it.

Lest people think I'm defending cheating or that I'm praising this show, I'm not. I just am surprised at the level of venom thrown at Miranda. She's unhappy, she messed up, and I think they're still heading for divorce city, population them. I also tend to approach everything with "well, this is the situation that's being presented, so let's see where they go with those parameters," so obviously YMMV, etc.

[RedHawk]

4 hours ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Oh, I loved seeing those dolls. I had a few. The French doll, the Scottish doll, the Scarlett O'Hara doll...

I had those same ones, and the Little Women plus Marmie, given to me by my aunts, my dad's much-older sisters. 

2 hours ago, monagatuna said:

Did you notice Charlotte saying they were "MY dolls"? Well, put them in your room, Charlotte! You have two teens with their own style and their own stuff. Not everyone wants the same thing as you!

Mom still has my dolls boxed up at her house, and if I had had kids I would have probably put the dolls on shelves in their room as well, but of course allowed the kids to decide when they didn't want them on display anymore.

1 hour ago, bichonblitz said:

She should not pull her hair back so severely any more. The plastic surgeon was right. Carrie has old lady hollow face. Thin people age like that. If you are overweight you get saggy face/jowls. I fall in to the latter category. I give kudo's to SJP for doing that scene because she knows her face is aging that way as opposed to most egotistical  actors that would refuse to have any spotlight put on their aging faces. 

I also give respect to SJP as an actress for allowing herself to look like an actual woman in her mid 50s who is grieving her husband's sudden death. I hope that as Carrie starts dating we'll see her taking more care with her appearance, maybe even cutting her hair, which will be part of transitioning out of mourning. She might even wear an outfit that makes sense!

27 minutes ago, Jillybean said:

Also, I can't recall ever seeing Carrie prepare food before.

She was preparing salmon in the first episode with Big, although it looked as if Big still needed to walk her through how to do it. Like, sheesh, how long have they been married and she still doesn't know basic fish prep? Looked to me like she was again making salmon in the "light box" apartment.

Why does she want a new apartment when her old one is just fine? Because it's too small! I mean, she has a ton of stuff, not just clothing and shoes either, and she was used to living in a larger space. So either she downsizes drastically to stay in cozyville or she finds an apartment that can hold her possessions.

The original apartment represents the young Carrie -- she even put on the "Carrie" necklace again, which isn't right for a 55-year-old, it's kinda teenage on a 35-year-old. She feels comfortable in her old neighborhood. (Did she never feel comfortable in her new one, even after living there for a decade?) So she's gone back to being "young Carrie" for awhile, perfectly ok after the shocking life upheaval, and needs time to process and heal. But why live in that small apartment forever when she can afford a more spacious one -- well, most New Yorkers long for more space, so it just makes sense to me. She'll always keep the small apartment, but it doesn't have to be her primary residence.

Edited January 7, 2022 by RedHawk

[Ms Blue Jay]

@Rai

I think people feel betrayed by the character assassination of Miranda.  Miranda from SATC version 1 had a lot of morals and integrity.  It was a huge point to her character.  She was also cheated on by Steve and we saw her reactions to it.  She's very black and white.  Part of her character was that she judged the people she loved the most and got into little arguments with them about it.  She was not forgiving.  She was very set in her ways.  But she was a good person, a good friend, a good daughter in law, and a good wife.

The Miranda of AJLT is a totally different person, as if written by totally different people, perhaps even Cynthia herself.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Rai]

1 hour ago, luna1122 said:

This was kind of funny: I watch a Spanish show on HBOMAX called Dafne and the rest (Todo lo Otro) and I hate dubbing, so I always have to reset the closed captioning to English and the audio to Spanish. When I first turned on the new ep of AJLT, Carrie and Anthony were speaking Spanish, so I had to reset. Apparently when I did, I hit the 'full dynamic range' option, which narrates what the actors are doing, gestures and facial expressions, for the hearing impaired. It’s intermittent, and took me a few minutes to catch on. But a woman’s voice informed me that Seema and Anthony were curling their fists into tiger-paws, then that Carrie’s eyes were scanning the room, then that Lily was before a mirror applying lip gloss. I for real thought we had the Carrie-like voiceover, except it wasn't Carrie. I was so confused for a couple minutes. Ha. 

SIDEBAR, but this happened to me once with an episode of WandaVision, and it happened to be the meta/breaking the fourth wall episode, so it took me several minutes to realize it was my audio settings, not a deliberate show choice. I was thinking it was a pretty great show choice before I figured it out, but I was also hoping they wouldn't do it throughout the whole episode! 😄

(I am a tech idiot.)

[funnygirl]

Sorry not sorry, but cheating doesn't get to be hand-waved away because it's a gay awakening. Cheating is cheating, and the way they are writing Miranda as so detached and uncaring is gross. She's a pod person compared to the actual Miranda Hobbes from the Sex And The City universe. Six seasons and two movies of character development down the drain for this garbage execution.

MPK, Cynthia, and the writers at the very least could've had Miranda and Steve already divorced at the start of this revival if they really wanted to go this route. 

[RedHawk]

2 minutes ago, funnygirl said:

Sorry not sorry, but cheating doesn't get to be hand-waved away because it's a gay awakening. Cheating is cheating, and the way they are writing Miranda as so detached and uncaring is gross. She's a pod person compared to the actual Miranda Hobbes from the Sex And The City universe. Six seasons and two movies of character development down the drain for this garbage execution.

MPK, Cynthia, and the writers at the very least could've had Miranda and Steve already divorced at the start of this revival if they really wanted to go this route. 

Or show them having ONE discussion that revealed they both are dissatisfied with the current state of their marriage. We already knew from the movies that Miranda wasn't that into sex with Steve anymore. How does he feel about that? 

[Rai]

My take on Miranda carries over from SATC where I thought she was always forced to settle because everyone kept hammering at her to sacrifice her needs to accommodate Steve or accommodate a move or whatever. There never seemed to be anyone needing to compromise to Miranda's way of doing things or respecting why she had the needs that she did. It was always her having to change. Which I disliked a lot.

And in the movie, it did bug me that everyone essentially forgave Steve so easily and browbeat Miranda into taking him back. So I see this current situation as Miranda's made sacrifices and compromises for decades and it's all finally taken a toll and this is the nasty eruption as a result. Again, I don't condone cheating in real life, but the grace Steve got in comparison to what Miranda's getting right now -- she was treated as wrong to be hurt and angry when he cheated, and now she's being treated as being wrong for cheating herself, and it does start feeling like she can't win. No, two wrongs don't make a right, etc. However, the path of how she got here looks pretty clear to me, even without factoring in her sexuality.

Genuinely not here to tell people how they feel though. Just feeling sorry for Miranda and how easy it is for her to fall from grace from her own fans.

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

Just a shot in the dark, but if Carrie sold Big's apartment for more than he paid for it originally she might be on the hook for taxes on the gains. The way you get around that is buy another property that costs more and eats up the gains. So that could explain why she was looking for somewhere else to live....but really, it's just that the writers can't think of what else to do with her. She'll stay in her old apartment and that will be the end of it.

ETA: plus, they needed an excuse to keep Seema around, but I think she has enough of a relationship with Carrie now that they can hang out as friends.

Unfortunately, they changed that very nice rollover capital gains tax exemption quite a few years ago.  Now you get $250,000 per person or $500,000 for a couple.  She'd probably owe tax if Big bought the apartment a long while back.  But if Big is really that rich and sophisticated, he'd have trusts or other means of minimizing taxes.

Edited January 7, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[Keywestclubkid]

22 minutes ago, Rai said:

My take on Miranda carries over from SATC where I thought she was always forced to settle because everyone kept hammering at her to sacrifice her needs to accommodate Steve or accommodate a move or whatever. There never seemed to be anyone needing to compromise to Miranda's way of doing things or respecting why she had the needs that she did. It was always her having to change. Which I disliked a lot.

And in the movie, it did bug me that everyone essentially forgave Steve so easily and browbeat Miranda into taking him back. So I see this current situation as Miranda's made sacrifices and compromises for decades and it's all finally taken a toll and this is the nasty eruption as a result. Again, I don't condone cheating in real life, but the grace Steve got in comparison to what Miranda's getting right now -- she was treated as wrong to be hurt and angry when he cheated, and now she's being treated as being wrong for cheating herself, and it does start feeling like she can't win. No, two wrongs don't make a right, etc. However, the path of how she got here looks pretty clear to me, even without factoring in her sexuality.

Genuinely not here to tell people how they feel though. Just feeling sorry for Miranda and how easy it is for her to fall from grace from her own fans.

She wasn’t browbeat she made her own choice to stay with Steve .. she chose on her own to forgive him for cheating. 
 

and if she just stayed with Steve to make her friends or everyone else happy (a trait she was never shown to have in the original part of her arc was it doesn’t have to always be her way she always had it and wanted it her way and through the series she learned hey no I don’t ) again how fucked is that to do to Steve? That’s shitting on him even more … I’m cheating because I never loved you and never wanted to be with you? Sorry you loved me and built a life with me it was all fake on my part? 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Keywestclubkid

[mansonlamps]

38 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Since when is Anthony buddies with Carrie? He was always Charlotte's go to gay bff and Stannie was Carrie's. Is Charlotte jealous? This reboot had her jealous of Stannie and Carries friendship so why not be jealous of Anthony and Carrie? 

They made a point of having Anthony say that Charlotte was too busy with kid stuff, so that's why he needed Carrie to go with him. 

[MicheleinPhilly]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I think the point of the post is that white people on this show are allowed to "exist", whereas non-white people are often about their racial identities, like Seema with Diwali. 

^^^^^THIS. 

I'm a member of a minority group but it doesn't comprise my entire identity as a human being. These characters seem to be nothing more than tools to pull the core 3 from their lily white, rich, cisgender, heterosexual bubbles while screaming at the audience, "See, we fixed it!" 

How incompetent of a showrunner do you have to be to not be able to come up with fully fleshed out minority characters that fit into the story organically in New York City in 2021/2022? 

 

[slowpoked]

38 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Unfortunately, they changed that very nice rollover capital gains tax exemption quite a few years ago.  Now you get $250,000 per person or $500,000 for a couple.  She'd probably owe tax if Big bought the apartment a long while back.  But if Big is really that rich and sophisticated, he'd have trusts or other means of minimizing taxes.

As a CPA, this warms my heart. Also the previous quote that the above post references to is what they call in the tax world “like-kind exchange.” It can be done and it does temporarily defer taxes, but like-kind exchanges cannot be done on properties considered principal residence, which is what their conjugal home is.

 

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

 I also think it's weird that a realtor would befriend their client, especially after such an awkward relationship they had at the beginning, but at least I can more easily handwave that one.  

We did end up being friends with our realtor who got us our first place. Maybe not as friendly as Seema/Carrie, but we’d catch up once or twice a year, have lunch or brunch, send xmas cards/gifts each other’s way, etc.

Edited January 7, 2022 by slowpoked

[NotMySekrit2Tell]

I liked this episode probably as much as I can like an AJLT episode. Meaning there are some fundamental bad choices with the whole series, but within that framework, it was a better episode than (most of? all?) the others. Cynthia Nixon did a great job with the direction, and as far as the writing, there were whole scenes that ended with me thinking, "That was good."  

I actually thought Charlotte's "Why can't people just stay the same?" was kind of poignant. It was more about her feeling that she has, and the people she loves are leaving her behind, or at least becoming people she doesn't understand as well. It can be a tough place to be. 

Re: Miranda and Nya, Maybe Nya shouldn't have been the professor with whom Miranda got off on the wrong foot with those awful "Miranda tries too hard with the first Black person she's ever met" scenes. The relationship they're having would have worked better if Nya were another woman going back to school later in life like Miranda is. They could have bonded because they had that in common.

Something interesting (and good) in this one is that we met people we had only heard about, and they were not quite what I was expecting. I thought the Fertile Myrtle woman, in the little we saw, actually came off as sensitive and tactful. So I think Nya just hears the way she talks and feels insecure and judged, as if FM is "all kids all the time" and rubbing it in. Seema's parents too...they just care about her and want her to have someone great, but they want her to have someone she likes no matter what. 

I swear, that doctor's office scene was so weird that I was waiting for another shoe to drop. I was anticipating a reveal that Anthony was never even considering a facelift and had worked out a whole skit with a plastic surgeon buddy to get Carrie freshened up without telling her she needed it, as some kind of new-widow confidence booster. 

I don't have anything good to say about the Che flashbacks. Or Brady going to his mother's bedroom door just to announce that he's going to see Luisa. Like that would even be news. A dumb writing choice, I guess for comedy, which continues to not be this show's strong point. (Edit: It's a minor relief to hear that Luisa has some other place she is, where Brady goes to see her. Good grief.) 

What bugs me most about this "Miranda's awakening" story is that Steve is barely a character. He's been onscreen enough for us to know his hearing is deteriorating. He's a nonentity. I was never a Steve super-fan, but his story with Miranda went on for whole seasons, and he's being treated like a mere obstacle to his wife's "true self," so that just establishing his presence (and lack of vitality next to awesome, funny, charismatic media superstar CHE!) will do.

Edited January 7, 2022 by NotMySekrit2Tell

[slowpoked]

13 minutes ago, NotMySekrit2Tell said:

What bugs me most about this "Miranda's awakening" story is that Steve is barely a character. He's been onscreen enough for us to know his hearing is deteriorating. He's a nonentity. I was never a Steve super-fan, but his story with Miranda went on for whole seasons, and he's being treated like a mere obstacle to his wife's "true self," so that just establishing his presence (and lack of vitality next to awesome, funny, charismatic media superstar CHE!) will do.

It bothers me because among the four, Miranda was my girl. I relate to her the most being the ever cynical, sarcastic and career driven woman she was for most of SATC.

And IMO, there’s a beautiful story somewhere in there of Miranda’s sexual awakening, that can show the poignancy, nuance, complexity of such a life-altering event, that can make majority of us feel with Miranda, Steve, their relationship together, how they move forward and whoever they may eventually end up with.

But all we got is the amateurish vision of MPK who reduces characters as to whatever checks the boxes. It’s too bad.

[TomGirl]

On 1/6/2022 at 12:58 PM, 4evaQuez said:

I also did not like the haircut for Rock.

I thought Rock looked adorable with the shorter hair.

[TomGirl]

1 hour ago, RedHawk said:

6 hours ago, CeeBeeGee said:

 

I had those same ones, and the Little Women plus Marmie

Memories!  My sister and I had the Madame Alexander Little Women dolls.  When I was about 5 years old, I set out to give them all haircuts.  My parents discovered this when I was 3/4 of the way through.  Only Amy survived.

[CeeBeeGee]

12 minutes ago, TomGirl said:

Memories!  My sister and I had the Madame Alexander Little Women dolls.  When I was about 5 years old, I set out to give them all haircuts.  My parents discovered this when I was 3/4 of the way through.  Only Amy survived.

I did the same thing! (Although not to my MA dolls.) But Barbie, Skipper and my Wizard of Oz dolls all got snipped.

[buttersister]

Quote

She has looked in the obvious places, but hasn't quite found out the origin of the problem.

Writers’ room.

[ByaNose]

We were almost Che free. Alas it was not meant to be. Ugh! I’m never going to like, the character or the storyline. It might help a bit if Steve was actually in the storyline. It’s all about Miranda which is the point of the whole show but still……

The plastic surgery bit was dumb. It just laid there. The doctor looked familiar but I can’t place him. The CGI apartment was nice and sterile like the doctors office. I’m okay with Charlotte and her daughters but I like Lily better because she sees her mothers point of view and trying to have her other daughter be happy, too. 

The show is good filler for me. I’m not dying to see it like the HBO days but I usually catch it Thursday or by the weekend. I am curious to see if it will return or not. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

The doctor looked familiar but I can’t place him.

Jonathan Groff.

[Baltimore Betty]

Rock wanted to cut her hair and it looked like she did it herself, I really don't see Charlotte happy with the results of that cut, so many cute options, even a pixie would have looked cute, she got a bad cut.

[CarpeFelis]

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

You must have a really cool mother!  My mother finds fault with everything I do, and I was a lifelong A student that earned my own money and never did drugs or anything.   I don't know, to me Charlotte is completely normal.  People see their children as extensions of themselves and I think a lot of parents have a hard time with control and individuality.

No, actually I had the exact opposite of a cool mother. My mother was  a major control freak and fanatically Catholic, a very rigid black-and-white thinker (like Charlotte seems to be), and on top of that I had older parents who were completely out of touch. And like you, I was an A student and very well-behaved… at least until I went away to college and finally got a taste of freedom. I basically had to lie to her about anything I was doing at college to avoid World War III. (I learned this when I came home after freshman year, told her I wasn’t going to church, and she threatened to cut off my tuition.) And to her dying day she was still wondering why I’d stopped telling her things!

So when I was raising my own daughter (now 40), I used my mother as the perfect example of what NOT to do.