Sex and the City lost its ‘zsa zsa zsu’ years ago, we couldn’t accept it until we saw literal sh*t on screen in And Just Like That finale

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That.

The idea of a revival, or a comeback, or a spin-off is profitable for corporations as they can continue to milk their IPs, and for the audience, it manages to take them back to a time that they cherish. However, it is after revisiting that said era, they realise that some things are best left untouched for they aren’t all that great to begin with. And Just Like That didn’t manage to make people fall in love with its new world, in fact, it made them question what they even liked in that old world where women spent an ungodly amount of time talking about their hetero relationships, and lived with the assumption that if they didn’t find themselves a man, they wouldn’t have a fulfilling life. This was a world where Samantha was often shamed by her peers for her active sex life, Miranda wasn’t celebrated for her achievements, Carrie wasn’t called out for her selfishness and Charlotte never got the chance to be her own person.

As show moved on after its big premiere where Mr Big dies, which somehow coincided with #MeToo allegations against actor Chris Noth, Carrie’s character moved on like she had not spent a lifetime with the love of her life. In fact, by the end of the third season, it started to almost feel like he was never in the picture. The man who had been the center of all her dramatic life moments was dead, and the show now found it shameful to revisit his memory so they chose to act like he never existed. Miranda and Charlotte were severely shortchanged through the run of the series and somehow, Kim Cattrall’s decisions started to make sense.

In three seasons, Kim Cattrall appeared on the show only once, at the end of Season 2, and that too in a short phone conversation.

Kim’s infamous beef with Sarah Jessica Parker made her part ways with the show but we would like to believe that it had something to do with artistic integrity as well. She knew when to cut the cord and move on, and perhaps, we should have done the same. Holding on this show felt like holding on to a toxic ex-boyfriend, who has mistreated you enough times, but you are yet to wake up and smell the coffee. You keep hoping for the toxicity to end knowing fully well that this relationship is way past its expiration date. The relationship between the viewers and the franchise was starting to get sour as well but the last couple of years made it inedible.

Carrie once spoke about a certain ‘zsa zsa zsu’, an undefined spark that attracted her to Burger. She described it as the kind of feeling that makes you attracted to someone and even when things aren’t going great, the memory of that ‘zsa zsa zsu’ keeps you invested in that relationship. Sex and the City started to lose its ‘zsa zsa zsu’ when it went on its movie route, and they lost whatever was left when they decided to go ahead with And Just Like That.