While there was certainly some entertainment to be had, there was suddenly something so deeply uncool about the now original trio, and not because we were meeting them in their fifties, but because they were failed by writing that lacked the finesse, razor sharp observation and basic coherency of the original.
But it was the absence of one Samantha Jones that firmly cemented the fact And Just Like That is no Sex and the City, however hard it has strived to recapture its essence.
"She said 'fine' and then fired me as a friend," explained Carrie.
There were then some texts here and there as the pair settled into something resembling a friendship, before the mother of all announcements was made: Kim Cattrall would be reprising her role in the season 2 finale.
But while there were fears that showrunner Michael Patrick King was planning to use her brief appearance to kill off the character following somewhat ominous comments that he himself had made, Samantha's appearance proved to be a far less dramatic affair.
But of course just a sniff of Samantha reinvigorated viewers' hopes that we might see more of her in the future, prompting Cattrall to later confirm that she would not appear in the show's third season and once again relegating any future participation from her character to texting. Sigh.
When Carrie explained that he's living in the apartment under her, Samantha couldn't resist one of her trademark quips.
A brief glimpse at Carrie's phone also revealed that they've been scheduling in time to chat, confirming that any residual animosity has been put firmly to bed. But we've not been present for any of those moments. All we get is crumbs.
But also, it's yet another reminder that Samantha, who was, for many, Sex and the City's winning ingredient, is not part of And Just Like That.
While King and his fellow writers have, after a couple of questionable seasons, settled into an imperfect sort of rhythm – tapping into the moreish watchability that Sex and the City had in abundance – every time a text from Samantha pops up on Carrie's phone, we're once again acutely aware that she's having fun elsewhere, dazzling others with her scandalous one-liners, her fearlessness, her particular brand of friendship and her singular outlook on life.
It's not about erasing Samantha. Honey, no one could ever do that. But those infrequent messages are sort of like sitting in a shiny pink Cadillac and placing your hands on the wheel, only to be booted out a second later, or enjoying a slice of red velvet, only for the plate to be whisked away after a couple of bites.
Now that Cattrall and Samantha have both moved on, it's time for And Just Like That to do the same.
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