And Just like That 2 saves itself with nostalgia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEGzaDhchI8

And Just Like Thatsequel to the iconic Sex and the Cityis back on Sky and Now with its second season. More Sex and more City than the first chapter of the series which instead was wrapped in a more sad and reflective aura due to the death of Mr Big, husband – after a thousand tribulations – of Carrie. The dances reopen on the backdrop of Manhattan and close to a capital event: the Met Gala. A worldly occasion calls for clothes that call for the unexpected. The girls, or rather what’s left of them, have to find the right outfit (even if, ironically, they’ll probably be let in through a side door) and deal with their variegated love problems. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), after Big’s death, has a sipped (and exclusively physical) relationship with her podcast producer. He seems to want something more but Carrie, as expected, runs away with (athletic) legs up, without great disturbances. Charlotte (Kristine Davis), on the other hand, has various quarrels with her daughters, one of whom unfortunately decides to sell her very expensive designer clothes to buy a keyboard (and compose her own music, strictly “against the system”). Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) on the other hand has changed city: she moved to California with her new flame Che di lei (Sara Ramirez) even if this radical change in her life seems to have put her to the test. The new entries, already from the first season and in diversity quota, also have some marital problems, relationship with imposing mothers-in-law or hairdressers with forked tongues.

The narrative fragmentation is also the master in this second chapter of the series which recovers the lightness of the original (and the decidedly syncopated rhythm) even if it certainly does not shine for inventiveness. One feels the lack of a certain tone in the story, of a narrative passage that no longer exists and that makes the story seem a bit forced and stale. It is also true that Sex and the City it was a series strongly anchored in its time, in the feeling of those years and a certain taste is difficult to reproduce (with the same effects) in a different moment. It is an enjoyable, carefree and unpretentious product. It makes sense because it plays on solid characters and a narrative universe while if it were to stand on its own two feet it would be much more disappointing than it appears. It plays on nostalgia, on creating (narrative) places where it is desirable to return. However, the impression is that this desire (unfortunately) is now short of breath.

Who are the returning characters in And Just Like That 2? As with the first season, this second chapter of the series also sees characters who have characterized the history of Sex and the City appear – for a shorter or longer time. First of all the character of Samantha (Kim Catrall) who will make a brief appearance after being mentioned many times in the phone calls she makes to Carrie in the first season. Another expected return is that of Aidan (John Corbett), one of Carrie’s historic loves with whom there will be a bittersweet flashback. It is certainly around the figure of Carrie that the most nostalgic aspects of the series are concentrated, perhaps because among the others, she is the character who has changed the least and who has kept her original characteristics despite the passage of time (see in this regard the portrait dedicated to her by the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/26/sarah-jessica-parker-profile ).

What are the outfits from the first episodes of And Just Like That? The trademark of the series is obviously the attention to aesthetics, in particular that linked to the clothes. The occasion of the Met Gala immediately allows you to indulge yourself with some whim with clothes that move between the excessive and the extravagant, to others that are more classic and dreamy. Carrie resurrects her (nostalgic!) Vivienne Westwood wedding dress from the past, to which are added – among others – a red Valentino (with a remarkable headdress), a soft striped dress by Silvia Tcherassi and sporadic accessories by Roger Vivier .

What is the tone of the three-bar series?

“And that’s how I converted my pain.”

“Life is too short not to try something new.”

“Fuck the new me”.