Not to be smug, but I have been saying for years that if this show would just give Seema (Sarita Choudhury) something to do, maybe it would get its act together. There was more to Samantha Jones than good one-liners and hot sex: She had her own storylines of empowerment, embarrassment, and even heartbreak. With Seema obviously meaning to serve as Samantha’s replacement, And Just Like That… has owed her meatier material. And she’s finally getting it.
At brunch with Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), the three are discussing hate watching (Miranda has gotten into a dumb reality show called Bi Bingo) when Seema says that she gets the appeal because she’s “hate dating.” “There are basically five guys in all of New York, and I’ve dated all of them,” Seema says, and then we get a truly delightful montage of her dressing down man after man on her various dates.
I could watch Seema be mean to men for the whole episode, but we know she longs for a great love. Her boss decides to set her up with a professional matchmaker named Sydney, played by the one and only Cheri Oteri. Seema isn’t interested. (“I’m Indian; we invented matchmaking. My mother has been working pro bono since I was 12.”) But Sydney impresses her with a dead-on dressing down of her own, plus guessing Seema’s exact order at the restaurant.
The first thing Sydney wants to change is the way Seema dresses, saying that metallics and animal prints say “cold” and “predator.” (Leave my girl and her fabulous wardrobe alone. I don’t like where this is going.) “What do you want me in, pastels?” Seema scoffs. Apparently, yes. She goes out for her first date under Sydney’s tutelage, hair straightened, donning pearls and Easter colors, only to have a man talk at her the whole time. Toward the end, she lets herself break through in a moment of honesty, the guy bails, and Seema dismisses Sydney’s criticism. She would rather be alone as herself than in a relationship with someone who doesn’t love the real her.
It’s the kind of Sex And The City takeaway that would feel trite for a teenager, but watching a woman navigate dating in her fifties feels fresher. I have to assume this is just the start of the storyline—this can’t be all they brought in Oteri to do, right?—and that Seema will have to wrestle with where she’s willing to meet in the middle and where she won’t compromise. But they better not flatiron her hair again.
Meanwhile, Carrie and Aidan (John Corbett) are still figuring out what their whole deal is. Her gorgeous house comes with a gorgeous garden, except that it’s rat infested. She wants to tell Aidan (through voice-to-text, which she employs multiple times this episode, much to my second-hand embarrassment) but doesn’t understand his rules on communication. Luckily, he surprises her with a trip to New York because he felt bad about shutting down her phone call last episode. Carrie and I are both extremely confused: “I’m lost, because I thought that we weren’t supposed to be in touch.” Yes, Carrie, ask for clarification!
Aidan admits that in the stress of Wyatt’s accident at the end of season two, he maybe went a little overboard with his five-year plan. He wants her to be able to contact him. “Anytime? Business hours? Only during weekends?” Carrie presses, and I’m proud of these two for being able to actually have a hard conversation in a way that would have been unfathomable in their thirties.
Unfortunately, the clarity is short-lived. Carrie is shopping for a table for “our house” (wait, is that how we’re referring to it?) and texts Aidan asking for his opinion. His only reply is a thumbs-down emoji, which sends her into a dayslong spiral. Girl, maybe just call him if you were looking for a deeper conversation about the table. Or maybe just buy the table. It’s your house! But the good news is that no matter how evolved Carrie is in her fifties, she’s still Carrie—which is to say, a mess.
The episode wraps up with a (hot, young, male) garden designer coming to redo Carrie’s newly rat-free backyard. I am not reading into it to say that this man looks very much like a 2025 version of young Aidan. Sexy, earthy, laid-back. He’s got a great beard. Where could this be going? He asks her what her vision is for the backyard, and she has a hard time vocalizing anything. “I loved everything as it was, and now it’s all gone. I don’t know what comes next.” The backyard is a metaphor! What garden design says, “I’m maybe going to get entangled with a man who reminds me of my boyfriend from another time”?
Stray observations
- • Charlotte (Kristen Davis) and Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker) get a joint storyline this week, and it’s on the wacky side of the AJLT spectrum: They hear a group of moms at their kids’ school talking about a legendary college admissions advisor, go to extreme lengths to get a session with her, and then lose it when she makes their children hyperventilate by criticizing their extracurriculars. Kristen Schaal plays the advisor, Lois, but it feels like the show wasted her particular comedic talents here.
- • Lily (Cathy Ang) makes out with the male ballerina! Charlotte, upon catching them: “I’m so happy for you because I thought it was all in your mind!”
- • When the school principal thinks it’s a real emergency—as opposed to a Charlotte/Lisa meltdown—he pulls on a bulletproof vest. This feels like very dark, incongruous humor for AJLT, no?
- • Miranda’s obsession with Bi Bingo bonds her to the guacamole-station woman at the restaurant, and she thinks their dynamic is flirty. Only, whoops, when she asks her out, it turns out this woman is straight and married with two kids. That experience is definitely on the lesbian bingo card.
- • Anthony is opening up a brick-and-mortar location for his bakery, Hot Fellas. “Wait, make that dick and mortar,” he says. Sometimes you just have to let this show be true to itself, you know?
