Has Parenting Supplanted Sex on ‘And Just Like That’?
As someone who has spent an alarming amount of time both watching and reading way too much into every minute detail of Sex and the City, I’ll admit I could never square one plot point: Why did Miranda Hobbes—an ambitious, explicitly child-averse attorney—suddenly choose to have a baby after an unexpected pregnancy? Given her fertility issues, it made sense for Miranda to wonder if this might be her one shot. But wasn’t this the same woman who once bought condoms as a baby shower gift, and who empathized with the witch who tried to eat Hansel and Gretel?
“Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda,” the Season 4 installment that unraveled Miranda’s decision, underscores a woman’s right to choose even as its central character decides not to proceed with an abortion. (And unlike the unexpected pregnancy episode in And Just Like That, this one actually used the word “abortion.”) Still, to this viewer, the idea that Miranda suddenly felt compelled to explore the wonders of motherhood felt a little unearned—as did her fear at the prospect of that door slamming shut.
At this point, however, it’s not just Miranda whose identity seems to have been subsumed by parenthood; on this season on And Just Like That, half her friends seem to be suffering from the same issue. As they look at everything they’ve sacrificed for their progeny, it seems the parents in this franchise can’t help but wonder the same thing Nathan Lane once sang on SATC: “Is that all there is?”