ThoughAnd Just Like That…certainly isn’t the worst reboot in TV history,it definitely has its flaws. From some weird story choices, to some unlikeable characters, andjust a general disregard for what we loved aboutSex and the City, it can be pretty rough around the edges at times. A lot of changes are welcome, and some just simply make sense, but perhaps the most jarring part about the series is its blaring disregard for any sort of timeline consistency. No seriously, what time is it? What season is it? What year is it? For all we know, this show could be set years in the future — it probably wouldn’t tell us anyway, but it’s seriously confusing.
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There’s No Consistency in ‘And Just Like That’
With any show,a certain amount of disbelief is to be had. That’s fine. I’m not fully believing that Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), who is now in her fifties, still uses her oven as a shoe rack,but it’s a running joke, and so I go with it. ButAnd Just Like Thatdoesn’t just stop at the little details — there is seriously no consistency to this timeline whatsoever. At this point, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) could come home with a newborn baby, and I wouldn’t so much as bat an eye that nine months has seemingly passed since the previous episode.
Time jumps are necessary on occasion, and at others, they’re simply fun plot devices, bouncing around in time to show us new sides to characters.TakeRiverdale’s time jump, for instance — it made sense for the show to do that given the storyline it had just fleshed out. ButAnd Just Like Thatdoesn’t qualify for that excuse. A time jump between Season 1 and 2 made sense, as most shows don’t pick up directly where they left off in a season finale. It’s not even so much a problem that the show skips ahead a bit at times. The problem is that so much happens within these time jumps that it feels like whiplash. TheSeason 1 finalesaw Carrie kiss her podcast producer, and Season 2 saw her in a friends-with-benefits situation. Sure, that’s fine — that was hinted at and expected. But in Episode 4 of the second season, it was summer vacation, and by Episode 5 it was Halloween. What the heck happened in those months in between?
We can’t follow the characters 24/7 of course, but why can’t the time skips be days or weeks instead of months?Sex and the Cityhad a bit of a foggy timeline, but never this foggy. Things happened fairly quickly in the series, but it also had a twenty-minute long runtime in comparison toAnd Just Like That’s forty-plus. Things had to move faster, but even when they did, it was still seemingly only days and weeks between episodes, not months.
Why the Timeline Actually Matters in ‘And Just Like That’
Perhaps it seems like a silly thing to be upset about, but the reason the show’s timeline is so frustrating is that it leaves us no room to connect. It feels like almost all development both for and between characters happens off-screen and is only told to us through conversation vignettes. How did Che (Sara Ramirez) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) go from being sohead-over-heels in love, to constantly fighting? How did Carrie begin her relationship with her producer? Why didn’t she tell Charlotte or Miranda? There are so many questions and no answers!
With how messy of a timeline (or lack thereof)And Just Like Thathas, it feels rather pointless to get invested in anything going on because we likely won’t see it fleshed out. It’s clear the show has stories it wants to tell, but it either doesn’t know how to do it right or wants to shoehorn every single one into a single season for fear of not being renewed. The show has potential, despite its flaws, but it’s never going to get anywhere if it keeps spinning its wheels. Not only does it need to sort out its timeline, but it also needs to put into perspective the story it wants to tell, and what characters it wants at the forefront. No more of this back and forth with Che and Miranda — it’s getting tired.Is Charlotte even a main character anymore? Where are Brady (Niall Cunningham),Rock (Alexa Swinton), and Lily (Cathy Ang)? They were main characters in Season 1, so where are they in Season 2?
There’s so much going on and yet we never see it, making for some lackluster episodes and an even more lackluster reputation.And Just Like Thatdesperately needs to become more concise and actually figure out a timeline for itself,because frankly, it’s a hot mess. A lovable mess, but a mess nonetheless.
