AND JUST LIKE THAT...IT'S FALL

Some random thoughts on a TV show I used to watch

I don’t know why the transition from Summer into Fall bummed me out a lot harder this year. Let’s be real, despite what you see on socials, the Netherlands can be an unforgiving country where Mother Nature and Father Time duke it out on the daily and have seismic tantrums that include torrential downpours, bouts of sun and windstorms that stop the flow of transportation; all in a matter of hours. Basically it’s a constant shit-show if you’re someone with self-diagnosed seasonal affectiveness disorder. Time to get back on that vitamin C and D and the rest of the alphabet.

Mostly I just don’t like feeling cold. It creeps into my bones in a way that truly irritates me. Which is why I had to really appreciate a bit of balmy Fall weather on my bike ride home from work last night. It was just past rush hour so the bike paths were not so inundated with intimidating bikers rushing to get home, and the grey blue of the sky was just starting to settle into a hue of dark denim. Gliding along, I let my eyes glance at the different restaurants on my path home, taking mental note of which ones I thought would be interesting to try. As I turned the corner off a busy intersection I watched as the city street lamps turned on as if by magic, announcing the official end of the day.

There’s something about the Fall that reminds me of Sex and The City. Something about the crisp warm air and the faint smell of burning leaves somewhere in the distance that takes me back to tree-lined side streets in the West Village, walking into a café on Perry street or passing by Magnolia bakery just to see what kind of crowd was there. I was living in New York during the final seasons of SATC and I remember the show having a profound effect on me. Everyone wanted to live out their main character Carrie fantasy. The show was revolutionary for its time, highlighting the beauty of female friendship and opening up discourses on sex, womanhood, and patriarchal power imbalances in ways that had never really been explored. Also it was fucking funny.

I can recall so many moments I felt giddy, waiting for the next episode to air, wondering what Carrie and her friends, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha would be wearing, where they would go in the city, what kind of mayhem they would they cause. I would relish everyone character’s talking points over their brunch scenes as though they were intimately talk with me. Was the concept of brunch even a thing before these ladies made it one?

The original series made me feel like I was a part of something in New York. These were women trying to find love and make ends meet, living in the messiness of the City. It made me feel like I could make it as well, and that every crazy moment was just another scene I was living out in sync with the sitcom.

It was obvious with the two movie instalments that there was a shift both in aesthetics and script writing. Something of that New York grit was lost in order to translate to the big screen. The ladies were growing, not only personally but in affluence, further and further away from a reality I could relate to.

I should probably admit that I didn’t “hate watch” the entire three seasons of And Just Like That, the latest (and hopefully final) iteration of the SATC characters’ lives. I conceded to the fact that the writing and the structure was slightly different and so comparisons to the original show would be slightly unfair. But the characters had somehow become caricatures of themselves, and the public spat between Kim Catrall, who played Samantha, and the SATC team left a huge whole in the new series.

But mostly I felt like the show took the characters in directions I didn’t really recognize anymore. And partly I believe this has to do with the way shows are designed now, where escapism has created worlds that are grotesquely unattainable and where the ultra wealthy is just fodder for capitalist consumption (I’m talking to you Emily in Paris).

I don’t really know how the writers and Michael Patrick King, decided to land the plane, but I kind of wish I got to see those SATC women one more time, as a way to help me navigate the life I am living now.

I would have loved to see Carrie struggle with grief as a part of living a full life. I would’ve loved to see her character almost become more like Amy Sedaris, a New York fixture with a fabulous life and great artist friends to help refurbish her apartment into something bohemian chic.

I would’ve loved to see the women struggle with issues of class and capitalism. How the patriarchy can box women (men and everyone in-between) into certain roles. Or maybe they could have addressed how friendships change over time, how being in your body feels different. How you become invisible as you age.

As I write this, I’m certain that they did try to address most of these issues. Maybe the thing I missed most about the new series is actually that fifth lady: New York City. SATC presented a New York that felt both inspirational but grounded. It felt real to me. Even in its most glamorous, it felt somehow believable: Carrie becoming fashion road kill during fashion week, Samantha having arguments with her neighbours in the meatpacking district, Miranda’s tough decision to move to Brooklyn. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to New York. Has the city lost its messy charm?

SATC characters got me through some tough times in New York. They made me feel like it was ok to be a total train wreck. You just had to get up and keep going. But they morphed into something else with And Just Like That (the little I saw of it). I kind of miss them. At one time, those characters taught me a lot.