‘And just like that’ woke tokenism drags ‘Sex and the City’ to new levels of awful
Old HBO warhorse ‘Sex and the City’ is back with the new show ‘And Just Like That…’, devoutly committed to absolution from its original sin of ‘whiteness’ … and also apparently to being dreadful.
The comedy/drama Sex and the City, which told the tale of Carrie Bradshaw and her three friends Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte as they navigated life, love, and lust in New York City, was one of HBO’s most iconic shows when it ran from 1998 to 2004.
Now, seventeen years after the original went off the air, and after two abysmal feature films, Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), the sassy strumpets are back with a new series on HBO titled, And Just Like That…
Sex and the City was wildly popular with a very particular brand of oblivious, feminist, upper-middle class aspiring white women.
The four whores of the apocalypse, the bright and allegedly beautiful Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), the over-sexed Samantha (Kim Cattrall), the feminist firebrand Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and the uptight Charlotte (Kristen Davis), became the archetypes that these clueless white women latched on to and desperately tried to emulate.
I disliked Sex and the City first and foremost because of its egregious writing, decrepit direction, and deplorable acting. But what made the show truly insidious as a pop culture phenomenon was that it inspired a whole generation of Karens-in-waiting to embrace narcissistic feminism and vapid consumerism. It was unadulterated capitalism porn meant to deceive gullible women into craving clothes they didn’t need at prices they couldn’t afford in order to purchase a false feeling of fulfillment and freedom. It was the feminist TV version of ‘slavery is freedom’.
And despite ostensibly being a comedy, it was never even remotely funny. It was basically an absurd and philosophically obscene soap opera about four homely, horny harlots who had more money than sense, and when the show faded from the spotlight the world was better for it.
Although Sex and the City was never funny, a funny thing happened to it after it finished its run, namely that the woke court of political correctness deemed it to be ‘problematic’ for its relentless whiteness and lack of diversity.
The stars of the show don’t even contest this charge, as Cynthia Nixon said that the lack of diversity on Sex and the City was “the Achilles heel of the show.”
It was in this spirit of self-flagellating that And Just Like That… was born. The show’s sole purpose being to wash away Sex and the City’s sin of whiteness by embracing ‘inclusivity… and also to make everybody involved lots of money.
Star and producer Sarah Jessica Parker said she is committed to And Just Like That… being “inclusive,” but without resorting to “tokenism.” Yeah, sure.
After watching the first two episodes which premiered on HBO Max on Thursday, I can report that And Just Like That… is such a brazen testament to tokenism, and strains so hard to be vacuously diverse, it nearly soils its lacy undergarments.
And Just Like That… returns all of the Sex and the City regulars… all except for Samantha, as Kim Cattrall basically declared there’s no amount of money that would make her work with Sarah Jessica Parker ever again. Respect.
But in order to appease the woke gods of inclusivity, tokens are dispersed throughout to check boxes and darken the show’s color palette.
The tokens thus far are, Lisa Todd Wexley, a fabulous black mom and friend to Charlotte. Dr. Nya Wallace, a black college professor who Miranda befriends. And finally, Che Diaz, who is a non-binary, queer, Latinx comedian who hosts a podcast with Carrie.
These one-dimensional minorities are such obvious tokens you could use them to pay for a ride on the 4 train to Union Square to take part in a Black Lives Matter protest or to buy a custom-made pussy hat.
And Just Like That… is also a monument to the ravages of age. Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are no longer sexy and sassy, but are now a trio of taut-faced, time-worn tarts. As they say down on the farm, these botoxed broads look ‘rode hard and put up wet’.
Father Time is undefeated and proof of that is that Carrie now looks like one of the high-priced leather handbags that she hoards, Miranda looks too old to be a greeter at Walmart, and Charlotte’s face is so medically altered she bears a striking resemblance to the Joker.
There’s also not a single laugh to be found in this shameless money grab, as the writing is as stale as a month-old bagel and the performances as wooden as a cigar store Indian.
The one thing I did find amusing though is how these allegedly strong female characters have become such spineless, eager to please, groveling cowards.
In the ‘90s they all strutted their stuff and didn’t care what people thought. Now, these supposedly free-thinking, free-spirited feminist characters (and the actors who play them) are so fearful they might offend, they reflexively comply and conform, instinctively never challenging but rather genuflecting to the suffocating and irrational restrictions placed upon them by woke culture.
In this way, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte perfectly reflect their now middle-aged, Hillary- and Kamala-loving, upper-middle class female fans who are just as compliant, just as conformist, and just as cowardly, and who, no doubt, are waiting to be told if And Just Like That… is woke enough and if they’re allowed to like it.
I don’t know if the show is woke-approved, but I do know it’s devoid of anything even mildly interesting or entertaining and has absolutely no redeeming qualities to it. Same as it ever was.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
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