After 27 years, the return of these beloved Sex and the City characters felt promising. Fans imagined a new chapter infused with maturity, reflection, and the trademark wit. Instead, the final season of And Just Like That wound up feeling hollow and underwritten. It aimed for a bold farewell but ended up slinking away with confusing arcs and missed opportunities.

Lost Purpose and Poor Writing

At the series’ start, Carrie finally ends her long-on-again relationship with Aidan and settles into her grand house. It could have been the beginning of fresh growth. Instead, her only clear activity was wandering luxuriously in couture, aimless and unanchored aside from a vague longing for romance. The vanity of fashion replaced meaningful conflict. Important characters like Samantha remained absent, her spirit barely replaced by two new additions, whose presence often felt more distracting than illuminating.

Characters Betrayed by Tone

The creative misfire deepened when the show stumbled into hate-watch territory. Characters seemed out of step with their original intelligence and humor. Themes of aging and modern life were handled with clumsiness. Something that once resonated in sharp satire became awkward and shallow. Podcasts and digital menus became punchlines instead of tools to explore how the characters adapted or failed to adapt to change.

A Finale That Outsourced Its Heart

The closing episode shifted away from the core friends. The focus pivoted to Charlotte’s friend Mark, his partner, and a wave of younger, tone-deaf queer characters. Instead of grounding us in emotional truths, the finale drifted into plot points that had little to do with the women we cared about. That awful, plumbing-disaster Thanksgiving episode ended with Carrie delivering the line, “Shit happens.” It was lazy, not punchy—ambient closure at best.

Absence of Vision, Not Lack of Awareness

Showrunner Michael Patrick King admitted as much when he said that while writing the last episode, it became clear to him that this might be a wonderful place to stop. The intention may have been sincere, but the result was vague and disjointed. Wonderful would be overstating it. It concluded a four-year experiment that never quite clicked. Ultimately, this spin-off lacked substance, direction, or the emotional clarity that made the original so memorable.

What this really means is that nostalgia alone cannot carry storytelling. Bringing familiar characters back must include thoughtful writing, emotional arcs that honor growth, and a sense of purpose beyond style. And Just Like That had the characters and the brand. It lacked everything else.