Even if they’re imperfect.

And, look, reboots are tacky. They are money-grabbing, never-ending encore performances that reek of desperation and a lack of originality. But. If they’re done well, they’re worthy of our attention.

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And Just Like That is done OK. The shameless product placement is almost satirical in itself: even the infamous Mr Big, the centrepiece of SATC’s grungy 1998 pilot episode, found himself dead on “a Peloton”. And the insertion of a whole bunch of new characters was jarring and overwhelming – definitely more like the reunion of a TV formula than a TV family. Indeed, the world of AJLT can lack depth, be superficial and garish. But the original SATC was all of the above, too.

For a long time the character of Miranda was a missed opportunity to more seriously explore bisexuality and/or lesbianism. Especially given Nixon’s own same-sex marriage and activism for LGBTQ rights for more than two decades. However, it’s only now in AJLT that Miranda’s finally coming into her own and seeing how it feels to date women, as she navigates a divorce from salt-of-the-earth Steve (David Eigenberg), the mothering of sulky Brady (Niall Cunningham), and battling it out with younger interns at a law firm.

And watching Charlotte reclaim her role as a gallery curator – forcing her to gently let go of her role as a mum of two teenagers and a housewife for the first time – and her stressing over where the thin pink belt of her Prada dress should sit on day one of the new job was really tender. Especially when she finally embraced where the belt sat and got on with the work that she adores.

So I’m low-key fascinated by all of it. Because, just like when I first watched the original SATC in my early 20s, I learn from it. For better or for worse, this behemoth of a franchise has served as a way to reflect on my own life, relationships, choices, and shoes. I didn’t always like the characters. I didn’t always like the world. I didn’t always like the shoes. But I was so, so glad they were there.

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And the prospect that this could indeed be the end, as Carrie symbolically hands her Upper East Side apartment over to Lisette (Katerina Tannenbaum), a young single woman living in New York, and hosts a “last supper”, which all of the other characters are invited to, is humbling, and seems to serve as a celebration of television’s capacity to give us characters and stories that we care about – even if they’re deeply flawed.

So maybe it’s OK for AJLT’s actors and creators to be kind of lame and in it for the dollars because, despite themselves, they’ve created something towering and remarkable that spans almost 30 years. Maybe it’s OK for this to be the end – or not. And maybe it’s OK for iconic characters to get older, and for storytellers to take risks, and to make mistakes, and to learn, and to grow. In fact, maybe it’s important. Because, ideally, we want all of that to be OK for ourselves, too.

And Just Like That is on Binge.

Madeleine Ryan is the author of fiction novel A Room Called Earth. Her second novel, The Knowing, will be published in 2024.

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