by Kyla Cruz
Around the eighth-minute mark of the eighth episode of the second season of "And Just Like That," a pivotal moment unfolded that left viewers exclaiming, "And just like what?!" The writers are clearly hellbent on making their core fans despise the characters they spend many years making us love.
This moment arrived as Carrie, donning a sweater, confided to a puzzled Miranda about the newfound heights of pleasure she has been experiencing with her rekindled love, Aidan. However, the bombshell she drops next is even more startling.
Coming to a halt during their stroll, Carrie takes a pause before revealing, "I've been asking myself, 'Was Big a big mistake?'" Like what?! Sure he was...but that's what made the show so perfectly, imperfect. It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine and as viewers it asked us to suspend our belief in the name of love and we...well...happily did so.
Miranda and viewers alike were left speechless. It was a sentiment that echoed loudly: where had all that fervent adoration for Big vanished?
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Of course, Big, known as John James Preston since the first "Sex and the City" movie, was the man who Carrie relentlessly pursued through the streets of Manhattan, her Manolo Blahniks clicking away, across six seasons of the original show. After succumbing to Big's allure — along with those infamous condoms — in the inaugural episode, she eventually secured her long-sought happily-ever-after with him in the 2004 series finale.
However, shortly after Big's fateful demise on a Peloton bike in the 2021 premiere of "And Just Like That," the actor portraying him, Chris Noth, faced allegations of sexual misconduct. In the wake of these accusations, the trio of lead stars and executive producers of the show — Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), and Kristin Davis (Charlotte) — promptly issued a collective statement expressing unwavering support for the women who had come forward with their claims.
And in a twist of fate, just like that... even the spectral presence of Big became contentious.
To a considerable number, Noth embodied Big. Yet, as the very embodiment of his character was besmirched by these allegations, the hero of a show that celebrated female camaraderie and empowerment was now indelibly tainted. This somber turn of events is what makes the recent reunion of Carrie and Aidan (John Corbett) — the man she controversially betrayed with Big — feel like a conscious course correction, a narrative revision of "SATC" history.
While there had always been fervent proponents of Team Big and Team Aidan, the current storyline seems to insist that Big — the man whom Carrie married, and with whom she ostensibly shared a life of marital bliss between 2010's "Sex and the City 2" and "And Just Like That" — was never the right match for our protagonist after all.
In the same episode titled "A Hundred Years Ago," where Carrie unveils her seismic revelation about Big, Che (Sara Ramirez), Miranda's former partner, poses a straightforward query to the baguette-toting writer and Aidan: "Why didn't it work out the first time?" To this, Carrie responds in a stunning moment of candor, "Because I made a mistake."
All those years, those emotions, and yes, those countless pairs of iconic shoes — it all amounted to a colossal error in judgment involving Big.
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This dramatic retake is reminiscent of the infamous 1986 twist in "Dallas," where an entire season wherein Patrick Duffy's character Bobby was meant to be deceased was retroactively relegated to the realm of a mere dream. In the latest episode of "And Just Like That," subtle hints are cast that the show might be steering Carrie toward an alternative happy ending, this time with Aidan, hinting at what could potentially become another series-concluding episode next Thursday.
However, an inescapable query lingers: Did the creators throw Big under the proverbial bus?