And Just Like That.. - Season 2, Episode 7

"Come give us a hug."

"February 14th"
Original airdate: 7/27/2023

Episode summary: Miranda has a disappointing date with a lesbian who records Jane Austen audiobooks. Charlotte accidentally eats a pot brownie and thinks she's having a stroke. Carrie reconnects with Aidan.

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Recap: Carrie logs onto her computer and is pleased to see that Aidan has replied to her 'hey stranger' email message. 

Later, while dining out, Carrie tells Charlotte and Miranda about Aidan's email reply, and to report that he's coming to New York for a meeting and invited her to dinner on Thursday night, which coincidentally (or not..?) is Valentine's Day. Charlotte gushes about what she assumes is a romantic gesture, then turns to Miranda to ask her if she has a new lady on the horizon. Miranda tut tuts her for assuming that she's limiting herself to ladies, then explains that she only entered lesbian territory 'cause of how drawn she was to the sexual magnetism that was Che. Charlotte's like, "OK, whatevs" and breezily explains that she really just wants her friend to find love again. 

Nya is Zooming with two gal pals, who gabble about getting together for cocktails so that she (Nya) isn't alone on Valentine's Day. Nya nixes those plans and assures them she's totes fine with being alone on the love holiday 'cause she's planning to make a chocolate soufflé to celebrate a self-indulgent "me-evening". 

Anthony's Hot Fellas employees strenuously object to being forced to wear their skimpy uniforms in winter, but Anthony makes clear how tiny of a rat's ass he gives about them being able to dress in weather-appropriate clothing. He then gets a call from Drew Barrymore, who gushes about the bread gift basket she just received from Hot Fellas and invites him (+ the hot fella who delivered the basket) to appear on her talk show. After the call, the delivery hot fella, for some God-only-knows-why reason, pulls out a syringe and injects himself with an infusion of growth hormones. He explains to a befuddled Anthony that he's trying to muscular-ize his calves, so then Anthony snappishly informs him that he runs a clean business and won't tolerate anyone who injects themselves with growth hormones...which results in the rest of the overly muscular hot fellas being all, "Er...OK, dude" and promptly walking off the job. Womp womp!

Over in the schoolyard, Rock is being cheered by their classmates as they all stare up at the Ralph Lauren ad on a nearby billboard. A few yards away, Charlotte giddily tells Lisa that, as implausible as it may sound, all of the top New York modelling agencies are interested in signing Rock, and that their Instagram account already has 3,000 followers (aka double the number than that of her dog, Mr. Burton, despite her best efforts to needlessly make the poor pooch a social media canine sensation). 

"I can't believe that so many major modelling agencies are courting Rock."

"I can't believe it either."

As Charlotte pulls out her phone to coo over her Mr. Burton photos, Lisa happens to glance across the courtyard and notices that her son (Herbert Jr.) is going at it with his girlfriend (Baxter), whose hand is sliding dangerously close to his crotch. She huffily storms over to chide the horny teens by reminding them that they're in a public space in full view of other children.

Miranda is researching dating websites when she gets an incoming call from Che and chooses to not answer. 

While ambling around Manhattan, Che asks Carrie if Miranda is ghosting them, and Carrie confirms that she mostly like is, given her history of never wanting to keep in touch with exes. Che explains that the only reason they even care about the ghosting is 'cause Miranda left some stuff at the apartment, which she needs to pick asap 'cause it's being [illegally] turned into an Airbnb so that they can generate some much-needed revenue. A few seconds later, Che spots a lost puppy wandering the streets and brings it to a nearby vet clinic (where apparently they used to work). The owner, Judy, agrees to take the pup and offers Che their old full-time job back, with benefits.

While browsing through a bookstore, Miranda tells Nya she has no idea what type of dating sites she should be signing up with: 'woman seeking man' or 'woman seeking woman'. As Nya feigns interest in the plight, Miranda hears a Pride and Prejudice reading going on in the next room, discreetly steps inside, and looks transfixed by the speaker: a well-known audiobook recorder by the name of Amelia Carsey. After the reading, Miranda approaches Amelia and flirtily gushes about her audio recording abilities, and a visibly smitten Amelia says she finds her alluring and that she noticed her the minute she entered the reading room.

Miranda promptly calls Carrie to report her flirty encounter with Amelia Carsey, adding that they have a date for Valentine's Day evening...which she hopes will lead to a night of great sex.

​Charlotte interrupts Harry's afternoon nap [which makes me wonder if he's no longer employed?] to bark at him to book a Valentine's dinner reservation. Harry grumbles about how restaurants are always gouging people who dine out on Valentine's Day, citing last year's $500 dinner bill, which...holy fucking shit. Charlotte explains that Lily needs them outa the house 'cause she's having a girls night in with the school's coolest kids...and a weary looking Harry scours the Internet for a restaurant still accepting reservations at this late date and is eventually able to get one for 5:30pm.

Herbert informs Lisa that he spent a ton of cash on a reservation for the two of them at Monkey Bar...and as Lisa chews on that pleasant nugget, Herbert Jr. enters their room to announce that Baxter's parents booked them a fancy hotel suite for Valentine's Day. Lisa's all 'nuh uh' and firmly says it's not happening...and when Herbert Jr. chides her for embarrassing him at school the other day, Lisa reminds him that Baxter's hand was down his pants, clearly about to explore his nether regions. Herbert suggests to his son that he and Baxter hang out in the apartment while they're out for dinner...and once Herbert Jr. is out of hearing range, Lisa says she doesn't like the idea, can't stand how grab-handsy Baxter always is, and is extremely worried that the teens are going to have sex atop their bed.

Anthony calls Charlotte to tell her that all of his employees have walked off the job...and instead of having an ounce of self-reflection 'bout that, he's desperate to find a hot fella who'd be willing to make an appearance with him on The Drew Barrymore Show. Charlotte, who just happens to be shopping at a greeting card store, spots a handsome young man (Giuseppe) sitting at a table, offering love poems for a dollar. She covertly takes a photo of him and sends it to Anthony, who instantly loves the cut of the sexy man's jib.

Charlotte approaches Guiseppe and offers to pay him $300 to perform a service. Guiseppe sighs disapprovingly and says, in an adorably thick Italian accent, that he gets these types of propositions from women all the time...so Charlotte hastily assures him that this service is, in no way, related to anything resembling prostitution.

"Would you like me to pen you a love poem?"

"I'd much prefer you slap on a tight onesie so that my friend Anthony can exploit you on national TV."

Anthony is backstage at The Drew Barrymore Show, anxiously awaiting his segment when Guiseppe exits the dressing room wearing the tight onesie, which serves to showcase his extraordinarily large pecker. 

During the on-air segment, Drew is chatting with Anthony when Guiseppe is summoned onstage carrying a basket of bread. Drew gets visibly flustered as she and Anthony make obligatory double entendres about Guiseppe's "big basket". After the segment mercifully ends, Anthony excitedly informs Guiseppe that the Hot Fellas Instagram account is "blowing up" 'cause of how childishly giddy everyone is about his massive penis - but an unimpressed Guiseppe hands Anthony the onesie and says ciao. Anthony begs him to join his [currently unstaffed] bread company for at least a little while, so Guiseppe agrees to stay on for one week.

Carrie and Seema arrive at a spa, which - to Seema's great annoyance - is only offering couples' massages 'cause of it being Valentine's Day. The reception clerk tells the two that the spa is fully booked and suggests they simply pretend to be a couple while being massaged in the same room - but Seema ignores that sensible advice and chastises the spa for refusing to accommodating non-couples, then shrieks, "I'm taking this to Yelp!" as she and Carrie huffily exit.

Charlotte and Rock have been in the waiting room of a (non-Manhattan based) modelling agency for forty minutes when Charlotte finally snaps and haughtily tells the check-in person that Rock needs to be seen now. When the check-in person tells her they're going to have to wait until the people ahead of them in line have been seen, Charlotte bitchily retorts that Rock has appointments at prestigious modelling agencies based in Manhattan, then storms out with a mortified Rock in tow.

After returning home, Rock tells Charlotte they don't want to model anymore 'cause 1) it's not longer fun, and 2) she (Charlotte) was "kinda gross today". They adds that they couldn't give the tiniest rat's ass about the 3,000 Instagram followers that have been amassed after the Ralph Lauren ad, and suggest that Charlotte devote her considerable leisure time to her other client: Mr. Burton the dog.

Charlotte yells at Lily (who's entertaining her gal pals in the kitchen) to turn down the loud Taylor Swift song she's blaring. Lily hastily closes the kitchen doors and grumbles at her mother for ruining the party vibe, then reminds her that she had promised to not be home around this time. Charlotte presents her with a heart-shaped Valentine's Day cake she just bought - but Lily brattily says that she and her friends don't want or need it, not least 'cause one of them brought over scores of brownies. Charlotte eyes the delicious looking treats and grabs one to snack on, then shriekingly reminds Harry about their dinner reservation.
 
While at the restaurant, Charlotte angrily rails to Harry about how abruptly Rock put the brakes on modelling, then complains about the rude manner in which Lily rejected her heart cake in favor of her friend's brownies. Harry urges her calm the fuck down before she gives herself a heart attack...and Charlotte suddenly looks woozy, says her face is tingling, and leaps to the conclusion that she's having a stroke. A concerned Harry ushers her towards the exit as he yells at the hostess to call 911...and as the paramedics load her into the ambulance, she and Harry screech about how deeply they love each other. 

Lisa, who's wearing some serious boob-baring cleavage, carefully arranges the decorative pillows atop her/Herbert's bed so that she'll be able to detect whether or not her son and his girlfriend did the nasty in their bedroom.

Nya is making her chocolate soufflé when Miranda emerges from her room all gussied up in a fancy purple off-the-shoulder dress to go to Amelia's place for dinner.

Carrie arrives at [what she assumes is] the agreed upon restaurant to meet up with Aidan. She's disappointed when he's not there and assumes he's running late. 

The ER doctor informs Charlotte that she didn't have a stroke, and that her tests indicate that she has THC in her bloodstream. Charlotte chews on that for a few seconds, then tells Harry she ate what must have been a pot brownie, courtesy of one of Lily's friends. She adds that while she was being rushed to the hospital, her entire life flashed before her eyes...and she wasn't happy about much of what the writers have been making her do thus far in this superfluous reboot. She says she's decided to take the gallery job that Mark Kasabian had previously offered her, and Harry says he's A-OK with that.

Carrie is starting to look visibly upset as she continues to wait for Aidan, and charges her dying phone battery with the waiter's charger. 

Nya is at home, enjoying her chocolate soufflé with lit candles all around her.

Miranda arrives at Amelia's apartment, which turns out to be an untidy dump. After a hello smooch, Amelia accidentally steps in her cat's poo, then says she needs to dash to the laundry room to put her bed sheets in the dryer. She invites Miranda to choose whatever Grubhub type food she wants for dinner, asks her if she happens to have any quarters for the dryer, then rushes out. A deflated Miranda tiptoes around the cramped mess of an apartment before attempting to use the bathroom, but then quickly shuts the door when a very hostile cat angrily hisses at her. 

"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

"You don't happen to have any spare change, do you?"

After returning home, Lisa examines the decorative pillows atop her bed and deduces that her son and Baxter prolly didn't have sex in her room. She does, however, find the youngsters inside her ample walk-in closet, where Baxter is about to take a selfie holding one of her (Lisa's) designer purses. Lisa grabs it from her, angrily reminds her it's her property, and that taking a selfie with any of her stuff is most definitely not OK. After she tells Baxter to kindly get the hell out, Herbert Jr. appeals to his father for mercy, but Herbert makes it clear that he's on his own, then wonders aloud if he lost his damn mind, infiltrating the sacred space that is his mother's closet.

Carrie calls Miranda to ask her if she thinks Aidan would purposely stand her up, and Miranda says she seriously doubts that...then complains that Amelia temporarily abandoned her to do laundry. When Carrie asks her if she really has to stay and endure this horrible date, Miranda suddenly realizes she doesn't, and that she'd better hustle and exit the apartment before Amelia returns. A few seconds later, Carrie gets a 'where are you?' text from Aidan...and it turns out she'd been waiting in the wrong restaurant, which confusingly is next door to the correct one. When she steps outside, she's giddy with delight at what I found to be a comically cringy sight of Aidan with his arms outstretched. After hugging happily and making their way inside the restaurant, Carrie remarks on how unchanged he looks from when they were on Sex and the City together [which is true enough], he clucks sympathetically about Big's Peloton demise, and the two flirtily share that neither is currently dating anyone. 

"Let's pick up where we left off in Season 4 of SATC."

"Sure. What could go wrong with that idea?"

The two take a cab to Carrie's apartment, which Aidan suddenly decides he can never step foot in again 'cause of all the baggage he somehow hasn't been able to let go of even after all these years. Carrie doesn't push it, acknowledges that time doesn't heal all wounds, and admits that perhaps their sudden rehookup may have been too easy. Aidan starts to saunter off, but then turns around and says, "Hey, fuck it. This is New York. They have hotels, right?" and Carrie beams in response and voice-overs, "And just like that...Aidan and I were back on the same page."

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