And Just Like That.. - Season 3, Episode 2

Charlotte and Lisa get themselves embroiled in yet another superfluous subplot

"The Rat Race"
Original airdate: 6/5/2025

Episode summary: Carrie panics when she learns that her courtyard is infested with rats. Charlotte and Lisa attempt to hire a renowned college counsellor to help their kids get into Ivy League schools. Miranda hits on a guacamole waitress.

---

Recap: Carrie is gussied up in a figure hugging frock and her usual stilettos as she skips down a Manhattan street and then into a bar to meet up with Lisette. The two gush about how much they each loooooove their Manhattan homes, and then Lisette grumbles about how much it sucks to be dating in this day and age...and also how soulless is to be in a relationship with her phone, with which she wastes endless amounts of time scrolling and swiping. She cries, "I'm sick of it!" and throws her phone across the bar. She then gives Carrie a special homemade gift: a thick-chained necklace with 245 embossed on it, which signifies her old building number. Carrie pretends she loves it - just as the guy Lisette clocked on the head with her iPhone ambles over to ask whassup with her throwing her phone at him. He jokingly threatens to sue for assault, but instead orders drinks for the three of them.

Charlotte and Lisa are at their kids' school when they come upon a group of parents covertly discussing Lois Fingerhood, aka "the Ivy Whisperer". Charlotte and Lisa march straight to the principal's office to report that "something very disturbing" is happening right outside the front doors...and he leaps to the conclusion that there's a shooter on campus, and hastily puts on a bulletproof vest. He then mutters, "You scared me, you really did" when Charlotte and Lisa assure him that the disturbing thing isn't an imminent massacre [which seemed really weird to use as any kind of punchline, given the scary reality of school shootings in the U.S.]. Lisa tattles that some of the parents have broken the school code and hired an outside college admissions consultant...despite the fact that the school's on-site counsellor (Debbie) is perfectly fine. The principal makes a blech face at the mention of Debbie and says she had zilch to do with any of the school's recent graduates who got into Princeton. An alarmed looking Charlotte asks if they too should be hiring Ms. Fingerhood to counsel their children, and the principal says it's a moot issue 'cause they're unlikely to get an appointment with such an in-demand Ivy Whisperer at this late date.

Carrie is sitting in her little courtyard, tapping out some boring new drivel for her novel about "the woman". She types the date of when "the woman" moved into her townhome mansion (May 1846), and then looks up and smiles at a squirrel climbing a nearby tree. A few seconds later, dozens of rats suddenly emerge from the courtyard's foliage and simultaneously scurry about, prompting Carrie to shriek, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" and flee up the back staircase.

Carrie dictates a text message to Aidan about her rat problem and how skeered she is that they're going to get inside her house. She informs him that she called an exterminator who's coming by tomorrow, then wistfully adds, "I really wish you were here." She then stares sadly into space and deletes the text message.

Miranda is in the lunchroom of her workplace, listening as two of her co-workers watch a truly idiotic reality show named Bi-Bingo on one of their iPhones. They agree with Miranda about what a stupid waste of time the show is, but then cackle, "It's awesome." As Miranda joins them in watching one of the talking head segments, she becomes helplessly intrigued by the contrived drama of Bi-Bingo. 

The exterminator and his crew have cleared out all of the foliage in Carrie's courtyard, leaving no space for any rats to hide. A little while later, as Carrie is milling around her mansion, she's startled by little Shoo, who she shriekingly mistakes for a rat. As she cuddles the cheeky kitty, Aidan suddenly appears behind her, causing her to shriek a second time. Aidan shrieks as well and explains that he let himself in as one of the exterminators was leaving...and then the two laugh heartily about how they each almost had a heart attack just now. 

"I nearly pulled a Big and had a heart attack."

"Just don't expect me to call 911 for help."

Aidan explains that his troubled son Wyatt is spending time with Kathy's family, and so he hopped on a plane to New York, in part to make up for how weird things got when she tried to initiate phone sex with him the other night, only to be abruptly shut down. He adds that he's been dying to smooch her in person, then picks her up and carries her to the bedroom. He promptly kicks out Shoo, who looks visibly peeved at being excluded from their sexing.

While strolling down a busy street, Charlotte natters at Anthony about how desperate she is to hire Lois Fingerhood to counsel Lily about college admission - but Anthony's like, "I really couldn't give the tiniest of shits" and tells her he brought her along on this outing to show her the new space he just leased for his Hotfellas Bakery. As they walk into the store and take note of all the renovating that's currently in process, Charlotte says she's very impressed and looooves that his bakery is just two blocks from her kids' school.

Carrie tells Aidan she's confused about the parameters of their relationship, clarifying that she's more than happy to give him "full space" to be there for Wyatt...however, she also wants to be able to communicate the stuff that's happening in her life (e.g. her troubling rat problem). She tells him she dictated a loooong diatribe about the rodent infestation - but then deleted it 'cause he made such a big deal out of not wanting them to be in communication until Wyatt outgrows his terrible teens. When Carrie adds that she's feeling very lost about it, Aidan grimly replies, "Yeah, I'm kinda lost too" and admits that his Incommunicado Edict was rooted in how upset and panicked he was when Wyatt binge-drank and crashed a truck into a tree. Aidan assures Carrie that she can and should text/call/write whenever she feels the urge.

Miranda is in her office, eating lunch and ignoring C-Span on the TV while she catches an episode of Bi-bingo on her phone and looks really into it.

Carrie is playing with little Shoo as she dictates a text message to Aidan about how desperately they need furniture, in particular a dining table she's been stalking online. She sends him a photo of it and asks for his opinion.

​While dining at a guacamole restaurant, Carrie shows Miranda and Seema the photo of her desired dining table and asks what they think, and they obediently tell her it's a perfectly wonderful piece of furniture. Carrie nods approvingly and grumbles that Aidan could only bring himself to reply to her text with a thumbs down emoji...and in retaliation she's (not) responding with angry silence. When Miranda and Carrie inform Seema that a man across the restaurant is brazenly checking her out, she glances over at the admirer and makes a blah face, and says she's looking to be more efficient about dating...in other words, no more wasting time on dead end losers. Miranda credits Seema for being a whole lot smarter than everyone on the idiotic reality show she's currently watching...and then she and the guacamole waitress (Ava), who has arrived with their food, agrees about how entertaining it is to hate-watch that kind of nonsense. Carrie, meanwhile, looks visibly miffed and perplexed at the sharp turn the table's conversation suddenly took.

"Let's discuss in detail how fun it is to hate-watch reality TV,"

"Can we direct the conversation back to me?"

Seema expresses concern that she's been hate-dating men. When Carrie asks her what that looks like, we get a montage of Seema snarling at the men who recently made the grave mistake of agreeing to meet her for drinks.

Joy drops by Miranda's office to ask whassup, and Miranda tells her she recently popped the cherry of a Manitoba nun. Joy looks intrigued by that juicy nugget, closes the door, and jokingly calls her the Anti-Christ.
​
Charlotte is at the gallery, getting a co-worker to hack in Lois Fingerhood's Instagram account.

Lisa is in her studio with her assistant (Grace), editing her never-ending docuseries, when Charlotte calls to tell her that Lois Fingerhood has just posted photos (on Instagram) of her son's little league game, which she's currently attending. Lisa perks up at that tip, and within minutes the two drop what they're doing and head over to the baseball field.

Charlotte and Lisa find Lois in the bleachers, cheering for her son. They seat themselves beside her, mention that they both have kids who are seniors in high school, and shamelessly beg for 30 seconds of her valuable time. Lois dismissively rolls her eyes and barks at them to talk fast, 'cause the bases are loaded.

Over at the ballet school, Lily is making out with her crush (Diego) when Charlotte rushes over to inform her daughter of a time sensitive development: Lois Fingerhood is willing to meet with her and Herbert Jr. on Thursday to discuss college admission, so she (Lily) will need to get someone to cover her piano playing shift at the ballet school.

Lisa, similarly, races over to where Herbert Jr. is playing lacrosse to inform her son of the important appointment. Even though she probably could have just texted him about it and then gone on with her day.

Seema struts back to her office, where her assistant passes along a message from one of her recent dates, to which Seema tells her to reply with, "Get lost." This prompts her business partner Elliot to express how deeply it pains him to watch her repeatedly throw perfectly nice men away as if there's an endless supply of them in the world. He says he'd like her to end this destructive streak by meeting with someone named Sydney later today, adding, "Just trust me."

Later, Seema is sitting in a fancy restaurant when she's joined by a woman who introduces herself as Sydney. Seema gives her a funny look and clarifies that she's not gay, and Sydney explains that she's a matchmaker. She then offers a rundown of Seema that seems to perfectly describe her...including a critique of her grisly wardrobe, photos of which are posted on social media and largely consist of her wearing metallics and tacky animal prints. She urges Seema to tone down her clothing choices and maybe embrace pastels more.

"Do you really expect me to change everything about myself in order to attract a man?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

At home that night, Seema stares contemplatively at her empty bed.  

Carrie tells the exterminator that she wants him to sign a blood oath that there will be no more rats in her courtyard, and he promises to use the deadliest poison possible.

Over at Casa York-Goldenblatt, Charlotte and Lisa are pacing in the hall while their children are meeting with Lois Fingerhood. When Lois emerges after 45 minutes, she says she needs to use the restroom...and inside the living room, both Lily and Herbert Jr. look despondent. Lily wails that apparently she's too well rounded [which I find hard to believe], and Herbert Jr. laments that Lois told him playing lacrosse reeks of privilege. Charlotte reacts to this troubling outcome by hyperventilating and exasperatedly blurting out, "Lois Fucking Fingerhood!" - just as Lois appears at the doorway, contorts her face into a grim expression, and promptly sees herself out. It remains unclear why both mothers don't just let their nearly grown children manage the task of applying to various colleges themselves and then let the chips fall where they may.

Seema arrives at a restaurant to meet her date for the evening: a silver-haired fox named Jake. After Jake natters about his family for awhile, he orders tiramisu for the two of them and remarks to Seema on what a wonderful listener she is. Seema comes right out and tells him he hasn't actually met her, then reveals that she's not usually this quiet and agreeable, hates wearing the pastel blouse she current has on, and doesn't care for tiramisu. Jake applauds her honesty, then hastily excuses himself to use the restroom...and a few seconds later, Sydney sashays over and seats herself at the table across from Seema. She explains to Seema that she always covertly observes her clients on the first date, and informs her that Jake just texted he's fleeing the restaurant 'cause of how un-demure she came across. Sydney chides, "Jake is out. You blew it." Seema declares herself out too, snappishly says she has zero desire to pretend she's someone she's not, and storms out of the restaurant.

Miranda drags Carrie back to the guacamole restaurant so she can properly hit on Ava - but soon learns that although Ava loves idiotic reality shows about queer people hooking up, she's straight, married, and has two kids. Miranda looks suitably mortified by her inaccurate assumptions, while Ava ambles off to serve guacamole to her other customers.

​Carrie, who has been stewing about Aidan's thumbs-down emoji for days now, decides to reply by sending him a frowny face emoji. She later tells Miranda that she finds the notion of communicating via emoji quite stupid, while Miranda laments the fact that Ava is not a lesbian. She hastily moves on from that and mentions that she does have a crush on Joy (from her workplace) and wouldn't mind asking her out, and Carrie urges her to go ahead and do that, then has to rush off to meet with the landscaper she just hired to replant stuff in her courtyard.

Carrie returns to her mansion and looks around for little Shoo, who somehow escaped through the front door and is now in the arms of Adam the landscaper. She ushers Adam over to her courtyard and says she has no real vision for the now empty yard, other than to not be a rat infested hellspace. Adam decides it's exciting to not yet know exactly what it will be, and theorizes "what is meant to be will happen". Carrie then picks up Shoo and heads back inside, voice-overing about "the woman" (from her historical novel in process) who has just re-entered her townhome mansion. 

​Give "the woman" a damn name, Carrie.

​Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!

---