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

Recap: Carrie FaceTimes with her publisher (Amanda) to report that she's currently working on a fiction book about an unnamed woman who lived in the mid 1800s. Amanda squeals excitedly at the prospect of a historical novel being penned by the literary genius that is Carrie Bradshaw, then informs Carrie of the many speaking requests she's received...including a panel discussion in Williamsburg, Virginia. Carrie perks up at that and says she's definitely interested in travelling to Virginia. 

Anthony is flanked by his scantily clad employees as he oversees the opening of his new Hotfellas Bakery - but the only customers in the establishment appear to be the AJLT gals. Carrie announces that she's planning to travel to Williamsburg for a panel discussion, and then will drop by Norfolk for a casual lunch with Aidan. The gals gush about how romaaaantic that is...and when Seema asks Carrie if she's planning on staying in Norfolk for any length of time, Carrie says she doesn't want to put that pressure on Aidan. A few seconds later, Anthony marches over to complain about the lack of customers and lament that Guiseppe refuses to show up in his skimpy uniform to attract passersby, then goes outside to bark at his employees (who have been tasked with passing out free bread samples) to do a better job of luring people inside so they can become paying customers. 

Carrie tries to get at least one of the gals interested in accompanying her to Virginia - but they all pretend they're far too busy. Anthony interrupts the conversation to ask Charlotte to invite Lisa to his bakery 'cause he neeeeeeds her "Upper East Side mom-fluencer bullshit". A few seconds later, Carrie gets a call from Kathy (Aidan's ex-wife) ... and as she steps outside to take the call, Lisa and her Upper East side minions enthusiastically burst into the bakery, much to Anthony's happy relief.   

Kathy asks Carrie if she wouldn't mind bringing a stash of Adderall (for Wyatt) when she comes to Virginia, explaining that there's a nationwide shortage of the med. She figured Carrie would be well connected enough to unearth a supply of the drugs...and after the call, Carrie goes back inside the bakery to blab to the gals about Kathy's bizarre request and assumptions about her. Charlotte confirms that, yep, there is a shortage of ADHD meds, then gets up and saunters across the bakery to where a couple of middle aged moms are seated. She asks if one of them can get a hold of the kind of Adderall prescription her friend is looking for, and one of them says she can definitely hook her up.

​Lisa returns to her studio, where Grace (her assistant) has exciting news: Steve McQueen's producer wants to hire her to work on his upcoming documentary. Lisa squeals joyfully 'cause she assumes that Grace will only take the job once her work on the sheroes documentary wraps [in about a hundred years] - but Grace tells her that McQueen needs her right now and that she has to accept this amazing offer. Lisa irritably says she doesn't have to, she's choosing to...then calls it "a major inconvenience" and further complains, "It is a huge setback for me, and I'm more than a little annoyed." Grace admits that the timing may not be ideal - but hastens to point out that she's been devoted to this project for the last eight years, even though it was only supposed to take one...and that she has stuck with it all this time 'cause she loves her and the work. Lisa gets all defensive and says the sheroes doc has been taking nearly a decade 'cause she took time off to have her children, and Grace is like, "Whatever. I'm barren." When Lisa debases herself further by begging Grace to stay, Grace says she was given until Friday to give McQueen's producer her answer...and that it'll be a resounding YES. Lisa shoots her the stink-eye and mutters, "Wow.." [yes Lisa...wow indeed] and excuses herself from the studio to privately glare into space while remaining utterly non-self-reflective about her shitty treatment of Grace just now.

Over at the gallery, Charlotte's three Gen Z co-workers are all tired and hungover from partying with potential clients all night. They chide Charlotte for always leaving the party early and not joining in with their binge-drinking and drug-fuelled dance fests...and seem oblivious to the strong possibility that a married fifty-something-year-old with nearly grown kids might be long past the 'partying 'til the wee hours of the morning' phase of life.

Miranda is over at the mansion, helping Carrie build a kitty condo for little Shoo. Carrie hands Miranda a key to her place so that she can housesit while she's in Virginia, then says she's also going to give Aidan a key to "their house" when she sees him. Miranda tells Carrie she finally summoned the courage to ask Joy out - but under the guise of wanting on-camera coaching tips. Carrie condescendingly asks her if it's really necessary to "play those games" with Joy, so Miranda calls her out on her game playing by "casually" dropping by Norfolk to give Aidan a key to a house he's already been in twice. Bwahaha! Carrie gets prickly about wanting a "cease and desist on the Aidan wisecracks" 'cause she's still trying to figure out how to function in their weirdly uncommunicative, long distance relationship. Miranda hastily apologizes for coming off as an asshole...even though her remark came off more as someone who was making a fair point to an insufferably uppity friend.

Later at home, Charlotte wails to her family (+ Anthony and Guiseppe) that her career is suffering 'cause she's always having to function as a wife and mother, while her colleagues are out clubbing all night and making art world connections. Lily tells her to stop being so dramatic and insists that they don't require her to be home every night - but Charlotte bitchily reminds them how helpless they all are whenever she's not around. As everyone sits down to eat, Charlotte continues to bellyache about how her co-workers see her as a boring mom who has to rush home to her family, and Harry concurs and says that his co-workers at the law firm [where he never seems to actually work anymore] regard him as a boring lawyer who does his work, goes home, and doesn't like to party. When he says he's sooooo much more than that, his kids express surprise and then point out that he doesn't even have the right kind of clothes to be out clubbing. Guiseppe injects some common sense into the idiotic conversation and suggests to Harry that he accompany Charlotte on an outing with her art gallery crew...and Harry mulls that over and decides he likes the idea. Anthony then needlessly turns the conversation to a stupid rant about how Guiseppe continues to refuse to don skimpywear and work at his Hotfellas Bakery, and Guiseppe explains that he's a poet who doesn't like to have his monstrously sized penis stared at as if it's a zoo animal. 

Elliot summons Seema to his office to announce that 1) he's retiring 'cause he's ninety years old, and 2) he's selling his controlling share of the company to Ryan Serhant, an obnoxious pipsqueak of a man who stars in Netflix's reality show Owning Manhattan. Seema is dismayed by the news, then looks visibly despondent when Ryan Serhant suddenly appears in the doorway wearing a party hat and holding a bottle of champagne. Seema tells both men that she's taking some vacation time to figure out how she feels about this merger, then grabs the bottle of champagne out of Ryan's hand on her way out.

Carrie has taken Harry clothes shopping, and he's taking a very looooong time trying on a pair of excruciatingly stiff jeans. [It remains unclear why he doesn't just opt for more of a stretchy type denim.] While waiting outside the fitting room, Carrie gets a call from Seema, who tells her about the Ryan Serhant merger and that she'd be delighted to accompany her to Virginia.

The next day, Seema arrives at the mansion to pick up Carrie and encounters Adam the landscaper. The two exchange some cute, flirty banter before introducing themselves to each other...and a few seconds later, Carrie emerges from her front door with a couple of overnight bags for their jaunt to Virginia. 
​
While aboard the plane, Seema tells Carrie she really really needs distance from her job problems...and Carrie's like, "That's nice - but since the problems aren't about me, I really don't give toooooo much of a shit."

Lisa is in her kitchen, angrily mashing potatoes as she rails to Herbert about how Grace is leaving her "high and dry". Herbert sympathizes with her plight - until he learns that Grace wants to jump ship for Steve McQueen. When Lisa rails about how desperately she needs an editor, Herbert reminds her that Grace has been a loyal assistant for years, willing to roll with whatever was convenient for her (her meaning Lisa) when she took off entire years to raise their children. He gently suggests to his self-absorbed wife, "Maybe it's time to start thinking about what works best for her." Lisa, for whom that concept doesn't seem to compute, responds by glaring at Herbert and mashing the potatoes even angrier.

A couple of days later, Carrie and Seema are dining out in Virginia, discussing how they each want to be the top priority for the men in their lives. When Carrie grimly laments being Aidan's #4, Seema wankingly points out that he seems really really committed to making their relationship work...whereas Elliot was sooooo dismissive about everything she's done for their company for the last twenty years. Seema promptly decides, "I'm done, out" and declares that she's starting her own real estate firm: The Patel Group. They're suddenly interrupted by the head of PR for the festival Carrie just spoke at. He introduces himself as Mike, tells the gals he manages this restaurant and will serve them anything they want, then gets irked when he notices that the waiter gave them an outdated menu.

Miranda is out for drinks with Joy, pretending to want helpful tips from a broadcast expert. Joy offers one piece of advice: while on the air, it's OK to pause and take a few deep breaths. As she demonstrates her deep breathing technique, she grabs Miranda's hand and holds it to her chest so that she can feel how deep and far apart the breaths are. Miranda instantly looks overwhelmed with horny longing...and then looks even more overwhelmed with horny longing when Joy reaches over to touch her chest and instructs her to breathe in more of a measured, purposeful way.

Harry is out clubbing with Charlotte and her Gen Z co-workers when he rushes over to the men's room to urinate - but can't unbutton his stiff new jeans in time to avoid peeing his pants. He then pulls Charlotte aside and tells her he's not going to make it to the after after party on account of his pants are urine-soaked. 

That evening in a Virginia hotel room, Carrie calls Aidan to inform him that she'll rent a car and meet him at the restaurant where they'll be lunching. A few seconds later, Seema drops by the room with a bucket of KFC...and in the next scene, the two are lounging atop the bed and eating chicken while Seema considers the prospect of starting her own firm. Carrie's like, "Once again, I really don't care about your problems" and brings up the topic of Aidan and sadly says she wishes he had invited her to stay at his farm. This prompts Seema to point out that he likely has no idea how strongly she feels about that, given that she was probably so busy acting all breezy about them getting together for lunch, and nothing more. Carrie stares into space as she mulls over that reasonable theory.

While continuing to party at 3am, Charlotte's co-worker Lela gabbles excitedly about how much she digs one of the men they're currently partying with: a drug snorting Dutch art buyer. The group then talks about their next stop - the after after after party (?) - and Charlotte looks exhausted, and then exasperated when everyone starts ordering espressos.

The group heads over to a busy dance club, where the Dutch art buyer starts doing coke with a bunch of randos. Lela again gushes about how into the Dutch guy she is and asks Charlotte to find out if he likes her (OMFG). Charlotte somehow refrains from replying that she couldn't be less interested in behaving as if they're in fucking high school and so tells the Dutch guy she knows of a certain young lady who's sweet on him. The Dutch guy translates that to mean that she's the interested party and leans in for a kiss - but Charlotte hastily pushes him away and haughtily tells him she was talking about Lela. She proceeds to exit the bar, and then has to shield her eyes from the early morning sun as she totters down the street.

Lisa arrives at her studio and contritely apologizes to Grace for behaving so abysmally the other day. She admits that she's scared of losing the only editor who's been patient enough to hang in there for the last eight years. Grace assures Lisa that she's the one who's going to make this (never-ending) project great, and wankingly adds, "You have you. You've got this." 

Carrie and Seema rent a car for the drive to Norfolk...and Carrie continues to stew about why Aidan didn't invite her to stay overnight at his farm.

As Anthony stands in his bakery and looks crestfallen by the lack of interest the passersby have in freshly baked bread, Guiseppe arrives, decked out in the skimpy Hotfellas uniform to report for duty. His gargantuan penis, that can barely be contained inside the tight onesie, is instantly noticed and ogled by everyone within vision range, and soon the bakery is filled with customers who are visibly turned on by the well endowed Italian.  

While en route to the Norfolk restaurant, Seema pulls into a parking lot (with traffic spikes for some reason) to take a FaceTime call from Ryan Serhant. Carrie exits the car to give her full privacy.

Back at the gallery, Charlotte is putting drops in her bloodshot eyes when an art buyer named Alexis wanders over and says she's interested in purchasing an expensive piece, and wants her favourite curator to get the commission. Charlotte squeals delightedly and ushers her over to wherever that sort of transaction usually takes place.

Seema is smoking in the rental car when Carrie returns. Seema grimly reports that Ryan Serhant nixed the idea of adding her name to the company's letterhead - just as she backs up the car...and in the process drives over the row of spikes. Carrie gives her a 'the fuck?' glare and asks if she didn't see the prominent Do not back up sign...and Seema translates her stupidity behind the wheel as a sign that she needs to move forward in life. After the tow truck arrives and hauls away the damaged rental, Aidan pulls up in his pickup truck and jokingly asks if someone called for a Goober, which is apparently hillbilly-speak for Uber. Carrie chuckles and rushes over to the driver's side for a long smooch, after which Aidan invites her to stay in town for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Carrie giddily reports this happy development to Seema, who asks to be dropped off at the airport asap so that she can rush back to New York and start up her new company. It's at this point that the two dumb-dumbs realize they left their luggage in the trunk of the damaged rental car.

Aidan drives Carrie to his farm and tells her that since he didn't get a chance to tell his (mostly full grown) sons that she was staying overnight, he'd like her to sleep in the guest house. Carrie assures him she's A-OK with staying under the radar, then hands him the stash of Adderall that Kathy had requested she bring along. He grimaces at the sight of the pills - but then shakes it off and coos about how happy he is that she's here.

Later that night, Carrie opens her laptop to continue writing about "the woman", who has just survived a treacherous journey, fully intact.

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