HBO Series Review: And Just Like That. The Beast In Me Coming out in November.

Time to say good-bye to all things Sex and the City, and hear about the exciting announcement of Claire Danes' new show coming out in November, The Beast in Me. -CM

And Just Like That

It's finally the end of the line. And Just Like That is cancelled. Indefinitely. No rush. What took them so long? And, just like that we finally get to put it all to bed with nothing of substance to put in the memory chest other than a few pairs of shoes that won't fit our expanding, aging feet. We should have bought Apple stock instead.

We've spent about 75 hours of our lives watching them on the screen. Well, I haven’t spent 75 hours because I went in and out of the series depending on my boredom quotient that week and what else was on, but most of my New York peer group didn’t miss a minute and usually tuned in when it first aired at 9 PM on Sundays - as in made no other plans.

That’s one full week of waking hours. Four women, over 250 combined years on screen.

And if I measure their accomplishments by what they’ve contributed to anyone outside their immediate circle, they’ve moved the needle, well, not at all. Nada. Zip. While I value family and friendship above everything, there’s supposed to be a point. A greater good. Things friends actually go on to accomplish, outside themselves, with the support of those around them. Without that, what are we doing here?

There were moments over the years that were framed as pivotal but in hindsight were completely absurd. The post-it note breakup. Charlotte’s freak-out over a flower arrangement at her wedding. Miranda dropping her phone in a sink like it was some sort of spiritual awakening. And the funeral episode, which was supposed to anchor the season in grief and transformation, instead focused more on Carrie’s shoes than her actual loss. It told me everything I needed to know. Shallow. Surface. Materialistic humans. Not my kind of friends.

This reboot gave me hours of filler. Brunches that led nowhere. New characters who barely got developed. Men who cycled in and out like cab receipts. And the three original women standing in the same four-inch heels, talking about the same four-inch problems. The world has evolved. These women haven’t. They stayed in the dressing room while the rest of us went to work.

Let's see how they ended up after all these years? All these drinks and brunches.

Carrie started as a newspaper columnist, became a minor author, now occasionally podcasting and possibly writing fiction. Career arcs almost always served as a backdrop to dating and fashion, not as a meaningful vehicle for growth or social commentary. Married Big eventually, was widowed, and is now romantically drifting. She was commitment-phobic until she wasn’t. Loyal when convenient, but rarely showed up in ways that required sacrifice or depth.

Charlotte had a brief stint in the gallery world before becoming a full-time mom and wife. Her wealth insulated her from any real professional stakes. Married Harry after the first marriage didn’t stick. She was portrayed as the model of traditional femininity, down to the pearls and passive-aggressive perfection. She always insisted on etiquette over authenticity and would rather host a perfect dinner party than have a difficult but necessary conversation. Her children passed her by when she cared more about how they appeared than how they really were.

Miranda started strong as a high-powered lawyer, but recent arcs have her aimlessly wandering through romantic confusion and a poorly defined reinvention. Married Steve, divorced Steve, moved to LA, came back, rinse and repeat. Once the skeptic and realist of the group, she’s now lost her edge and her relevance. And, her invasion of her son's privacy? You can see where all that will be in ten years.

Samantha was a PR powerhouse who lived unapologetically until she didn’t. Her absence in the reboot spoke volumes about how little they understood or valued her depth. She was defined by freedom and self-determination. She was the only one who ever showed up when it really counted. She may have been outrageous, but she was also the most honest. She was the lucky one. The one that got away. Good for her.

As for the series finale? Carrie running around dressed as if it was Halloween instead of Thanksgiving, like an Uber Eats driver delivering pies? Seriously? And, the bathroom? I can't ever not unsee that, and I would pay a lot of money to not have seen it. A lot. And, it did not push the plot line forward one inch. It set my future intestinal events back decades.

So yes, I’m done. Goodbye Carrie. Goodbye cosmos. Goodbye to a show that once tried to matter and ended up meaning nothing. Women’s lives are bigger now. Messier. Richer. Our stories deserve better than this.

The Beast and Me

David Canfield from Vanity Fair is the first to come to market with some information about the series, The Beast in Me that's coming out in November on Netflix, starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys.

Ah Claire Danes, who, anyone following my reviews, I consider one of the great characters in Homeland, although I don't know why they had to make her a little crazy. I really don't.

Danes apparently was first hooked on The Beast and Me about five years ago when she read the plot that was written by creator Gabe Rotter, who wrote The X-Files, which was sent to Claire by Jodie Foster, who, by the way, is one of my favorites also. Kismet.

So all of that adds up to I can't wait for this to come out. But get this. Claire said she felt like it was classic and that it was faintly Hitchcockian, which I thought was such a great word. Hitchcockian.

She felt this immediate connection to the role of Aggie. Aggie, our protagonist, is an author, and she’s written a lauded memoir, but has spent the last few years paralyzed in grief over the death of her young son. And there's some connective tissue, says our Claire, between Aggie and Homeland’s Carrie Matheson or Temple Grandin. "These characters still give a fuck and don’t censor themselves or apologize for their power," which is her quote.

And I like that. But I hope they don’t border her on crazy, because I don’t think these women protagonists who have great strength and can go to amazing heights in terms of courage have to also be on the edge. Hope springs eternal. I’m looking forward to this one in November. We’ll see what happens.