Much like the original Sex and the City, And Just Like That... has zero qualms when it comes to exploring the sticky side of human sexuality. Over the MAX show’s three seasons, we’ve explored strap-ons, blow jobs, and phone sex. However, And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 5 “Under the Table” offers a one-two punch of decidedly un-sexy nude scenes.
Early in this week’s all-new episode of AJLT, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) finds her current living situation in an AirBnB untenable thanks to a noisy neighbor obsessed with blasting heavy metal music. After she slips a second note under his door, he opens the door and confronts her To her horror, he is completely and holding a meat cleaver.
“Hey, if you slide another note under my door, I will fucking cut you to pieces,” he threatens. To which, Miranda, understandably screams.
Miranda then takes Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) up on her offer to stay at the Gramercy house. While it might be fun for some friends to be roomies. It quickly becomes apparent the two have extremely different lifestyles, constantly butting against each other. Sure, Miranda’s spilling liquids on Carrie’s bespoke furniture and stealing her yogurt, but the most egregious event might come in the dim hours of the morning
Carrie follows her little cat Shoe out of her bedroom in the middle of the night and find a completely naked Miranda walking around. Carrie is immediately overcome with secondhand embarrassment. She explains she thought Miranda was spending the night with Joy (Dolly Wells). However, Joy’s whining Italian greyhounds stymied that plan. Now Miranda is walking half asleep and wholly naked through Carrie’s home. The situation is so awkward, Miranda asks Carrie if she’s okay, while never thinking to cover up.
Nudity is nudity, sex is sex, and this is all emphatically not a big deal for grown ass adults. My one note, for And Just Like That… Season 3, though, is I would maybe like a little bit more steam with my naked human bodies. Sex and the City built its legend by depicting sex as a fun, awkward, romantic, messy act. And Just Like That… Season 3 has given us the awkward and messy, but where’s the fun and romance? (No, I don’t count Carrie’s phone sex as that.)
So, like, okay, fine, Miranda sleeps naked. A lot of people do. That’s just a realistic depiction of human behavior. But can And Just Like That… give us some realistic depictions of something sexy alongside the nudity? Is that too much to ask?
And Just Like That… Season 3 has been marketing itself as a sexy summer watch, but so far, it’s been more flop sweat than true sizzling steam.
