Eight episodes in and I still haven’t quite warmed to HBO Max’s new “Sex and the City” spinoff, “And Just Like That . . . ,“ which debuted last month. Even bringing back the legendary Atelier Versace Mille Feuille gown Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) donned her first night in Paris on the original series’ 2004 finale (which The New York Times deemed ‘the crown jewel of Carrie’s wardrobe”) for a brief cameo didn’t manage to win me over. “And Just Like That . . .” just feels lackluster. And I can’t help but wonder, where is New York? We hardly see the city that served as both the fifth character and the definitive heart of its predecessor.
Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos hits the nail on the head with his assertion that there is nothing “remotely aspirational” about the spinoff, in sharp contrast to the OG series, which painted life in New York as magical. He writes, “In the original show, Carrie, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and the now-absent Samantha (Kim Cattrall) were fairy tale avatars of hope, grandeur, and success. Life’s low patches, which mainly were the result of dating and being broken up by terrible men, were nothing compared to living in New York City with fabulous shoes, fantastic outfits, and forever friends.” Indeed, even on one of Bradshaw’s worst days, when NYC “kicked her ass” in season five’s “Fleet Week” and had her contemplating the benefits of lithium-laced ice cream, both Carrie and Manhattan couldn’t have seemed more fantastic! But I’ve been hard-pressed to find anything envy-inducing about “And Just Like That . . . “ Even the sleek new apartment Carrie inhabited briefly in episode six, “Diwali” (which was just a set), seemed cold and devoid of personality.
One element of the show did spark joy for me in episode seven, “Sex and the Widow,” though. And no, it wasn’t the Gucci belt bag Charlotte toted to her tennis match. My breath was instead taken away by the tony fitness center where the game was played, namely the stunning wooden staircase that Charlotte and husband, Harry (Evan Chandler), walked down following the contentious match. One glimpse of the curving span, which looks more like a work of art than a means to travel from one floor to another, and I was smitten!
As it turns out, the tennis scene was lensed at the Waterline Club, the luxe amenities facility at the center of the Upper West Side’s new upscale Waterline Square community. The residential complex, which spans two city blocks overlooking the Hudson River, was the brainchild of the GID Development Company. According to president James Linsley, the group set out “to reinvent what an urban highrise living experience can be” with the project. To that I say, mission accomplished! Waterline Square is nothing if not one-of-a-kind.