Kim Cattrall Won't Save And Just Like That... (& Season 2 Is DOA)

And then the world wondered... is Kim Cattrall's upcoming cameo in "And Just Like That..." going to save the show?

The lack of the indefatigably salacious "Sex and the City" star has had people upset ever since the continuation began, and Samantha's reported return for a brief appearance in "Season 2" has, naturally, piqued people's curiosity. Will this obvious fan service pay off? Is it a ratings grab with no depth? Can it stop the bleeding? 

Well, there's a lot of bleeding to stop. "And Just Like That..." received a lot of mixed reactions from viewers when it came to life in the winter of 2022. While it was wonderful to revisit Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and the rest of her friends ... well, minus Samantha, it was also hard to ignore the show's many flaws. In fact, the show's first season became more popular for the parts that didn't stick the landing than the ones that did. Between plotting and characterization failures, the show has become a study in what not to do with a revival series. Its reluctance to do anything truly meaningful with Samantha's absence is a clear sticking point, though, which showrunners are clearly hoping can be healed. 

Sadly, one thing's clear — a few minutes of Samantha definitely isn't enough to pull the show out of its dying tailspin.

The sad truth about the first season of "And Just Like That..." is that almost nothing about it actually works. The few things that are done well — like Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry's (Evan Handler) attempt at embracing the coming out of their nonbinary child Rock (Alexa Swinton), or Carrie's long, painful mourning process — almost seem like a matter of luck. The former saw hyper-organized Charlotte trying to be wildly supportive of her child, who simply refused to be stuffed in one of their mother's neatly-labeled boxes. The latter saw Carrie journey to the past to avoid living in the present, in a way that's a poignant reflection of the show's journey into its own belly.

It's the present, though, that "And Just Like That..." has a problem with. Consider the ultra-annoying and audience-dividing Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) bounding into the scene with their too-cool-for-New-York behavior, ruining what was left of Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve Brady's (David Eigenberg) marriage and turning Miranda into a flighty, impulsive, terrible friend to an injured and grieving Carrie. Or consider Big's (Chris Noth) death by exercise bike, which was such a meme-worthy blunder that Peloton's stock actually took a dip in the wake of the episode's airing. Or the show's not-quite addressing of both Samantha's disappearance and that of Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) the latter of which was necessitated by Garson's passing mid-shoot.

New main characters Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), Naya Wallace (Karen Pittman) and Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury) at least manage not to offend viewers sheerly by existing, which is a very small victory.

All of this resulted in what Max has called the streamer's biggest tune-in so far. Apparently hundreds of people signed up to watch the series, and that's enough to at least leave Warner Bros. happy. But were those viewers pleased by much of what they saw? Well, not necessarily. The show did not win critical acclaim, coming in at a 48% approval score at Rotten Tomatoes. The audience plaudits, however, are way worse — it sits at 29%. It's not a much better story at IMDb, where the show stands at a middling 5.7 out of 10.

Results like these often send producers scrambling for some sort of remedy.  They certainly don't portend a solid future for the show. Unfortunately, Michael Patrick King has decided to try to right his ship not by removing the show's various chess pieces and then returning them to the playing field judiciously. Instead, his plan is to double down on at least one aspect that didn't work for audiences.

Speaking with Variety in June 2022, King declared that he felt the audience's strong reaction to Che came from a place of fear, and that he feels the need to include even more of the character in Season 2, to explain where Che's coming from. That feels like an astronomical error. It's also that kind of stubbornness that usually results in audiences abandoning programs en masse instead of sticking with it. This may even be why Season 2 of the series is leaning so hard on the nostalgic goo of the Samantha cameo. And that's not the only returning player it's hedging its bets on.

The Samantha cameo is symptomatic of what appears to be Season 2's desperation to hold on to its audience, or at least beat back the negative reaction viewers have given them, by giving in to nostalgia. For a show that keeps trying to forge a bold new future for its characters while smashing their pasts, this feels like an odd clinging to old associations — because everyone knows that the new associations being offered up are less interesting.

To wit, we're going to see if Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) and Carrie might have a happily-ever-after now that Big's dead, as Aidan will be back for a number of episodes in Season 2. It's yet another peek back into the past, just when Carrie ought to be forging something new for herself. Does the show want us to root for this retreat?  And if the show's future is represented by dud characters like Che, is it really something we should be enthusiastic for? 

Of course, it ain't over until the Cancellation Bear chomps. And so, we can't quite rule out success for "And Just Like That..." which at least has the chance to retain its huge Season 1 audience for a little while longer ... if they can convince their viewers to stick around beyond its Season 2 premiere. 

There's one big plot point that ought to be slightly ameliorated: the show needs to figure out where Carrie is going romantically. Killing off Big after years of playing with the will-they-or-won't-they was a pretty awkward move, and has clearly done nothing for Carrie other than shove her back into her former single-and-free status. Her next love affair needs to be earth-shattering, or at very least compelling. Meanwhile, even though Miranda's queerness is a welcome shot in the show's arm, Che needs to become a likeable person instead of a shallow set of stereotypes: audiences didn't reject the character because of their zest for life or unapologetic honesty, it's because they weren't a fully developed character. And as for Charlotte's storyline, well, at least something's gone right. The show should concentrate on keeping it that way, and then the audience will really be able to kick up their heels and celebrate. 

All together, these serious fixes would be worth more than any $1 million cameo. Don't hold out too much hope, though.