And Just Like That...

In shedding so much of the clutter it, like Carrie’s studio, had been accumulating since the 20th century, AJLT finally feels less like an SATC hangover and more like its own preposterous yet generally fun thing.

I just can’t stop loving And Just Like That… and I also could not stop binging the first six episodes that were sent to critics recently. It might not be good TV, but I firmly believe it is top tier entertainment.

While there are lulls in subsequent episodes, plots actually begin to feel propulsive at times, especially as Carrie and Miranda develop new possible love interests played by very appealing, but not focus-pulling, and for some reason both British, actors Jonathan Cake and Dolly Wells. The episodes grow more serious as they progress, tackling issues like old age, sickness and death, as well they should to act their age.

It’s refreshing to say that And Just Like That has gotten better in season 3. It’s a bit funnier — in a way that isn’t trying so hard to be — and it’s leaning into its frivolity without attempting to pretend it’s anything else.

Much of Sex and the City's core fandom will enjoy the frothy escapism of these new episodes, partly thanks to the series' magnetically charismatic actors. For now, thanks to some much-needed refinements between seasons, maybe that's enough.

If the first two seasons were fondly received but sometimes excruciating exercises in attempting to squeeze its characters into the modern age, then this feels like a loosening of the belt.

What’s happening within that inner circle is often engaging, even if the season’s comedy is frequently wheezy and strained, grasping for the elegant thematic rhyme and rhythm of SATC’s sharpest wit.

The show hasn’t qualitatively improved; it’s just removed some of the less coherent elements and winnowed its audience down to the hardcore fans, for whom the show probably worked anyway. What’s left is formulaic and arranged in digestible layers for minimum offence – like a glass of parfait – but if you want consistency, then And Just Like That delivers.

There is still plenty here to mock – and rest assured, we will – but there’s also just enough of the old magic to make this a nostalgic guilty pleasure.

So far, Season 3 doesn’t stir the same intense emotions as previous half-seasons of “And Just Like That.” (Six of the 12 episodes were made available for review.) Part of that stems from fewer bizarre storytelling choices (good!), and part of it is a byproduct of an overly cautious attitude toward character development (bad).

Although the third season sheds a lot of faulty parts and second-rate baggage, Carrie’s still devoted (or, some would say, chained) to her long-distance relationship with Aidan Shaw (John Corbett). .... The Manhattan single lives of Miranda and Carrie, separately and together more often this season than previously, are marginally more compelling but also vanilla and, in Carrie’s case, kind of gross. .... Anthony and Giuseppe, in contrast, are faring just fine. We don’t see enough of them.

In its third season, AJLT is more content than ever plodding along (albeit in Manolos) as little more than a pedestrian fantasy that’s lost most of the spunk and spark of the original series. Like its characters’ lives, AJLT is just … comfortable.