And Just Like That...

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.