Somehow, the second season of AJLT managed to be more of a flailing mess than the first. I masochistically rewatched the first season, and I think viewers were so thrown by the endless cringe, the tone deaf if noble stabs at diversifying the show, and the side characters on top of side characters on top of side characters, that we couldn…
Somehow, the second season of AJLT managed to be more of a flailing mess than the first. I masochistically rewatched the first season, and I think viewers were so thrown by the endless cringe, the tone deaf if noble stabs at diversifying the show, and the side characters on top of side characters on top of side characters, that we couldn't quite see that "the Carrie show" hidden underneath all that mess was actually pretty solid and affecting.
"Carrie loses the love of her life and has to navigate single life in her 50s" is a fitting story for a SEX AND THE CITY follow-up, and when looked at in a vacuum, was reasonably well executed. Season 2, on the other hand, didn't have anything resembling a raison d'etre, so all we were really left with was the mess.
I think we're all stultified by how a franchise that was once defined by its preternatural ability to have its finger on the pulse of the culture could now somehow feel so lame. But of all the show's missteps, I think the writers have really underestimated how important Carrie's voice over and the "Carrie investigates a question and writes her way through it" conceit of the original series was essential to the show's success. I think viewers might forgive some of the new show's awkward detours (or perhaps not even notice them) if we felt like we were in more steady narrative hands. Perhaps if the writers of the new show had to work within the confines of the OG series' structure, they'd be forced into writing a more cohesive and economical story, as well.
The show remains compulsively watchable, and the cast is, as always, incredibly game and winning as they try to muscle their way through dreadful material. But if Carrie Bradshaw isn't asking questions, she isn't really Carrie Bradshaw -- and the show she's stuck in isn't an actual story. It's a just wall with beyond random, batshit crazy antics thrown-up against it.
Somehow, the second season of AJLT managed to be more of a flailing mess than the first. I masochistically rewatched the first season, and I think viewers were so thrown by the endless cringe, the tone deaf if noble stabs at diversifying the show, and the side characters on top of side characters on top of side characters, that we couldn't quite see that "the Carrie show" hidden underneath all that mess was actually pretty solid and affecting.
"Carrie loses the love of her life and has to navigate single life in her 50s" is a fitting story for a SEX AND THE CITY follow-up, and when looked at in a vacuum, was reasonably well executed. Season 2, on the other hand, didn't have anything resembling a raison d'etre, so all we were really left with was the mess.
I think we're all stultified by how a franchise that was once defined by its preternatural ability to have its finger on the pulse of the culture could now somehow feel so lame. But of all the show's missteps, I think the writers have really underestimated how important Carrie's voice over and the "Carrie investigates a question and writes her way through it" conceit of the original series was essential to the show's success. I think viewers might forgive some of the new show's awkward detours (or perhaps not even notice them) if we felt like we were in more steady narrative hands. Perhaps if the writers of the new show had to work within the confines of the OG series' structure, they'd be forced into writing a more cohesive and economical story, as well.
The show remains compulsively watchable, and the cast is, as always, incredibly game and winning as they try to muscle their way through dreadful material. But if Carrie Bradshaw isn't asking questions, she isn't really Carrie Bradshaw -- and the show she's stuck in isn't an actual story. It's a just wall with beyond random, batshit crazy antics thrown-up against it.