For nearly three decades, we’ve watched Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) explore sex and romance in contemporary New York City. Now, in MAX‘s And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good,” she tackles phone sex in all its kinky, kooky, and awkward glory.
**Spoilers for And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good,” now streaming on MAX**
And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good” kicks off a new chapter for Carrie. She’s now living in a luxurious Gramercy Square house, caring for a kitten, and accepting a long-distance “situationship” with long-time love interest Aidan Shaw (John Corbett). The two reunited in a major way in AJLT Season 2, with Carrie coming to accept that she should have been with the folksy furniture designer this whole time. Aidan wanted badly to start anew with Carrie in New York, but he needed to stay in Virginia for a few years to make sure his troubled teen son didn’t hurt himself. Carrie agrees to “wait” for Aidan a little longer.
In And Just Like That… Season 3, Carrie is attempting to keep her distance, only sending sentimental postcards back and forth at first. However, in the middle of And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good,” Aidan calls her out of the blue. He’s taken refuge in his parked truck and he misses Carrie. Soon, he’s admitting that he misses more than her conversation.
There’s something almost wholesome about Carrie’s confusion over what comes next (which is primarily Aidan). He starts telling Carrie that he wishes he were with her right then, touching himself and telling her to touch herself. Carrie starts to oblige, but it’s clear she’s not nearly into it as Aidan is. Aidan jerks off so hard, he smashes his car horn, immediately killing the mood. Carrie, on the other hand, fakes her orgasm over the phone.
Later, Carrie tells her friends what happened and admits feeling guilty, which I kind of thought was funny. Maybe it’s because I’m younger than Carrie, coming of age on dating apps and finding most of my flirting has been done via text, but this whole scenario seemed very real and very mundane. Phone sex and sexting are great ways for a couple to get their rocks off when they’re far apart. They’re also prone to massive amounts of miscommunication. Timing can be off, signals can be dropped, and — as Carrie learns — desire can be squelched.
As if to highlight these very themes, there’s a subplot in this week’s episode surrounding Seema (Sarita Choudhury) being kept hours on hold for a sexy video chat with her movie director boyfriend Ravi (Armin Amiri). She’s ready and rearing to go and he is stuck shooting action sequences of a different kind. By the end of the episode, Seema has dumped his ass.
Carrie, on the other hand, admits what happened to Aidan. Sure, it’s no big deal, but she feels that it’s important for her to be totally transparent in this new era of their relationship. Once again, Carrie’s behavior in And Just Like That… is a quaint shadow of her raunchy, selfish approach to love and sex in Sex and the City. (This is, after all, the woman who went to wild lengths to cheat on Aidan!)
The And Just Like That… version of Carrie Bradshaw is taking a softer, sweeter approach to her romance with Aidan. And the whole phone sex fiasco exemplifies this new tact.