How you feel about the end of And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 9 “Present Tense” will surely depend upon how you feel about Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Aidan (John Corbett). The HBO MAX hit reunited the Sex and the City lovebirds last season, but not without a hitch. Aidan couldn’t fully commit to Carrie because he had to be in Virginia to care for his troubled son Wyatt (Logan Souza).
So most of And Just Like That… Season 3 has followed Carrie patiently waiting, yearning, and compromising for Aidan. And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 9 finally ends this holding pattern once and for all, and with a moody cut from Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Society: The Anthology…
**Spoilers for And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 9 “Present Tense,” now streaming on HBO MAX**
Our long national nightmare is finally over. Carrie and Aidan finally broke up on And Just Like That…
On last week’s And Just Like That…, Aidan basically invited himself to move into Carrie’s new place without first giving her the context that Wyatt has decided to live full time with mom Kathy (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her doctor-prescribed Adderall supply. Carrie’s kind of like, “Oh, that’s sort of weird you wouldn’t lead with that,” while Aidan is just mad that Wyatt likes Kathy more. Carrie accepts these changes with the saintly grace she’s applied to all things Aidan this season, but does warn him that she doesn’t want him pestering her moody downstairs neighbor, Duncan (Jonathan Cake).
Now, everyone who watches And Just Like That… can appreciate that Carrie and Duncan have a fun little friendship blossoming. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) even gets in trouble with Carrie when she insinuates they could be a thing. Carrie has built a close working relationship with the British writer, where they offer each other notes on their projects, but has adamantly kept things platonic. However, that doesn’t stop Aidan from getting jealous.
In this week’s episode, the tensions between Carrie and Aidan finally come to the surface when Carrie calls Aidan out on plotting to meet and appraise Duncan. She complains about it to Seema (Sarita Choudhury), but also explains that she broke Aidan’s trust decades ago when she cheated on him with Big (Chris Noth). Aidan’s jealousy over Duncan sparks another argument about his inability to trust her in the here and now, despite all she’s done for him (and the fact that he cheated on her with Kathy).
During their fight, Carrie lets it slip that she was 100% in their rekindled relationship until she realized he still had trust issues. This freaks Aidan out, who needs to know if she’s still 100% in the here and now. Carrie emotionally confesses that she gave him everything and it wasn’t enough. Aidan admits he needs her 100% or nothing at all. They realize they are over.
I, for one, am happy for Carrie. She gave Aidan more than her all. She transformed every part of her life to cater to his consistently changing needs. She easily forgave him for his transgressions, while he stubbornly held her to impossible standards. Now Carrie can move forward to her next chapter, free and clear.
I’m also happy that And Just Like That... gave this momentous event the needledrop it deserved…
Yes, Carrie and Aidan broke up! And I’m 99.99% sure they officially broke up for good. However, I thought that back in the Sex and the City days, so maybe in twenty years, Carrie and Aidan will get back together in yet another SATC spin-off show called “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder” that’s set in a luxury retirement community. Who knows!
But it definitely does seem like Carrie is back to her classic single gal ways. And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 9 “Present Tense” ends with Ms. Bradshaw getting all dressed up to meet Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda, and Seema for cocktails like the good old days.
While Carrie moves on with her life, the Taylor Swift song “How Did It End?” plays. The song appears on the expanded version of The Tortured Poets Society, called The Anthology.Fans believe the song is about Swift’s breakup with long-time love Joe Alwyn. The lyrics talk about conducting a “post-mortem” on a relationship where “they called it all off.”
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Society certainly feels like a great fit for Carrie Bradshaw at this point in her life. She’s working on an historical fiction novel and flirting with a fellow artist, all while saying goodbye to one of her great loves.
So what’s next for Carrie? Hopefully Jonathan Cake’s Duncan Reeves, if you catch my drift…
And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 10 will premiere on HBO MAX on Thursday, July 31.