When you tune into And Just Like That… on Max, you expect to see the awkward and steamy sex scenes that put its prequel Sex and the City on the map. You don’t necessarily expect there to be a meta Hamilton joke in one of those sex scenes, though. But that’s precisely what happened early on in And Just Like That… Season 2 Episode 5 “Trick or Treat.” Chris Jackson, perhaps best known for his work playing George Washington in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit musical Hamilton, dresses up like the first Commander in Chief to bed his beloved wife Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker). It’s a wild nod to the actor’s history and something I personally never thought I would ever see on a TV show.
And Just Like That… Season 2 Episode 5 “Trick or Treat” opens with a lavish Halloween party. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is miffed no one gets her and Harry’s (Evan Handler) Americans-themed costumes, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is shocked to have to explain she is dressed as Helen Gurley Brown, and Lisa is holding court as a fabulously glamorous Bride of Frankenstein. Is her husband Herbert (Christopher Jackson) dressed as the famous reanimated monster? Nope. He’s not dressed up at all. That’s because he’s running for City Comptroller and can’t be fussed with a silly Halloween costume. Not even if Lisa did him the favor of sourcing him a politically-themed George Washington on.
So Herbert refuses to wear his costume in public, but not in private. Once Lisa is in bed, he surprises her by entering the bedroom donning the top half of his Washington costume, wig and all, warning that the “British are coming.” Lisa laughs and corrects his history, noting Paul Revere is credited with that quote. “Oh, I know, but the Founding Father never said anything famous about coming,” Herbert says.
What follows is some cute foreplay between the couple that tangles history, sex, and politics. While we don’t necessarily see Jackson fully besmirch his Hamilton legacy by engaging in a full-on sex scene, it’s enough to give us a weird mental picture of the Broadway version of Jackson’s character having sex. Which had to have been the point of the scene in the first place!
The writers of And Just Like That… had to have known that Jackson is famous for playing the Founding Father. After all, this is a show full of on point pop culture references. To dress Herbert up was Washington is a meta joke in and of itself and will forever alter the way I feel about Chris Jackson’s Hamilton showstopper, “One Last Time.”