NOTE: This story contains spoilers for “And Like That”, season 3, episode 4.
When “And So And So” brought (John Corbett) back, the writers knew Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Aidan’s new take on the novel would be far from straightforward.
“We made the decision to have Aidan move away from Carrie because of his family, which felt realistic. Our goal was to make the family realistic so that you could believe it,” series developer and EP Michael Patrick King told TheWrap.
In season two, Aidan explains that he needs to return home to Virginia to deal with his youngest son Wyatt (Logan Souza), who is acting out in the wake of Aidan’s separation from his ex-wife. For most of seasons 2 and 3, Aidan’s home life is a dark concept that simply gets in the way of Carrie and Aidan being together. But with Carrie’s visit to Virginia, the gravity of Aidan’s home life comes into focus. After a disastrous dinner that involves Aidan’s son yelling at his parents and storming out of the house, Carrie finally understands why the man she loves has asked her to wait five years before he can fully commit to her.
“The funniest thing about it was that we admitted to people watching the show that Carrie says, ‘I didn’t believe you until now.’ That was the journey,” King explained.
The dinner scene stands out as one of the most dramatic and emotionally raw moments in both “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That.” In addition to the high stakes, it was crucial to King that this scene not portray Carrie as the villain in the relationship.
“Since we brought Aidan in twice before, a lot of people thought Carrie was the bad guy. We wanted to make sure that no one could say Carrie was the bad guy,” King said. “Carrie cares enough to go out of her comfort zone, even to the point of killing zombies in virtual reality to do this job. It was exciting because it’s a new level of adult Carrie, but it’s also vulnerable and familiar.”
“I’ve had some pretty intense scenes on the show, I’ll say, really horrific scenes. [Episode 4] was different because she was an observer,” Sarah Jessica Parker told TheWrap. “Aidan tried to express that he felt his son was in danger in a way that a father would characterize it, which is just not going well. When you feel like you don’t understand, it’s really terrifying. I think her witnessing that is important, and it felt that way. It felt horrific and really ugly and really sad.”
Originally, Parker thought the scene would be difficult to film, partly because of how demanding the scene was for Souza and partly because of the scheduling demands that pertain to underage actors. But after talking over dinner with Corbett, Souza and the rest of the cast, Parker was surprised at how quickly it came together.
“It feels appropriate,” Parker said. “It’s just a sign of [Carrie] being a more informed person and being a better partner. I’m glad that’s something we see.”
When TheWrap speculated that the Season 1 version of Carrie on “Sex and the City” wouldn’t be able to handle the intensity of Aidan’s family crisis, Parker took it lightly.
“I don’t know if she ever would. I think she would have gone through a lot more conversations before she got to that. I also don’t know if she would have been exposed to a family and sat at the table and watched a child’s ruin,” Parker said. “I think Carrie often doesn’t get credit for the ways in which she invests in people and relationships, but it takes time to get to those places.”
“And Just Like That” releases new episodes Thursdays at 9pm ET/6pm PT at the latest.
