(And Just Like That… spoilers will be found below.)
Secret horror show And Just Like That… didn’t exactly receive praise, as it were, for killing off Mr. Big with a Peloton. Yet they did receive the next best thing from the fiasco: laughter. In contrast, HBO Max’s Sex And The City… revival did a bad thing by metaphorically knifing Steve Brady but did redeem that error this season. Yet viewers feel as though what the franchise has done to another character is neither funny nor fitting.
When it comes to the 2021 death of actor Willie Garson, his character, Stanford Blanch, received a blink-and-you-miss-it mention earlier this season but finally received some explanation of why his character hasn’t appeared again on the show. The writers chose not to kill Stanford off but instead had him run off to join a monastery? Yes, they did. Not only that, but they dropped this tidbit in with a jarring delivery, also after viewers are probably feeling like they have whiplash from Carrie wondering “if Big was a big mistake” and deciding that she should give up everything for Aidan.
That last one is mind-bogging. Aidan and Carrie broke up twice and for good reason, yet she is cool with selling her Carrie Pad and essentially giving up her personality in the process. This was very reminiscent of how she ran off to France to be with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s character and decided that she only had room for a pashmina or her laptop and chose the pashmina. Ugh.
The Stanford treatment is especially bizarre. During a conversation between Anthony and Carrie, Stanford’s new Shinto monk ways are introduced.
Stanford Blatch is a… Shinto monk? This show is WILD. pic.twitter.com/XJGRKob5Tm
— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) August 17, 2023
Can they just write in that Stanford passed? This storyline “excuse” is just bad #AndJustLikeThat pic.twitter.com/OhP9Nate6z
— Victoria Vérité (@VictoriaVerite) August 17, 2023
This caused one person to wonder whether this revival’s “writers ever watched an episode of Sex and the City?!” Let’s just say that viewers are not into this “unnecessary” and unneeded “closure” for Stanford.
Are the writers on #AndJustLikeThat on crack!?! Big is a mistake, Carrie is getting rid of her gal pad because of a guy and now Stanford is a MONK!! The disrespect for the characters is mind boggling. At least there is only one more episode to hate watch
— Gillian Simpson (@gillianvfx) August 17, 2023
OMG! Can they just say Stanford died with dignity? A monk?!? #AJLT
— Vivbabe (@vivbabe66) August 17, 2023
Can they just write in that Stanford passed? This storyline “excuse” is just bad #AndJustLikeThat pic.twitter.com/OhP9Nate6z
— Victoria Vérité (@VictoriaVerite) August 17, 2023
https://twitter.com/notashacarlos/status/1692109056125596119
Why with this outrageous story line with Stanford? It’s so unnecessary. #ajlt #AndJustLikeThat
— Daisy (@vnes17) August 17, 2023
https://twitter.com/imanleila/status/1692206779562692837
I don’t like how #AndJustLikeThat handle Stanford’s real life death… it should of been in the show as a death too… only because it’s another reminder that as you get older you lose more love ones unfortunately… just like that
— Mekhi (@MekhiK4Luv) August 17, 2023
I still think it was a very cruel decision by the producers of @AndJustLikeThat to deal with the character of Stanford after the death of Willie Garson irl. To not give Stannie an episode for us to say goodbye. He was a beloved character. #AndJustLikeThat
— name cannot be blank (@it_canbeblanc) August 17, 2023
Nobody needed closure on Stanford’s story line. As fans we already had it. #AndJustLikeThat
— Linda (@Que__Linda) August 17, 2023
THAT’S how they wrote off Stanford????? #AndJustLikeThat
— Andy Kenareki (@AndyKenareki) August 17, 2023
Still not loving the Stanford storyline. #AndJustLikeThat
— Kalyn (@caligrlinoz) August 17, 2023
This can’t be how they’re writing out Stanford. #AndJustLikeThat
— Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason) August 17, 2023
And Just Like That…‘s second season finale is on the way on Max.
