The Only Thing That Can Save And Just Like That... Is A Holiday Episode

It’s high time to haul out the holly, or should I say the challah? Though I’d gladly sit through as many sunny spring picnics in the park with the girls or Che Diaz comedy shows as the delightfully messy And Just Like that... will give me, I have one humble plea for the second season: Why not give us a holiday episode? Or better yet, a Hanukkah spectacular.

Not only does New York City — the series’ forever fifth character! — look its best when its department store windows are done up for the holidays, it’s also a time to reflect. That’s Carrie’s entire job! The season is a time to dress up and imbibe, a time to spend money you don’t have… all the things we love about SATC. With three kids between them, we know Charlotte and Miranda have some kind of holiday traditions, so why not let us see them? (Okay, Miranda doesn’t do anything special for Brady, but you know Charlotte goes all out for Lily and Rock.)

I propose that for the first true holiday episode in the SATC-verse, we have Hanukkah at Charlotte and Harry’s. Throughout the original series, Charlotte placed great importance on occasions, be it birthdays, anniversaries, or baby showers. She took the time to convert to Judaism, and we’ve seen her lead Shabbos dinner. Now that she’s a Bat Mitzvah, let’s see her break out the big guns and host a full Jewish meal.

Maybe the episode plays out over the course of the eight nights, culminating in a latke dinner at the York-Goldenblatt apartment, with Rabbi Jen returning to lead prayers.

Maybe the episode plays out over the course of the eight nights, culminating in a latke dinner at the York-Goldenblatt apartment, with the fantastic Rabbi Jen (Hari Nef) returning to lead prayers. Carrie gives wildly inappropriate gifts (cigarettes for Lily; condoms for Rock) while Miranda and Harry debate Westside versus Zabar’s like the lawyers they are. Che may have mixed some gold-wrapped chocolate edibles in with the gelt and now Charlotte’s high and insisting everyone pronounce her name “cchharlotte” with the throaty “CH” in “challah” for the evening. Carrie’s date puts the Men in menorah. You get the idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why there were no holiday episodes in the original Sex and the City. The series was about adult women who were romantic but unsentimental. Why would Carrie give a shit that it’s Halloween? She dresses up every day. Charlotte’s always looking for love — she doesn’t need a Valentine to remind her. Do you think Miranda finds Fourth of July to be a culturally appropriate holiday? Samantha celebrates her 35th birthday every year; for her, New Year’s Eve is just another night on the town.

While we got nods to Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day in the first movie, they were mostly used to mark the passage of time, since the film took place over a much longer time period than HBO’s half-hour episodes typically did. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise that when the series returned as And Just Like That..., the writers dumped the ladies back into the nebulous season Michael Patrick King called “eternal spring.”

But beyond just being fun, a holiday episode would also solve — at least for an episode — the one problem that has dogged the series since Charlotte first married Trey: would these women really still hang out together?

Why would Carrie give a shit that it’s Halloween? She dresses up every day. Charlotte’s always looking for love — she doesn’t need a Valentine to remind her.

When Sex and the City premiered, the main characters were all unattached, childless 30-somethings looking for a relationship of some kind. But as they grew up, they had less in common, and diverging priorities. While I believe that they would still love each other deeply, it became less and less realistic that their lives and schedules would allow them to spend so much time together. (Kim Cattrall of it all aside, it made sense to jettison Samantha. She never would have wanted a bunch of married friends.) Now, Miranda’s in school; Charlotte’s a full-time mom, and Carrie’s still looking for love. There are only so many times the three of them can grab lunch — or paint a community center — before we start to ask, “When do they do… their lives? And what do they have in common?” A holiday episode would give all these characters a reason to be in the same room at the same time.

It would also give them some much-needed space to reflect. Stanford and Big are gone. Steve and Miranda are divorcing. Samantha has left them behind. After all that the core gang has been through, don’t they deserve a happy meal together and a chance to commiserate about all they’ve gained and lost?

Oh, oh, and Anthony could make the challah!