Among the Sex and the City ladies, Kristen Davis’s Charlotte York has been relegated to one of the more annoying characters—less than Carrie, but usually more than Samantha and Miranda.
As a Charlotte apologist, I’ve always felt a lot of this was misguided. But with And Just Like That…, the former WASP turned Jewish mother of three has become one of the universal highlights of the revival.
Of the three ladies, Charlotte is the one who has changed the least from the finale.
When we see her, Charlotte has gotten everything she’s wanted. She’s in a loving marriage with her second husband Harry, and her two kids, Lily and Rock, are thriving. And in classic Char style, she’s one of the queens of the PTA.
One of the criticisms of Charlotte in the past was how traditional she was, but as a mother, we can see that despite finding strength in that for herself, when it comes to her kids, things are different.
Rock, the child Charlotte got surprise pregnant with in the first SATC movie, who was assigned female at birth, talks about not feeling like a girl. Rather than dismiss it, Charlotte takes this very seriously, wanting to make sure that she does the right thing for her child.
While the teachers in the episode are very clichéd in their liberal-speak concerning Rock, what I do appreciate is Charlotte wanting to be informed, not being resistant—that someone who was very sheltered is taking the time and space to understand what Rock needs. It is imperfect, but it is loving and honest.
Plus, it highlights the thing about Charlotte I’ve always loved the most: She doesn’t want to do harm, and she’s willing to change for the better.
What has also been refreshing is that she’s still very happy and fulfilled sexually by her marriage to Harry, to the point where her daughter, Lily, almost catches them having sex in the bathroom. Charlotte explains that she doesn’t want her children to be freaked out by sex the way she was.
Later in the episode, when she sees Lily’s Finsta with a “sexy” photo, at first she freaks out, but she eventually uses the moment to talk openly about exploring your sexual side.
This is the kind of growth you expect from a character with so many decades behind her.
Plus, Davis showed she still has all the comedic chops when dealing with the whole Lily tampon situation.
And Just Like That… hasn’t been that great at allowing our slightly out of touch ladies to grow and change believably, but with Charlotte, they get a lot of it right, and if that makes people realize how awesome Charlotte has always been, then it’s one good thing to come out of this spinoff.
(image: HBO)
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