Seema is my favourite new character in And Just Like That…
The original Sex and the City trio – Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) – have been joined by a bunch of newcomers for the revival series And Just Like That… – and with mixed results.
Given the original series’ lack of diversity, the cast and crew rightly wanted to correct this with And Just Like That… I’m all for increasing representation where it didn’t previously exist but it has to make sense and feel convincing otherwise we’ll see straight through it and call it out for exactly what it is – an empty gesture.
Until Seema arrived in episode four, none of the new additions felt realistic and like they would genuinely be friends with our trio. First of all, Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker) and Charlotte’s friendship feels fake as hell and simply a way for her to have a learning moment about having Black friends. I like Karen Pittman‘s character Dr. Nya Wallace (and her outfits!) and she has an interesting story of her own with her fertility struggles but I’m not sure about her hanging out with Miranda. Plus, she’s been pretty sidelined now that Miranda is all loved up with Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez). I found Che incredibly annoying at first and hated the sound of their podcast but I don’t mind them as much now (I just hope they don’t screw over Miranda).
But Seema Patel – she feels different. She’s classy, she’s rich, she’s got her own high-end real estate business. She’s single and actively dating and I buy her new friendship with Carrie – she came along at a time Carrie could do with a new friend who didn’t know Big and what happened. She helped her stop feeling sorry for herself and gave her company when Miranda and Charlotte were busy with their relationships/families.
She’s almost like a new Samantha in terms of attitude. She certainly doesn’t fill the hole that Kim Cattrall left (that would never happen!) as she’s nowhere near as scandalous but she ticks some of those boxes. In one scene, she went to lunch with Carrie and the other two and it felt normal, natural and not at all forced. She didn’t feel like an outsider to me; I just accepted her as a member of the group. I loved her and Carrie’s attempt at going clubbing this week too. Bravo to Sarita Choudhury for fitting right in! I would happily love to see more of Seema’s life outside of her friendship with Carrie, which speaks volumes.
Now that the show has concluded, you can see the rest of my thoughts here.