The Big Picture
And Just Like That… has garnered a crowded cast, making the series feel spread too thin and leaving some characters neglected. Multiple characters often disappear without explanation, disrupting the flow of the show and leaving their stories unresolved. The series needs better time management and prioritization of characters and plotlines to maintain a balanced and engaging viewing experience.
And Just Like That… has the same problem with a top-heavy cast as I do with jamming too many products into my makeup bag. It doesn’t matter how much I want to fit in the bag — there are physical logistics that make the seemingly possible actually impossible, no matter how many times I try to zip that overfilled bag close. In the same vein, AJLT is trying to cram way too many characters into the series, leaving a bit of a mascara-filled mess in its wake. That’s not to say, though, that the stories being told are superfluous — because they’re not. It’s simply a lack of time that’s making the series feel like it’s spread too thin right now. It’s possible to tell deep, meaningful stories with large casts, but it takes a supreme level of time management and balance on the show’s side to make that possible. It’s not a bad thing that the audience wants to see more from certain characters of AJLT, it’s simply a call to action to those working behind the scenes to do its characters justice and see their stories through.
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Some ‘And Just Like That’ Characters Disappear for Entire Episodes
We’ve somehow gotten into a groove on AJLT where it’s completely normal for multiple characters to simply disappear into thin air for sometimes multiple episodes in a row, only to be thrown right back into the action with no explanation for their absence. We saw this most recently in Season 2, Episode 9, which brought Lisette Alee (Katerina Tannenbaum), Carrie’s neighbor, back into the show for a quick blink at the end of the episode. Where has she been all this time? We spent some time with her towards the beginning of Season 2, but aside from that, she’s been all but discarded from the series regardless of the fact that she and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) have a fun dynamic between the two.
The same goes for Nya (Karen Pittman), Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), and Anthony (Mario Cantone), who are written out of episodes almost too often not to notice. What gives? It can’t be for a lack of substance, as the three actually have some pretty interesting plots going for them all at the moment, but if not for that reason, then it’s simply due to a lack of awareness and time management on the show’s part. The thing is, it’s not a question of not having enough time per episode to fit every character into it, as there have been plenty of shows with massive casts that are able to pull that feat off. Instead, it’s wasting time on plot lines that don’t matter as much, as we saw in Episode 9 with Charlotte’s (Kristin Davis) and Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) obsession with their two kids, Lily (Cathy Ang) and Brady (Niall Cunningham), possibly hooking up.
‘And Just Like That’ Needs Better Time Management
AJLT needs to set its priorities straight when it comes to its characters and their plot lines. Is it really necessary to spend half an episode with Charlotte and Miranda chasing around their kids? Both of them recently started new jobs, wouldn’t it be a better (and more interesting) use of time to spend those moments with two middle-aged women who are diving into both new and old waters? Sometimes it feels as if AJLT sells its audience a bit short; we don’t always need a “funny” plotline going. Most of the time, we’d actually prefer funny moments sprinkled into the usual goings-on of the series instead of having whole character arcs revolve around inconsequential aspects of life.
Two of the most interesting — and gripping — parts of Episode 9 were when Nya finds out that her ex-husband is expecting a child and when Lisa tells her husband that she is expecting a child. With plot points as heavy and exciting as these, it seems absurd to waste time on anything but these characters. Sure, in the first season of AJLT, we were just getting to know these new faces, but now that we’re far into Season 2, it’s time that Nya and Lisa get the screen time that they deserve.
The Art of Character-Heavy Casts
There have been plenty of shows in our lifetimes that have been incredibly successful with massive casts. Though AJLT might not have as many characters as a show like Game of Thrones, it certainly has the same amount of meaning to the audience who tunes in every week to watch it. Other shows like The West Wing and The Crown both dealt with large casts, but each series made more of an effort to keep things balanced; with a large cast comes a great responsibility not only to the characters themselves but to the audience to deliver a series that doesn’t feel confusing to watch. It’s not that normal for a character to simply drop out of multiple episodes with zero explanation, but on AJLT, it’s become the basic norm for the series.
AJLT needs to take a lesson from the books of successful cast-heavy shows and start to balance things out; without that imperative quality, things can become pretty messy — and fast. It’s not something that Sex and the City had to worry about as much because we were mostly just dealing with Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), but now that we have over double the characters to juggle, it’s important to get the balance back on track like it was in the good old days of SATC.
All it would take would be just a little tinkering around with the pace of things and the creation of some sort of ranking system to better evaluate which stories are worth giving the most air time to, and then things would be back on track. It’s certainly not the sin of the century for things to be a little off-balance for the series right now, but if a third season of AJLT is going to exist, then it’s crucial to get the pace back to normal.
New episodes of And Just Like That… come out every Thursday on Max.
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