‘and Just Like That’ Season 2 Could Fix Che and Miranda’s Relationship

Miranda needs to stop prioritizing Che over her own decades-long friendships.

On episode five, “Tragically Hip,” Miranda was meant to be taking care of Carrie after hip surgery when she hooked up with Che. While they were busy, Carrie didn’t have anyone to help her go to the bathroom and spilled a Snapple bottle full of pee all over herself. And on the season one finale, “Seeing the Light,” Miranda chooses Che over Carrie again.

Spreading Big’s ashes in the water under the Pont des Arts may have been a personal experience Carrie had to have, but she asked Charlotte and Miranda to accompany her for support. It’s disappointing that Miranda once again chooses her new partner over one of her oldest friends.

She’s being completely illogical by choosing to go to Los Angeles to be there while Che films a pilot. Pilots for new shows are typically filmed for a set amount of time before the network decides if they want to pick the show up to series. Miranda could go live with Che in Los Angeles when they know for sure their life is going to change. Instead, she ditches a friend in a time of need again, not even knowing whether they’ll be in LA for more than a few months.

If Che and Miranda are ever going to be a couple that viewers root for, “And Just Like That” needs Miranda to prioritize her friendships again. Sometimes change is good, but so is staying true to your core so the friends who love you recognize you.

We need to see more of Che’s world.

We all know that Che Diaz is an Irish-Mexican non-binary podcast host and comedian. But labels don’t make a complete character or person.

In order to feel like we know Che enough to root for them on a potential season two, we need to know more about what makes them who they are. What books do they read at night? What art do they decorate their house with? How do they make their coffee in the morning? At what moment in their life did they think they were funny enough to become a comedian?

No matter their gender, ethnicity, race, or sexuality, these are the details that make a character human to TV fans.

Miranda and Che need to talk about race in the context of their relationship.

While sexuality and gender get a big focus in Che and Miranda’s relationship, race is left fairly untouched.

Che used a “woke moment” button on their podcast and Miranda delivered a painfully cringeworthy rant about Black hair in the first episode of the series. It’s hard to believe that race wouldn’t have already been brought up by one or both of them, especially after Miranda accused Che — a Latinx person she had, at that point, never met — of “pushing drugs” on her son Brady in episode two.

Chatting about their status as an interracial couple and what that means for their relationship could be a meaningful plotline for season two, so fingers crossed.

The “And Just Like That” writers — and Che — need to decide what kind of relationship they want Che and Miranda to have.

Everywhere Che goes on “And Just Like That,” they run into a friend who has a friend that Che had sex with. Yet, other than telling Miranda they don’t like labels, they appear to be willing to be monogamous.

So, what do they want? Are they interested in loyalty and romance without the bother of rigid gender roles? Right now, it’s unclear and confusing, and that’s making it hard to be invested in their relationship.

Miranda needs to stop treating Che like a sex object.

Miranda is newly discovering her sexual identity right now. Exploration and uncertainty are fine, but Miranda needs to stop treating Che like an object instead of a person. On “And Just Like That” episode six, Che is just a fantasy to Miranda. They literally only show up as part of Miranda’s daydreams while masturbating.

In a later episode, when she goes to Che’s apartment to bring them cookies, she said she came by because she was “cravin’ me some Che.” The phrase implies that she’s craving sex, not quality time with this new person she’s getting to know.

It’s an irresponsible representation and objectification to present a non-binary person as existing just to fulfill a cis person’s fantasy. And if “And Just Like That” wants fans to take Che seriously, the writers need to make sure Miranda is treating the person she claims to be in love with like a human being.

They need to talk about Miranda being newly out and Che being an established queer person.

Che makes it no secret that they are an out and proud queer person who is very comfortable in their identity. By contrast, Miranda is actively coming into her sexuality throughout the season.

This isn’t an immediate red flag, but the two of them need to discuss the power dynamic this creates in their relationship. As an established queer person, Che has more access to queer community and spaces than Miranda does, giving them an upper hand.

On the flip side, Miranda figuring out her sexuality through Che places labor on them, which should definitely be a conversation they have as a couple in season two.

“And Just Like That” needs to address the absence of Miranda’s queerness in “Sex and The City.”

One of the biggest issues season two of “And Just Like That” needs to address has to do with one of the sins of “Sex and The City” — Miranda repeatedly and adamantly saying she is straight. Miranda’s straightness is actually the butt of the joke on many occasions, particularly in season one when her boss sets her up with another woman thinking she’s a lesbian.

Sexuality is fluid, and Miranda coming out later in life isn’t the problem. What we need to see in season two of the revival is Miranda talking more about what that means to her. We know she is attracted to Che, but what we don’t know is if they are an exception to a rule or if Miranda’s sexuality is shifting as a whole. Has she always grappled with her queerness, or did a romantic interest in people who are not cisgender men genuinely not come up for her until she turned 55?

Either experience is valid, of course. But the first season of “And Just Like That” left us with questions, and providing answers in either direction would at least have this relationship make more sense in the context of Miranda’s past insistence that she is straight.

Che and Miranda should be in queer spaces together that aren’t a pride parade.

With queerness being such a strong new element of the “SATC” revival, it’s shocking we haven’t seen any queer spaces beyond Che’s first “comedy concert” in episode one and the pride event they perform at in episode five.

As a newly out person, it would be great to see Miranda exploring her new community and trying to make queer friends in LGBTQ+ spaces. Let’s see her spread her wings and venture into a queer coffee shop, bar, or even a support group at The Center.

New York City has no shortage of queer spaces Miranda can visit along her journey.

Miranda has to be more proactive about introducing Che to her friends and family in the future.

Miranda and Che are in a new relationship right now. So, it’s understandable why Che’s relationship with Miranda and Che’s relationship with Carrie remain separate. Che also knows Carrie primarily because Che was her boss.

But many new characters introduced on “And Just Like That” have sat down at the brunch table with Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte. If Che is going to stick around, they need to be included in more social situations with Charlotte and Carrie, too.

Miranda should also take a deep breath and introduce her new partner to her son Brady, to make up for childishly running away from him at the queer event on episode five.

Miranda needs to be less of a toxic “ally.”

Miranda might mean well, but she has become a toxic ally to people of color.  Slate even labeled her a “white liberal nightmare.”

She’s so nervous she’ll make a mistake that she overcorrects herself and can’t have a truly natural conversation with many of the people she now believes it’s her responsibility to “protect. “And Just Like That” wants to ignore it, but even her relationship with her professor, Nya Wallace, comes across as surface level and fake.

There is no way that Miranda, as she’s acting now, is ever going to build an authentic, long-lasting connection with Che, a Mexican-Irish person who is unafraid to talk about their race and ethnicity. She’s too afraid and too fascinated by people who exist in marginalized spaces. Plus, she’s less willing to examine her own behavior than she wants us to believe — she’s most proud of herself as an “ally” when she’s correcting a while friend who has made a mistake.