Miranda and Che’s First Sex Scene Is Awkward

• Warning: Spoilers ahead for “And Just Like That” episode 5.
• Miranda had sex with Che in what might’ve been the most awkward sex scene in the series’ history.
• Miranda’s actions also highlight what a horrible friend and wife she’s become on the revival.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Thursday’s new episode of “And Just Like That.”

Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has her first on-screen queer sex scene with Che (Sara Ramirez) on “And Just Like That” season one episode five, “Tragically Hip.”

The episode’s title is meant to reference Carrie’s hip surgery and how “uncool” it is to use the word “hip” as an adjective for “cool” these days. It’s unclear if the “tragic” part of the title is meant to reference Miranda, Che, and their sex scene, but it fits either way.

“And Just Like That” has been hinting hard that Che and Miranda would become a “couple” — either sexually, romantically, or both — since they met in episode two. But instead of being hot and inspiring us to root for them, the pair’s first hookup is cringeworthy enough to make me blush. Not out of surprise at the turn of events, but from second-hand embarrassment at how awkward it was and what it signals about Miranda’s character arc on the revival.

‘And Just Like That’ has turned Miranda into an awful friend

 

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max

“Tragically Hip” begins with Carrie needing hip surgery to cure her back pain.

Miranda’s sexual awakening comes while she’s on duty during Carrie’s recovery, meant to help her friend with physical tasks like using the bathroom.

The writers have been telegraphing Miranda’s blatant crush on Che and her problem with alcohol throughout the season, so we can’t expect her to resist both when Che comes to Carrie’s apartment with a bottle of tequila, right?

This is what the “And Just Like That” writers appear to want us to believe.

The reality is, rather than coming across as a liberating sex scene that gives Miranda “the best feeling” she’s “ever had” in her life (as Miranda puts it to Che), the fact that Miranda is orgasming while her injured friend is desperate to pee just in the next room only affirms a widespread opinion among franchise fans: Miranda’s character is being absolutely destroyed in the revival.

Miranda’s treatment of Carrie in this scene is bad, but her betrayal of Steve is straight up baffling

 

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max

“And Just Like That” is proud of being a show about women in their 50s. But no decent friend of any age would get drunk on tequila and have sex with their friend’s boss while they are meant to be helping said friend recover from surgery.

Carrie has been apologetic to Charlotte about Miranda’s alcoholism in past episodes, so it’s at least refreshing to see her get angry and finally see the severity of what’s going on.

But Carrie is easy on Miranda, all things considered. I’m still trying to decide if Miranda’s betrayal of her friend or her marriage is worse.

Miranda nearly ended her marriage to Steve during the first “Sex and the City” movie because he cheated on her. At the end of the film, it’s established that Miranda loves Steve enough to forgive him.

So, fans have a right to question why we are supposed to believe that Miranda has been so unhappy in her marriage for such a long time because of a desperate monologue.

Cheating is betrayal whether you are in a messy place in your life and marriage or not. Miranda very deliberately cheats on Steve with Che, and nothing about that is OK.

It’s perfectly fine, and not at all uncommon, to question one’s sexual identity or happiness while married, even after a long time together — that’s why divorce is legal in the US. And to be very clear, there’s nothing wrong at all with the fact that Miranda may ultimately come to identify as queer.

What is unacceptable, and a bit of a bummer for long-time fans, is that Miranda has clearly been aware of her feelings for some time now and hasn’t bothered to talk to Steve about them before her tequila-infused romp. Her betrayal of Steve is made even worse by the fact that Che kind of sucks.

It’s cool that Che is non-binary; it’s uncool that they are a narcissistic, unfunny comedian

 

HBO Max

Even Ramirez, the nonbinary actor who plays Che, seems aware that their character isn’t worth rooting for.

“Che isn’t here to be liked, Che isn’t here for anyone’s approval,” Ramirez recently said in a roundtable interview attended by Insider and other outlets. “Che is not here to represent the entire LGBTQ+ community or a spectrum of Spanish-speaking people or Latin-identified people or Hispanic-identified people. They’re here to just be themselves.”

“No community is a monolith,” they added.

So, what exactly is the point of making viewers sit through this deeply cringeworthy sex scene and continuing to make us dislike Miranda? We’re not rooting for Che and Miranda as a couple — at least I’m not, nor are the many other viewers who have called out Che’s narcissistic behavior and bemoaned how this story reinforces “terrible stereotypes queer people have fought against.”

To top it off, no matter their respective genders or sexual orientations in real life, Ramirez and Nixon simply don’t have any chemistry on-screen.

Watching Carrie spill a Snapple bottle full of her own pee on herself as she tries not to look at her friends having sex through a mirror is an even more miserable moment for the audience because of this. And none of it bodes well for Miranda’s storyline on the 10-episode revival.