And Just Like That: Fans spot huge plothole as character killed off twice - proving how little care is going into Sex And The City spin-off

In season three’s sixth episode ‘Silent Mode’, filmmaker and documentarian Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker) is involved in a plotline that sees her miss the call to tell her that her father has died after a stroke. She misses the call, and the chance to say goodbye, after putting her phone on silent mode while working on the edit of her new film alongside editor Marion Odin (Mehcad Brooks).

However, fans were quick to point out that this plot point actually makes no sense for the character whatsoever, after Lisa previously told OG Sex And The City girl Charlotte that her father passed away “last year” in season one’s second episode ‘Little Black Dress’.

Fans took to social media to vent their frustration with the infuriating plothole. One said on X (formerly Twitter): “Everyone forgetting Lisa's dad already died in season 1?”

Another added: “The writers of #AndJustLikeThat have just given up. How can they forget Lisa's Dad died in season 1?!”

It has been revealed that her previously-deceased father was actually her step-dad, with Billy Dee Williams guest starring in season two as her biological dad Lawrence Todd, but poor writing has lead to confusion among viewers. It seems I’m not the only one who is disappointed with the level of care that this Sex And The City legacy spin-off has been treated with by the show’s writers.

And Just Like That has become somewhat of a grinding watch for SATC veterans. The original series, while dated in some aspects, still lives in pop culture as one of the most groundbreaking shows of the 20th and early 21st century and spawned two blockbuster films.

Fans across the world were ecstatic when HBO confirmed Carrie Bradshaw’s return in early 2021, with the first series of And Just Like That hitting screens in December of that year. However, excitement quickly turned to trepidation, with the sequel series clearly lacking the spark from the original run.

Firstly, there was confirmation that Kim Cattrall would not be returning as the iconic Samana Jones (although she did appear in a blink-and-you’ll miss it cameo in the season two finale). Then, the shocking death of Mr Big at the end of the very first episode of the show, Miranda’s split from husband Steve, and new characters that did not go down well with viewers (... Che Diaz anyone?) or that they simply didn’t care about.

There has also been a significant lack of quality and understanding of the characters that made millions of viewers fall in love across the world with Carrie Bradshaw and her friends. Even in the latest episode, Aiden admits to cheating on Carrie with ex-wife Kathy out of nowhere amid their confusing together-but-not-really-together relationship. Carrie very quickly forgives him within a couple of seconds, telling him she understands “how that could happen” and doesn’t see it as a betrayal because of a technicality in her understanding of their relationship.

This is a huge plot point that would’ve been treated with massive care and would’ve taken into account Carrie’s romantic nature in the original series. Instead, we get the admission and resolution in a scene that lasts no longer than five minutes, with Carrie and Aiden in bed together in literally the next scene.

Those of us who have stuck around with And Just Like That until the third series are getting little in return from writers. I’ll be honest in saying that I still watch the show out of pure routine - and a bit of curiosity that has left me wondering ‘how bad can it actually get?’.

Don’t get me wrong, And Just Like That isn’t the first show to feature a major plothole - it isn’t even the first Sex And The City-universe show to do so. For example, in the prequel series The Carrie Diaries, which was cancelled after two seasons, Carrie is raised by her widowed father despite viewers being told in the main series that he left her and her mother when she was young and was a main factor on her outlook in relationships.

However, there was a bit of hope that more care would be taken with And Just Like That, with the main cast such as Sarah Jessica-Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis returning for what was expected to be a proper legacy reboot. SATC’s main writer and producer Michael Patrick King also returned, which provided hopeful viewers with a signal that we would be picking up where SATC left off.

Instead, what loyal fans have been given is a half-baked sequel series that feels so incredibly distant from the heights of Sex And The City in terms of writing quality, character development and even basic storylines.

And Just like That... the time had come to close the book on HBO’s ill-conceived spin-off.