Erin, I gotta rewatch this now!!!
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this scene. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this cameo, and I think everyone involved really pulled it off as best as they possibly could, given the, uh, logistics. It contained some nice callbacks to the original series and the first movie. I’m also really relieved they put it at the very beginning, because otherwise we’d have spent the entire episode wondering: “Where is Samantha Jones?!”
Given the real-life drama between the actors, what I’m about to say is unresolvable, but it was pretty unrealistic for Samantha to not just get on the next flight to New York. It reminded me of a similar moment in the first season: Samantha sent Carrie flowers instead of showing up to Big’s funeral, which never would have happened. As soon as she heard, our girl would have been on the first flight from London! One thing Samantha Jones will always do: show up for her friends! When Carrie moved in the first movie, she showed up with two bottles of Champagne, and the four of them spent several days packing up Carrie’s apartment together (and we got that great montage of Carrie’s outfits over the years). But again, I get that this was probably the best way for this to make sense under the circumstances. — Marina
The way I SCREAMED when the Samantha scene was at the top of the episode. I really wasn’t ready for it so early. I naïvely thought the interaction would be more consequential for the story or move the plot forward in some way. Once it was over, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What was the point?”
I also wish we’d gotten some more storytelling in the lead-up to this about how Carrie and Samantha mended their rift. I guess we can connect the dots that they worked things out when Carrie was in Paris at the end of last season, but I don’t like having to fill in so many gaps myself. — Lydia
Samantha’s appearance was 74 seconds of perfection, as far as I’m concerned, and I’ve already rewatched it about 25 times, possibly more. Given the way the actors and writers tried to downplay it in the media after news that Kim Cattrall had filmed the scene leaked, it actually turned out to be a bit more substantial than I was expecting. Loved the Annabelle Bronstein throwback, loved the outfit, loved the bag, loved the sweet kiss at the end. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
Of course, there was no denying that this scene was fan service, pure and simple. I, too, was hopeful it would tie into the overall storyline of the episode in a more significant way. Imagine, for instance, how much more profound it would’ve been if Samantha had called Carrie immediately after … whatever that was that was supposed to have happened with Aidan at the end (more on that later). I realize this is probably too optimistic, but I’d like to think of this as an olive branch that will set the stage for Kim to pop in every so often later on in the series. But if this is, truly, Samantha’s final send-off, I’ll be satisfied. — Curtis
