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Mr. Big is in heaven surrounded by rare steaks and cigars, and Aidan Shaw is ambling about on earth kissing Carrie! But not everyone at Vogue HQ is on board with Suffern’s finest export’s return in And Just Like That. How much plot is there left to give to a couple who couldn’t agree on smoking, sanding floors, monogamy, or marriage?
The only thing more heated than the debate around the accessories Carrie has brought back to the spin-off, is the discussion of which Bradshaw ex-boyfriend should really have been revisited. From the Russian to the kinky politician, the Vogue editors nominate their favorites among the ones who got away.
Photo: Moviestore/Shutterstock1/6Seth Robinson
“So, why are you in therapy, seriously?” a post-coital Carrie asks Seth, following their meet-cute in their mutual therapist’s waiting room. “I’m really fucked up about women,” he replies. “After I sleep with them, I completely lose interest.” Textbook! But also a moment of self-awareness from Bradshaw’s post-Big fling, played by Jon Bon Jovi, the likes of which, for many men, is all too rare. My reasoning for bringing this boyfriend back is because he is trying to figure out his issues and tackle them head on, which I think deserves a second chance. He’s also just cute, cute, cute.—Isabella Brunner, associate visuals editor
Photo: Getty Images2/6Jack Berger
Jack Berger: How do we hate thee? Let us count the ways. From the explosive row about scrunchiegate to his lack of support for Carrie’s (more successful) writing career; the red-carpet helmet hair situation to his rejection of a Prada shopping spree, he is perhaps the worst person Carrie has ever dated. And yet… it’s hard not to wonder what happened to the insecure-beyond-belief Berger. Did he ever write a second book? Is he now an indie playwright or a college professor (we could see it)? Has he finally evolved beyond his own ego? It’s time Sex and the City revisited the world’s most famous Post-It moment. As Carrie herself put it: “I sparked with this person. I never spark.” 2023 needs this electricity.—Ellie Davies, audience growth manager (global stories)
Photo: Getty Images3/6Aleksandr Petrovsky
I’m not sure I’ve ever found Carrie more annoying than when, a mere seven days into her “new life” in Paris with Aleksandr Petrovsky, she claims to have “been to every museum, like, twice.” In fact, her relationship with “the Russian” generally brings out the worst in her—see the moment when she ditches Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte to hide out in his (admittedly very nice) loft because it’s “cold” (a hazard of living in New York City, where the average winter temperature hovers between get-out-the-ear-muffs and freezing-your-tits-off). And yet: I would be willing to tolerate Bradshaw Behaving Badly to have Petrovsky back, even for just a few episodes (ideally with some sort of Carrie-Aleksandr-Enid love triangle plot twist). He is, without question, the best of Carrie’s boyfriends; he plays no games, sets clear boundaries (look at how upfront he was about not wanting more children), and is able to rustle up a horse-drawn sleigh to ride through Central Park at a moment’s notice. I repeat: a horse-drawn sleigh. If nothing else, I must know where his bitchy French daughter with the aggressive side-part has ended up; my money is on nepo-baby interior designer.—Hayley Maitland, weekend and planning editor
Photo: YouTube4/6Jeremy, the high school boyfriend
The 30-something Carrie Bradshaw’s labyrinthine path through Manhattan’s dating scene was littered with liars, commitment-phobes, sexual “quirks,” and substance abuse issues. So what’s a little breakdown between friends? Is it just my latent Hank Moody obsession that makes me regard David Duchovny’s Jeremy as one casual love interest Carrie should not have let slip through her fingers? Her erstwhile high school boyfriend was sweet, charming, and commendably honest. This gent was at pains to make her aware he’d checked himself into a mental institution before they slept together. The same cannot be said for, say, her holiday fling Keith Travers, who only confessed he was more housesitter than Hollywood exec when they were caught in flagrante by his boss after a night in her hot tub. Jeremy’s decision to aggressively tackle his issues rather than spend “the next five years in therapy” was mature and, frankly, efficient. Compare that to the guy who still lived with his parents and got around on a scooter.—Kerry McDermott, digital director
Photo: Getty Images5/6Bill Kelley
Carrie may be wildly outré when it comes to her wardrobe—no outfit combination or clashing print is too much for Manolo Blahnik’s biggest fan—but when it comes to the bedroom, Bradshaw is a whole lot more bashful. Prudishly, she can’t cope with her boyfriend Sean (a.k.a. Tag from Friends) being bisexual, or engage in a lip-locking game of Spin the Bottle with Alanis Morisette, and she shames the sexually liberated Samantha after she engages in some oral antics with her delivery man. Most notably, she’s left clutching her Vivienne Westwood pearls by the proclivities of politician Bill Kelley (played by John Slattery), and swiftly dumps him after he reveals he wants her to, erm, wee on him. The 50-something Carrie is a little more open-minded and culturally engaged in And Just Like That (she’s in Birks, not just Blahniks, although is mystifyingly unaware of the concept of Diwali), so maybe she’d be willing to go there with the city councilman? Perhaps he could also remind her that, back in the opening season of Sex and the City, she didn’t bother to vote!—Laura Hawkins, fashion features editor
Photo: YouTube6/6Twenty-something Sam
Sex and the City loved a theme—marriage, threesomes, fertility, you name it—but age is one that runs all the way through the original series, the film adaptations, and into the reboot. So, it would seem remiss of the writers not to bring back Season 1’s Sam (Timothy Olypant), the 20-something guy who brought Carrie brief respite from her Mr. Big woes with his smooching skills and rad tongue piercing. I have so many questions: How is middle-age treating him? Does he still live without toilet paper? Is he now an embarrassing soccer dad holding onto wistful memories of his youth? I need answers, people.—Joy Montgomery, senior commerce writer
