Anyone who expected the ‘Sex and the City’ sequel series “And Just Like That” to be anything but woke clearly hasn’t been paying attention. Every TV show and movie released recently include nods to the modern progressive agenda. And the “Sex and the City” follow-up is no exception.
In just the first two episodes, audiences are introduced to a “queer non-binary Mexican-Irish diva” podcaster named Che (Sarah Ramirez) and hear Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) quoting Ibram X. Kendi to prove how enlightened she is. But it’s the introduction of a trans storyline for a child that really takes “And Just Like That” to the next level.
Fans accurately predicted where the story was headed when Charlotte Goldenblatt’s (Kristin Davis) daughter Rose (Alexa Swinton) rebelled against wearing a feminine floral dress to her sister’s piano recital in the first episode. Their suspicions that 12-year-old Rose was experiencing gender confusion were confirmed in episode 3, “When in Rome.”
The storyline officially kicks off when Charlotte is lying on Rose’s bed, reading her a book.
“Baby girl, I’m falling off the bed here!” Charlotte tells her daughter.
“I hate it when you call me that,” Rose replies.
After Charlotte explains how the little girl will always be her baby, Rose says that she takes issue with being called a girl, not with the word baby.
“I don’t feel like a girl,” Rose confesses.
“Oh. Well… sometimes I don’t feel like a girl either!” Charlotte exclaims, asking for confirmation of the same from Lily. But Rose doubles down.
“I never feel like a girl,” the pre-teen tells her mom.
Later in the episode, Charlotte asks for advice from her good friend Anthony (Mario Cantone). It’s clear that Charlotte is very shaken by her daughter’s admission, but Anthony has a surprising response.
“She’s a kid. Ignore it,” Anthony advises Charlotte.
But Charlotte protests, saying “everyone” says this topic can’t be ignored.
“Well, f*** everyone! When she was six, she told you she was a dog. Is she a dog now? No,” Anthony says.
“Well I can’t just ignore this,” Charlotte says. “And when she was six, I put down a bowl of water on the floor for a week.”
“You’re too indulgent,” he scoffs.
“So you don’t think that this is something?” Charlotte persists.
“Well, who knows?” Anthony replies. “When I was little, I wanted to be Tinkerbell. Did my mother cut holes in my school blazer for my wings? No!”
The audience surely hasn’t seen the last of this storyline. Swinton talked to E News about portraying a potentially trans-pre-teen and how “glad” she is to be contributing to the conversation.
“I think it’s part of the journey of finding out who you are as a teenager,” Swinton told E News, “and I think you’ll see exactly what comes to Rose and what comes to the family. As you go further through the show you’ll understand what it happens. I think it’s more about finding out who Rose is rather than having a clarifying thing. It’s more like finding out who she is specifically.”
She continued, “It shouldn’t just be that they’re a girly girl or a tomboy….Maybe they’re not a girl, even though they were assigned female at birth. It’s, I think, an important topic and I’m glad that I get to be representing it.”