By 
Spoilers below.
There's a lot going on in episode 5 of the second season of And Just Like That... or maybe it feels that way because there are so many characters outside of the iconic leading ladies to keep track of these days. It seems as though everyone had a side plot this week, which is at times overwhelming and other times very rewarding—like watching Evan Handler (Harry) have the time of his life in a wig.
But to start: Miranda is burning the candle at both ends so she can sleep every night in Che's Hudson Yards apartment and also be home every morning in Brooklyn to greet Brady with pancakes and other motherly signifiers. For example, a pumpkin. It's currently Halloween in AJLT's New York, and Miranda is determined to inject some merriment into the family home that she can no longer live in until the unseen Steve moves out. Her son deflates her ambitions by saying that the “house scary enough.”
In a classic walk and talk, Miranda pours her heart out to Carrie as they head to Charlotte's costume fundraiser. She and Harry are dressed as the iconic yet unrecognizable Elizabeth and Philip Jennings of The Americans, and Lisa is tearing it up on the dance floor as the Bride of Frankenstein. She's disappointed to see her husband Herbert did not arrive in the George Washington (??) costume that she rented for him, but he does wear it later for sex (???????). He is also not happy, because his wife was dancing with Anthony the Devil—an image that could reflect badly on his run for city comptroller. This seems highly unlikely, but maybe Herbert is campaigning on tightening cabaret laws or something.
Carrie is dressed as Cosmo founder Helen Gurley Brown, and all her quotes from the famous writer about dating get the rest of the girls worked up. Soon, Carrie, Nya, and Seema have plans to go to an upscale hotel bar to pick up guys with the money to stay in a fancy hotel room. Nya is hoping to see at least one more penis in her life after admitting there's just been two. Seema won't say her number, but claims nothing can surprise her.
At the bar, Nya meets sexy Ian and gets her one night stand wish and Seema discovers that she can still be surprised when her new lover pulls out a penis pump. This episode really pushes Seema into the role of the new Samantha by having her endure an awkward sexual encounter that allows for a few jokes and some irony. The guy ends up having a problem with Seema using a vibrator, and tells her it's “not cool” when she compares it to his equipment.
Unfortunately, Carrie strikes out at the bar, but she does manage to seriously injure a bicyclist the next day. George Campbell (Peter Hermann) allows her to escort him to the urgent care she once saw an Olsen twin enter. Thus marks her meet cute of the week. After filling out his medical forms for him because his wrist is actually broken, she goes to his house with many cups of soup. Under the misapprehension that George is broke, Carrie is shocked to find he lives in an apartment that resembles an airport hangar and even more surprised that they share a flirty vibe.
Before things can get too hot and heavy, George's business partner bursts in to interrupt. Though George is a smoke show with a lot of money, Carrie is eventually put off by his co-dependent relationship with his colleague and leaves him to work on his app pitch deck solo. She doesn't want to be the Yoko to their Paul and John. Since Peter Hermann is most often cast as the One Episode Hot Guy, it couldn't have ended any other way. Too bad, because they had chemistry!
On the darker end of plot points, Che's sitcom pilot gets the “testing” treatment, where execs fly in to observe a focus group of people rounded up in Times Square. On the other side of a double mirror, Che has to hear pretty much what everyone was saying about their character in season 1 of And Just Like That..., and it's not pretty.
Throughout season 2, it's been telegraphed that Che's pilot is going to be a disaster as the production gets further from an authentic version of their life. The focus group has people from all over America, but at least one of them is a genderqueer person from Bushwick, who calls Che's pilot character a “Boomer joke” about what it means to be non-binary. Devastated, Che returns to the apartment they might not be able to afford for much longer.
Miranda is there to be the cheerleader that Che clearly doesn't want right now. They tell her honestly that as a 46-year-old stand up, this is a huge blow. There most likely won't be another show if this one tanks and things look grim. Che asks Miranda for space, sending her to stay with her new roommate Nya, back in Brooklyn again.
On a happier note for the other enby on the show, Rock has been scouted by an agent for Ralph Lauren. Charlotte is utterly thrilled that her kid is going to be in a campaign for the same brand she once modeled in at the mall as a teen, but Harry is pretty sure it's all an elaborate trafficking operation. Charlotte prevails, taking Rock to what looks like a very legit photoshoot for real Ralph Lauren clothing.
Harry sneaks into the shoot undercover as a hip millennial with his Peter Jennings hair to make sure everything is above board. He ends up making at least one photo tech super uncomfortable with his questions before Charlotte shoos him out, warning her husband that if he breaks Rock's trust, he'll never get to be Fun Dad again. Production really got their money's worth out of that hair piece. Let's hope they bring it back for season 3.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
