The seventh episode of the second season of And Just Like That … poses several significant ethical questions. And like the richest of philosophical texts, it answers none of them. Should children model for Ralph Lauren? Can teenagers put their hands in their boyfriend’s pants at 3:30 p.m. outside of a K–12 school? Can Che just go around touching random animals? Can you take human growth hormone and also be an honest bread-delivery man? Is Miranda a lesbian? Can Carrie reseduce Aidan even though she cheated on him before with Big, because Big is now dead, so she gains points for being a widow that she lost for being a cheater, creating a balanced chemical equation?
The episode’s most pressing ethical quandary, however, is: What in the fuck is Aidan wearing???
What?
The?
Fuck?
Is?
This?
Jacket?????????
To be clear, I don’t have an issue with this jacket in and of itself. Actually, yes, I do. It’s ugly. But that’s not the point. The point is Aidan would never in one billion years buy this jacket or wear this jacket. He wouldn’t even have a paradigm for this jacket. He would not know how to put it on. He would not understand why it was belted like this (I barely understand). He would not know how many belt loops to use — should his waist be cinched or merely outlined? What is he supposed to do with the four bizarrely sized pockets? Fill them with rocks and walk into the river?
My questions about the jacket could fill those same pockets. Is this technically a safari jacket, and if so, is the safari going to the Matrix? Did it belong to a gay Confederate soldier? Is it Criss Angel for Zara? (It’s Belstaff and it’s $600 and was allegedly designed for “extreme off-roading,†which I guess is what the character of Aidan is doing by wearing it.) Is this how Patricia Field is taking her quiet revenge? Am I the only one who is seeing this jacket, and is it some kind of sign that I am going to pass away in seven days?
I’m not unreasonable; I believe that people can change. And in the years since we last saw Aidan, he has undeniably changed: He sold his furniture business to a giant corporation, got a divorce, and went on Ozempic. But I don’t believe people can alter their essential nature. These are the types of jackets Aidan used to wear. This is not to say he dressed badly; it’s to say that he dressed accurately for his character, which is a furniture-building man who dumps someone for smoking, has a house in the country, and is invested in the heteronormative institutions of marriage and childbearing. Remember, the last time we saw Aidan, he was wearing a messenger bag. The time before that, we learned he had named his three children Wyatt, Homer, and Tate. And again, a few times before that, he dumped Carrie for smoking. In New York. In the early aughts! A man who dumps someone for smoking would never wear a little waxed coat belted at the waist. It just wouldn’t happen. I reject its very premise. And I abhor that Michael Patrick King is gaslighting me and everyone I know by pretending that it would.
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