The Last Supper is here, and everyone converges on Carrie’s apartment. Samantha calls from London and regrets that she can’t make it. Miranda makes peace with Steve and Che, respectively. Nya has her eye on the handsome Michelin chef who’s preparing Carrie’s dinner. Finally, Aidan kind of, sort of, breaks up with Carrie, saying he wants to be in Virginia with his son until he turns 20, which means he and Carrie would have to wait five years before resuming a relationship. Read the full recap here.

That was … a lot. We gathered Vulture staff writer Rebecca Alter, features editor Marisa Carroll, the Cut writer Danielle Cohen, newsletters director Kaitlin Jessing-Butz, the Cut deputy culture editor Brooke Marine, and editor Brandon Sanchez to discuss.

Brandon Sanchez: And just like that … it’s over, ha ha. What’d we think of the finale? Let’s start with the Carrie and Aidan mess.

Kaitlin Jessing-Butz: So she’s just … waiting five years for him and not dating anyone else, and also he can’t come visit her and she’s not allowed to visit him?

Brooke Marine: There’s no way Carrie is able to do an open relationship for five years …

Kaitlin: Samantha needs to get back on the next flight and knock some sense into her.

Brandon: Carrie said she wanted a fairy tale. This is very Brothers Grimm.

Rebecca Alter: It just felt so divorced from any sort of recognizably real human arrangement … so depressing and unnecessary. And sure, NOTHING on AJLT is how real relationships operate, but usually that’s in the service of fun.

Danielle Cohen: I don’t even understand what they defined their terms as. Like, are they even together right now? What if Wyatt keeps doing mushrooms past the age of 20?

Rebecca: When Aidan said “psilocybin,” I CACKLED. It sounds like a move with his dad to the city would maybe do Wyatt some good.

Marisa Carroll: I believe that Wyatt, who has probably always been a sensitive, needy boy, is having issues following the divorce. That then escalated when his dad begins a whirlwind, long-distance romance with his ex-fiancé. All of that tracks to me. What’s confusing to me is … everything else. Unless we got more details, like “I really can’t do this now, but wait for six months” or “I can’t be with you now, but I can’t demand you put your life on hold and wait for me,” it makes Aidan seem unkind and selfish rather than romantic.

Rebecca: Also, if you’re so worried about your son you’re going to tell someone to suspend her entire life for five years while you live with him until he’s 20 … but you leave in the immediate aftermath of that son’s accident for … breakup sex. Confusing. I really think Wyatt would do better living with his dad and Carrie! He wouldn’t be crashing cars and doing drugs in the woods or whatever. He could find artsy friends, he could go see movies at IFC and be angsty in THAT way.

Brandon: The York-Goldenblatts need to step in and welcome Wyatt to their big, fun, kooky family unit.

Rebecca: Ahem, the York-Goldenblatts need a SAG ensemble award.

Danielle: Okay, I want to speak on Che and Miranda in the kitchen, and why Che is still in this show.

Kaitlin: Che has got to go! They’re just a jerk and they serve no narrative purpose.

Danielle: They’re a disposable ex: key to the SATC universe but not necessary for more than their romantic dalliance with one of our leads.

Marisa: Che-a culpa: I said Che was never funny, but they actually delivered one funny joke this episode (“Carrie, that was way more than one word”).

Brooke: We need to discuss Nya abandoning Miranda for some Michelin-chef d, which I understand (love his eyes), but why was she the only one making noises like … that.

Kaitlin: I think Nya was married for too long and has forgotten what’s appropriate public flirtation?

Rebecca: The issue is AJLT heard the feedback about how in season one, they introduced all these new women and NBs of color, but that they just served as sidekicks/accessories to the main three. So then in season two, they gave them ALL their own stand-alone plotlines, separate from the main three. BUT they didn’t really do the work of making them connect at all. So there were just 12 different plots all happening at once.

Danielle: I do think, though, I want more of the three other women’s plotlines, whereas Che’s you could not convince me to care about.

Rebecca: Oh, totally, like Lisa Todd Wexley is on the level of Charlotte vis-à-vis making me laugh with silly bougie shenanigans.

Brandon: Kind of odd the direction they took LTW in the past few episodes though.

Danielle: Yes, that was so dumb. Come on, you KNOW you don’t have the time or plot space for a delicate miscarriage arc.

Brandon: Oh, also, the Samantha scene was exactly what we thought it would be, I guess? No more, no less.

Danielle: Too gimmicky for me! My theory is that she actually never planned to go to the dinner and was just gonna stay in London and live her life this whole time.

Rebecca: Crazy to make that up, like, “Oh, I wasn’t invited, but I was going to come surprise you, but I’m actually not going to come.”

Danielle: She likes a good yarn!

Kaitlin: I did love the Miranda-Steve scene.

Brooke: I went, “Finally! She admits it,” when Miranda admitted moving to Brooklyn wasn’t a mistake.

Marisa: I have a quibble with the Miranda-Steve scene: Why did Miranda say she finds out about Steve’s life through Carrie? Why not through … Brady?!

Danielle: LMAO, Brady probably doesn’t talk to her.

Marisa: This episode, at least through the end of the dinner party, was the worst episode of the series and highlighted all of its bad habits. I am typically an AJLT defender, but they have no idea how to handle its characters or structure a sitcom episode. I got even madder about the LTW convenient miscarriage plotline, madder about how dirty they did Karen Pittman all season, and generally was so annoyed by everyone getting five minutes of screen time, as Rebecca said. It’s all over the place.

Danielle: It really is; half the time I’m wondering if we already met characters or they’re new? Because so many are filtering in and out. Like, I still know nothing about Seema’s relationship.

Marisa: Danielle, I forgot Seema was a character when I wrote the above sentence complaining about the characters. That is how confused I am.

Danielle: Seema’s boyfriend and his vape are red flags.

Brandon: Seema’s boyfriend gives Taika Waititi.

Rebecca: Making Seema … Rita Ora. I think when a man wears a neckerchief in a TV show or movie they’re like … untrustworthy-coded?

Marisa: I most believed and cared about Seema as a character during her confrontation with Carrie. But even that they moved on from too quickly. Friendships are complicated! Give their tension room to breathe, it’s compelling.

Rebecca: I liked that a lot. That was a messy and true adult friendship dynamic that I hadn’t seen expressed like that before.

Kaitlin: Unrelated to anything, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max spon was unforgivable.

Danielle: But I think we can all agree Charlotte and her family won season two.

Kaitlin: Absolutely. I’m also happy with Miranda’s turnaround in the last few episodes.

Brooke: I want Miranda to date Dolly Wells. Please evict Che Diaz from the plot and replace them with Dolly.

New York staffers voted for the season’s best guest star using a ranked-choice ballot we found on the internet. It turned into a tight two-way race between Rachel Dratch (Carrie’s former writing partner who resurfaces with beef) and Tony Danza as himself as Che’s father on the failed sitcom Che Pasa. And the winner is … Tony Danza, who won in a tiebreaker! Drew Barrymore and Victor Garber also received votes for the top spot. But there were so many delightful cameos this season that we had to give them all some recognition.

Tony Danza as America’s Italian Mexican father — at least for a pilot. (“I have to hang up. Tony Danza’s coming right at me.”) Decades from now, when the Library of Congress decides to preserve this lauded Max original, let’s remember that Danza and Che sit down to discuss the representation politics of his playing their Mexican dad on the sitcom. Were we ever so young?

Rachel Dratch as Carrie’s former writing partner, Kerry. Who knew that Carrie would meet her match in Dratch? She always gets away with shit, but not this time! This character was relentless. We loved it.

They really got Gloria Steinem to guest as herself at Enid’s launch party for Vivant (with a little spiel about Ms. Magazine).

Billy Dee Williams guested as Lisa Todd Wexley’s father in a continuity error! “I had to reach out. This blooper is driving me insane,” AJLT Club reader Beth wrote to us. “I am rewatching season one, because, well, you know … anyway, in season two, episode four, Billy Dee Williams shows up as Lisa’s father. However, this time around, I caught the following: After Big died and Charlotte forgot that she had invited LTW for lunch, LTW shares that she couldn’t stop crying ‘when my father died.’”

We knew there was something off about the anniversary party, because/beyond the fact that no one showed up. That banquet hall almost certainly exists in purgatory or the Bardo, a shadow land where spirits such as Lisa’s dad reside. We suspect everyone on the show has been dead the whole time. Purgatory is in fact a Manhattan-size brick-and-mortar Wayfair.

Candice Bergen returns as Enid, now the writer and editor of Ask Enid, apparently the newsletter in which to promote your grief memoir. Enid’s career and character arc felt nicely slotted and utilized here.

The Drew Barrymore Show is a recent cultural touchstone, so why wouldn’t Anthony jump at the chance to promote his bread and Giuseppe’s bulge on the show? Drew is, of course, charming.

When Charlotte first met Victor Garber at Herbert and Lisa’s anniversary party, we thought we detected some vaguely villainous vibes. But it turns out he’s just a rich guy with a lot of ex-wives who legitimately wanted to give Charlotte a job!

Sam Smith buys art from Charlotte, which gives Char a reason to go out on the town with the gallery girlies and have some fun. The York-Goldenblatts are the MVPs of the season, so we appreciate Sam for helping out our girl.

Fresh off her Tony win, Bonnie Milligan as Charlotte’s gallery coworker is zany and delightful. Peter Hermann as Carrie’s bike-lane flame made us go, “Hey, that guy from all the New York shows! Hi!” Ryan Serhant reminded us that Seema should be on Million Dollar Listing in some capacity. And André De Shields was perfect as Nya’s reassuring colleague who also loves to get his steps in and hate on his nemesis, Larry.

Rosemarie DeWitt lays down the law. We love side characters who let Carrie have it, and Aidan’s ex, Cathy, really delivers, colorful blob of a tunic notwithstanding.

Kim Cattrall … ahhh! AHHH! She did it! AHHH!!! Ta and cheerio!!!

Yesterday, Max announced that AJLT has been renewed for a third season and, even though we had some finale complaints above, you know we’ll be enthusiastically returning for it. But we do have questions we hope to get answered next time, such as …

• Are Aidan and Carrie in an open five-year relationship or are they just broken up temporarily? Or is this seriously a long-distance, not-open relationship with no physical contact for half a decade?

• Do Anthony and Giuseppe know that you are not supposed to use body butter as lube?

• Why is Che still a character on the show?

• Are Brady and Lily dating?

• What will happen to Miranda and Steve’s house?

• Where in Brooklyn do Miranda, Steve, and Nya live?

• Will Carrie download Duolingo for Greek?

• Why isn’t Shoe the kitten growing?

• What did they eat at the Last Supper besides two olives and a spoon with stuff on it?

• Are we ever going to hear about that whole “Was Big a big mistake?” thing again?

Episode 1: And just like that … I repurposed my pain.

Episode 2: And just like that … I freed up my entire week.

Episode 3: And just like that … I got COVID.

Episode 4: And just like that … Enid and I became PayPals.

Episode 5: And just like that … George and I were over. But at least I got back up on the bike.

Episode 6: And just like that … I realized some relationships are meant to stay in the past. And some aren’t.

Episode 7: And just like that … Aidan and I were back on the same page.

Episode 8: And just like that … I went to Aidan’s farm. It wasn’t Howard’s End, it was better. It was our new beginning.

Episode 9: And just like that … I went up the stairs of my old apartment without looking back.

Episode 10: And just like that … For the first time, I was worried.

Episode 11: And just like that … I ordered two more Cosmopolitans

In honor of Samantha’s brief return, go back to “Boy, Interrupted,” (season six, episode ten), the one where Samantha scams her way into the Soho House pool using the lost membership card of Annabelle Bronstein. (Side note: Per the episode, Soho Club membership was only $900 annually then. It’s currently just shy of $2,700, with a 50 percent discount if you’re under 27.)

● Vulture’s TV critics have more finale thoughts to share!

● And Jason Frank and Danielle Cohen both have more to say about that Kim Cattrall cameo.