***Warning: This blog post contains spoilers for episode three of the HBOMax series, And Just Like That…***

Good lawd — I can’t believe this is my third blog post in a week! Hopefully, I’ll get into a rhythm soon with watching these episodes on Thursday and blogging on Friday… well, after the holidays, anyway.

I’m happy to report I really enjoyed this episode! While the first two were so, so uncomfortable, shocking and just generally *a lot,* I think maybe this series is starting to find its stride now that we’re past The Big Tragedy (no pun intended) and we get to learn more about some of these new characters and other developments.

That being said, Carrie obviously has a long healing process in front of her. And as episode three begins, our girl is dealing with some of the expected things that come up after a death — like going through Big’s will. I don’t know how much money he left, but it’s always been implied that he was very wealthy, so I can imagine it’s not any amount to sneeze at. Not that this likely matters all that much to Carrie. She seems to be fairly comfortable on her own, having kept her career afloat with some books — and now the podcast. We know she’s also kept her apartment from her SATC days because Stanford references staying there when he and Anthony are fighting.

But before we get to the will reading, the episode opens with Che’s podcast, and apparently Carrie has managed to step her pussy up as instructed, because all seem pleased with her quips today. She has plans to go to a comedy show of Che’s later that week with Miranda and Charlotte.

Side note: As Carrie refers to Che as “them,” it dawns on me I did not do this in my post on episode 2, so I have since corrected that.

Meanwhile, Stanford and Charlotte run into each other at a restaurant where apparently Carrie invited both of them to meet up after the will stuff. Charlotte seems a bit taken aback that Stanford was invited and only reserved a table for 3, and some awkwardness ensues as Stanford accuses her of being threatened by his standing as one of Carrie’s BFFs.

Am I the only one who feels they’ve done Stanford a little dirty so far? He just seems like he’s whining about something all the time, between fighting with Anthony and now this. And we all know his part is about to be written off, so… I don’t know. At the same time, Charlotte continues to annoy me to no end, so I’m OK with him calling her out.

Miranda, of course, is at the will reading with Carrie to make sure things are legally on the up-and-up or perhaps just for moral support.

And girlllll does she need it. Because during the reading it’s revealed — and a shock to all — that Big has left ONE MILLION DOLLARS to….. *drumroll* …..

Natasha?! Natasha, the idiot-stick-figure-with-no-soul that Big marries in season 3 of SATC and then cheats on with Carrie, leading to their divorce. Everyone is shocked and upset. No one knows why he would do this, and my own mind is spinning with possibilities. (Did they secretly have a child together? Was he seeing her? Were they in touch???)

It’s the Million Dollar Mystery. And Carrie, literally, will not sleep until she gets to the bottom of it. After lunch with her crew, she starts combing through Big’s stuff in their apartment. She finds some things that surprise her — he has a picture of a dog in his wallet she never knew about, as well as a Pinkberry punch card — but everything is relatively benign.

But the Natasha factor is another story. Carrie sends her an email asking to meet, hoping she can figure out why in the world Big would leave so much money to this woman. Sure, they were married, but for less than a year, the relationship ended badly and they don’t have children that we know of. Plus, Natasha seems to be doing just fine, with a fancy job, and a husband and kids. Carrie also stalks her on Instagram, but Natasha quickly blocks her.

Carrie becomes more frenzied and gets Charlotte and Miranda to join her in stalking out Natasha’s workplace. They see Natasha pull up and get out of a car, and oh my, she still looks good.

“She’s wearing flats.”- Charlotte
“That is the most desperate put-down I’ve ever heard.”- Miranda

Carrie tries to see Natasha but is told she’s away on business in Rome, obviously a lie. (And now we know why this episode’s titled When In Rome…) She meets up with Miranda and Charlotte to debrief around the corner. Before she arrives, Miranda gives Charlotte her backpack to borrow her phone charger and goes to get a muffin. While she’s gone, Charlotte finds several empty mini liquor bottles in the pack. So the storyline of Miranda’s drinking problem continues…

Dejected, Carrie can’t stop walking around the city. The next day, she enters a coffee shop to use the bathroom, and ends up accidentally walking in on, none other than, the ice queen herself, badly burning herself with hot coffee in the process. At first, Natasha doesn’t want anything to do with her, but she takes pity on her coffee-burned skin and pulls some ice from her bag (she has kids, and therefore, snacks) and finally sits down. Turns out, she’s just as puzzled as Carrie and crew are about the money, and she has no intention of taking it. She also hasn’t spoken to him since their divorce. Carrie is obviously relieved, and then Natasha gives her probably the best gift she could by telling her “I’ll never understand why he married me when he was always in love with you.”

I kind of want these two to be friends now! I don’t think it’s in the cards, though. They part amicably and Natasha tells Carrie they’re fine but perhaps shouldn’t follow each other on Instagram.

Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte attend Che’s comedy show. It’s clear Miranda is fascinated by Che and quite taken with their performance. Charlotte appears moved when Che talks about coming out to their family — Charlotte’s daughter Rose earlier in the episode expressed to her that she doesn’t feel like a girl, and prefers not to be referred to as one. Charlotte has only confided in Anthony thus far — who brushes it off, saying Rose is too young to know who she is — but I like that Charlotte seems to be open-minded about this.

Side note: Che is possibly my favorite character to ever grace this franchise.

After the show, Carrie and Charlotte hop in a car together, but Miranda hangs back. In the car, Charlotte shares her concerns about Miranda’s drinking, but Carrie brushes it off. Meanwhile, Miranda heads to the show’s after party and finds Che. As she’s gushing about how great they are, Che asks her to slow her roll and offers her some pot. Miranda declines, but then Che offers to shotgun it to her, leading to a rather intimate and charged moment between them. Where is this going?!

Side note: I really wanted to say, “Miranda seems to feel something… and not just the buzz,” but my boyfriend said I should “heavily workshop” that… sigh.

As Carrie returns to the door of her building, she decides to go on another walk. The episode ends with her back at the steps of her old apartment.

“And just like that… I walked myself home.”