This post contains spoilers from And Just Like That season 3 episode 9 from this point forward.
Have you heard the exciting news? Carrie Bradshaw dumped her bad boyfriend, and we're celebrating! That might sound harsh to some people, but Carrie's rekindled relationship with Aidan was really sucking the air out of And Just Like That season 3 and sucking the life out of our girl. It became increasingly hard to watch Carrie sacrifice so much, but that's all in the past now.
Not even Miranda expressing her concern to Carrie about her relationship with Aidan, or what could be possible to have with Duncan, were able to shake Carrie loose from trying to have it all. She had to finally see for herself that being with Aidan wasn't going to work in the long run, and it wasn't for lack of giving it everything she had or any fault of her own. Somethings just don't work.
So, what went wrong with Carrie and Aidan? What was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused their breakup in And Just Like That season 3 episode 9? Well, it's not just one thing that caused the dissolution of their relationship. A lot of things added up. But there was an unfortunate new development that gave Carrie the a-ha moment that they needed to split.
And Just Like That breaks Carrie and Aidan up for good
Over the past few episodes, Carrie has been spending more and more time with her downstairs neighbor, fellow writer Duncan. He's hard at work on his next nonfiction book about Margaret Thatcher, while Carrie's diving into fiction for the first time. They lean on each other to workshop their books, something Aidan doesn't understand. He grows jealous of the time she spends with Duncan.
Carrie had put up a boundary that when she's working with Duncan, she's working with Duncan. She didn't want to mix the two pairings. Aidan met Duncan in their shared backyard and later offered to make all three of them dinner. Carrie very calmly but persistently reminds Aidan of the boundary. When she returns home, he forces her out of bed to shower because she smells like Duncan's pipe smoke. Understandably, she does not take kindly to this and sleeps in another room.
The morning after that dust up, Aidan tries to smooth things over with lunch at one of their favorite restaurants, but when they begin talking, Carrie has a stark realization: Aidan still doesn't trust her not to cheat on him. In Sex and the City, Carrie cheated on Aidan with Big, and that's something he clearly has not gotten over. Ironically, he's the one who cheated on her, but whatever!
Carrie kind of got mad about the wrong thing here. A few episodes ago, I wanted her to be madder that Aidan slept with his ex-wife, but she was understanding of what he was going through and that they had that odd five-year arrangement situation in place. But her brain has un-fogged. She doesn't throw his own cheating in his face, but she makes sure he knows that she gave him everything — time, space, a new apartment, understanding — and it wasn't enough.
Aidan seems to think he has a leg to stand on, and maybe he does, but I can't see any side but Carrie's. She has a right to be angry. She expressed herself perfectly in this episode. She knew what she was worth and recognized that she was minimizing that in this relationship with Aidan. He had the best of both worlds, his real life and a fantasy in New York with Carrie, but she barely had one.
Again, Carrie was mad about the wrong thing, but she ended up in the right place. Whether she was mad about Aidan cheating on her or mad that he didn't trust her, she remembered who she is. I had a feeling that my frustration with this relationship was getting ahead of the story and that Carrie had to learn. Thankfully, she did. Rather than wallowing, she celebrates being single again with her friends, knowing that she didn't compromise her integrity and, once again, gave love a fair chance.
And Just Like That season 3 releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.