And Just Like That... Season 2, Episode 11 Recap: Finale Farewells
Many AJLT... fans were excited about the show’s second season finale for two reasons. Before Tuesday, they thought it would also act as a series finale, and the episode would finally reveal the scene Kim Cattrall filmed months ago, the clip that would unite all four women on screen (at least through a phone call) for the first time since 2010. When it was announced, earlier this week, that season three was a go, that left just one Samantha-size moment to look forward to (because what else is there to be excited about? Nya baking another soufflé?) Well, the writers don’t wait too long to give us what we want, and mere moments into “The Last Supper Part Two: Entrée,” the name “Samantha” appears on Carrie’s phone followed by Cattrall’s much-missed face on the screen. It’s fun to see the two interact, and the added knowledge that Cattrall couldn’t even bear to be in the same room as Sarah Jessica Parker adds a tasty bit of drama to the clip.
Once that’s out of the way, the focus for the majority of the episode falls on Carrie’s dinner party. It’s bad timing for almost everyone, but they put on their best looks, a warm smile for Shoe, the cat, and head up the flight of stairs to enjoy bougie olives and small talk. The bottle-nature of the majority of this episode allows many storylines to wrap up: Lisa comes to terms with her miscarriage, Miranda makes amends with Che, Nya finally meets a man. But even after 11 episodes, none of the stakes seem too high—especially not when it comes to the fate of Carrie and Aidan. That plot plays out once the guests are gone and all that’s left are the relationship ghosts haunting her townhouse apartment. Still, the finale does deliver in one respect: lots of inspiration so you, too, can overdress for your next dinner party. Below, we break down all the looks from the season two finale, from Samantha’s cameo to gowns galore.
Though most episodes this season have existed months apart from each other, “The Last Supper Part Two: Entrée” picks up just where “Part 1” left off, with Carrie checking on Aidan and shifting into party gear. But before she can go full throttle, she must field a call from Samantha, who appears on screen, as promised. Her flight from London is delayed and she won’t be able to surprise Carrie at her party. So does that mean they can hang out tomorrow? No, she was only coming for an overnight, so Samantha must pay her respects to the apartment over the phone. From the back of an Uber black car, Samantha sits in her red dress, silver coat, and slime green Fendi clutch (costumed by Patricia Field, I might add), and says into the phone, “Thank you for everything, you fucking fabulous, fabulous flat.” She makes a deep cut reference to a season six episode when she pretended to be a woman named Annabelle Bronstein to get into the SoHo House pool and poof, she’s gone.
But before we get a chance to mourn Samantha’s brief resurrection, the focus turns to Miranda, who is off to Coney Island to visit Steve’s new snack shack. She’s determined to have a working relationship with her ex and they make peace on the boardwalk, with Brady and the numerous Steve stans looking on longingly, reminiscing on all the good times.
There isn’t much dillydallying before we embark on the much talked-about Last Supper—so why should we dillydally on the fashions? The hostess with the mostest pulls out a super fun, sequined check tulle gown from Oscar de la Renta’s fall 2023 collection and crystal-covered Rene Caovilla pumps, creating almost a great look—aside from the addition of some sort of backless, crystal-embroidered bolero and leggings under her skirt. She’s contrasted by Lisa Todd Wexley, who brings color in the form of a Christopher John Rogers orange-and-yellow floral print dress, accessorized with gold statement jewelry. Charlotte joins in a floral Markarian dress with a dramatic, off-the-shoulder ruffle detail, adding a bit of edge to her look with a Benedetta Bruzziches plexiglass clutch (available in a slightly lighter colorway below). Miranda tones down the group in a sophisticated, two-toned Roksanda caped dress and brown APC shoulder bag, while Seema is ready for Studio 54 in a Balmain metallic monogrammed silk wrap dress. Nya then rounds out the six-some in a Ralph Lauren zebra-print halter dress, topped with a multipatterned Lisa Folawiyo coat.
Charlotte questions LTW’s drinking when she learns about the miscarriage, an event from which Lisa is understandably still reeling. It doesn’t help when Carrie brings her baby, “Shoe,” upstairs to say goodnight to everyone before bed. The display leads Lisa to the bathroom, where she wonders if she wished her baby away, giving Herbert the chance to step up to the plate with a comforting speech that helps LTW get through the meal (she couldn’t let such a pretty table go to waste, now could she)?
Miranda continues her day of reconciliation with a chat with Che in the kitchen. Che apologizes for making jokes about her on stage, “I thought they were funny,” the comedian says (they weren’t). And while that could have been the conclusion to Miranda’s storyline this season, her night takes a turn when she gets a request to appear on the BBC in the place of her boss, allowing her to end the finale on not only a career high, but a fashion high as well. Because with this final look, I’m ready to award her the best dressed of the season.
Seema, meanwhile, has still not recovered from the “I love you” non-event, projecting her anxiety on Ravi and assuming he’s no longer interested in the relationship. She confronts him about the situation and he gets real with her. “I have given you absolutely no reason to not trust me or my word,” he says. “You’re questioning and your doubt and your insecurity is not only an insult to me and my feelings, but to what we have, and what we could be.” Harsh, but true, and it seems to reach her. While she rejects his offer to go to Cairo with him, she does seem pleased with his promise to return.
Nya, meanwhile, is happy she didn’t ditch the event last-minute when she bumps into Touissant Feldman, the chef she blew off earlier in the season when her impending divorce was looking more like an impending separation. The two share an overtly flirty moment over olives at the dinner table, before heading home together at the end of the night.
Lisette, meanwhile, is wholly out of place throughout the evening. She may look the part in her dramatic, beaded blouse with a ruffled collar, but she can’t seem to find a conversation to join, bumbling around the event, mostly just getting in the way of the storylines at play—proving to no one why she deserves the famed apartment.
When the party wraps up and Carrie is left to enjoy “the perks of having a pet,” she hears some taps on her window. Aidan is back from Norfolk where he apparently underwent therapy to get over his fear of Carrie’s apartment. Moving past a plot point that took over the second half of the season, Aidan enters the threshold and sits Carrie down to tell her he isn’t coming back. She offers to come visit him in Norfolk, but he rejects the request, and it very much feels like a breakup until Aidan asks for some time—five years, until Wyatt is out of his teens.
As Harry and Charlotte struggle to set up her new phone, Miranda gets drinks with the BBC journalist, and a displeased looking Anthony bottoms for the first time, Nya feeds her chef (tell me it was a soufflé), and Carrie and Aidan have sex for what will assumedly be the last time in five years. Everyone is coupled up to varying degrees, and as Aidan leaves, Carrie confirms to him that their relationship was not a mistake. A sweet sentiment, but also a reminder that just episodes ago she was questioning her relationship with Big, calling that one a mistake—a plot point that was left in the dust, much like Seema’s once-stolen Birkin.
With their men off in Cairo and Norfolk, Seema and Carrie head to the beach. Not the Hamptons, but Greece, where season two comes to a close with the women enjoying cosmopolitans in their on-trend raffia accessories. “What if they never come back?” Seema asks. “Oh, there will be more,” Carrie says. “Men?” “Cocktails.”
