Kanika Kumar
‘And Just Like That…’ explores the turbulent but glamorous lives of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York-Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon). In the romantic comedy-drama set against the backdrop of New York City, we get to see these iconic and stylish middle-aged women establish new friendships and find novel approaches to personal and social issues.
Developed by Michael Patrick King, The ‘Sex and the City’ reboot modernizes the source material and touches upon contemporary issues pertaining to racism, the LGBTQIA+ community, and gender roles. In fact, fans have begun to notice that Miranda’s romantic interests are straying away from the confines of her straight marriage. Specifically, her ambiguous friendship with Che Diaz (Sara Ramírez) has been the talk of the town for a while. So, is Miranda gay? Let’s find out! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Is Miranda Gay?
In episode 2, during Mr. Big’s funeral, we see that Miranda gets angry at Che for allowing Brady to take a hit using their weed vaporizer. Later, however, both of them have a civil conversation and acknowledge their mistakes after being introduced to each other by Carrie. Che agrees that they should have thought about Brady’s age and Miranda admits that she was too harsh in her approach. It becomes obvious that they get along, and Miranda seems charmed when Che refers to her as “Rambo.”
In episode 3, Carrie takes Miranda and Charlotte to Che’s comedy special taping. Miranda is clearly moved by Che’s coming-out story and listens carefully to their tales about the stereotypes pertaining to the LGBTQIA+ community. In fact, Miranda decides to stay back for the afterparty even though Carrie and Charlotte are heading back home.
At the bar, Miranda tells Che how much she enjoyed their stand-up; she mentions how she is inspired by their talk of pursuing change and discovering new avenues. Clearly, Miranda is tired of her monotonous domestic life and is mesmerized by Che’s fantastic world of humor and self-expression which has no boundaries and allows people to be free.
Later, Che offers Miranda a joint but the latter refuses it as she hasn’t had a good experience with marijuana in the past. However, when Che offers to shotgun the weed, Miranda immediately agrees. The two move close to each other, and Miranda inhales the smoke from Che’s mouth. It’s an electric moment, and it’s obvious that there’s some romance in the air. However, neither of them makes any bold moves; Che probably thinks of her as nothing more than an excitable and interesting married woman whilst Miranda is too hesitant to try something new.
As the series progresses, Che and Miranda end up having random unplanned conversations and grow closer to each other as friends. In episode 5, the two have a fun but deep conversation in the cafeteria of the hospital where Carrie is admitted for her hip surgery; they even share personal anecdotes with each other. Miranda clearly enjoys Che’s humor and fun persona and whilst the comedian is impressed by the lawyer’s worldly and no-nonsense nature.
Later, Che drops by Carrie’s place to give her podcast companion a bottle of tequila as a gift. When Miranda — who is currently Carrie’s caretaker — realizes that Che is outside the door, she immediately checks her appearance in the mirror. This makes it obvious that Miranda is at least slightly interested in Che romantically. Afterward, when Che realizes that Carrie is asleep and thus can’t do shots, Miranda enthusiastically offers to drink the tequila with them instead.
Thus, Che and Miranda get drunk in Carrie’s kitchen. When Che realizes that they have to leave for a show, Miranda immediately looks crestfallen and asks her to shotgun the weed. Clearly, she’s trying to prolong Che’s visit. After Che blows the smoke into Miranda’s mouth, they kiss her neck. Immediately, Miranda responds positively to their touch and gives the go-ahead for their intimate moment to proceed. The two kiss passionately. Later, Miranda gives Che permission to finger her; soon afterward, the older woman loudly orgasms.
Meanwhile, Carrie wakes up from her slumber and watches in distress as her friend and her boss have a sexual encounter in the kitchen. Desperately wanting to pee, Carrie tries to relieve herself in an empty Snapple bottle but ends up spilling the urine all over her bed. It’s obvious that Carrie, in her post-surgery state, feels helpless and frustrated. After Che leaves, Carrie confronts Miranda.
In the beginning, Miranda dismisses what happened and claims that she got “carried away” due to the alcohol. “You’re married, and you just had sex in my kitchen,” says Carrie in exasperation, pointing out how uncharacteristic Miranda’s behavior was. After all, Miranda did just cheat on her husband, Steve, with Che.
“I’m unhappy,” Miranda confesses, finally. “I’m unhappy. I’m trapped. I hate my marriage. I hate it. I hate my life. I, I, I hate it.” She also says that she has been feeling this way “since forever” and that what she has in life “isn’t enough.” As Carrie tries to comfort her, Miranda admits that she doesn’t want to be the person she is and craves “something more.” She also agrees that she has been drinking too much but states that she’ll quit the instant she thinks that she has a problem. “And what about that other activity in the kitchen?” Carrie asks quietly, referring to Miranda’s intimate moment with Che.
“I don’t know if I want to quit that,” says Miranda, without missing a beat. “I-I’ve never felt like that in my life.” Thus, it’s obvious that Miranda is queer — if not just gay — and is attracted to Che. Throughout the reboot, it’s made apparent that Miranda barely has a romantic connection with Steve; the two of them live like platonic roommates, eating ice cream before bedtime and having zero conversations about their relationship. Additionally, it is important to note that Miranda and Steve got married much after the former had given birth to their son, Brady; thus, theirs wasn’t the most ideal of romantic unions despite the passionate love that they initially shared.
It is fully possible that Miranda was unable to come to terms with her queer identity back in the days of the OG show because her social environment wasn’t very accepting of anything that wasn’t a straight relationship. Additionally, Miranda was surrounded by friends who were more or less obsessed with men and thus perhaps never even considered the possibility that she might be interested in other genders.
In the first movie based on the original show, we see that Miranda and Steve barely have a sex life; this begins to impact their marriage. Miranda eventually finds out that her husband cheated on her once but soon forgives him. In the revival series, it seems as though she cheats on her husband because she is starting to explore a sexual identity of hers that she had never previously considered; although this doesn’t justify her infidelity, it does make it somewhat understandable.
Thus, whilst Miranda is definitely queer, it remains to be seen whether her attraction to Che is genuine or whether it is simply a byproduct of her desire to embrace her sexuality and have new experiences with a young, non-judgmental, and experimental crowd. Interestingly, Nixon herself identifies as queer and has been married to a woman named Christine Marinoni since 2012. Perhaps Nixon’s own experiences — as a queer woman who at one point was with a man — inform her character’s romantic decisions and storylines in some capacity.
