‘And Just Like That’ Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: Carrie and Aidan’s Blended-Family Storyline Is the Most Realistic One Yet

And Just Like That… gets a lot of grief for being over the top, but there is no denying Carrie and Aidan’s blended-family storyline is, by far, the most interesting and realistic one that Michael Patrick King and his team have told over three seasons.

In episode four, Aidan (John Corbett) suggests Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) spend some quality time with his sons after she extends her trip to his farm in Virginia. She does, and aside from the wrong footwear and chickens who have clearly never crossed paths with Ms. Bradshaw, she seems to enjoy her new location.

Homer, Aidan’s middle son, is thrilled to see Carrie. But the youngest, Wyatt—who is the reason Aidan told Carrie he had to put their romance on hold so he could be a full-time parent—isn’t remotely interested in his dad’s girlfriend. Carrie knew from Aidan that Wyatt has always been complex and complicated, but until she witnesses his behavior firsthand she didn’t fully understand the kind of pressure Aidan is under.

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Still, with Operation Welcome Carrie full steam ahead, Aidan tells Carrie that he really wants her to spend time with all three of his boys so she can get to know them. And so, just like that, they all head out for a game of virtual reality until Homer accidentally hits Carrie in the head. She takes it like a champ, but the foreshadowing of what’s to come is obvious.

Later, Aidan’s ex-wife, Kathy, stops by with her boyfriend, Bob, and Kathy thanks Carrie for bringing the almost-impossible-to-find Adderall. Bob tells Carrie that he knows how tough it can be being the outsider, before letting it slip that Aidan doesn’t want Wyatt to take Adderall. When Carrie tries to talk to Aidan about it, he’s not in the mood.

Shortly thereafter, Wyatt has an episode in which he acts out, and Kathy says this is why he needs the medication. Aidan argues that their son already has substance-abuse issues, but Kathy says it’s not the same—the pills are a medical necessity, because he has ADHD. It’s all too much for Wyatt, who slams a toy through the window.

Carrie returns to the guesthouse, and Aidan apologies for asking her to stay and says he felt guilty that she came all the way to Virginia. She gives her own apology, saying, “When you said that you needed to be down here and without me, I didn’t believe you. I let you think that…but I didn’t really believe you needed to be here. But now I do. You need to be here. And without me.”

Aidan asks if she’s breaking up with him, but she says no. Instead, she then hands him a key to the Gramercy apartment and says, “Use it when you need, but don’t use it out of guilt. I’m so glad I was here…because I’ve been playing [the waiting] game this whole time. I haven’t even bought furniture. So, no more games. I love you. And I’ll be there.” He thanks her, but he’s devastated that this is their reality.

When Carrie returns to New York City, sobered by the events of the last few days, she has a newfound clarity that was essential for her—and Aidan’s—future.

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“I don’t think there’s anything that occupies a mind more than worrying about a child,” Sarah Jessica Parker tells Glamour when talking about the events of the episode. “And Carrie can’t know that until it’s made more clear. She can appreciate it and support his desire, but there are certain things that are just hard to internalize and interpret [unless you witness it firsthand].”

Up until now, it was understandable to question Carrie and Aidan’s arrangement, but it all makes sense by the time Carrie returns to New York. “That’s what it means to be an adult,” Parker says. “You can’t have everything you want. You just can’t. So then it’s up to you to choose to live with a percentage that didn’t seem ideal at one point, but if that means you’re still having a connection with somebody, then that number doesn’t look so lousy.”

Below, Michael Patrick King—who wrote and directed the episode—tells Glamour the reason behind the emotionally charged story arc, what’s next for Carrie and Aidan, and if we’ve seen the last of his idyllic Virginia home.

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Glamour: Episode four is one of the most powerful that the series has ever done, and it accurately shines a light on how difficult it can be to raise a child with special needs. Why was this so important for you to showcase this season?

Michael Patrick King: We wanted to make sure we pay tribute to the complication of having a family. We were constantly reflecting the single life when it was single, and now the married life and divorced life with kids. We did a lot of work in the writing and in the casting of Aidan and Kathy’s family, because you have to believe it’s real in order for us to understand why Aidan’s there.

The complication of having a challenged [child], or as Kathy calls him in season two, “the puzzle of Wyatt,” was really important to me as the director of that episode and writer, to make sure that it reflects people’s real reality.

I don’t have kids, but I see the challenges my friends face with their kids when it comes to medical or behavioral issues. It can be difficult on the entire family, and this episode perfectly showed that.

Thank you for saying that. Also, my favorite thing about the writing in this episode is that Carrie says to Aidan at the end, “I didn’t believe you. Now I do.” That line gives us more grace for Carrie and Aidan to continue. But also, when he says, “Are you breaking up with me,” and the fact that she doesn’t and instead gives him a key…it just feels complicated and grown-up and uncharted. So I’m glad you responded that way, because it was a big risk to create a family.

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We often see the troubled, spoiled, or irresponsible teen onscreen, but more rare is a teen with a real, serious behavioral issue and how that impacts the entire family. There’s still so much shame in talking openly about the challenges that come with that.

Also, on top of that, very deep feelings about a divorce. If you add that all to the mix, you can see Wyatt acting out; you can see Homer, the middle child, being so loving and wonderful; and then you see the older child, Tate, sort of halfway out the door. It’s a very complicated, authentic look at something that I think needed to be authentic. And you’re the first person who mentioned it.

That astonishes me, since I feel like so many parents will respond to this storyline. I responded to it, and I don’t even have kids, but my friends’ kids are part of my life.

Well, the interesting thing is that we always knew in the writing room that there’s a split. There’s parents with children who will respond a certain way, and then there are people without children, including me, who would respond a different way, which is, “Should they, shouldn’t they? Should Carrie fix it? Shouldn’t she fix it? Can they fix it, can’t they?”

What do you owe each other, the loves of his life? I mean, in that one episode, Carrie says, “I’m my guy’s number four,” in the scene where Seema says she doesn’t want to be some guy’s number two. It’s a lot when you grow up and evolve. And the way Carrie is handling things is really a testament to both Sarah Jessica’s performance, but also the evolution of Carrie as a character that she’s able to take information in, gird her loins, and just keep deciding what she needs or what’s best for Aidan and her.

Absolutely. Meanwhile, you mentioned the casting of Aidan and Kathy’s family. What were you looking for specifically when it came to the role of Wyatt?

You know what’s really interesting? Logan Souza, who plays Wyatt, was in season two when they’re at Coney Island. It was just a phone call [scene], but he came on set and I directed that episode. It was four lines, but I was like, “There’s something there. There’s something authentically nontheatrical and authentic to a real person there.” That’s really all you want when you’re casting; you want someone to be believable. So when we decided to make Wyatt more prominent, we [worked with him on the character]. By the time we got to Virginia, he was just authentic to that role.

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Looking ahead, will Carrie visit Virginia again?

Carrie made a trip to Virginia in season two, but we didn’t go down there because we thought that wasn’t the story. But then this season, we thought, “No, the story is definitely her going there.” I don’t know how much more we could learn from another trip, but I will tell you that the family is prominent in this entire story arc. And that story is, “Now what?” Now that you know the problem is real, how do we move through it? How does Wyatt move them closer to or further away from their dream of being together? Wyatt is the obstacle to Carrie and Aidan. You know, kids are very changeable. Anything could happen. But to answer your question…this is the only Virginia you’re going to see this season, but the family’s all through the rest of the show.

Where did you film those scenes? It really is a beautiful landscape.

We went someplace that wasn’t New York City, let’s just say that, but was pastoral. I wanted a red barn, I wanted a lake, I wanted a farm. It had to live up to so much, almost as much as the kids had to. You had to feel that she went away [to a different place].

She sure did. Even Carrie’s style changed, which was fun to see.

For the scenes in Virginia, where she’s wearing the prairie dresses, we always thought, Well, that’ll be funny. And then when we got to film those, that’s what was all over the runways in Paris. So it was like, God, you can’t really make a joke out of stuff that’s already in Paris! But it is funny. Little House on the Carrie is funny. In the beginning of the season, she’s sorting through her life. She’s running around her house in that first scene looking like she’s Carol Anne in The Poltergeist. She looks like an adolescent, like a little doll in a dollhouse. And then, it just keeps evolving. When she goes to Virginia, she starts to try to be that Carrie. But when she starts writing the book, you’ll start to see the wardrobe changing a little bit—as any writer investigating a certain era, here comes a corset, here comes a button boot. The woman she’s writing about starts to leak a little bit into her present and it’s infused.