And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good” never explains exactly what happened to Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) former flame, Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez). Rather, the MAX show just drops us back into the lesbian lawyer’s dating life. In the first episode of And Just Like That… Season 3, Miranda struggles to connect with anyone at a gay bar until she meets Mary (Rosie O’Donnell). While Mary isn’t young or cool, she is absolutely enthralled by Miranda’s beauty. Miranda happily decides to hook up with Mary, only to regret her decision later, after she learns more about the out-of-towner…
**Spoilers for And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good,” now streaming on MAX**
When Miranda wakes up next to Mary in the morning, she’s taken aback by how hyped the woman is about their one night stand. Mary then reveals that she literally lost her virginity to Miranda!
Miranda, understandably, wonders if this just means this was Mary’s first lesbian encounter. But no, Mary isn’t just “Mary from Winnipeg.” Mary is a Catholic nun who has never experienced sex in her entire life! Miranda has rocked this woman’s world and spends the rest of the episode avoiding her lovesick texts.
Now, most people are probably going to latch onto the sensationalism of Rosie O’Donnell popping into And Just Like That… to play a Canadian nun who loses her virginity to none other than Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes. Both O’Donnell and Nixon are outspoken “out” celebrities who seem to make headlines every time they open their mouths. Pairing them up onscreen is noteworthy on its own. However, I’m really more fascinated by what this storyline does in moving Miranda’s story forward.
And Just Like That… Season 1 introduced us to a Miranda Hobbes in the midst of a mid-life crisis. She was back in school, struggling with an alcohol addiction, and unhappy in her marriage to Steve Brady (David Eigenberg). Everything changed for Miranda when she met Che Diaz. The non-binary comedian awakened something in Miranda she had never felt before.
Che also inspired habits that we’d never seen in Miranda before. Most notably, Miranda cheated on Steve with Che in Carrie’s kitchen all while Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) was recovering from surgery! (I’m still mad about this plot development simply because the Miranda I knew from Sex and the City would never leave an unwell Carrie in the lurch!)
Miranda’s infatuation with Che subsequently set off an atomic bomb in her personal life. She left Steve, came out as a lesbian, and began to question all of her life choices. In And Just Like That... Season 2, Miranda followed Che to Los Angeles. We watched Miranda Hobbes — the no-nonsense, career-oriented, high-powered attorney — clean beaches for fun and mope around the house without her Che. Eventually, the pair split up and Miranda returned to New York and slowly reclaimed the qualities we all know as undeniably “Miranda.”
Cut to And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good.” Miranda is just looking for low stakes sex and winds up fundamentally changing Mary’s world. Mary is soon texting Miranda like crazy, begging her to meet up at corny New York tourist spots. Miranda understandably has the ick. Like, most New Yorkers don’t want to hit up the Central Park carousel without a kid in tow. However, there’s something else at play here: Miranda has to realize she is Mary’s Che.
When Miranda finally confronts Mary outside the M&M store, she cautions Mary that she shouldn’t radically change her life just over one night of hot sex. You can hear her almost going back in time, warning her Season 1 and Season 2 self that her fixation on Che would ultimately fizzle out. What’s extraordinary is that Sister Mary immediately makes it clear that’s not what’s going on for her. The nun is not leaving the church. She’s not changing who she is overnight. Rather, Miranda, and New York City, have given Mary a glimpse of the life she could have had. She’s thankful for the experience and simply wants to express that to Miranda.
Again, And Just Like That… never tells us what happened to Che Diaz. The controversial character was simply written off the show. And yet, Miranda’s experience with Mary seems to tie a bow on the whole Che Diaz saga. Miranda was Mary once, living decades of her life unable to fully explore her sexuality. Che gave Miranda that opportunity. Che helped Miranda find her truest, happiest self.
Regardless of how you feel about Che Diaz, the character served an important role in the overall Sex and the City saga. Because of them, Miranda is now able to pursue joy and romance in a way she couldn’t before.
Sister Mary is happily returning to her life as a nun in Winnipeg knowing the ecstasy of real passion thanks to Miranda and Miranda is returning to her life as a hot single lawyer searching for sex in the city thanks to Che Diaz.
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