<i>And Just Like That...</i> Season 3, Episode 1 Recap: Bar Nun

Spoilers below.

Every season of And Just Like That… has felt like the start of a new chapter, but this season, it really feels like it. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has a new apartment, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) gave us closure, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and the show as a whole, are done with Che. In fact, a few characters are missing from the season 3 opener, including Sara Ramirez’s divisive stand-up comic, professor Nya (Karen Pittman), and Miranda’s ex Steve (David Eigenberg). Maybe the show realized that there was too much going on, and that it needed to slim down its focus a bit. It’s still outrageous, just a little less crammed. But some things still linger from past seasons, like Carrie and Aidan’s situationship?

You might recall that in the season 2 finale, the old lovers left things off on a confusing note: They are taking a five-year break while Aidan (John Corbett) tends to his family in Virginia. They’re not supposed to see or talk to each other during that time, but they’ve been bending that rule by sending each other postcards. Carrie starts off the episode sending one with a vintage photo of Gramercy Park (her new neighborhood). How long can they make this arrangement last?

Later that night, Miranda falls into an entanglement of her own during a night out at a lesbian bar. After braving an awkward run-in with her son’s old babysitter and getting called a “rando” by other patrons, she finds solace in another out-of-place guest named Mary (Rosie O’Donnell). She’s in town visiting and is rather forward, inviting Miranda to her hotel room after exchanging only a few words, but what the heck, Miranda is into it. They go home together, but the next morning, Miranda is in for a few surprises: Their night together was the first time Mary had sex…with anyone…because she is a nun. A virgin nun? Oh, Miranda you’ve really outdone yourself.

Meanwhile, the ever-glamorous Seema (Sarita Choudhury), whom I more and more each season, has her own crisis while trying to get in touch with her busy director boyfriend Ravi, who is filming on location in Egypt. She lights up a cigarette in bed and falls asleep waiting, nearly burning her apartment down. (On the bright side, the damage was only done to her hair. The down side? Damage was done to her hair.) She later vents to Carrie about it during a walk in Washington Square Park, but I’m sorry, I’m too distracted by Carrie’s massive bonnet to register anything else. She looks like a very chic mushroom from Fantasia.

Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker), on the other hand, seems to be making headway in her career. (Last season, she suffered a miscarriage and worried about not being able to balance motherhood and her professional life.) Her latest project is a documentary series about unsung Black women throughout history, like Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot license. It seems to be going well, but her producers seem more interested in including a bigger name—like Michelle Obama. Lisa is confused. Isn’t this series supposed to be about unsung women rather than a very famous first lady? She acquiesces but feels her vision is being compromised.

After Carrie accidentally slips and falls in her new home (it’s big enough to run around in) Miranda comes over to debrief about her night with Sister Mary, using some delightful wordplay. “You deflowered the Virgin Mary,” Carrie points out. Mary’s too clingy and keeps texting Miranda, but she wants to end it. “Can I ghost a nun?” she asks. “It would be a holy ghost,” Carrie responds.

Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is unfortunately stuck in this episode dealing with dog drama. Her bulldog, Mr. Burton, is accused of attacking a Chihuahua at the park, which sends her spiraling looking for a new dog walker and doggy daycare. In the end, she finds out that Burton was wrongly accused because the woman making the claim has bad eyesight. (Go figure!) Charlotte’s daughter Lilly (Cathy Ang), however, is treated to a little bit of romance this week when she, Carrie, and Anthony (Mario Cantone) get exclusive invites to a ballet dress rehearsal at Lincoln Center. She has a crush on one of the dancers, and she nearly falls out of her seat watching him pirouette. While she ogles at her crush, there are some tensions between Carrie and Anthony as he judges the state of her relationship with Aidan. How can she be with him if she doesn’t know when (or if!) he’s coming back to New York?

Aidan does return to our screens in this episode—but not to the Big Apple just yet—when he calls Carrie from his Virginia home, slightly drunk. Their flirty conversation turns into phone sex, but Carrie gets cold feet when she realizes her cat, Shoe, is staring her down from across the room. As Aidan finishes on the other end of the line, Carrie pretends that she does too.

At least one long distance couple reunites: Seem and Ravi. The director arrives home surprisingly early and pampers Seema with a cascading bouquet of flowers and a reservation at Jean-Georges, but there’s a catch: They have to go location-scouting for his film first…with his crew. Though he promises they’ll make their lunch reservation, they go over-time, and Seema is fed up. Ravi “lost track of time and on me,” she tells him. She calls a black car and leaves him in a movie-worthy exit.

The rest of the ladies gather at Harlem’s Red Rooster for Herbert’s (Christopher Jackson), campaign event. (Lisa’s husband is running for city comptroller, if you needed a reminder.) Though he’s been spending a majority of the episode trying to be “cool,” he succumbs to his charmingly uncool hobbies and performs with his college a cappella group. (A great excuse for to get the Hamilton alum to sing onscreen.) While staying true to himself, Herbert encourages Lisa to do the same with her docuseries and stay true to her vision. She’s all ears until she realizes their event planner has a connection to The White House. Could he be her in with the Obamas?

Miranda also can’t help but go with her gut when Mary asks to meet in Times Square by the M&M store. (She gifts her a bag of the candies—M&M for Mary and Miranda!) She feels bad for the nun, but she also doesn’t want to lead her on. “Don’t leave God for me,” she pleads. Mary shrugs all that off; of course she wouldn’t leave God, she says, she’s married to him. On a more sentimental note, Mary explains that Miranda helped her explore a side of herself that was always within her, waiting to be uncovered. Fresh off of watching a performance of Wicked, she takes Miranda’s hands and sings, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

Carrie also comes clean when she calls Aidan that night, confessing that she faked her orgasm over the phone during their last conversation, but she’s willing to give it another go. Unfortunately, it’s not a good time for Aidan, who’s in bed with his son. This five-year, long-distance break is going to be harder than Carrie thought. She gets out of bed and returns to the thing she knows best: writing. She opens her laptop and begins typing (with her signature narration), “The woman wondered what she had gotten herself into.” This season, we’re about to find out.