Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for And Just Like That… Season 2, Episode 7
The Big Picture
- Lisa Todd Wexley has been a background character on And Just Like That… for too long, with limited storylines and character development, despite her potential.
- In Season 2, Episode 6, we finally get to see Lisa shine as a filmmaker at MOMA, showcasing her career and giving her a meaningful storyline.
- Moving forward, the show should focus more on Lisa’s career and give her substantial storylines, rather than relegating her to being just the wife of a politician.
When And Just Like That… made its much-anticipated premiere, it also introduced some brand new characters. But despite spending an awful lot of time on its newly introduced characters — a little too much time — a lot of their storylines and characterizations fall flat. Such is the case with Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker). She’s not a bad character by any means – in fact, she’s quite likable. The problem is that she’s rarely given any storylines of substance, which makes her character feel rather boring and one-note. Her entire persona has seemed to be mom, wife, and friend to Charlotte (Kristin Davis). We always hear that she has a great career, but we never get to see it. That is, until Season 2’s sixth episode. It’s the first time we actually get to see Lisa do something for herself and her career; she’s the one at the forefront that the show focuses on, not her husband or her kids — her. It’s a new side to the character that we’ve rarely seen, and despite some serious missteps (like the boring mother-in-law storyline), it feels like the show has finally found a groove for her, and it’s about time.
Lisa Often Feels Like a Background Character on ‘And Just Like That’
Lisa has so much potential as a character, and yet the show has given her practically nothing from the very beginning. The sprinklings we have seen of her and her work are fascinating and complete girlboss energy, but the show just seems to gloss over that. It’s like they gave her a cool job just for the sake of giving her a cool job with no intent to really show it. This season was the first time we’ve actually seen her do more than simply attend PTA meetings or get lunch with Charlotte. We want to see her succeed and thrive, and yet it’s such a rarity. Instead, her husband gets a lot of the limelight, and at times it feels like Lisa is nothing more than a trophy wife, which is absolutely not the case. Even in Episode 7 of this season, which is directly after the one with her documentary premiere, she’s relegated back to a shallow and strange storyline. There’s no girlboss director, or documentary to be seen. Instead, she’s paranoid over her son’s new girlfriend, and it’s a complete disservice to her character.
I’m all for Lisa having side plots of course, they can be fun, but at some point, it gets tiring when that is the only storyline she gets — especially when we’ve got a taste of how deep her character does go. There’s no substance behind the majority of the storylines she gets, they don’t lead to anything, and she’s so much more interesting than the show makes her seem. Lisa is rarely shown to be friends with anyone besides Charlotte – though, the show doesn’t really know what to do with Charlotte either — and we rarely see Lisa interact with anyone else outside of her family. So, to see her finally get a proper storyline, one that was hers and only hers, was completely welcomed, yet far overdue.
‘and Just Like That’ Is Finally Giving Lisa a Proper Story
In Episode 6 of this season, titled “Bomb Cyclone,” Lisa is being honored as a Black filmmaker at MOMA. But as she’s finishing getting ready, her car is canceled. This delights her husband Herbert (Chris Jackson) who says that she can now come to his campaign event, or he can (begrudgingly) drop her off at her event since his car wasn’t canceled. She tells him she doesn’t need rescuing (hell yeah she doesn’t!) and instead packs up her things, including her wig, and trudges through the snow on foot. She does indeed make it to her event, and it’s empowering to see her talk to a room full of people who were touched by her work. Herbert even comes to watch her speak and watches proudly from the audience, despite acting like a baby for the majority of the episode because she was going to be missing his event. It’s the first time we’ve truly got to see her career in action, and the first time we see her actually have a meaningful storyline.
The show finally seemed to be going on the right path — after little sprinklings about Lisa’s documentary (and the never-spoken-of-again tidbit that it was to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival), we finally got to see her success. Now with Herbert running for city comptroller, there’s going to be a power dynamic to balance. Lisa deserves to be more than a politician’s wife, as we’ve seen from her clear skills as a filmmaker, so hopefully we can see these two on a semi-even playing field. Honestly, I’d much rather focus on Lisa’s career than Herbert’s campaign. That’s been done before in so many shows – hell, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) herself even dated a politician in the original series, so we don’t need to see it again. Give us more of Lisa’s filmmaking skills, or, if the show really wants to incorporate Herbert into the story, let Lisa make a documentary about his campaign. As the most stable relationship aside from Charlotte and Harry (Evan Handler), it’ll be fascinating to see how Lisa and Herbert balance this new power dynamic. For a couple with fairly good communication skills, this could prove to be quite a bump in the road. But maybe, just maybe, Herbert will take a step aside to let his wife shine. After all, he did show up to watch her speak despite carrying on and on about his campaign event.
Whatever the case may be, it’s about time the show actually gave Lisa something to do. Being stylish and looking great in every scene is definitely a worthy trait in this show, but it’s been clear from the get-go that she has the potential to be more than just a fashionista. As the season carries on with its final episodes, we can only hope that it keeps up with giving Lisa a proper storyline, or at least sets her up for one in Season 3. It’s time the show put its runtime to good use and actually give content to all of its characters. Lisa Todd Wexley has the potential to be one of the better characters on the show, and Sex and the City was always about the women, so it’s about time she gets her spotlight.