‘And Just Like That’ Isn’t Perfect, But It Gets Grief Right
In the ‘Sex and the City’ reboot, Carrie Bradshaw’s arc is one of the most truthful depictions of mourning I’ve ever seen on TV.
This isGrief at a Distance, a column by Matt Ortile examining his grief over his mother’s death in the Philippines during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sex and the CityGood for her
And Just Like Thata “her [breast] cancer came back” storyline could work (i kind of hope for it tbh?) if it’s done with grace and respect; cancer happens to a lot of women and families, and seeing how Samantha’s family—her friends—grieve would be compelling
And Just Like ThatSex and the City
Sex and the CitySex and the City
And Just Like That
And Just Like ThatVogueAnd Just Like ThatSex and the CityatWhat comes next?
her
And Just Like That
And Just Like That
Matt Ortile is the author of the essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name and the co-editor of the nonfiction anthology Body Language. He is also the executive editor of Catapult magazine and was previously the founding editor of BuzzFeed Philippines. He has received fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and MacDowell; has taught workshops for Kundiman, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and PEN America; and has written for Esquire, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, Out magazine, and BuzzFeed News, among others. He is a graduate of Vassar College, which means he now lives in Brooklyn.
Enter your email address to receive notifications for author Matt Ortile
Success!
Confirmation link sent to your email to add you to notification list for author Matt Ortile
More by this author
In an Essay, Let Us Borrow Your Eyeballs—or Anyone Else’s, Really, Even a Bird’s
Meaning is an abstract concept. It needs a container. Concrete details are those vessels, the building blocks, the foundation of a good essay.
Translating for My Friends Is My Love Language
Whenever I travel, I make a point to speak the local language as much as possible.
How to Write Personal Essays Through Who You Are
This exercise is meant to let you use a part of your identity as a perspective, rather than just a subject that you’re putting under pressure and scrutiny.
More in this series
The Joy of Making Mint Stracciatella Ice Cream in My Mother’s Sacred Kitchen
What I can do for now is to give back in ways that may seem extraneous, but bring delight to the recipient. So, I make frozen desserts.
I Can’t Defeat My Grief, But I’m Learning to Carry It
In video games, dead parent storylines give a character depth. Their grief becomes a plot point, something to overcome.
My Mom, Princess Diana, and Me
At what point does someone we’ve lost become only a story we tell, more myth than memory?