''Sex and the City ' ' Revival'' And Just Like That...'  ' Premieres First 2 Episodes — Featuring a Huge Death

This article contains spoilers from the first two episodes of And Just Like That...

And Just Like That... Sex and the City is officially back!

HBO Max premiered the first two episodes — "Hello It's Me" and "Little Black Dress" — of the revival on Thursday, and let's just say they were BIG. Read on to find out what our ladies have been up to all these years since the series was last on screens and where they seem to be headed over the next eight episodes...

THE ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM

Well, they warned us they were going there with COVID and the absence of Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) — and they didn't waste any time dealing with two of the most pressing questions fans had going into the premiere.

As a matter of fact, the iconic tutu credits are gone, the first punchline of the show is about social distancing and the second joke of the premiere is about Ms. Jones. As widely rumored, she is in London on business — a move she made out of injured pride when Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) fired her as her publicist.

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The things unsaid between the two former best friends have impacted the larger group, as well: Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) have lost touch with Sam.

"You know it is kind of like she's dead," admits Miranda. "We never even talk about her."

Carrie agrees, "I understand why she's upset, but I thought I was more to her than an ATM."

Given the rumors about long-standing tensions between Parker and Cattrall, including speculation that Cattrall had concerns over pay disparity, that line hit.

But for what it's worth, Samantha does come through in a meaningful way in episode 2 (more on that to come).

CARRIE & BIG

Yes, it's true: Mr. Big is dead.

Though showrunner Michael Patrick King had denied rumors of a major character death, by the end of "Hello It's Me," John James Preston (Chris Noth) suffered a post-Peloton heart attack, as many predicted — what they might not have expected was that yet another crushing Big/Carrie scene would be centered on Lily Goldenblatt (Cathy Ang). Little Miss Cupcake Purse is at it again as she performs an intense, note-perfect piano performance that's crosscut with Big's last moments in life. At the end of the first episode, Carrie returns home from the recital to discover Big, who has collapsed just outside their shower — as she tries to revive him, one of her iconic blue Manolo Blahnik wedding pumps slips off and is ruined by the water pouring down on them both.

Where They've Been: Big's brother (James Naughton) speaks at Big's funeral — which is the centerpiece of of the bittersweetly titled second episode, "Little Black Dress." They brothers spoke the week before Big's death, and he "said he'd never been happier in his whole life," reports his brother, adding, "and I suppose that's the way to go out." Indeed, the premiere showed Big getting fit, cutting back on his cigar smoking and limiting his salt intake. He and Carrie were living their best lives — so, of course, he was a goner.

Where They Are Now: Before the devastating end of the episode, it's confirmed that Carrie continues to be the inexplicably squeamish talking about sex considering her chosen field. Only now, when she blushes about masturbation, it's on a podcast ("They're like jury duty now") and on Instagram. Yes, the woman whose 35th birthday was a disaster because she didn't have a cell phone is now chasing that clout. But first, she'll have to let go of some of her old-school prudery — or as her podcast boss Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) says, "Step your p---y up." This is Sex and the City 2021, when Carrie's dates are podcast interviews. Naturally, she takes on Che's assignment by roping Big into some voyeuristic foreplay that he describes as "some Bridgerton s---."

Where She's Going: Carrie doesn't have the luxury of a Mexicoma after this permanent separation from Big, but fortunately she does have her friends by her side — including Samantha, who sends an extravagant arrangement of flowers to sit atop Big's coffin. Carrie didn't want any flowers (not even her favorite carnations?), but she appreciates the gesture and lets them lie. She will now have to move forward with her life as a single girl yet again.

MIRANDA

Who would have thought Miranda would turn into the Karen of the group?

Where She's Been: Miranda is still with Steve (David Eigenberg), who is slightly hearing impaired — perhaps fortunately so since Brady (Niall Cunningham) is a fully hormonal teenager who is quite literally banging it out with his girlfriend Louisa at all hours on the other side of his parents' bedroom wall. This is Sex and the City 2021, when the teens are the ones having the Sex. So much so that Miranda shares in the first minutes of the premiere that she "stepped on my son's semen before coffee"... but hey, at least she can use the residual trauma to justify ordering fries at brunch.

Where She Is Now: Miranda is struggling to navigate what's old and what's new. Specifically being comfortable with the fact she's visibly older after growing out her grey hair during the pandemic. And with starting a new human's rights Master's program at Columbia University where she manages to offend every single one of her classmates and her professor, Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman), while desperately fumbling away from stereotypes and toward more culturally sensitive language. As she tells Carrie later, "I think I was just so worried about saying the wrong thing in this climate, I said all the wrong things." Still, our Miranda is a trier. While she might not have taken away all the right nuances from How to Be an Anti-Racist, there's no doubt she will put in maximum effort to drop her White Savior Complex, albeit with many more missteps and embarrassments along the way.

Where She's Going: Maybe to rehab? Or that "dyke bike" bar Che where used to work as a bouncer? Between the 10:45 a.m. pre-class chablis, the piano recital purse wine and the bourbon before she delivers the eulogy Carrie wrote for Big, Miranda seems like she might need to reckon with her use of alcohol in upcoming episodes. But before that, and given a scene in the full-season teaser about her boredom with Steve, it seems she might be enjoying a drink or two with Che. Despite the fact they got off to a terrible start — when Miranda went full "mama bear" on Che for giving Brady a few hits of weed from their vape — the pair have sizzling chemistry, giving some juice to fans' speculation that Miranda could have a late-in-life sexual awakening.

CHARLOTTE

Is it any surprise Charlotte is the most consistent of the three ladies? You can take the girl out of the country club...

Where She's Been: She's still happily married to Harry (Evan Handler) and doing her best to mother Lily and Rose (Alexa Swinton), who much to Charlotte's chagrin is not about designer clothes and girly entrapments, even if they come from Oscar de la Renta.

Where She Is Now: Charlotte has the least substantial role of the core trio in the first two episodes, save that she takes on a lot of emotional burden for pushing Carrie to attend Lily's piano recital, which meant that Carrie isn't there for her husband when he has his fatal heart attack. Obviously Charlotte bears no responsibility for Big's death, and Carrie knows that, but Charlotte begins to sob so uncontrollably at a funeral home she's viewing with Carrie that an employee mistakes her for Big's widow. Carrie ushers out a gasping Charlotte, telling the staffer, "It's not you, it's me." Because this is Sex and the City 2021, when the breakups are with funeral directors.

Where She's Going: On lots of walks with Richard Burton, her new bulldog named as a tribute to her beloved pooch Elizabeth Taylor and the real-life Taylor's two-time husband! And also on lots of mom dates with Lisa Todd Wexler (Nicole Ari Parker), a fellow Manhattan power mom with whom Charlotte is going to become "the Thelma and Louise of their parent group."

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AND JUST LIKE THAT... THE BEST OF THE REST

Though Willie Garson died after wrapping his scenes in September, his beloved character Stanford Blatch will continue to be alive, well and sniping at husband Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone) throughout And Just Like That...

And like any good friend, Stanford reminds us that even in our most trying times, we still have fashion.

"I'm so proud of her," he tells Anthony at Big's funeral. "With all she's going through, pulling it together and giving us a look today because people will be expecting it. She's kind of our Jackie Kennedy."

Anthony shoots back, "Mmhmm, maybe don't say that to her."

Says Stanford, "Oh, I did already."

Carrie's friend Susan Sharon (Molly Price) wins the line of the week during a montage of Mr. Big photos and video set to Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" (a song Big and Carrie had shared the night before his death). As the attendees sniffle and swoon, Susan Sharon asks, "Am I the only one who remembers what a prick he was to her?"

The funeral also introduces us to Big's secretary ("she prefers to be called that," Carrie notes of the outdated term). Gloria (Brenda Vaccaro) tells Carrie how much she appreciated that Big didn't fire her as his admin "when all the others got rid of their old gals." That said, when she is the only person at the funeral who becomes audibly emotional during his montage, I couldn't help but wonder: Should Gloria's closeness to Big set off any alarm bells about future revelations?

Bitsy von Muffling (Julie Halston) is back for both of the first two episodes and reveals that her husband Bobby Fine (Nathan Lane) died "early in the COVID," presumably from coronavirus, though it's not explicit.

STILL TO COME...

In the season teaser, Carrie struggles to stay in the "haunted" house she shared with Big and seems to bring on Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury) to help her sell the apartment, so we can expect lots of time back in the old apartment, even though Stanford seems to be the only one using it for now as a way to take a break from Anthony.

And of course Natasha (Bridget Moynahan) will be back — and, as Charlotte gasps, "She's wearing flats!" Miranda snarks, "That is the most desperate put-down I have ever heard."

Though we do see a glimpse of Carrie's upcoming date with a mystery man played by Jon Tenney, there was no sneak peek at how or why Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) will return. But given that the end credits of "Hello It's Me" were played out by The Source Featuring Candi Staton's "You've Got the Love," which was also the ending song to the original TV series, perhaps we can choose to believe that least some parts of the two SATC movies — including Carrie's "midwife crisis" kiss with her furniture designer ex-fiancé in Abu Dhabi — never happened.

This is Sex and the City 2021, when Carrie has traded in her stilettos for wedges and her end-game romance is now boxed up like a Vivienne Westwood wedding gown that never made its way down the aisle. Anything is possible.

And Just Like That... drops new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.