No one made a bigger splash onSex and the Citysuccessor seriesAnd Just Like Thatthan Che Diaz.
“People were like, ‘Cool!
But by Che’s stand-up comedy routine in episode 3, the character had become a cringey meme.
Sara Ramirez as Che Diaz in ‘And Just Like That’ season 2.Craig Blakenhorn/Max
King has his theories on why.
he says of the shifting tone among viewers.
We brought a new character in and blew up a relationship that they had invested in.
Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda cuddles Sara Ramirez’s Che in ‘And Just Like That’ season 2.Craig Blakenhorn/HBO Max
Therefore, the new character is the Big Bad Wolf and Steve’s in the henhouse.”
“But I can’t get wrapped up in that.
If the story lines created major water-cooler moments after each episode, then we did our job.”
Cynthia Nixon and Sara Ramirez in ‘And Just Like That’ season 2.Craig Blakenhorn/Max
King likens that plot arc for both Miranda and Che to “a lemon meringue pie.
It’s so tart and sweet and wrong in a comedy way.
They’re both trying to grow or be happy and it’s substantial, it’s enough.”
But it won’t be a permanent relocation.
“They’re back in New York at some point,” King says.
So does that mean the pilot fails?
“Don’t worry, everybody, TV pilots are an iffy business,” he teases.
Che, as well, is kind of in their third adolescence," Ramirez continues.
That was the goal with Che in season 2: removing the mask to show the real person underneath.
“Che had a very performative quality in season 1,” Ramirez believes.
Perhaps it was that performative quality that rubbed many viewers the wrong way.
King actually believes the response to Che was as much about the fictional comic as it was about Miranda.
“It was kind of likeFriends and the City.
She was an anarchist.
Basically, Steve had to beg her to marry him.
She begrudgingly took a diamond.
She was pregnant and she got married.
She didn’t want to go to Brooklyn.
She was dragged into that.
He cheated on her in the movie.
Everybody forgot that and created, ‘Miranda’s me and I’m being judged.’
And it isn’t.
Miranda was unsatisfied as a single girl and she was unsatisfied as a married woman.”
King says he knew introducing Che as a new love for Miranda “was gonna be trouble.”
But now he welcomes the discourse.
“It means we didn’t do the same thing,” he says.
It wouldn’t have been anything to argue about.
There wouldn’t have been a change to debate."
Ramirez makes a point to say they are “actually nothing like Che Diaz.”
Some even speak about Che as if they are a real person, which fascinates Ramirez.
The actor is far more of an introvert than the “self-identified narcissist” they often joke is Che.
“It was absolutely exhausting to bring this person to life,” Ramirez admits.
“I had to stay in a bit of an extroverted mode to do that.
“I’m here to elicit them,” they say.
Not everyone is likable in every community.
One non-binary character does not represent all non-binary people.”
