'And Just Like That' Season 2 Episode 7: Enter, Aidan’s Jacket

This is a new-ish Aidan who has real money now — not Mr. Big money, but West Elm-bought-me-out money. JACKET money.

This being the cheesiest possible reboot of Sex and the City, it should come as no surprise that And Just Like That not only made an entire episode out of Valentine’s Day, but also had Carrie and Aidan get back together on Valentine’s Day. This would be exasperating if his jacket weren’t exasperating enough.

We open with the glaringly Samantha-less gals at lunch in a restaurant we know is fancy based on the chartreuse upholstered chairs alone. Carrie eats the sort of shaved cabbage salad that looks like it could have come out of a bag from Trader Joe’s. It’s difficult to focus on what they’re saying because they all look like they’re about to go film a Harry Potter movie on a remote island in the North Atlantic. Carrie wears a sweater with a splash of argyle. Miranda, eating a truly sad-looking hunk of stark white fish with what looks like green juice poured over top, wears a huge structured sweater in brown asymmetrical fair isle. Its funnel neck is so funnel-y it looks like it’s eating her. Charlotte has chosen a plain dark sweater with a Peter Pan collar. Miranda’s sweater is going to eat her next.

If it weren’t for the strikes, that sweater would be auditioning for a part on Stranger Things.

Ahead a full recap, organized by character.

Carrie and The Jacket — I Mean, Aidan.

The look of a man wearing a jacket someone else picked out for him.

The whole point of the lunch was to analyze the meaning of Carrie accepting a Valentine’s Day dinner invitation from Aidan, who was surely at that point buffing his jacket in advance of his trip. The gals agree that Aidan wouldn’t have asked her out on Valentine’s Day if he were spoken for, which excites heteronormativity stan Charlotte most of all.

Carrie then spends much of the episode in a restaurant that does not have the the upholstery of a fine-dining establishment. She wears a floral dress with small pouf sleeves that manages to be a dowdier version of her apartment’s new wallpaper. Her phone dies, forcing her to plug it in at the cash register, although it’s hard to believe she would leave the house that night so excited to reunite with Aidan without a phone she made sure was fully charged. Finally she and Aidan realize they’re not in the same restaurant and walk outside. There he stands, in all the glory of his waxed $595 Belstaff trialmaster jacket. Is he doing something sexy with large planks of wood, this Aidan? No, but this is a new-ish Aidan who has money now — not Mr. Big money, but West Elm-bought-me-out money, otherwise known as jacket money.

The Belstaff model’s expression couldn’t be more perfect.

He belts the jacket tightly at the waist as if to suggest an interest in tailoring or influencing — one of the two.