'And Just Like That...' finale review: Season 2 ends with bizarre Kim Cattrall cameo

Spoiler alert! The following story contains important details about the Season 2 finale of Max's "And Just Like That..." (now streaming).

Carrie Bradshaw is moving out, and moving on.

Midway through “The Last Supper,” the two-part Season 2 finale of Max's “Sex and the City” sequel, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) invites her dinner party guests to say, in a word, what they want to let go of: Guilt. Limits. Distrust. Rules.

For Carrie, that word is expectations. “I’m talking about assuming things will go the way we think they should,” she explains. “You never know what tomorrow will bring; it might be greater than anything you ever expected.”

It’s an apt summation of the show itself, which was just renewed for Season 3 and has asked fans to manage expectations from week to ridiculous week.

After a bleak first season that ruptured nearly everything we loved about the original series, Season 2 returned earlier this summer on much stronger stilettos. Brunches were dishier, date nights were sexier and the wealth of wealthy new characters actually started to feel like real people. Sure, we still felt the absence of Kim Cattrall’s cheeky Samantha (more on her later), but “And Just Like That…” finally became its own weird and wonderful thing.

Carrie and Aidan's relationship is at a crossroads

But things went downhill fast in Episode 7 with the ballyhooed return of Aidan (John Corbett), one of Carrie’s “two great loves” along with her husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth), who died in the series premiere. In the back half of the season, Carrie’s friends were brushed aside as the show worked overtime to try and convince us that Aidan has always been “the one” – going so far as to retcon her relationship with Big.

“I’ve been asking myself, was Big a big mistake?” Carrie tells Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), suggesting it was their on-and-off romance that kept her from ever being fully present with Aidan. But for all their problems, Carrie and Big ultimately grew together, even laughing about their many stumbles before his shocking death from a heart attack. It’s more than we can say for Aidan, who childishly refuses to set foot in Carrie’s apartment because of bad memories, prompting her to sell her cherished real estate.

When he does finally step inside, in the last minutes of Season 2, it’s just to vaguely break up with Carrie. “The only thing I love more than I love you is my boys,” Aidan says, explaining that he needs to spend more time with his teenage sons. But there’s an asterisk: He doesn’t want to lose Carrie again, and he would like to give their relationship yet another shot … as long as she’s willing to wait five years, after his kids are grown.

“It’s only five years,” Aidan assures her, saying it’ll go by in a snap. It’s a borderline sociopathic ask of anyone, let alone Carrie, who has just uprooted her entire life to be with him. And after nearly five episodes of playing house together, it’s a pallid non-ending that makes us wonder why the show's writers brought back Aidan at all. (Hey, at least a Peloton has some dignity.)

Kim Cattrall's Samantha makes a delightfully bizarre cameo

Despite all the Aidan nonsense, Carrie still gets a somewhat satisfying sendoff: sipping cosmos on the beach in Greece with Seema (Sarita Choudhury), whose boyfriend has similarly gone AWOL. Thanks to Choudhury’s vivacious yet vulnerable performance, Seema is the most meaningful addition to “And Just Like That…” The highlight of the new season was Seema’s Episode 8 confession about needing space from Carrie, capturing the loneliness and insecurity of being a single fish in a coupled-up pond.

But like most things in this new series, the poignant storyline was wrapped up too quickly and tidily, as the show continues to struggle with having too many characters. Although they no longer date Miranda or work with Carrie, nonbinary comic Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) still just hangs around. And as much as we love Mario Cantone, too much time has been wasted on Anthony’s hangups about his boyfriend’s Italian sausage.

'And Just Like That...': Sarah Jessica Parker talks Carrie's 'amazing' puffer coat gown

Instead, there are plenty more interesting characters who deserve our attention. Law professor Nya (the luminous Karen Pittman) was mostly sidelined in Season 2 to wallow in divorce, although she thankfully gets a suave, Michelin-starred rebound (Gary Dourdan) in the finale. Working mom Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker) also wrestles with an unwanted pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, although the show has angered some viewers for the way it tiptoes around the abortion conversation.

The only two characters to be given fully realized arcs were Miranda and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). After a harrowing blowout argument, Miranda makes emotional amends with ex-husband Steve (David Eigenberg) and gets an alluring new love interest (Dolly Wells). Ever the people pleaser, Charlotte also stands up to husband Harry (Evan Handler), who learns to pull his weight as a parent while she reignites her gallery career.

As for Samantha, her long-anticipated appearance is about as awkward as you’d expect, given Cattrall’s prickly relationship with Parker. (The former co-stars filmed the scene separately). In the brief cameo, Carrie gets an unexpected phone call from Samantha, who planned a surprise visit to New York for Carrie's farewell dinner party, but wound up staying in London when her flight got delayed.

Samantha then asks to be put on speakerphone so she can pay her respects to Carrie’s old apartment. “Thank you for everything, you fabulous, fabulous flat,” she says with a slight British accent. “Ta and cheerio, and have a great night.”

It’s a moment that's tart, sweet and absolute chaos ― all the reasons why we keep coming back to this glorious mess of a show.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'And Just Like That' Season 2 finale recap: Samantha (briefly) returns