'Aidan from And Just Like That is suddenly... awful? I have a theory that explains why.'

And Just Like That has officially ruined Aidan Shaw, and no, I'm not talking about the hand-licking incident in the car (but also, the horror).

The latest season's antics should have been a breaking point for Carrie Bradshaw. The two messy characters — albeit played sensationally by Sarah Jessica Parker and John Corbett — are clearly not working, but alas, they will stay together to torture fans another day.

Episode four left me with a niggling feeling: was Aidan ever this awful? Like, as a Team Big gal on Sex and the City, I've never been a huge fan of Aidan, but I can confidently say, he's never been this bad.

This guy sucks.

So how did we get here? After the death of Carrie's husband, Mr. Big, in Season 1 of And Just Like That, Aidan reappeared in Carrie's life in Season 2, and the two quickly rekindled their relationship like no time (or other marriages) had passed. A bit weird, but play on.

Watch the trailer for Season 3. Post continues after video.

But then Aidan's family, especially his teenage son Wyatt, became a problem for the couple's blossoming second (or shall I say third) chance at love. Wyatt is troubled, and Aidan decided at the end of last season that he needed to focus on parenting him following Wyatt's car accident.

This meant Aidan told Carrie they would have to wait five years (!!??) until his children were older before they could be together. Umm, what?

Anyway, Carrie agreed to wait, but didn't seem happy about it.

This brings us to the current season and Aidan is treating Carrie like trash. Between the vague blank postcards, setting rules about how often they can communicate, calling Carrie while drunk for some truly harrowing phone sex and the lacklustre texting — he's just being a shi**y partner.

Aidan's sweet, earnest, soulful persona from Sex and the City has been replaced by a selfish, impulsive and inconsiderate loser. Sorry, but you know it's true!

All of a sudden, it became The Aidan Show with Carrie just going along for the ride, smiling politely, and never rocking the boat (yes, I'm aware that's a real cocktail of metaphors).

Turns out, some chapters do get rewrites. 🔐 pic.twitter.com/wwIWafvMeN

— And Just Like That... (@AndJustLikeThat) June 20, 2025

On last week's episode, Carrie agreed to a speaking gig in Virginia so she could visit her boyfriend. He invited her to stay at his place but hid Carrie away in his guest house, hoping to avoid "springing" her on his sons.

ICYMI: his family remains fragile following the divorce, particularly his son Wyatt. But what didn't make sense is: why didn't Aidan invite Carrie earlier and then he could have given Wyatt more time to prepare?

Instead, he's fine to banish Carrie to the guest house without giving her a heads-up or offering a real explanation. This just feels super selfish all around: he doesn't just not think of Carrie, but Wyatt clearly struggles throughout the episode with Carrie's unexpected presence in his family home.

Then there was Aidan's bizarre lie to Carrie about Wyatt's medication. He neglected to tell her, when she handed him the Adderall that Kathy requested, that he was against his son taking it. It's all just so secretive and weird!

Who has the time to deal with these domestic dramas when Carrie should be living it up in NYC, wearing comically large hats, embracing cutting-edge inventions like 'podcasts' and dating random urban hotties with wild abandon?!

But alas, it looks like Carrie is staying with Aidan despite never seeing him, not being allowed to communicate with him, and not having any of her needs met. Cool!

I have a theory on why the And Just Like That writers have suddenly made Aidan such a — for lack of a better term — demanding diva.

This is Aidan's idea of punitive measures for the way he was treated by Carrie in the early years of their relationship.

And I'm not the only one thinking this.

I’m convinced Carrie is paying for her past crimes committed against Aidan.
At this point, prove me wrong. 😑 #AndJustLikeThat #andjustlikethatseason3 #AJLT #sexandthecity pic.twitter.com/89bFSihRUG

— Jachelle (@HighJachelle) June 13, 2025

#AndJustLikeThat idk if it’s subconscious or not but it seems like Aidan somehow is still punishing Carrie for breaking his heart all those years ago! Why does he have her apart from him like this and expect them to still have some type of relationship

— 🫶🏽 (@tlx95) June 13, 2025

Here's a quick refresher of what Carrie put Aidan through on Sex and The City. When they started dating she picked fights with him, so their relationship would be more exciting (aka toxic like her and Big). She then cheated on him with Big for the latter half of their relationship and he dumped her.

Then came Carrie and Aidan 2.0: she came back into his life wanting to get back together, then she insisted he become friendly with Big (aka the man his GF cheated with), even inviting Big to Aidan's cabin, then after Aidan proposed to Carrie, she refused to wear her engagement ring before finally telling him she didn't want to get married. Again, they broke up. Phew!

So yeah! In an earlier life, it was very much The Carrie Show, and Aidan had to bend and twist to our messy protagonist's many whims.

But does that make it okay for him to treat her this way later in life? No! No freakin' way! Aidan chose to give Carrie a, well, third chance, and if he still harboured resentment against her — this isn't Carrie's problem.

This potential behaviour is also just classic Aidan. This is the same passive-aggressive man who, after taking her back, actually slapped Carrie when applying a nicotine patch to her arm. Oh, and then he flirted with a hot bartender in front of her.

At the time, Carrie rightly called out this behaviour, telling him "You can't keep punishing me, and I can't keep punishing me."

In the case of And Just Like That, it looks like history is repeating itself and we know how it turned out the first (and second) time.

Fingers crossed either Aidan gets his sh** together or Carrie cuts him loose (for good this time), but stay tuned for more And Just Like That to find out.

And Just Like That is available to stream on Max.

Feature image: HBO Max.