'And Just Like That' Shuns Abortion; isn't brave enough to let Lisa Todd Wexley have a real choice with motherhood

The Last Supper Part One: Appetizer in “And Just Like That” is all about bringing a close to past ties and the beginning of a new friendship. Carrie really did sell her old apartment to the nice single girl downstairs, and for a steal, Stanford became a Japanese monk and Aidan went back to Virginia and might not return for a while due to his son’s injury. 

Anyways, apart from the tea happening with the main characters, we want to explore a character that the writers of “And Just Like That”  have almost entirely ignored this season. The great Lisa Todd Wexley acclaimed filmmaker, mother, and likely-to-be politician's wife played by  Nicole Ari Parker.

Throughout "And Just Like That" Lisa has been presented as a modelesque queen who periodically shows up to have fun with Charlotte. She is that pinup friend, constantly mentioned but not fully present for plot-accelerating conversations.

Because of this, two seasons into the show and Lisa remains a mystery friend rather than a full-blown character in the show. Series creator Michael Patrick King feels that way too since he jammed an entire season's worth of conversations that could have lent new facets to Lisa and her husband Herbert into one profound unsatisfactory subplot.

In the unsatisfactory plot, Lisa passes out while trying to balance her career, planning Herbert's campaign, and failing to mother correctly. This gives Herbert a fit until his wife reveals she's pregnant.

"The Last Supper Part One: Appetizer" picks up that conversation at a lunch Lisa enjoying with Miranda, Carrie, and Charlotte and Charlotte goes on and on about how PBS is extending Lisa's documentary into a 10-part series.

"They're Ken Burns-ing you!" Miranda says approvingly. Later, though, the filmmaker expresses her doubts to Charlotte. She confesses she's exhausted at the thought of coming up with 10 hours of content.

"You've got that home routine down. You're like a machine!" Charlotte chirps. "I mean, this series had to happen. Think about everything it's going to do for your career. Also, think about all the previously unsung Black women's stories you will be able to tell." Then Lisa reveals to Charlotte that she's pregnant but Charlotte doubles down anyway. "Lisa — I think you could do this."

This discussion could have fueled an entire episode but it was aired in just one conversation. But where Lisa gets really short shrift, though, is when she's in bed with Herbert, punching a pillow, which prompts him to turn on a light so they can talk it out.

In just under three minutes, we learn the following: LTW asked Herbert to get a vasectomy after their third child was born, but he didn't, worrying that she was "a little post-partum" when she made that request. "I wasn't sure if it was just the hormones talking," he says.

"It's never just the hormones," she snaps, at which he sighs, "I can't do anything right."

"You could have if eight years ago you had done what I asked you to." Thank you!

Then Herbert hits her with, "Lis, you can do this. If anyone can, you can. And I'll be here to help."

That's not quite true. She points out that he's in the middle of a political campaign and barely helps with the children they have.

So, being a modern man, he brings up "having the other discussion." "It's your decision," Herbert says, "Whatever is best for you, that's what I want." since they don't use the word abortion, let's be clear they were talking about whether to have an abortion – something married people do in real life, but we rarely see depicted on TV.

However, "And Just Like That" isn't brave enough to take a stand supporting the right to abortion as Lisa says, "I thought about it, but I can't. I mean, I'm really grateful that I have that option. I just need to wrap my head around this new reality."

As King doesn't want to introduce the concept of abortion into the show, he takes a simplistic moral workaround by having Lisa wake up the next morning to discover that she's miscarried. In other words, he gives a model character an out that won't offend the so-called "moral majority" instead of trust the actual majority of Americans who support a woman's right to a safe abortion.