'And Just Like That' Creator Defends Graphic Toilet Scene In Series Finale After Fan Outrage

We've all been let down by the end of a TV series, but imagine putting months, if not years, into a favorite show, only for it to wrap with a literal toilet bowl full of poo.

Sex and the City ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2004, following Carrie Bradshaw (portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends while the four navigated being strong, independent women in career, fashion, love, friendship, and of course, the big city.

And Just Like That was the show's big return in a sequel, celebratory series, in three seasons from 2021 to 2025. Carrie Bradshaw and her friends returned, now with a little more experience and past heartbreak as before, but with just as much spunk.

Some hoped that the show would go on for just as long as the original, but at the start the third season, it was revealed that the show would wrap at the end of the season.

Now that the third season is complete, fans are not happy.

At the end of the final episode, Carrie Bradshaw decides that she is happy being single and would rather be with herself than with a man, an echo back to a similar revelation at the end of the first show's finale.

Carrie has this realization and walks out in an incredible pink tulle dress a full seven minutes before the show ends. During the remaining seven minutes, an individual with lactose-intolerance leaves a mess in the restroom, which Carrie's friend Miranda Hobbes (played by Cynthia Nixon) and boss Mark Kasabian (portrayed by Victor Garber) are left scrambling to clean up.

Fans were disgusted by the included scene and couldn't imagine this was the legacy anyone would want to leave behind.

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In response to the criticism, And Just Like That creator and showrunner Michael Patrick King stood by the choice.

“For the gorgeousness of Carrie’s pink, sparkly top and tulle skirt, that’s the high, [and] the low is a toilet filled up with s**t."

"Because guess what? Being single, there’s a lot of s**t, and relationships are a lot of s**t. It’s the comedy, with the drama, with the romance, with the fairy tale. I guess it’s a response to the fairy tale."

"This was a manifestation of how s**t backs up and you have to deal with it. And also, we’ve always done high-low on the show. We’ve always done couture and comedy... It was the symbolic version of having to deal with a lot of doo doo in relationships, and it backs up if you don’t.”

While fans didn't like the choice, they could understand the contrast between the high and low that King was trying to create.

But the truth of the matter was, they wondered if this was all supposed to be some gross metaphor, or if it was actually a jab about the show being cut early—leaving everyone grossed but unable to look away.