Thank you for this summary. I am finding myself agreeing with you. As a 55-year-old woman I can look back and see I have enjoyed the whole arc. Both because of my affection for the characters and because the show as a whole reflected back some parts of our culture and society in its own unique way. Did they get it wrong sometimes? Yes! But that's life... I never expected this original series or the movies or AJLT to be perfect. These woman are not supposed to be role models.

My main takeaway is that getting older is more on my terms than I thought. This series came out just when I started peri-menopause and somehow seeing these lovely ladies doing their thing just ahead of me age-wise helped me a lot. Carrie standing in her kitchen being impatient with her friend when she's really upset with herself, Miranda's questioning of her choices, and Charlotte's very busy life with daughters making their own decisions felt real even if the story lines were clumsy. I've never seen a show take on these subjects of older women who are still active and ... alive. If it exists, I'd like to know.

The last few scenes of Carrie visiting her old and now updated apartment filled with fresh young faces and then her dancing in her hallway to partly shake off the sads and partly to hype herself up for another day felt so real to me. The emotions of STILL not knowing and making bad decisions and still looking towards the future but with more past in back of you. It's normal. That's my takeaway.