Anonymous wrote:They had to kill Big because otherwise the series wouldn't be about anything at all- they're all happily married and... what? Divorced would also have been like all the other times when she broke up with Big - it would all have been about Big and how he treated her. But now she can be single again, and they can show what it's like to be single in your 50s, though I don't know that they can realistically get straight into dating just after her husband and the supposed love of her life died? But then "realistic" obviously isn't the criteria here, as other PPs have noted re the reaction to the heart attack, lack of family, etc.
They had to kill Big because Sam was too obvious. Plus, in my experience of it anyway, middle age is when death really becomes a major and regular part of life. Yeah, Big's death does clear the way for a Carrie-driven storyline about dating in your 50s, but losing the people we love the most, who we can't imagine our lives without, is also an all-too-real part of getting older. If they are serious about telling stories that are authentic to middle age, death of a spouse or close friend is about as real as it gets. I hope the writers keep Carrie in mourning, struggling with complex grief, for the entire season.
On a separate note, I agree with the PPs who have been noting the extremely odd absence of pretty much any family to these ladies. Miranda's mom is dead, of course, and presumably Steve's is living in a home or dead now. But Charlotte? Carrie? You'd definitely expect to see women this age dealing with at least some sandwich generation issues. Every woman I know in this age group is having to balance kids and aging parents. It isn't pretty but there's plenty of dramedy to mine in those experiences.