Warning: Spoilers for And Just Like That episode 8.
Miranda finally asks Steve for a divorce in And Just Like That episode 8, with their responses proving that the couple was always doomed to drift apart. While Sex and the City primarily saw Miranda exploring dating and her sexuality in her 30s, season 2 of the original series introduced her main off-and-on love interest Steve Brady, who quickly became a fan-favorite character. Steve and Miranda's SATC relationship began as a passionate affair, but as they took steps towards becoming a real couple, their road to marriage and raising their son was always rocky - a pattern that And Just Like That recalls when finally splitting up the couple.
After more than 20 years of Steve and Miranda going through periods of being content or frustrated, And Just Like That episode 8 finally featured Miranda asking him for a divorce. At first, Steve is confused, as he’s genuinely happy with their life and loves Miranda. Unsurprising to viewers, Miranda says that she’s not happy and can’t keep trying to make it work, particularly because Miranda is already dating Che, who she has fallen in love with. Steve explains that he knows Miranda settled for him and struggled with thinking he was good enough for her, but he loved her and wanted to make it work. Realizing that their situation wasn’t fair to themselves or their son Brady, Miranda and Steve agreed to split as a couple.
Sex and the City’s original series typically made it clear that Miranda saw more for her life and relationships than Steve, while Steve felt content and tried to cultivate a stronger connection with her. The reasons for their splits throughout Sex and the City primarily came down to neither being able to fully commit, or the two realizing that they’re on very separate paths in life, even if they wished it would work because of how well they got along. As Miranda mentions in And Just Like That's episode, it felt like they had simply grown to be best friends without the passionate connection that she still yearned for. While it’s inexcusable that she cheated on Steve - just as he had cheated on her in Sex and the City’s first movie - Miranda also deserves to find a passionate love that she’s not settling for. After years of never being quite enough in Miranda’s eyes, Steve can finally find someone who values him and wants the same things out of life, too.
From the very beginning of Steve and Miranda’s relationship in Sex and the City's timeline, the two were on different wavelengths in terms of how they saw their lives. Their breakups were based on Steve being envious of Miranda making more money than him, the couple having different opinions on children, and genuinely being unhappy in their relationship. In Sex and the City season 5, Steve and Miranda first tried to be amicable, unromantic co-parents to Brady after Miranda became pregnant, which is probably how the series should have kept their relationship. They work better as best friends who genuinely love each other, but can’t fully commit to one another in the romantic sense.
While there are plenty of couples who have bumps in the road and manage to make it work, Miranda and Steve were easily ready to give up on their relationship many times, nearly getting divorced in Sex and the City's 2008 movie. By the end, it was a matter of who said they were unhappy first, and who had someone else to fill in the gap. Miranda and Steve truly do love each other, but their marriage was only really being held together by habit, normalcy, and their son. At this point in their lives, it wasn’t enough to pretend to be happy for Miranda, and Steve never deserved someone who didn’t actually want to be with him. It was inevitable that Steve and Miranda would stray from being happy together once again, so And Just Like That was simply concluding this chapter so both can move on to happier situations.
And Just Like That is streaming now on HBO Max.