As an alternative, HBO could have gone the opposite direction, immediately thrusting us back into their turbulent love affair that saw everything from Big showing up in Paris to Carrie beating Big with a bouquet after being stood up at her wedding. Better TV? Sure. But do we really want to rehash the same old story lines from the late '90s and early aughts?
The solution is quite clear (even if I didn't see it coming until about 30 seconds into that awkward montage of Lily playing the piano and Big riding his Peloton). Big had to go to clear the way for Carrie to have a new story and a new chapter.
After all, isn't that the whole point of the revival? These women speak repeatedly about having changed (or evolved) since their thirties. This (massively upsetting) loss now frees Carrie up to actually show us how she's changed, as a newly widowed woman in her fifties. Aside from this being a very real and very tragic thing that some spouses go through, this also gives Carrie the opportunity to live out another very real experience: trying to find love (again) in your fifties.
As a lover of love and a lover of happy endings, I never wanted Big to die. And I never wanted to see Carrie in such emotional pain at the loss of her true love. But as a lover of good TV and as someone who wants to see what's next for Carrie, this is honestly the best thing that could have happened.
