‘And Just Like That’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Do Carrie and Aidan Break Up?

And Just Like That Season 2’s big finale premiered today, and judging from last week’s episode, which left Carrie and Aidan’s relationship hanging in the balance, the show seems hell-bent on not letting these two characters be together.

Now that the episode, titled “The Last Supper Part Two: Entreé” is available to stream on Max, here’s a breakdown of how season two ended for our star-crossed lovers.

And Just Like That Season 2 Ending Explained

In And Just Like That Season 2 Episode 7 (“February 14th”), Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) sent her former love, Aidan Shaw (John Corbett), an email to rekindle the relationship that left them both hurt nearly twenty years ago. They went on a date on Valentine’s Day, and over the course of the season’s final four episodes, Carrie came to the realization that Aidan, and not John “Mr. Big” Preston, was the great love of her life. Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, she bought a new apartment on Gramercy Park for them to share and the couple seemed more committed to their relationship than ever until Aidan’s 14-year-old son that he shares with wife Kathy (Rosemarie DeWitt) crashed his father’s truck into a tree while driving drunk. (This week, we learned he was also high on mushrooms, too.)

In preparation for her move to the new apartment, Carrie throws one last dinner party to bid her old place farewell and invites her closest friends, including Charlotte, Miranda, Nya, Lisa, Che, Anthony, and their significant others, but Aidan stays back in Virginia – at first he planned to skip the party because he vowed never to step foot in Carrie’s apartment ever again, due to their complicated history there and the bad memories it holds – but ultimately he stays in Virginia to care for Wyatt after his car crash.

Surprisingly, Aidan shows up on Carrie’s doorstep (actually, he’s throwing rocks at her window) after the party ends, but he’s not there to eat the leftovers… He’s there to tell her he needs to commit his time to his children in Virginia. They clearly need him there, he explains, “Their whole lives, I’ve been the constant,” he tells Carrie. “I’ve always been there. I need to be there.” His absence, shuttling back and forth to New York every week to see Carrie over the last few months, has obviously not gone unnoticed by his kids, and it’s obviously taken a toll.

Despite the fact that Carrie bought a whole new four bedroom house for Aidan (and maybe even his kids?) to fit in, he is resolute in his decision to stay back in Virginia. Carrie even offers to spent more time in Virginia but he tells her he wouldn’t want to split his attention between her and the kids. When Carrie asks how long Aidan needs before he’s able to prioritize their relationship, he gives her a pretty shocking number – five years, until Wyatt is out of his teens. “Five years will go by like that,” he says holding his fingers up as if to snap them, but he doesn’t. “You didn’t snap them,” she says. “Oh, I did, it happened so fast, your eyes didn’t even detect it. That’s five years,” he tells her.

The couple spend the night together, and the next morning as Aidan leaves, Carrie tells him, “No matter what happens, this,” she says, pointing to her apartment, “and this,” she says pointing to herself, “was not a mistake.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Aidan assures Carrie and kisses her forehead. As he leaves, he holds his fingers up as if to snap them, but he doesn’t. And so Carrie and Aidan’s great love is still there, it’s just going to take five years for it to really come together.

As the episode ends, Carrie and Seema, who is also spending an extended period of time away from Ravi, her new boyfriend, decide to take an impromptu trip to Greece. Their planned trip to the Hamptons was a bust, but this trip feels just right. And just like that, Carrie ordered two more Cosmopolitans.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.