When Seema was introduced to the Sex And The City universe in And Just Like That, it was easy to instantly warm to her. Making her debut in episode four, the fabulous and successful real estate agent helps Carrie sell the apartment she shared with Big and the women quickly bond over Carrie’s grief and their shared love for a sneaky cigarette.
With her wit, charm, and lack of judgement, Seema is the character that seems to most closely fill the Samantha-shaped hole in the series (sob). She even joins Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte for brunch, thus cementing her position in the steadfast group.
‘I think Carrie needs a new voice, because I think when you go through loss, you’re sad and you want to be comforted,’ explained actress Sarita Choudhury of the friendship to the LA Times.
‘But sometimes you also want to misbehave, and maybe you can’t say that to your friends, because you have erratic thoughts. There is something about being with Seema where Carrie can rebel in a way that she can’t with the others, because they might ask questions,’ she said.
Yet not all viewers have been convinced by Seema and Carrie’s instant connection: ‘I feel like Seema wouldn’t be friends with Carrie irl,’ wrote one user on Twitter alongside a characteristically cool shot of Seema pulling out a cig in a pair of oversized shades.
With her nonchalant attitude, penchant for fun, and outrageously glamorous outfits, Seema is just effortlessly chic. But she’s also arguably fairly cutting, sometimes unforgiving and touchy about the fact that she’s single.
Thanks to all of this, Carrie and Seema’s friendship gets off to a rocky start. When Carrie gets upset that a sentimental picture frame of her and Big gets broken during her move, she pulls Seema up for being insensitive when she complains.
Bristled by the professional complaint, Seema apologises but argues that Carrie was also insensitive - because Carrie told her she was ‘brave’ for still looking for love after all of her online dating disasters.
If we only hung out with people that pandered to our needs rather than challenge and motivate us, the world would be a very boring place.
You could debate at length over who was right or wrong here, but it boils down to Carrie and Seema’s respective traumas and insecurities rubbing each other up the wrong way. In the real world, this could make for an exhausting or turbulent friendship.
That being said, as the adage goes, opposites attract. And if we only hung out with people that pandered to our needs rather than challenge and motivate us, the world would be a very boring place.
What’s more concerning are many viewers' complaints that new characters Seema, Lisa, Cheand Nya only exist as extensions of the show’s original characters, and are being used as diversity ‘accessories’ within the show. Is this playing into the token best friend trope?
Choudhury doesn’t think so. ‘I’m shocked by some of the criticism,’ she said. ‘It’s really hard to add four new characters and do a good job. You’re naturally going to fail somewhere. And I was impressed by how the show gave us all full lives. When you’re added to a show, it’s usually just to help progress the protagonist, but in this show, I don’t feel like I’m ever doing that.’
READ MORE: How And Just Like That Destroys The Myth Of Friends For Life