“If I may be a little graphic, the minute the fingering in the kitchen happens, people didn’t know what was coming next,” says Michael Patrick King.

In effect! King — the longtime executive producer of “Sex and the City,” who helms “And Just Like That” for HBO Max — thinks the show’s fifth episode was a turning point for viewers about Che Diaz (Sara Ramírez), who has become a divisive presence among the series’ fans. During this episode, titled “Tragically Hip”, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) undergoes hip surgery and must rely on her friends to care for her during her recovery. As Carrie is napping in her apartment while being supervised by Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Che pulls up – and after making out, an amorous Miranda and Che spontaneously have sex in the kitchen. Carrie, meanwhile, wakes up and needs Miranda’s help to get to the bathroom, but because Miranda is otherwise busy, she ends up pissing on the bed.

King thinks this scene was too much for some fans. “That was Episode 5, and I think they spent the next five episodes on some level of terror,” he says.

“Combo plate with Carrie peeing in the bed!” King continues with a shout. “I think when you do something unfamiliar or for the first time, people look at it like, ‘I don’t know what it is, and I’m uncomfortable.'”

Ramírez was also shocked when they read this scene: “My jaw was on the floor. I was terrified of how the public was going to handle this. I really felt for Carrie, and I was really excited for Miranda.

During an interview for VarietyIn the Power of Pride cover story, Ramírez says they worked closely with the show’s intimacy coordinator to try and get the scene right, especially knowing the importance of this. what the intense sexual encounter would mean for the two characters in the future. And because Miranda has been drinking too much in general and being drunk during the scene, and because Che is stoned, those factors added more nuance.

“It was important to me that Che got Miranda’s consent for what Che is doing,” Ramírez said. “Just to allow both of these people to participate equally in what’s going on, instead of one person running the whole thing. I wanted both characters to be responsible for what they were doing, even if it was was in a context of inebriation. It was always important that they each take responsibility for why they are there.

And since Che is a gamer – and they had just stopped by Carrie’s apartment for a minute and were in a rush – Ramírez also wanted to show their character was unexpectedly carried away.

“How do I put this on?” Ramírez asks rhetorically. “I wanted to allow Che to be completely absorbed in the moment – ​​so much so that he loses track of time and is a little surprised by it. Because we are building a relationship.

Nixon says it was easy for the two of them to find their chemistry together and their groove. “You don’t find a lot of people this beautiful and this talented,” Nixon says. “Usually the most beautiful people are just sort of on the coast, you know?”

Their acting styles, however, are very different, says Nixon: “Sara is a processor; I’m not. I say to myself: ‘Let’s go’.

“With the sex scene we had, Sara spent a lot of time talking to the intimacy coach,” Nixon continues. “I didn’t! I was like, ‘I appreciate you being here. If I have a question, I’ll ask you. I don’t want to sit here and talk about my comfort level or whatever. whatever. My comfort level is complete.’”

She laughs remembering. “Like, I only have comfort!”

Nixon can’t wait to see what happens with Miranda and Che in the second season of “And Just Like That,” which King says will begin three weeks after the events of the finale. We will see Che and Miranda in Los Angeles, where Che is working on a pilot. King says one note he agreed with viewers about Season 1 was the unresolved question of what happened in Cleveland after Miranda told Steve (David Eigenberg) that she was getting divorced and decided to surprise Che at their comedy gig in Cleveland.

“We set up a thing, and then production happens once in a while, and you’re like, ‘Well, we can’t really do Cleveland, even though we’ve had an idea,'” King explains. “So I understand the idea of ​​giving people what they expect to see, which is red-haired Miranda Hobbes, dating a narcissistic stand-up comedian in Los Angeles.”

The missing Cleveland scene also baffled Nixon, but as she points out, “it seemed to have gone well!”

She expects Miranda in Los Angeles to be a “full-fledged groupie” of Che now, having sacrificed a prestigious internship to spend the summer there with them.

“And she knows what the demands of a groupie are,” Nixon says. “Who are: You have to look sexy for the person who is the celebrity. So I’m looking forward to Miranda’s LA look with I’m-with-the-band.