‘Sex and the City’: Did Samantha Jones Almost Hookup With Seema Patel’s Dad?
Samantha Jones does not appear in the HBO Max reboot of Sex and the City. At least she doesn’t appear visually in And Just Like That… Still, the character’s influence is being felt, and little hints of Samantha appeared throughout season 1 of the reboot. Text messages between Carrie and Samantha are the most obvious references to the character, but could there be more subtle ones? Someone Samantha hooked up with might have appeared in season 1. Ajay Mehta, the actor who portrayed Seema Patel’s father in season 1 of And Just Like That…, also appeared in Sex and the City. He appeared as a busboy who propositioned Samantha. That forces fans to ask a pretty strange question. Did Samantha Jones almost hook up with Seema’s dad? It could go either way.
Ajay Mehta appeared in ‘Sex and the City’
Many men cycled in and out of the lives of Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Miranda Hobbes, and Charlotte York. Samantha had more than her fair share of male interest, but not every mild flirtation turned into sex. In the season 2 episode, “They Shoot Single People, Don’t They?” Samantha is swept up in the “we” talk of William, a club owner.
Samantha and William appear to be getting along well until he suddenly stands her up. With his absence, Samantha’s summer in the Hamptons evaporates, too. Feeling dejected, she gets emotional, only to find herself comforted by a busboy. While Samantha doesn’t bring the busser home with her, as he suggests, she does appreciate his kind words. The character is portrayed by Ajay Mehta, the same actor who later appears in And Just Like That…
Ajay Mehta also appeared in ‘And Just Like That…’
Mehta’s role in Sex and the City was pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The character wasn’t important enough to have an actual name. Mehta’s role in And Just Like That… is far more significant, although his most recent role is also unnamed. In the HBO Max reboot, Mehta portrays Seema’s dad, appearing in the episode “Diwali.” Mehta’s And Just Like That… role might not be huge, but it feels meatier than his previous appearance. At the very least, fans learn a bit more about Seema’s dad than they ever learned about the busboy he previously portrayed.
Since Mehta appeared in And Just Like That…, once again in an unnamed role, one has to wonder if Seema’s dad was the same person Samantha briefly considered hooking up with early on in Sex and the City. While it’s possible, the implications would be pretty far-reaching. It would suggest that Seema was wrong about her parents and their delirious happiness. It would mean Seema’s dad cheated on her mother and possibly kept it a secret all these years. But is that what happened? Probably not.
It’s more likely Mehta was just cast in a new part
While there is nothing to completely rule out the theory that Samantha almost hooked up with Seema’s dad, there is likely a far more mundane explanation. Presumably, the actor was just called back for a brand-new role. Because Mehta’s original Sex and the City role was so small, casting executives probably didn’t think fans would even notice the actor was dropped into a new part.
At least, that’s what we’d like to think. Seema made it clear that her parents had won the lottery and were deeply in love decades after a matchmaker arranged their marriage. It would be an awful revelation to think of Seema’s dad possibly cheating on her mother.
It’s possible And Just Like That… fans could learn more about Seema, but her parents seem unlikely to appear again. Sarita Choudhury, the actor who portrays Seema, is set to reprise the role in season 2 of the HBO Max reboot. There is no word on whether Mehta will return as her father for season 2, though. An official release date has not yet been announced.
