Sex and the City: In Review

When I told an acquaintance that I had just ordered the entire series of "Sex and the City" (SATC) on DVD, she was shocked.  She thought that SATC was a "hetero" thing, as in something that could only be enjoyed by heterosexuals.  That had never occurred to me.  And for the record, I don't like SATC because of Stanford and Anthony nor was I drawn in by Miranda's attempt at being a lesbian in season 1.  I love SATC because of the characters, the writing, the campiness, and a myriad of other reasons. 

I just love Sex and the City.

That's why I ordered it.  Over the years it has given me countless hours of enjoyment and pure entertainment, and I wanted to be able to experience that whenever I wanted.  When the package arrived, I squealed, and immediately started watching it.

Here's the thing - I've seen every episode of "Sex and the City", and I've watched many seasons in chronological order, but I've never sat down and watched the entire series from beginning to end.  However, that's what I've been doing over the past month or so, and it's time to share my thoughts, comprehensively.

I love Sex and the City because it is what it is.  You can make all the statements you want about what these women are, what their lives are, and what you think of them, but at the end of the day - the show is what it is.  It's a cross-section of a specific subculture of straight, single women in their 30s, living in Manhattan, and trying to find love (or not).  You can pick and choose how to relate to them (or not), but at the end of the day, it's entertainment.  It's witty and outrageous writing, occasionally laugh out loud funny, occasionally gut-wrenchingly emotional, but always entertaining.  It's taboo topics shoved right in your face; shocking you, exciting you, and making you think, "I thought I was the only one who did that!"  It's about seeing three very different women connected to one another by the anchor, Carrie Bradshaw.  Carrie is her own person but also an amalgam of the other three, wanting love, great sex, and also to make fun of it all!  It's unlikely that Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte would've ever met, never mind become lifelong friends, but somehow they are, with Carrie solidifying the group with her accessibility.  We can appreciate the revolutionary nature of SATC, we can relate to the characters, we can laugh at the jokes, and we can cry at the romance, but again - it just is what it is, and that's what I love about it.

I love Sex and the City because of what it did with the characters over 6 seasons.  Like any well-written and - let's face it - HBO show, Sex and the City steered clear of being linear and predictable.  Having watched it over and over again, I have come to really appreciate what it made the characters face.  

All Charlotte wanted was the perfect man and a family with him.  One day her white knight (Trey) arrived and things seemed perfect.  Then they got married... and it turned out he had a bit of an erectile issue.  Not so perfect.  Then that issue got fixed, and then it turned out that the one thing Charlotte felt destined to do - have kids - was an area she had challenges in.  In the end, they got divorced.  The dream of the perfect man and the perfect family?  It was not so perfect.  Then Charlotte, in the divorce process, ends up with her divorce lawyer -- a bald, chubby, Jewish man with a hairy back.  This was not the man we imagined Charlotte with, yet he is the one for her, and who doesn't love Harry?!

Samantha finally falls in love at the end of season 1 - something we didn't think we'd see her do.  James seems perfect and Sam loves him... until she realizes he has a very small penis.  She tries to make it work, but it doesn't.

Miranda - aside from Samantha - is the character we least expect to have a baby.  But lo and behold, she does, to Charlotte's dismay.  She treats Brady like an object/accessory a lot of the time, but then we see moments of tenderness, and can tell that against all odds, Miranda really loves her child.

 Carrie's looking for love and a man to marry, and she finds Aidan, who seems absolutely perfect.  Carrie wants so badly to want him and need only him, but despite him seeming to be perfect in every area, they're just not meant for each other.

This 4-5 examples and some of many of these kinds of moments on SATC.  You never get it spoon-fed to you on this show; you have to watch as the opposite happens of what you expected, and how the characters deal as a result.



I love Sex and the City because it makes your emotions run the gamut.  I thought to sum it all up, I'd list my top 5 favourite funny moments and my top 5 favourite emotional moments.  Here they are!

Top 5 Funny Moments

1. When Miranda calls Steve in season 6 to ask him on a date.  She leaves a voicemail, which she has carefully written on a notepad beforehand, but the whole thing ends up horribly.
2. When Carrie goes out to brunch with her new (not Stanford) gay friend, Stanford runs into the two of them and realizes what's going on.  He's wearing a bright green suit and shouts at Carrie, "I'm green with envy!"
3. Samantha grows out her pubic hair when Smith requests she do so, and to her horror she finds a gray hair.  She decides to dye it but it ends up bright red.  She declares to Carrie, "I'm bozo the bush!"
4. When Carrie finds out about Big's fiancee, Natasha, and to comfort her - in the way only friends can - everyone agrees that Natasha is a totally "bullshit name".
5. This one might only tickle me, but lastly, when Samantha dons a pair of reading glasses when looking at the menu at the coffee shop one day.  Carrie teases her, "Are those the ones you get at the drugstore next to the BenGay?"  Samantha looks indigant: "How dare you?  These are CHANEL!!!"

Top 5 Emotional Moments

1. When Charlotte has a miscarriage, she sits on the couch, not moving, not eating, and just looking miserable and depressed.  Then she watches an E! True Hollywood Story on Elizabeth Taylor and is inspired by her struggles.  She dons a gorgeous pink dress and emerges from her apartment to go to Brady's 1st birthday party.
2. When Miranda decides she'll try to believe in love after Big actually comes to meet Carrie's friends when Miranda figured he wouldn't, and so she runs outside and catches Steve in the rain and kisses him.
3. When Samantha ditches Smith at a party at one of Richard Wright's hotels to have sex with Richard.  She says, "You go play with your friends, and I'll play with mine." She goes on to have totally unsatisfying sex with Richard that leaves her feeling awful and dirty.  There is an amazing shot of her looking totally defeated in the elevator afterwards, and then the doors open to Smith sitting there waiting for her.  He says something along the lines of, "I just wanted to make sure you got home safe."  Sam bursts into tears and says, "I hate myself for doing this to you."  Then we watch Smith help her out of the hotel.
4. When Charlotte is at the Jewish singles night at the synagogue when her and Harry have broken up and she runs into him there and makes a declaration of her love and he proposes [this I could find a video clip for].
   
   
   
   
5. When Carrie wakes up to a post-it from Berger, reading: "I'm sorry.  I can't.  Don't hate me.", she emotionally and dramatically (and effectively!) knocks a vase of pink carnations off her table that Berger had brought her the night before.

FIN.