Episode Eight: the man, the myth, the viagra

Hey, guess what. This episode starts “Once upon a SECOND time around…” Are they keeping track? Cause I am, and that’s number four.

Carrie has a cell phone in this episode. She usually doesn’t.

Maybe it’s maturity or the wisdom that comes with age, but I really like Steve as Miranda’s boyfriend. I used to not.

Episode Ten: the caste system

The above quote represents the most writerly, intelligent thing that Carrie has said in her dialogue, voice over, and column, period. Mr. Big’s response is “Well, don’t be a bitch.” She tells him “I’m not being a bitch, I’m just being myself.” You’re right, sweetheart, not only does he not love you, he has no idea who you are.

They make a big deal out of Miranda only letting Steve take her out to places he can afford, which means pizza, but the thing about Miranda is that she loves junk food. That character’s most-used prop is food. She should be perfectly happy surviving on pizza.

Okay, in the end, Carrie takes performance artist/caterer Jeremiah home with her, and after Mr. Big calls and tells her he loves her, she asks Jeremiah “did we…” He says no, and my “Kiss and Tell” guide to Sex and the City says no also, but I’m not so sure. Even though they’re both fully clothed, we don’t see Jeremiah lying in bed next to her until the exact second Mr. Big says “I fucking love you.” The voiceover says: “I felt like I was the lowest of the low. But I never told Mr. Big. I figured everything before I love you just doesn’t count.” Sounds to me like she slept with him.

Episode Twelve: la douleur exquise!

Okay, if the first break-up in season one was bratty and made me dislike Carrie, this one definitely touched some chords. It’s probably because the problem this time around is so obviously Mr. Big. Also, he tells her “don’t get carried away,” which is the tagline on one of the movie posters.

Episode Eleven: evolution

I think the writers of this show tried add to the cultural lexicon by introducing the question “is he a straight/gay man or is he a gay/straight man?” The voiceover goes on to explain “the gay/straight man was a new strain of heterosexual male spawned in Manhattan as a result of over-exposure to fashion, exotic cuisine, musical theatre, and antique furniture.” Yep, I think they missed the boat on the much more concise label “metrosexual.” Don’t know who gets the credit for that word, but it wasn’t SATC.

They’ve also decided to show off SJP’s abs, which are unbelievable.

Episode Thirteen: games people play

Couldn’t really think of anything to say about this episode. I thought I had, then I realized otherwise:

I had thought Bon Jovi was the first big guest star they had on the show, but then I remembered that the Donald was in an earlier episode this season. And I had thought the yellow shorts-blue halter top outfit was supposed to echo the colors on the Twister mat, and then the voiceover said “yellow pants off,” and I realized there was a joke in it too.

It’s just one of those “in-between” episodes that is especially hard to take seriously when you know the whole arch of the series.

I do agree with Carrie saying that therapy is “so self-indulgent” and ancient man didn’t need a shrink, but I’ve also gotten Miranda’s argument that “ancient man only lived till thirty” thrown back at me.

Episode Fourteen: the fuck buddy

Praise be, this is the last time we’ll ever see “Skipper.” He’s just so annoying, and I don’t understand why he kept popping up.

This is also the first pot reference in the show. Samantha is in bed with a doobie and a glass of red.

I like Carrie’s fuck buddy because he calls himself “McFadden,” which I assume is his last name but it’s also my boyf’s middle name so there you go. Also, his first name is John, and I wonder if they had already decided on Mr. Big’s name (which is also John, sorry for the spoiler).

Episode Fifiteen: shortcomings

So, Carrie is dating a short-story writer, but the actor who plays the short story writer is the same actor who played the novelist she almost went home with in season one. When he comes on screen for the first time, the voiceover says: “it’s amazing how much better looking fiction writers have become.” I wonder if that’s a self-reference to the show, since the last time this actor showed up, he had a unibrow. Also, why couldn’t she have just started dating the novelist, and have the actor play the same character again?

Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore guest-stars in this episode, and we’re supposed to fall in love with her, like Carrie does. She names her daughters Zooey and Franny, like the J.D. Salinger book, and when talking about her son’s premature ejaculation, she says “I don’t even want to get into the irony — he writes short stories.” But the part of his family I like most is his dad. He’s just so strange. And Carrie’s all sad about having to break up with the mother, but if you watch dad’s face when she gets up to leave and hands him her plate, it will break your heart.

Episode Sixteen: was it good for you?

Umm, the best thing I can say about this episode is that another term for the “taint” is “the root chakra.” Tee hee. The first time I saw this episode was with one of my more easily-amused friends, and she laughed so hard when Miranda gets the “surprise” during the tantric class that I can’t really treat this episode like the others, i.e. culturally and personally significant.

Episode Seventeen: twenty-something girls vs. thirty-something women

Carrie brings Miranda and Samantha cups of keg beer, and Miranda comments that you could ski on the head of foam. Carrie says, “sorry, it’s been a while since I pumped a keg.” I had this exact experience a couple of weeks ago, when I was at a soiree and asked for a beer and they pointed me to the keg. I stared at it for a second, realized that I could not remember what I was supposed to do, and had the guy behind me in line get the beer for me.

I like that they look down on tanning in this episode.

Carrie tells her doctor date that she has a thing about crabs because she had them once in college. Isn’t that a little too much information?

The twenty-something PR girls run out of country-fried goat cheese at their party — that sounds delicious.

Episode Eighteen: ex and the city

Okay, favorite episode of the season. It’s just a classic, with the whole Hubble conversation and Big going for the straight-haired girl. I did rent The Way We Were back when I first saw this episode, but I didn’t like it. I may need to watch it again.

The whole theme of this episode is gettting back on the horse that threw you, or, as the voiceover puts it, “back in the saddle again.” Miranda sort of gets back with Steve, Charlotte literally rides a horse, and Samantha dates a too-well-hung guy that snorts like a horse. And Carrie gives Big a prepared speech (she actually consults her notes) about them being friends.

I love how in the restaurant scene, when she stands up and starts yelling at Big for getting engaged, that she’s wearing a pink dress in a room full of people wearing black and gray.

Another pot reference, Samantha again: “a hit of the best Hawaiian Gold she could find.”

And the horse’s name is Pal. That’s just fitting for an episode about “being friends.”

I read on imdb that the props department wrote “Boris and Natasha” on the inside of Big’s engagement invite, which caused SJP to laugh for five minutes straight.

After they sing “Memories” and Samantha cries out that she misses James, you would think that James comes back into the picture. But no, we never see him again. That’s such a weird thing to have her say and then have nothing come of it.

Big never says why he’s getting married to Natasha and not Carrie. She asks “why wasn’t it me?” and he answers “I don’t know. It just got so hard. And she’s…” He trails off, but Carrie says “yeah,” like she knows he was trying to say that Natasha is simple. In all honesty, Natasha’s got a lot of class, just sitting quietly in the car while her fiancee’s ex-girlfriend accosts him outside of their engagement party. Seen from Natasha’s eyes, Carrie is already a bitch, and that’s not even taking into consideration what will eventually happen between Carrie and Natasha’s husband.

We’re left with another summary statement that’s meant to empower single women: “Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed. Maybe they need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with.”