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.”

B. suggested I start logging hours on this little project. I’ve watched 48 episodes of Sex and the City so far: at 30 minutes each, that’s 24 hours. However, this season, there were four episodes (the Big and Carrie affair arch) that included commentary from Michael Patrick King. Since he is the one who produced the movie, I figured I needed to listen to his commentary, even though I never watch DVDs with the commentary turned on (I tried it once with Dogma and got bored. Forgive me, K. Smith).

So tack on those two extra hours, and I’m looking at 26 hours of staring at the TV over the past three weeks. And I have three more seasons/weeks to go. If only I could get paid for this.

Episode One: where there’s smoke…

Carrie tells the peeing politician her address: 245 E. 73rd Street, which doesn’t actually exist. Still, I would like to go walk down East 73rd Street sometime.

It annoys me that she keeps calling him “Mister President.” Is that supposed to be a Marilyn Monroe nod? He’s running for New York City Comptroller.

I did pick up Miranda’s line “hello, I’m drunk” (off one sip of a Staten Island Iced Tea) for personal use. I said it once when a freshly-minted bartender friend made me an experimental drink and everyone was leaning in to hear the verdict. It went over quite nicely, thank you.

This episode is full of firemen, leading to a coffeshop conversation: “Why are firemen so fucking cute?…It’s the hero factor…plus, they’ve got that good guy look in their eyes.” I’m pleased to know that my boyfriend is SATC-approved. I’m sure he will be thrilled when I tell him the news.

Charlotte has to butt in with her comment about women really just wanting to be rescued, which will probably lead to some soul-searching on my part but also gives Miranda the chance to mumble: “no, no rescue,” when Steve is trying to put her into bed after her eye surgery. She’s all hopped up on sleeping pills, and I guess her saying that is supposed to reveal that she’s afraid Charlotte is right. It’s also really funny.

Episode Two: politically erect

“I figured we made a good match: I was adept at fashion, he was adept at politics, and really, what’s the difference? They’re both about recycling shopworn ideas and making them seem fresh and inspiring.”

The whole “vintage Halston, spin on Jackie Kennedy” look for Carrie is just a little too predictable for the episode when she’s dating a politician. Plus, this is when they introduce “the flower,” that obnoxious accessory that supposedly everyone started wearing after SJP worked it on the show. Whatever.

Since I’ve opened the box, I’ll just go ahead and say this: when the girls are standing in line at the movies, and Carrie is telling them all about the politician asking for a golden shower, she makes three really corny, bad, unfunny jokes about pee in a row. Seriously, it’s like gunfire. I hate, hate, hate when they do this on the show, giving Carrie all these saucy little quips, and I’m not the only one: when the Simpsons spoofed SATC, Samantha says she’s dating a Wall Street guy, Charlotte asks “Broker?” and Carrie pipes up: “No, she’s just a little sore.”

Elizabeth Banks is in this episode, as the wife of the guy Charlotte’s drunkenly chatting up at the political fundraiser. I like her because she is JD’s baby momma on Scrubs, and it looks like she’s playing Laura Bush in the W. movie (imdb).

This episode dives into my main question about the show: what is column fodder and what is just Carrie’s own personal train of thought? The politician says he likes her column, that she keeps mentioning a handsome politico, and that she writes about her feelings for him. Then, when they break up, she writes about golden showers in her column, then the voiceover says she didn’t use his real name. Since the voiceover had said his name earlier in the episode (“the Single Ladies’ Coalition to Elect Bill Kelly”), apparently voiceover does not equal column.

It makes sense. I guess I just really wanted each episode to be structured around the column, like she takes what she learns each week and puts it in to print. What I’ve always liked about Carrie, in contrast to penchant for one-liners, was her job, and I guess I wanted that to be the main structural device. It seems kind of muddled to have a character that participates in the show, provides a voiceover, and writes a column about all the same subjects yet doesn’t share that column with the audience. That’s kind of the hook that makes Gossip Girl so intriguing, except we don’t know if GG is part of mayhem or just an onlooker.

Episode Three: attack of the 5’10” woman

“It’s her. It’s her, her. You know, she’s just, you know, she’s shiny hair, style section, Vera Wang, and I’m, you know, the sex column they run next to ads for penile implants.”

This is so sad! Charlotte is sitting in Carrie’s apartment, reading Big and Natasha’s wedding announcement out loud, and Carrie starts crying and the music swells and the curtains start fluttering in the breeze. So sad.

I think this episode really touched a nerve, because who hasn’t gone through that phase where you think there really are girls put on this earth to make you feel bad about yourself?

The irony of this scene is that Carrie is saying all this to Charlotte, who, out of the four, is the most likely to be that woman. Seriously, in one episode she asks if her hair is too shiny, and later in this season, she’s going to wear a $14,000 Vera Wang wedding dress. Plus, she has not one but two wedding announcements run in the Times’ style section.

Carrie does the whole dance where you’re feeling insecure and you realize you’re dressing for other women. Then she finally accepts that some women are simply better: “I will never be the woman with the perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it, and chair committees and write Thank You notes, and I can’t feel bad about that.” Then she spots Natasha’s misuse of the word “their,” and calls Miranda to gloat about it.

Oddly enough, I did the same thing this week, probably subconsciously thinking about this episode: there’s this really perfect, pretty girl I’ve met briefly, and I found some comments of hers online and there were like two grammatical errors. I was overjoyed. But looking back over this blog, I can see I really have no room to judge.

Episode Four: boy, girl, boy, girl…

This is the one where Carrie kisses Alanis Morissette. Also, she whines to Miranda in the coffeeshop: “what about my problem?” when Miranda starts to leave. I think that’s saying to the audience: yes, we know they do the same thing every week.

Episode Five: no ifs, ands, or butts

Okay, I obviously need a cigarette now, so I’m going to take a break. But first, an introduction to Carrie’s new boyfriend: “His name was Aidan Shaw. He was warm, masculine, and classic American — just like his furniture.”