S02.E06: Bomb Cyclone

[Rebecca berkowit]

8 hours ago, Cosmocrush said:

This!!!!  

And I'll add that Nya doesn't really even have her own show within a show.  I don't feel like I even know more than a  few basic facts about her.   She could go "poof" tomorrow and I don't think it would matter at all. 

Yep.  The thing is, I know they got a lot of flak for not having a diverse enough cast when the show was originally on.  But the unfortunate truth is that it was a reflection of the world they were depicting, and the people depicting it.  Though it is unfair that shows like this were given opportunities where others weren’t, the fact remains that MPK and the original writers were not diverse.  They were writing the world they knew, which was not diverse.  So was Candace Bushnell.  Not diverse.  She did not have diverse friends, and she did not write a column about them.  Unfortunately the reality in this country is that women like this in Manhattan in the 90’s would probably not have had a very diverse friend group, and that was reflected in the original show.  They would’ve been friends with wealthy white women like themselves.  We can debate the historical and social reasons for this all we want, but it doesn’t change reality.  It’s still largely the reality among  the women this show depicts.  Why am I bringing this up?  Well, because that’s why the insertion of these new characters into this particular show is not working, and never could work, despite the best of intentions and the very real need for more diversity in entertainment.  Because MPK, a wealthy white man, has probably not suddenly gained a diverse group of friends, and so I do not think he is capable of writing for these new characters in a natural way, a way which does not simply make them ABOUT  their ethnicity/sexuality.  That just does not come naturally to him.  The idea of an Indian person, a Black family, a non-binary person, is exotic and different to him, (I’ve heard him being interviewed and this attitude comes through),  and so he writes only about that exoticism and difference, and it is incredibly painful to watch.  I believe he has hired a diverse younger writing staff to write for these characters, but he is ultimately the boss so they can only do so much.  Also, the fact that these characters seem to have been delegated to specific “diverse” writers seems to have resulted in their storylines being completely isolated from the rest of the cast.   I think it was too much to ask for this show to integrate diverse characters, and if it could not be done well, it should not have been attempted. It’s not realistic that everyone would suddenly have “diverse” friend,  it is insulting and patronizing, and it is of course doing nothing to improve diversity or race relations in general in this country. (Nor do I personally believe it is necessarily the job of a TV show, especially one created by and about privileged white people, to take on that Herculean task.). This  is, and was, a show about a group of white privileged women in New York, and that’s their milieu. It’s not particularly diverse, and apparently that can’t be forced in a realistic way by this writing staff.  Perhaps it should have been left as an artifact of its time, and new shows with younger casts, like The Sex Lives of College Girls, could be the “update” that was needed.  I’ve felt this way from the beginning.  The criticism of older forms of entertainment for not being diverse enough is certainly noble, and it was unfair that more diverse people were not given opportunities to write and produce shows back then.  But this criticism fails to acknowledge the reality of the time, a reality which cannot be remedied now except through clumsy efforts like this.  We need to move forward with a new generation.  

Edited July 23, 2023 by Rebecca berkowit

[T Summer]

2 hours ago, yellowjacket said:

This really was a good episode, except for the Goldenblatt-Yorks.  I'm just gonna go on thinking that parents don't trudge through snowstorms to deliver birth control to their kid who's about to have sex for the first time, okay?

Love this!

Nothing to add, but if one more person says deflowered I won't be able to hold in a giggle.

[Rebecca berkowit]

3 minutes ago, T Summer said:

Love this!

Nothing to add, but if one more person says deflowered I won't be able to hold in a giggle.

Hey, in my own defense, I think deflowered is the only appropriate word to use for a plot this contrived and unnatural.

[Surrealist]

On 7/21/2023 at 7:54 AM, Lola82 said:

100%! I think Sara acts in a very real way that I really enjoy and compared to Cynthia’s cartoony, manic acting these days, I’d happily swap them out.

I'm also in agreement. I don't dislike Che the way some other viewers do. However, I dislike Miranda in this series as her character has done a 180. Perhaps the writers want us to think this is her midlife crisis, but who knows?

Edited July 22, 2023 by Surrealist

[RedInk]

I saw the condom scene as a way for the writers to let Miranda off the hook and make us feel a little less sorry for Steve. Hoping we would think, “well he’s obviously not hurting too badly or else he’d be pining away.” Which is bullshit. People have sex when they’re heartbroken/depressed/angry/in love with other people…fill in the blank. And agree with everyone who thinks this is not the end of Miranda & Che, which is a bummer because Che really can be a decent character, as this episode shows, but not when partnered with Miranda. Honestly, it’s a Miranda issue. 

It must be very difficult to essentially write yourself into a script as an empowerment story (if that’s really what happened) and then get universally rejected. No wonder there’s so much blame being thrown around. 

[Surrealist]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:45 PM, slowpoked said:

I agree. I know there’s a lot of Steve fans out there, moreso because of how AJLT chose to end their relationship. And while I loved their love story - Miranda ending up with someone totally unexpected for someone like her - I’m not a huge fan of Steve himself.

Before there was Berger, there was Steve. Steve couldn’t handle Miranda’s success and so he broke it off. And still had the temerity to live in Miranda’s apartment while he looked for a place, even giving Miranda’s OWN landline number to a girl he met for a hookup.

In movie #1, he cheated on her. Took awhile but she forgave him and took him back. I wonder why Miranda never threw that back at him when he was saying all those horrible stuff to her, especially the Brady part. That was just below the belt.

Maybe their relationship eventually had to end. Love fades. But it was just really shitty writing that did it in. A more thoughtful breakup would have put their relationship in perspective and make people remember that they are both flawed people, who both made mistakes in the past, and there’s really no one to blame.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying this.

So many are feeling sorry for Steve but forgetting all the shit he's done over the years. He was super immature for quite some time. He's not a terrible person, or anything like that, but he wasn't right for Miranda.

I'm going to go even further and say that making Miranda into a mother was a gaffe. Never made sense to me. 

Charlotte wanting motherhood never not made sense to me.

YMMV.

[Surrealist]

19 hours ago, millennium said:

I never liked Aidan because he's just so smug.

This is what totally bothers me about Aidan, even though I don't think he's a terrible person. His character didn't resonate with me.

On the other hand, I always felt like Big was a terrible person.

[RedInk]

34 minutes ago, Surrealist said:

So many are feeling sorry for Steve but forgetting all the shit he's done over the years. He was super immature for quite some time. He's not a terrible person, or anything like that, but he wasn't right for Miranda.

I don’t disagree with this, but what’s the statute of limitations on previous bad behavior? She could have dumped Steve then, and maybe she should have. But blithely walking out of a life you’ve created for the last 18+ years to chase after a stranger can’t really be waved away because the other party was a jerk a long time ago (IMO). The part that made me sympathize with Steve was that it seemed sudden and cold. Like he didn’t even cross her mind. I think lots of people experience that in relationships, and it’s just the worst feeling, so it tugs at the heart. Maybe they could have written it in a way that would make Miranda seem less casually cruel, but they didn’t. 

[slowpoked]

I was watching Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, and in the beginning where Miranda was ranting to Carrie about getting pregnant due to a mercy fuck with Steve, she let it slip she didn’t use a condom - she felt like she didn’t need to because he only has ball. And Carrie silently admonished her like “you didn’t use a condom?” “He only has one ball, Carrie!”

So for Carrie to get all indignant now for using a condom during sex is weird. Unless she only thinks of a condom as a way to prevent pregnancy and nothing esle, which would be weird because you would think a sex writer would know it also has other uses - i.e. preventing STDs.

Edited July 23, 2023 by slowpoked

[Surrealist]

44 minutes ago, RedInk said:

I don’t disagree with this, but what’s the statute of limitations on previous bad behavior? She could have dumped Steve then, and maybe she should have. But blithely walking out of a life you’ve created for the last 18+ years to chase after a stranger can’t really be waved away because the other party was a jerk a long time ago (IMO). The part that made me sympathize with Steve was that it seemed sudden and cold. Like he didn’t even cross her mind. I think lots of people experience that in relationships, and it’s just the worst feeling, so it tugs at the heart. Maybe they could have written it in a way that would make Miranda seem less casually cruel, but they didn’t. 

As the writer, I wouldn't have paired Miranda and Steve in the first place.

I hate that their marriage shit has sucked up so much energy on this series. They've been having issues forever. They should have ended this before it really got off the ground.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Surrealist

[millennium]

I broke my abstinence from this season and mostly fast-forwarded through this episode to find the scene where Steve finally tells off Miranda.   It was very satisfying -- for about half a second.

But, a couple things did catch my eye while speeding towards that scene on the screen. 

Like Charlotte in the snow.  Whose heart of ice would not be melted by the vision of Charlotte in pink caught in a storybook snowstorm (even if she was being absurdly indulgent of her spoiled brats)?   Plastic surgery notwithstanding, Kristin Davis is beautiful.

And then, that coat.  Carrie's coat.   New York mayor Eric Adams held a press conference the other day proclaiming that New York City has no more room to shelter migrants.   Apparently he hadn't seen Carrie's puffy coat, because she could easily shelter a family or two under that thing. 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by millennium

[txhorns79]

Just now, millennium said:

Apparently he hadn't seen Carrie's puffy coat, because she could easily shelter a family or two under that thing. 

I honestly thought she was wearing a comforter until I read a recap that noted it is was an actual coat people can buy. 

[chitowngirl]

Does anyone know if they decided to make Steve and Miranda more of a thing than originally intended because of Cynthia Nixon’s pregnancy?

[millennium]

Just now, txhorns79 said:

I read a recap that noted it is was an actual coat people can buy. 

But not a coat that actual people can buy.  😛

[Blackie]

On 7/20/2023 at 2:17 PM, Emmybean said:

How does Carrie store that enormous duvet she was wearing in her apartment? Vacuum bag?

 

How did the coat check room have space for it? It did make quite scene but come on, who walks around in a snow storm dressed like either of those 3 women, who were apparently the only 3 women out on the street. And Steve comes in from the storm, only wearing hiking boots, which he does not take off, and even lays on the bed still wearing them!! I live in Toronto, have walked snow storms, its not like that.

The episode was way to plot pointy for me: bomb cyclone so we could have the wild fashion, Carrie needing Che's support so Che could hear the speech and come to a realization, Miranda upset so has to go to Steve's room and then finds the condom.   blech

And are they really using a body double for the "from the back ' shots of KD? Someone mentioned it last week and I hadn't noticed but this week certainly there was some weird shots in the convo between Charlotte and Lily. So weird.

Funniest parts were Harry and Kerry.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Blackie
spelling

[Cosmocrush]

I wonder if the snow storm was just an excuse for these three women to wear those outfits?  I loved all of them, even the right off the runway puffy coat that could double as a king size bed comforter.   😃

[T Summer]

9 hours ago, Blackie said:

Funniest parts were Harry and Kerry.

Who is Kerry?

Is it that lady who changed her name from Karen?

Edited July 23, 2023 by T Summer
added afterthought

[Baltimore Betty]

9 hours ago, T Summer said:

Is it that lady who changed her name from Karen?

That was such a waste for Rachel Dratch, they could have spent more time on her than have Che standing around being useless.

[Drogo]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:32 AM, TakomaSnark said:

Just so I'm clear... Miranda, who left her husband over a year ago, is surprised by/offended at the reality that her husband - WHO SHE LEFT - has not spent that time since she left him being celibate? Or is that he should have had the 'decency' to rent a hotel room for any sex rather than use the bed *Miranda* is the one who brazenly abandoned?

But you see, she CAUGHT him!  Everybody knows men can’t have sex if they’re heartbroken!  So he must not be heartbroken!  And he would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that pesky gold wrapper!
 

Side note: did we know prior to this ep that my boy Steve was a Magnum man? 

21 hours ago, Surrealist said:

On the other hand, I always felt like Big was a terrible person.

He was.

[Drogo]

On 7/21/2023 at 2:45 PM, slowpoked said:

Before there was Berger, there was Steve. Steve couldn’t handle Miranda’s success and so he broke it off. And still had the temerity to live in Miranda’s apartment while he looked for a place, even giving Miranda’s OWN landline number to a girl he met for a hookup.

In movie #1, he cheated on her. Took awhile but she forgave him and took him back. I wonder why Miranda never threw that back at him when he was saying all those horrible stuff to her, especially the Brady part. That was just below the belt.

Not to punish her for her success, but because he was ashamed of his failure. He was absolutely broke.  Miranda wouldn’t let him live in the places he could afford because they were such shit. And the cheating, well… a year of nothing then a “just get it over with”? It speaks volumes that even her friends were with him on that one. 

Steve was always the best guy on SATC and the only realistic romantic.  AJLT has turned him into some kind of bumbling old man who forgot how to please his wife.  They should’ve had the decency to kill him off.

[WendyCR72]

20 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Does anyone know if they decided to make Steve and Miranda more of a thing than originally intended because of Cynthia Nixon’s pregnancy?

I think it was because the audience really liked Steve, and Steve/Miranda caught on.

[Cosmocrush]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:45 PM, txhorns79 said:

I honestly thought she was wearing a comforter until I read a recap that noted it is was an actual coat people can buy. 

Can you imagine getting that into a cab? 😆

Edited July 24, 2023 by Cosmocrush

[Jillybean]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:01 AM, luna1122again said:

https://www.primetimer.com/quickhits/and-just-like-that-sarah-jessica-parker-john-corbett-aidan-shaw-email

I know not everyone is an Aidan fan, but what is this person's problem with Aidan? It feels personal. AIDAN is a 'dirtbag ex'? Aidan caused problems in Carrie's relationship with Big? Isn't this at least slightly revisionist history?  (frankly, it feels way more than slightly to me, but again, I know some folks just hate Aidan, and he and Carrie did kiss while married to others, which, ick, so okay.) For me, Big was the problematic dirtbag ex. Of course, you can always have more than one of those.

I haven't made it all the way through the thread yet (I'm not watching, just reading the threads), so it's possible someone has already pointed this out, but this is only the latest installment in her series about Aidan the Dirtbag, apparently. https://www.primetimer.com/hearmeout/sex-and-the-city-and-just-like-that-aidan-shaw-dirtbag

Look, I'll be the first to say that Aidan sucked in the execrable second SATC movie, but that was a clear character assassination and total departure from his character on the series. He wasn't perfect, but you'll never convince me that Aidan 1.0 was a dirtbag.  I am willing to die on this hill.

[sadie]

I feel like I need to rewatch original SATC. I never thought Aiden was a bad guy, ever. And certainly not a “dirtbag? Wow that’s a stretch. Maybe I missed something, they just seemed mismatched, and while I don’t want to do the Big V. Aiden Who Is The Worse contest, I always thought Big was a jerk. So interesting that my memory remembers clearly I thought Big was a jerk and Aiden was an okay guy (just not the right guy for Carrie) speaks volumes on how I saw things in my younger years. Maybe rewatching now that I’m older might change that?

[luna1122again]

17 minutes ago, sadie said:

I feel like I need to rewatch original SATC. I never thought Aiden was a bad guy, ever. And certainly not a “dirtbag? Wow that’s a stretch. Maybe I missed something, they just seemed mismatched, and while I don’t want to do the Big V. Aiden Who Is The Worse contest, I always thought Big was a jerk. So interesting that my memory remembers clearly I thought Big was a jerk and Aiden was an okay guy (just not the right guy for Carrie) speaks volumes on how I saw things in my younger years. Maybe rewatching now that I’m older might change that?

Maybe? Though I've watched every episode more times than I care to admit, and just never saw any kind of dirtbag behavior from Aidan, and always thought Big was a jerk, and still do. I mean, I didn't HATE Big, I got their chemistry, but he was never a good guy. 

I definitely get that some folks don't like Aidan, and try to see their point of view, but the 'dirtbag' thing is so weird to me. I feel like she's really struggling and rewriting and projecting to get that angle. 

Off-topic-ish: Some of us were talking about The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd before. I have been binge watching it on YouTube (the quality is so bad, but it's the only way to watch it anymore), and besides the basic similiarities-- 30 something single/divorced  woman living in NYC--there are a few storylines/plots that SATC almost seemed to have pilfered from Molly Dodd.

In one episode, Molly teaches piano lessons to a Hasidic Jewish gentleman, and almost sleeps with him. In another, her friend is robbed, and when the handsome detective comes to file a report, he and Molly (who's a redhead, btw) begin flirting, to the annoyance of the friend, who basically says something like 'I get robbed, you get him?" Molly's apartment--which is rent controlled for $400, I think Carrie's was rent controlled for $700--goes co-op and she's turned down for a bank loan for not being a particularly desirable candidate. She winds up getting the money for the down payment from her dark haired, dark eyed, heavily brow'd ex, who she can never untangle herself from. She also gets pregnant, outside of marriage, and keeps the baby. 

Those are just a few similarities. I've had so much fun revisiting this show. Oh, and Victor Garber and Nathan Lane both show up. 

 

[Night Cheese]

27 minutes ago, sadie said:

I feel like I need to rewatch original SATC. I never thought Aiden was a bad guy, ever. And certainly not a “dirtbag? Wow that’s a stretch. Maybe I missed something, they just seemed mismatched, and while I don’t want to do the Big V. Aiden Who Is The Worse contest, I always thought Big was a jerk. So interesting that my memory remembers clearly I thought Big was a jerk and Aiden was an okay guy (just not the right guy for Carrie) speaks volumes on how I saw things in my younger years. Maybe rewatching now that I’m older might change that?

FWIW, I rewatched last year after AJLT Season 1 wrapped. I'm in my mid-30s (yes, I watched the original SATC run in my teens) and while I wasn't nearly as enamored with Aiden as I was 20 years ago, he definitely didn't come off as a dirtbag. Like you said, they were poorly suited for each other, but I didn't think Aiden was a bad guy at all. Sometimes he acted somewhat douchy, but I mostly recall that being a reaction to Carrie being the awful person she was at the time.

[Alice Mudgarden]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:45 PM, txhorns79 said:

I honestly thought she was wearing a comforter until I read a recap that noted it is was an actual coat people can buy. 

For the low, low price of a new car.

Re: Miranda & Steve in the OG series: I think Steve was the only person Miranda was with in any capacity that made sense and felt right. They balanced each other and to a degree were playing swapped traditional gender roles. I always vibed with the pair.

Re: Aidan: I started writing "If Aidan were a dirtbag, he'd have made Carrie pay him back what he really could have gotten for the apartment when they broke up", but then I remembered that Carrie was kind of an asshole at the end (she says like Carrie being an asshole wasn't a regular thing) and thought "would have served her right."

I don't know, I love Aidan. I understand horses for courses and all that, so I begrudge no one a differing opinion, but Aidan being considered a dirtbag is absolutely mystifying to me. Not right with Carrie? 100%. But a dirtbag? Really?

[TakomaSnark]

8 hours ago, sadie said:

I feel like I need to rewatch original SATC. I never thought Aiden was a bad guy, ever. And certainly not a “dirtbag? Wow that’s a stretch. Maybe I missed something, they just seemed mismatched, and while I don’t want to do the Big V. Aiden Who Is The Worse contest, I always thought Big was a jerk. So interesting that my memory remembers clearly I thought Big was a jerk and Aiden was an okay guy (just not the right guy for Carrie) speaks volumes on how I saw things in my younger years. Maybe rewatching now that I’m older might change that?

I read one of those articles and I got the sense the author was going for the edgelord take. Aidan, MRA by virtue of being clueless about why one woman wouldn't just 'give' an unwanted baby to a friend desperate for her own? Suggesting that the first time he met Carrie, he 'trapped' her?

That has to be parody. At least, I hope it was.

7 hours ago, luna1122again said:

Those are just a few similarities. I've had so much fun revisiting this show. Oh, and Victor Garber and Nathan Lane both show up. 

'Don't forget Bob Gunton!' - Davey the doorman

(Bob Gunton wasn't actually in the show, they just used him as punchline that I still randomly reference!)

Edited July 25, 2023 by TakomaSnark

[Lethallyfab]

On 7/22/2023 at 7:57 PM, slowpoked said:

 

I was watching Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, and in the beginning where Miranda was ranting to Carrie about getting pregnant due to a mercy fuck with Steve, she let it slip she didn’t use a condom - she felt like she didn’t need to because he only has ball. And Carrie silently admonished her like “you didn’t use a condom?” “He only has one ball, Carrie!”

So for Carrie to get all indignant now for using a condom during sex is weird. Unless she only thinks of a condom as a way to prevent pregnancy and nothing esle, which would be weird because you would think a sex writer would know it also has other uses - i.e. preventing STDs

 

Even if, somehow, Carrie thinks that condoms are only useful for preventing pregnancy (which, lol, okay, wut?)  — shouldn’t Miranda’s cautionary tale make her *more* inclined to use a condom rather than less?!?  
 

Her best friend got pregnant at 30-something with a lazy ovary and a man with one ball!  It might be statistically unlikely but it still could happen to you, Carrie.

The series was always bad about ret-conning its love interests into “dirtbags” once they no longer served their purpose.

 See: Petrovsky slapping Carrie — albeit completely by accident — just so Big could be made to be the “bigger” man.  (I hate myself for that pun but you know Carrie herself would use it.).

Aidan’s crimes were, what, exactly, having Carrie accept his proposal and then actually *daring* her to set a timeline for the engagement and marriage!?  
 

Buying the apartment as an investment in their future together and then not magically signing it over to her after they broke up out of the goodness of his heart?  
 

Dirtbag behavior is accepting a man’s proposal and not even being able to wear his ring on your finger and inventing some bullshit excuse as to why you’re wearing it as an necklace (“it’s closer to my heart”) rather than admitting you don’t actually want to be married and declining said proposal.

Ohhh, Aidan’s terrible because he’s jealous of Big?  He SHOULD be jealous of Big!  
 

Did Carrie ever make any real good faith effort to stop seeing Big - no, she *cheated* on Aidan with Big and then tried to FORCE them to be friends at Aidan’s cabin, where Carrie invited Big to without running it by Aidan first.  (again, I ask you, who the dirtbag here actually is!)

 If you asked me to befriend the man you cheated on me repeatedly with, I would laugh you out of the fucking room.

Again, Carrie is the true dirtbag here.  As the saying goes, run into one asshole in your day, they’re the asshole.  Run into assholes all day, you’re probably the asshole. 

[T Summer]

2 hours ago, TakomaSnark said:

I read one of those articles and I got the sense the author was going for the edgelord take.

Yep, that author must think the article (and therefor their writing ) will  catch fire from being shared around in a can you even believe this? way

[Rebecca berkowit]

With regard to Carrie and the condom issue, she’s post-menopausal, she ain’t getting pregnant.  Sure, she should be worried about getting a disease, but she knew the producer guy pretty well, presumably they discussed things and she made sure he didn’t have herpes or AIDS.   People may use condoms at first, but then they have that discussion or ask for test results.  That said, in some retirement communities there are huge STD epidemics because there’s a lot of promiscuity, so maybe more post-menopausal people should use condoms!  But Carrie so far has had one partner this season, who she knew.   You’d be surprised how much you don’t think about birth control when you no longer have to worry about getting pregnant.  And the conversation was funny, that Charlotte thought she’d have condoms at her house!  

[TakomaSnark]

2 hours ago, Rebecca berkowit said:

 That said, in some retirement communities there are huge STD epidemics because there’s a lot of promiscuity, so maybe more post-menopausal people should use condoms!  But Carrie so far has had one partner this season, who she knew.

How well did she know him, really? Hot producer guy was a background figure for all of season one until the very end of it, and all we knew of their relationship in S2 is that he was her Thursday f*ck buddy. It would have been a good opportunity to demonstrate why condoms are necessary at any age but I guess MPK thinks the reality of older people having sex is squicky and sticks with the fantasy of 'a really hot lay won't have anything gross like a STD. He'll just want to date you outright!' - which of course was the real dealbreaker for Carrie.

[luna1122again]

9 hours ago, TakomaSnark said:

I

'Don't forget Bob Gunton!' - Davey the doorman

(Bob Gunton wasn't actually in the show, they just used him as punchline that I still randomly reference!)

This made me laugh, as I had NEVER caught that before this viewing, and also, I used to have an internet NYC writer friend who knew both David Strathairn (she said he was very dreamy)  and dated Bob Gunton. I love that you randomly use that. 

Re: Aidan/dirtbag. The GoFugYourself women, who both used to write for TWoP, also loathe and hate Aidan and consider him a dirtbag. Again, I get that we all have different tastes and takes, but this one is just so alien to me that I feel like we watched different shows. 

I AM very interested in seeing

Spoiler

what the smoking

in the spoiler pics was all about. If Aidan

Spoiler

is smoking now,

that is just plain weird. Also, from the previews, did it look like Miranda had a date with someone new? 

Edited July 25, 2023 by luna1122again

[TVForever]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:45 PM, txhorns79 said:

I honestly thought she was wearing a comforter until I read a recap that noted it is was an actual coat people can buy. 

It is. Or was, anyway. It was a Moncler, no longer available, apparently.

There's a website called wornontv.net where they show a lot of the outfits worn on many shows, including who makes them and where to get them. It's a lot of fun, especially for shows like AJLT, where the clothes are as important as the characters.

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, luna1122again said:

Re: Aidan/dirtbag. The GoFugYourself women, who both used to write for TWoP, also loathe and hate Aidan and consider him a dirtbag.

I'm curious about the people who think Aidan is a dirtbag. How do they feel about Big? I didn't mind Aidan as a character but as many others have said he just wasn't right for Carrie.

[bluegirl147]

3 hours ago, TakomaSnark said:

It would have been a good opportunity to demonstrate why condoms are necessary at any age

Absolutely.  I didn't necessarily have a problem with Carrie not using condoms but her disbelief that Charlotte would assume she did. 

There was always a disconnect between Carrie the character and Carrie being the writer of a column called Sex in the City.  If someone who knew nothing about the show was just given a brief run down of the four women of SATC without saying what their jobs were I doubt anyone would think Carrie was the sex columnist.

[Baltimore Betty]

7 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Carrie was the sex columnist.

I always took her to be more of a relationship in the city columnist because her sex was usually with someone she was in a relationship with, Samantha could have been the sex columnist.

Condoms are not something Carrie used back in the SATC days, she had a diaphram, remember once she could not get it out.

[bluegirl147]

2 minutes ago, Baltimore Betty said:

I always took her to be more of a relationship in the city columnist because her sex was usually with someone she was in a relationship with,

True but they marketed her as being a sex columnist. Was it the bus ad that had the line Carrie Bradshaw knows good sex?

3 minutes ago, Baltimore Betty said:

Samantha could have been the sex columnist.

Samantha could have wrote a book and taught a college course.

[slowpoked]

On 7/23/2023 at 2:45 PM, Drogo said:

Not to punish her for her success, but because he was ashamed of his failure. He was absolutely broke.  Miranda wouldn’t let him live in the places he could afford because they were such shit. 

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. But this part here, somehow makes Miranda the devil incarnate? It was nice of Miranda to let Steve live in until he can find a livable enough place, but maybe Steve could give back the courtesy to not give out HER phone number for potential hookups and find another way to talk to women.

On 7/23/2023 at 2:45 PM, Drogo said:

And the cheating, well… a year of nothing then a “just get it over with”? It speaks volumes that even her friends were with him on that one. 

This reeks of "well, she couldn't quite get thin fast enough after the pregnancy, she got fat and ugly..." I don't think there's ever an excuse for cheating. Not to discount the very real problems of a sexless marriage - because it is an important problem - but the solution for Steve was to sleep with someone else? To also "just get it over with" on his part? Hooray for honesty I guess. If it was a real problem he can't get over with, why not leave Miranda, just as people were saying that Miranda should have left their loveless marriage first before being involved with Che. 

As for her friends - they didn't agree that the cheating was ok. After a certain time had passed, they think Miranda should try to hear him out and see if she could forgive him as he's apologized quite profusely.

I agree though that if they couldn't find a way to treat his character with enough decency based on the first series, they should have just killed him off (as they did Big), or have Miranda started AJLT as a divorced woman already, with references here and there as to why they separated. The pandemic was already a good built-in excuse for that - real long-term couples have separated and divorced during that time. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by slowpoked

[TakomaSnark]

57 minutes ago, Baltimore Betty said:

Condoms are not something Carrie used back in the SATC days, she had a diaphram, remember once she could not get it out.

In the pilot episode, when she bumps into Big for the first time on the street, a roll of condoms is one of the items that he picks up from her spilled purse.

If I recall correctly, in the diaphragm episode, the girls pick up on Carrie using one as evidence she's seeing someone regularly - which is how they come to know she's hooking up with Big again. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by TakomaSnark

[bluegirl147]

19 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

or have Miranda started AJLT as a divorced woman already, with references here and there as to why they separated.

I think they (Cynthia most likely and probably MPK) wanted the audience to be on Miranda's side.  And thought making Steve look clueless and a lot older than he was would make us think Miranda was better off away from Steve.  I wouldn't have had a problem with Miranda being divorced at the start of AJLT. I think so many people behind the scenes of AJLT misjudged what the audience wanted and expected from this show.

[T Summer]

This is hilarious that we are all so invested in these fictional characters...

but being I am part of we: No one EVER said Steve and Miranda hadn't had sex in a year. He said during his confession you and I hadn't had sex in a really long time.

Miranda didn't say "just get it over with"

She said Lets just get it over with, followed by something about having to get up early.

Here:

https://www.satctranscripts.com/2008/09/sex-and-city-movie-1.html

Dialogue from shitty movie#1

"Yeah. Yeah. - Wait. Wait. Don't come already.
- Yeah. - No, wait. Get on top.
Let's just get it over with. I mean, we gotta get up in four and a half hours.
We never have sex and you wanna get it over with?
Steve, we have sex.
When was the last time we had sex? There was snow on the ground."

[slowpoked]

3 hours ago, T Summer said:

This is hilarious that we are all so invested in these fictional characters...

LOL. Count me in. I think it just goes to show how beloved the original series was - despite its issues (lack of diversity, how it handled LQBTQ, etc.) The original series struck a chord with the single and even married ladies during its time.

[RedDelicious]

We are re-watching the original series now and the chemistry between the four women was just so great to see on-screen.  S1 and all of the 90s color bedsheets!  Ahhh!!

I don't know that we've seen that kind of cohesiveness since or if we will ever again.  I surely don't feel it with AJLT or even the movies.

I love Anthony's role though, he's probably the most true to his original character.

[Jax7917]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:41 PM, Mrsmaul2021 said:

 

 

I saw this on the main page. What SATC did they watch? 

For real ! Aidan caused trouble in Carrie’s relationship with Big ? Do they have the two guys confused ? 
 

I do enjoy seeing Aidan .. but it’s been established about 12 times already that they are not for each other . They don’t mesh . Aidan is a down to earth guy who just wants a simple life enjoying down time with family. Carrie needs 24/7 city action . Nothing wrong with either lifestyle , but those 2 people don’t belong together . He lives in Virginia now so that makes it make even less sense . Carrie’s issue wasn’t that Aidan wasn’t Big , it’s that they lived opposite lifestyles.

[libgirl2]

20 hours ago, Jax7917 said:

For real ! Aidan caused trouble in Carrie’s relationship with Big ? Do they have the two guys confused ? 
 

I do enjoy seeing Aidan .. but it’s been established about 12 times already that they are not for each other . They don’t mesh . Aidan is a down to earth guy who just wants a simple life enjoying down time with family. Carrie needs 24/7 city action . Nothing wrong with either lifestyle , but those 2 people don’t belong together . He lives in Virginia now so that makes it make even less sense . Carrie’s issue wasn’t that Aidan wasn’t Big , it’s that they lived opposite lifestyles.

I always thought Aidan was great and Carrie wasn't good enough for him. 

[cardigirl]

On 7/24/2023 at 3:28 PM, luna1122again said:

Maybe? Though I've watched every episode more times than I care to admit, and just never saw any kind of dirtbag behavior from Aidan, and always thought Big was a jerk, and still do. I mean, I didn't HATE Big, I got their chemistry, but he was never a good guy. 

I definitely get that some folks don't like Aidan, and try to see their point of view, but the 'dirtbag' thing is so weird to me. I feel like she's really struggling and rewriting and projecting to get that angle. 

Off-topic-ish: Some of us were talking about The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd before. I have been binge watching it on YouTube (the quality is so bad, but it's the only way to watch it anymore), and besides the basic similiarities-- 30 something single/divorced  woman living in NYC--there are a few storylines/plots that SATC almost seemed to have pilfered from Molly Dodd.

In one episode, Molly teaches piano lessons to a Hasidic Jewish gentleman, and almost sleeps with him. In another, her friend is robbed, and when the handsome detective comes to file a report, he and Molly (who's a redhead, btw) begin flirting, to the annoyance of the friend, who basically says something like 'I get robbed, you get him?" Molly's apartment--which is rent controlled for $400, I think Carrie's was rent controlled for $700--goes co-op and she's turned down for a bank loan for not being a particularly desirable candidate. She winds up getting the money for the down payment from her dark haired, dark eyed, heavily brow'd ex, who she can never untangle herself from. She also gets pregnant, outside of marriage, and keeps the baby. 

Those are just a few similarities. I've had so much fun revisiting this show. Oh, and Victor Garber and Nathan Lane both show up. 

 

I would posit that The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is a much better show than either SITC or AJLT. I started watching SITC later in its run, and never got why people wanted to be identified as a Carrie, or any of them.  Carrie drove me nuts. LOL.  But Molly was different. LOVED that show. Thanks for the reminder. 

[TakomaSnark]

2 hours ago, cardigirl said:

I would posit that The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is a much better show than either SITC or AJLT. I started watching SITC later in its run, and never got why people wanted to be identified as a Carrie, or any of them.  Carrie drove me nuts. LOL.  But Molly was different. LOVED that show. Thanks for the reminder. 

I would swear that one of the earliest EHG pods I ever listened to was discussing the topic of great shows stuck in TV jail (i.e., no DVD/streaming releases). I am certain Molly Dodd was brought up. It is so criminally underrated *and* unremembered.

[WendyCR72]

Please take talk of Molly Dodd to the Small Talk thread. Thank you.

[QQQQ]

Lily is the worst. When I was a teen, I wished for a mom like Charlotte. I owe my mother a huge apology. HUGE.