On Sex and the City: Four Women and a Funeral

Summary

Every Outfit Podcast Summary: "On Sex and the City: Four Women and a Funeral"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Every Outfit
• Hosts/Authors: Chelsea Fairless & Lauren Garroni
• Episode: On Sex and the City: Four Women and a Funeral
• Release Date: December 13, 2024

---

1. Introduction to the Episode

Chelsea Fairless and Lauren Garroni kick off their rewatch of the "Sex and the City" episode titled "Four Women and a Funeral." They delve into why this particular episode was chosen, highlighting its blend of fashion commentary and deeply personal narratives.

• Lauren Garone ([00:26]): "Sometimes we do episodes because we feel inspired to do them. Other times we get requests."
• Chelsea Fairless ([00:43]): "I'm curious why."

2. Javier's Funeral: Fashion and Plot Analysis

The hosts discuss the depiction of Javier's funeral, emphasizing the fashion choices and plot nuances.

• Chelsea Fairless ([01:07]): "It felt like watching an episode for the first time where I go, huh, what's going on with Charlotte?"

Carrie Bradshaw's iconic voiceover sets the tone for the funeral episode, focusing on the appropriateness of the little black dress in daylight.

• Carrie Bradshaw ([01:11]): "There are only two times when it's appropriate to wear the little black dress in daylight..."

Fairless critiques the fashion narrative, connecting it to Anna Wintour's perspective on black attire.

• Chelsea Fairless ([01:30]): "I feel like this speaks to a very Anna Wintour vogue idea where black isn't chic."

The conversation touches on the recurring theme of funerals in the series, comparing Javier's funeral to others like Miranda's mother's and Lexi Featherston's.

• Lauren Garone ([02:11]): "It's really a shame that we didn't get to see Lexi Featherston's."

3. Samantha’s Attempts to Fund Javier House

Samantha's philanthropic efforts are scrutinized, revealing her underlying motives and the challenges she faces in securing support.

• Chelsea Fairless ([09:07]): "Samantha wants to raise money for this organization, which is... very magnanimous of her. But then quickly, Samantha has to be like, no, no, I'm doing this for the mailing list."

Fairless and Garone debate Samantha's sincerity, especially when faced with rejection from elite social circles.

• Lauren Garone ([23:45]): "She's a playboy who specializes in hostile takeovers."
• Chelsea Fairless ([24:00]): "She groped Cromwell for the good of all strung out designers everywhere."

4. Miranda’s Apartment Hunting and Health Scare

Miranda's storyline explores her struggle with singlehood, real estate challenges, and a personal health crisis.

• Lauren Garone ([17:40]): "Miranda in this scene is... a stone butch."
• Chelsea Fairless ([41:23]): "Have you ever choked?"

The hosts highlight Miranda's isolation and her panic attack, drawing parallels to real-life fears of dying alone.

• Lauren Garone ([43:38]): "It was like, my worst nightmare."
• Chelsea Fairless ([44:45]): "This is one of those scenes where I think Sex in the City really hits. A lot of people can relate to where Miranda is at in this episode."

5. Charlotte’s Relationship with Ned

Charlotte's controversial decision to date Ned, a widower, sparks a critical analysis of her judgment and motives.

• Chelsea Fairless ([13:36]): "She has some sort of fetish for the fact that he is a widow, which I find to be quite disturbing."
• Lauren Garone ([27:45]): "This girl has like some twisted ideas about real estate."

The discussion points out the sociopathic tendencies of Ned and Charlotte's obliviousness to them.

• Lauren Garone ([55:14]): "Charlotte was sexually excited by that guy in his dead wife's bed. And that is by far the most perverted thing she's ever done."

6. Carrie and Big’s Reunion

The complex dynamics between Carrie and Big come under scrutiny as they navigate rekindling their relationship amidst personal insecurities.

• Carrie Bradshaw ([32:14]): "Can a relationship bring you back to life?"
• Chelsea Fairless ([34:39]): "He’s looking to have dinner."

Fairless criticizes Carrie's impulsive decision to reconnect with Big without addressing past issues.

• Lauren Garone ([35:06]): "Was Charlotte right? No."

The hosts highlight the toxic patterns in Carrie and Big's interactions, emphasizing the lack of meaningful communication.

• Chelsea Fairless ([49:32]): "Big's done nothing wrong. Carrie decided to get into this relationship without having an honest conversation..."

7. Overall Analysis and Ratings

Fairless and Garone wrap up their critique by assigning ratings to the episode and reflecting on its impact.

• Chelsea Fairless ([52:20]): "Before we started recording, I was going to give it a pretty average, like a six."
• Lauren Garone ([52:17]): "I'm gonna give it a 6.5."

They appreciate the episode's multifaceted storylines and the focus on each main character's development.

• Lauren Garone ([53:11]): "I'm going with Miranda. This is a great episode for Cynthia Nixon."

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Carrie Bradshaw ([00:04]): "I spent $40,000 on shoes."
• Carrie Bradshaw ([01:11]): "There are only two times when it's appropriate to wear the little black dress in daylight..."
• Chelsea Fairless ([01:30]): "I feel like this speaks to a very Anna Wintour vogue idea where black isn't chic."
• Lauren Garone ([03:46]): "And also, obviously, when Miranda's mother dies, that's a very tragic death."
• Carrie Bradshaw ([32:14]): "Can a relationship bring you back to life?"
• Chelsea Fairless ([49:23]): "Carrie, of course, apologizes. She says, I'm sorry. And then he goes, you should be."
• Lauren Garone ([53:43]): "Mine is, rumor has it the cat ate half her face."

---

Conclusion

In "On Sex and the City: Four Women and a Funeral," Chelsea Fairless and Lauren Garroni provide a deep dive into the complexities of the episode, blending fashion critique with character analysis. They highlight the intertwining of personal struggles with societal expectations, all while maintaining their signature witty commentary. The episode receives a moderate rating, acknowledging both its strengths in character-driven narratives and its occasional lapses in plot coherence.

---

This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights shared by Chelsea Fairless and Lauren Garroni during their podcast episode, providing listeners and readers a comprehensive overview of their analysis of "Sex and the City."

Transcript

[Carrie Bradshaw]

I spent $40,000 on shoes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What's the matter, Morty? Great gowns. Beautiful gowns. Fashion has changed. No, it hasn't. Hi, I'm Lauren Garone.

[Lauren Garone]

And I'm Chelsea Fairless.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And welcome back to our monthly Sex and the City rewatch episode. We are doing four women in a funeral. Sometimes we do episodes because we feel inspired to do them. Other times we get requests. This time, I put it to you, Chelsea, and you came up with this episode, and I'm curious why.

[Lauren Garone]

I was just thinking about the looks at Javier's funeral. That's it.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I have to say, obviously, I've watched Sex and the City so many times that I'm aware of the plot of every episode, but there's something about the early part of season two a little fuzzy for me.

[Lauren Garone]

No, I.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This is the closest for me. It's felt like watching an episode for the first time where I go, huh, what's going on with Charlotte? Who is this guy?

[Lauren Garone]

The episode starts, of course, with a Carrie voiceover.

[Carrie Bradshaw]

There are only two times when it's appropriate to wear the little black dress in daylight. One involves leaving a party way too late. The other involves leaving the party way too early. The New York funeral.

[Lauren Garone]

Okay, do you agree or disagree?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I wear black or all the time in the daylight. And I understand she's talking about a little black dress.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, it's like, how little is this dress?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I feel like this speaks to a very Anna Wintour vogue idea where black isn't chic. Or perhaps Anna Wintour doesn't like people wearing all black because it's too chic.

[Lauren Garone]

This predated this sort of modern era where someone might wear, like, an LBD with, like, sneakers.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, of course. I think that's the most hated thing Anna Wintour could ever see.

[Lauren Garone]

True.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This is one of the few times we see a funeral in Sex and the City. Although I guess the other way to look at it is there are many funerals throughout the course of Sex and the City. Right. Because you have this funeral, Miranda's mom, Lexi Featherston's, and then Bigson, and just like that.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. It's really a shame that we didn't get to see Lexi Featherston's.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So basically, there's a funeral every other season, Season two, season four, season six. So it is a funeral for Javier, who was a hot Cuban designer and the toast of the New York fashion elite. And he's a good friend of Carrie's who has known him since he was known as Harvey. And Javier loves clothes, but unfortunately, Chelsea he loved heroin more.

[Lauren Garone]

Such a campy delivery of that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's so much darker than it needs to be for this show as well, which I think it firmly meshes it still in the Candace Bushnell origin material before it became the Sex and the City we know.

[Lauren Garone]

And this is coming a couple years after the peak of heroin chic hysteria, which I would say would be Bill Clinton condemning heroin chic. Although heroin hasn't really claimed the lives of many fashion designers, Benjamin Cho's the only one I can think of.

[Chelsea Fairless]

A lot of. The hysteria around, quote, unquote, heroin Chicago and Bill Clinton talking about it and putting a task force together was sort of prompted by the death of Davide Sorrenti, but he didn't die of a heroin overdose.

[Lauren Garone]

Heroin chic, I think, was more about the models or the way that the models looked. Obviously, Gia Carangi was a heroin addict quite famously, but I think it was more just people responding to this sort of like, makeup free, anti fashion, anti glamazon, anti 80s excess kind of style that was popular at the time.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And also, obviously, when Miranda's mother dies, that's a very tragic death. But, you know, Lexi Featherson's death is funny.

[Lauren Garone]

Right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So it's just weird that it's. It's such a grounded, gritty, realistic death for this man. We've never met, but evidently Carrie has known since her early days, which speaks to this idea of Carrie as an it girl who has her pulse on the upcoming tastemakers, which kind of gets lost as the seasons go on.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I think this is also weird because it's like, I feel like fashion designers are into uppers because they have such demanding jobs.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This is all to say, Javier, a man we don't know, we've never seen his fashions previous to this episode. They could have chosen any death for this man to have.

[Lauren Garone]

Also, I'm sorry, this might be rude, but, like, not a good fashion designer.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, okay, we'll get into this. Samantha shows up and at Cari's apartment, in an outfit fitting for Death, becomes her or the First Wives Club.

[Lauren Garone]

Not the First Wives Club. It's so 80s. It's very out of date for the time period that this takes place in. Like, to me, it reminds me of, like, Escada or kind of some Mugler. Some Steven Sprouse vibes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I suppose it's certainly out of pace in what you would imagine a hip, up and coming downtown designer would design. Yes, it does seem like something Samantha would wear.

[Lauren Garone]

It's a little Mother of the Bride.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And Carrie asked the question, isn't it a little wrong to wear a dead man's designs to his own funeral?

[Lauren Garone]

I agree with Samantha. It's wrong not to.

[Chelsea Fairless]

People who went to McQueen's funeral did wear McQueen, but his designs do lean funereally, so sort of works.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's funny because Carrie goes reminder that this is a funeral, not Friday night at Bond Street. And it's like, you're not going to rib your friend for dressing like it's the 1980s. Like she's a background extra in Dynasty.

[Lauren Garone]

True. Although of the four girls, for whatever reason, Samantha's fashion always leaned 80s, which makes more sense, like, now than it did at the time. At the time, it's like, why is she dressed like this?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's almost matronly.

[Lauren Garone]

It's just was not in fashion at the time.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Charlotte then appears because she carries plus one to this funeral. Which. Is that a thing with funerals? Are you allowed plus ones?

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. I don't know what the etiquette is around that. See, I would want plus ones at my funeral because I would want to have, like, a more sizable crowd at my funeral.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay.

[Lauren Garone]

Right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'll remember this.

[Lauren Garone]

Like, I don't want a tight guest list at my funeral.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Do you think Carrie allowed plus ones at Big's funeral?

[Lauren Garone]

I couldn't help but wonder.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So no one is wearing black at the funeral. They are all, as Carrie says. They're wearing Javier's new spring line, which in the previous scene Samantha mentions was marked up 30% when she went to go buy her ensemble.

[Lauren Garone]

That doesn't seem right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Chelsea. I would love to talk about the makeup of people at Javier's funeral. Because looking at Javier's friends, I have my doubts that he and Carrie were actually friends. Because they all seem like downtown scene kids. And Carrie is far too much of a normie for this.

[Lauren Garone]

Okay, Carrie's not a normie, especially in the early seasons.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Do you think she's going to raves?

[Lauren Garone]

I don't know if they're going to raves either. I feel like they're just going to, like, downtown fashion parties.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. It's all very confused. I will put it on, most likely the early season limited budgets. But it's like what Samantha's wearing versus what everyone else is wearing versus his perceived impact in the New York fashion scene. I'm just a little confused.

[Lauren Garone]

Although I love it. And it's why this episode is so campy and why this funeral is so campy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So Charlotte, of course, feels out of place and asks Samantha for her hat, which Samantha gamely gives her. And I feel like we need to start a list of all the times that Samantha was a really good friend. Because this reminded me of the time that Samantha gave up her haircut appointment so Miranda could feel herself again postpartum.

[Lauren Garone]

Okay. To be fair, that's like the one thing that she did for Miranda after.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She had a kid and she watched Brady. Those are two things. So Javier's sister goes up, I guess, to give a eulogy, but it's more to announce the new Javier house. The other thing I was trying to think about is who is the inspiration for Javier and his sister. It is, as Carrie says, she is sort of the next Donatella Versace.

[Lauren Garone]

Right. And this is coming a couple years after Gianni was murdered. So still felt zeitgeisty. But I don't think Javier is modeled after anyone even just like the detail about him being Cuban. It's like Isabel Toledo is like the only designer, like, New York designer. I remember being like, Cuban American in that era.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's interesting because we will learn that the writers love to base almost everything on something that happened to someone else. And this just feels like, kind of ripped from the headlines of what was going around the fashion community in the years before Sex and the City started.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So his sister announces they are starting Javier house, which seems to be a rehab and or halfway house for those in the fashion community.

[Lauren Garone]

Not a bad idea.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I love that Samantha tries to start a clap and no one goes with it. So Samantha wants to raise money for this organization, which, you know, is very magnanimous of her. But then quickly, Samantha has to be like, no, no, I'm doing this for the mailing list.

[Lauren Garone]

She needs those PR contacts again.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm so confused about Javier's placement in the world of fashion. Because Samantha's will learn is going to go to finance bros to get money for this look.

[Lauren Garone]

We'll never understand Javier. That much we know. It is bizarre how Zoolander adjacent this part of this episode is. It's almost like a completely different show.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Thank you for saying that, because I thought I was terrible when I was watching this. And his sister's like, Javier's house. In my head, I was like, javier's house. For designers who have really, really bad substance abuse issues and other disorders, this.

[Lauren Garone]

Actually needs to exist. And you could just go to every, like, fashion label and fashion magazine and just nominate the one person who has just like, is clearly the most out of control and send them to Javier house.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie smokes at the funeral. Carrie smokes a lot. In places that I would not expect her to smoke, but this might be my. My 2024 eyes like she smokes in the limo. She smokes at the funeral. Which she gamely says is probably what Javier would have wanted, which I love. She's also at a fashion funeral. I'm surprised everyone's not smoking.

[Lauren Garone]

I would be happy if people smoked or vaped at my funeral.

[Chelsea Fairless]

The chicest thing to ever happen at an event was when Mary Kate Olsen married the Sarkozy and they had silver goblets of cigarettes that were passed around.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I also want that at my funeral. As well as an open bar. Why should we make people wait until the wake? If anything, you should have a drink before.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm writing all of this down, assuming that I, of course, will outlive you and I'm the one that's going to have to organize this.

[Lauren Garone]

Oh, don't worry. Tat has all of my funeral directives in her notes app, and I have hers.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, my God, you're being serious.

[Lauren Garone]

Of course I'm being serious. You have to ask these questions. Okay. Wants to be cremated. Ashes scattered North Bondi, Waikiki.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So that means the ashes were splitting. The ashes. By the way, I'm also involved in Tat's funeral, too.

[Lauren Garone]

At the funeral, everyone has to say one thing that they love about me or give a full speech.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wait, what?

[Lauren Garone]

Lobster pasta and skinny Marg served no church long slideshow of my life. Like in love, actually.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What's yours?

[Lauren Garone]

I don't know. Ask her.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, one in my family, my parents have barely even thought about this, let alone. I have not thought about my own funeral, nor have I asked Paul about his.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, does he want to be cremated? Like you should know that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know.

[Lauren Garone]

Or does he just want his body dropped in a hole like Lisa from six Feet Under?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Now I want to go into a six feet under conversation, but we can't.

[Lauren Garone]

We're going to stop.

[Chelsea Fairless]

We're going to stop it now. So Charlotte's hat flies away from her, which we haven't gotten into. How large this hat is. We've recently seen a paparazzi photo of Carrie wearing a large hat in the upcoming and just like that, season three. And we were like Sex of the City. It's not a large hat show, but I guess we're wrong.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, this is the singular large hat.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's basically a flying saucer. It's not surprising it came off Charlotte's head.

[Lauren Garone]

Obviously, this is not inclusive. Of the hat that Samantha wears in the Sex and the City movie.

[Chelsea Fairless]

The hat flies away and Charlotte runs after it. And where does it lead her But a man stoically grieving at a grave. To which Charlotte asks, your mother. And he goes, my wife, is it? Well, well, I was thinking in the pantheon of Sex in the City. I'll put meet cutes in quotes. Where does meeting a guy at a cemetery rank?

[Lauren Garone]

It is a very funny place to meet your future husband. Like, if it actually worked out.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I mean, they get into this in the following scene in the limousine. I gotta say, this is also a limo chauffeur card. Heavy episode, for sure. Samantha is dispensing amazing advice in this episode as well. Right. She says the widower thing is definitely a no, no. I can't believe Charlotte's like, I don't get it. Why? And Carrie and Samantha are like, because it's the dead wife factor. Right. No matter how bitchy she was, alive, now she's dead, and you're the bitch who can't live up to her.

[Lauren Garone]

So true.

[Chelsea Fairless]

You believe that?

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, for sure.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I was gonna ask you, would you date a widower?

[Lauren Garone]

I guess, if I was in love with them, yeah. But Charlotte seems to have some sort of fetish for the fact that he is a widow, which I find to be quite disturbing.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And you sort of have to separate the two things because it's not just that he's a widower and she met him at a coffee shop. She met him at his dead wife's grave. Charlotte likes the idea that he's a widower because it at least establishes she knows where his ex is. She's in the ground. Unless he really is a sociopath and there's no body there but two. As she explains, it shows that he could commit. Meaning he got married once.

[Lauren Garone]

True.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which I would say, honestly, dating a man who's recently bereaved actually hurts your chances that he would probably want to marry you in a timely fashion in the timeline that certainly Charlotte wants to get married.

[Lauren Garone]

Right. Which is like six months from now.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yes. Samantha's rebuttal is, just date a divorced guy then. But what's worse, the dead wife or the divorced wife?

[Lauren Garone]

The dead wife.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Dead wife you can never live up to. Divorce wife you could encounter has a strong opinion about you. In the post Sex and the City rewatching of this show, Carrie's character has come into question. Why does she make everything about herself? Why does everything get brought back to Big? And I'm like, you know, I think that charge is unfair until this episode because all Carrie has to add to this conversation is like, well, it didn't work for Big. And even as I listened to her say that line, I was like, wait, what does this have to do with the conversation? Oh right, Big is married already, right? All marriage did for Big, as she says, was convince him he hated committing. And it's like the ellipses is to you.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, third time's the charm.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I love that Charlotte, despite her DeLulu Pollyanna ish behavior towards this widower, is like, you're the one that broke up with Big. Which is something we got into a couple months ago when we did our deep dive of Carrie and Big's relationship is Big has never broken up with Carrie. Actually, in season one she broke up with him and as we'll learn later in season two, she breaks up with him so he can go to Paris. Actually, Big has never left her.

[Lauren Garone]

As we learn later in this episode, she is completely solely responsible for the fact that this relationship picks up again.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And she does have a moment of self awareness where she says, so I'm the one with the commitment problem. And it's like kind of, yeah. Actually, what does track through the course of all your relationships is you leave. You left Big, you left Aiden, well, Burger left her, and then she got left at the altar. So I guess it all equals out this year. There's nothing holding you back from loving your hair again. Hair is so much more than what you see on the surface. It's a reflection of what's happening inside. Let Nutrafold target the key root causes of your thinning hair and help you grow stronger, healthier strands from within. Which might explain why Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist. Recommended hair growth supplement with over 1 million people seeing thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding, Nutrafol has multiple formulas that are tailored to give your hair what it needs to grow throughout different stages such as postpartum and menopause, as well as for different lifestyles such as plant based diets. With Nutrafol, building a hair growth routine is simple. Purchase online, no prescription required. Free shipping and automated deliveries ensure you'll never miss a day. See results in three to six months. Start your hair growth journey with Nutrafol for a limited time. Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to nutriful.com and enter the promo code outfit. Find out why 4,500 healthcare professionals and stylists recommend Nutriful for Healthier Hair nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code outfit that's neutrful.com promo code outfit.

[Lauren Garone]

Meanwhile, across town, Miranda is apartment hunting. Miranda in this scene is not just gendered, non conforming or androgynous. She is a stone butch.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Throughout this episode, her constantly being asked if her her boyfriend's gonna move in or her fiance. It really calls into question her sexuality. I know this is supposed to be a searing indictment about being a single.

[Lauren Garone]

Woman, but when she looks this dikey, you just kind of like look at the realtor and you're like, bitch, read the room.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, why are you showing her a photo of your son? You're barking up the wrong tree.

[Lauren Garone]

So despite the fact that this realtor is like very annoying and it's like all this for just you little old you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So much space to be fair, because this is the apartment we will not come to know as Miranda's apartment. This realtor is right. This is a gigantic apartment that goes on many, many rooms. It's the New York equivalent to Candy Spelling and Aaron Spelling's house. Like Miranda's gonna have to have a gift wrapping room just to be able to find use for all these rooms she has.

[Lauren Garone]

But Miranda decides to buy it in.

[Chelsea Fairless]

A not very Miranda way. Right when they buy the brownstone in Brooklyn, she's like, I want a really long escrow. I want to do checks on everything with this apartment. She's like, I'll take it.

[Lauren Garone]

Something went wrong. She learned that lesson the hard way.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No notes.

[Lauren Garone]

Only after she bought it did she learn that someone died in there. But anyway, we'll get to that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which don't they have to disclose that they do?

[Lauren Garone]

That's what I thought. Or is that just in California?

[Chelsea Fairless]

So as Carrie says in voiceover with that Ms. Miranda Hobbs, Esquire, aka just me. Because if there's going to be a repeated phrase in this episode, it's just me. Bought herself her first apartment and promptly took herself out for a drink.

[Lauren Garone]

And back at Carrie's house is this. I couldn't help but wonder.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This episode is so campy for intended and unintended reasons. And this is one of them, which is like, is this the I couldn't help but wonder. In reality, the I couldn't help but wonder is delivered in two different parts of the episode. This is the first where she says.

[Carrie Bradshaw]

While Miranda was out celebrating her future, I was in contemplating my own. In a city that moves so fast, they give you the Sunday paper On Saturday. How did any of us know how much time we had left? There was so much I hadn't done. I'd never been to Greece. I hadn't finished painting my bathroom. My Visa bill still wasn't paid in full. Hell, sometimes I felt like I was barely living.

[Lauren Garone]

See, this is all the relatable Carrie stuff that we love. Although she did go to Greece with Seema.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Do you think Daddy MPK was working on so many levels that we didn't even see until now? Within Just like that, where that was a deep callback to this episode? Well, yeah.

[Lauren Garone]

And that and the fact that Weren't Carrie and Big supposed to go to Greece on the day that they broke up?

[Chelsea Fairless]

They were going to the Bahamas or Barbados.

[Lauren Garone]

Okay, never mind.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And their honeymoon was in Mexico. This is not a Mediterranean bitch. I think what you're saying is the things that make Carrie relatable and I think gets to a lot of criticism of Carrie Bradshaw after the show ended is how did she live this lifestyle? And the answer is credit card debt because she says, I still haven't paid my Visa bill in full.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I liked when her chaotic finances were addressed. At a certain point, though, it's like she couldn't be like that anymore because it's like she's wearing head to toe Chanel.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Buying it at the sample sale only gets you so far, even in the heightened world of Sex and the City. And for some reason, this existential crisis she's having makes her think to only do one thing. And that's not to look up a therapist, but instead call Big.

[Lauren Garone]

Okay, well, Big could solve the problem of the Visa bill and the never going to Greece. And he could hire someone to paint that bathroom. Is this just like, fuck, my friend just bought an apartment and I have a fucking Visa bill. Like, I need to find a daddy, like, asap.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But see, that would make sense because we learn in season four that she's shocked that any of her friends have $40,000 in savings.

[Lauren Garone]

Right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So I saw a tweet recently that said that Sex and the City, from Big's perspective is a horror film or like a psychological thriller. Because the amount of times that Carrie randomly calls him, shows up at his door unannounced, stalks his first wife. It's giving. Single white female.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, it's very like, here's Johnny Energy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

They get right back into it. The chemistry is electric, and they make dinner plans.

[Lauren Garone]

Truly, no justification is given for this.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Chris Noth looking very hot in this scene. I think men look very good when they Wear black sweaters. But from Big's perspective, he was willing to go with this bitch on a vacation. And she was like, nah. And so like, from his perspective, of course, why wouldn't he be like, yeah, sure, let's go to dinner?

[Lauren Garone]

I don't know. I'm like, surprised that Big so easily is down to get back with her.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think he's looking to have dinner.

[Lauren Garone]

And a little something something.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This might be the craziest line of the episode because in voiceover she goes, and just like that, I had made a Saturday night date with Big. In under seconds, we had resurrected a relationship that had taken six months to die. Girl. What? You broke up with him. You didn't communicate your needs. You're still not communicating your needs. You just assume that things will be different.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which, by the way, I've also been there. We've all been there.

[Lauren Garone]

Right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Meanwhile, Samantha courts Richard Cromwell, a senior partner at Bear Stearns, for money for Javier House. This man is a philanthropist and a playboy who specializes in hostile takeovers.

[Lauren Garone]

And she wants him to be on the board of Javier House.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Why?

[Lauren Garone]

I don't know.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Go to Anna Wintour's office and apparently.

[Lauren Garone]

She'S willing to trade sexual favors for him. Joining the board at Javier House.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yes. And Carrie's voiceover is, Samantha groped Cromwell for the good of all strung out designers everywhere.

[Lauren Garone]

Unfortunately, she was not expecting Sandy Cranwell back early from groping a sweater set at Bendel's. So the wife walks in and I'm like, samantha, he's married.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This calls into question, did Samantha not know or does Samantha not care?

[Lauren Garone]

I think Samantha doesn't care.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah.

[Lauren Garone]

Also, Rip Bendels, Samantha of a season.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Four would scold season two Samantha of like, how could you be so sloppy and like, fuck a guy in his own home while he's married?

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What are you carry? That's something Carrie does.

[Lauren Garone]

To Megan the stallion's point, Samantha is a little desperate in the early seasons. Like, this is not good behavior.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No. And it seems like the only line of foreplay is because his name is Richard. He says, call me Dick. And so Samantha says, dick, and then they're making out. Someone who watched this at an impressionable age gave me an unrealistic idea of, like, what foreplay is or what signals are.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. Miranda is, you know, dealing with all the paperwork to buy her apartment.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She's at her mortgage company where the man again asks, is it just you? And she is forced to check the single lady box. Which heightened for the show, the box would just Be single.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, it's more fucked up when he's like, is the down payment coming from your father?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I mean, it's New York real estate. Not the craziest thing to ask, but no, this is coming all from Miranda.

[Lauren Garone]

Who again is giving man.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, you do expect that the follow up line. Because she is asked. Is it just you so often that you're almost expecting that she's gonna be like, well, my girlfriend's gonna move in with me. So this leads into the group having lunch together. Carrie has the voiceover. By the end of the day, Miranda had checked more single women's boxes than her gynecologist. Whoa. Kind of a blue line for Carrie because she's basically saying that she's checked more women's boxes. Again, a box that doesn't exist. It would just say single. That a gynecologist. Boxes meaning vagina, slang for pussy.

[Lauren Garone]

Hey, remember that she did say pussy in season one.

[Chelsea Fairless]

That's true. Miranda's making the point that if I were a single man, I wouldn't be getting shit like this. To which Samantha says, if you were a single man, I date you. And I believe that. Again, this is a common theme throughout the years. But it's this idea that there's nothing more dangerous in society than a single woman. Right. I forget who makes the point. Either Samantha or Carrie. That, or maybe it's Miranda herself, that buying a place alone means that you don't need a man.

[Lauren Garone]

And Charlotte's like, that's why I rent. It's like, so you're in the financial position to buy and you would like to own an apartment, but you won't because you don't want to emasculate a man. But to be fair, when she does own her apartment, it does end up emasculating a man.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, yeah, that's the funny thing is her reasoning is if you own and he still rents, the power structure is off. Now, mind you, Charlotte can't imagine a world where you own an apartment, he owns an apartment, you sell those apartments, you buy one together the way that Carrie and Big did. But yeah, you're right. You're referring to the first guy that Charlotte sleeps with after her separation from Trey. But I was thinking about the fact that Harry, her next husband, her second husband, will move into Charlotte's place, which, as we've noted numerous times, Charlotte stole from Trey's family that Harry helped her get.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, this girl has like some twisted ideas about real estate.

[Chelsea Fairless]

While Charlotte is talking, you see Samantha give the card, which I Thought was very nice that Samantha is treating everyone to lunch. Except she's not because her card gets declined.

[Lauren Garone]

She's been canceled.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, this is so ruthless. Samantha's like, oh, that can't be right. Run it again. And the hostess is like, maybe I'm not making myself clear. Your money and you are no longer welcome.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, it's like, bitch, I already ate the meal.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie makes this point in voiceover that Sandy Cromwell has put a social hit out on Samantha. I'm sorry, it sounds like they all got a free lunch at a fancy restaurant. So this sounds like a win to me.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. So Charlotte goes on her date with the widower Ned, who opens his wallet. We see his wife. He gets choked up with emotion.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And the true crime freak in me, because I didn't remember where Charlotte's storyline ends in this episode, I was like, oh, this is a bit he does to meet women. Like, I instantly, my SVU true crime brain was like, oh, no.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I also felt this way when they're walking and he begins sobbing on the.

[Lauren Garone]

Street, which was a turn on for Charlotte.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm sorry. I do see this actor's doing a great job. His eyes are glassy, but there are no tears. Okay. This man is a sociopath.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I'm with you. So then she fucks him next to the portrait of his dead wife.

[Chelsea Fairless]

They have very emotional sex. When it pans to the photo of the wife in a frame on the nightstand, I'm like, charlotte, run, girl. You're in danger.

[Lauren Garone]

This is like giving Rebecca.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think that might be a hard and fast rule. If a man has a photo of another woman on the nightstand, I don't care if it's his dead wife. I don't care if it's his mother. You can't have sex with that man.

[Lauren Garone]

No. Nothing on the nightstand except maybe some lube. We get a epic walk and talk. I say epic not so much because of the conversation, but because of what the girls are wearing. Carrie is in this, like, insane Alaia equestrian look that's unlike anything she has worn before or since.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And she's wearing, I think, ballet flats.

[Lauren Garone]

No, it's not ballet flats. That would make sense. She's wearing, like, a loafer. Like a tasseled loafer without a sock.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It feels like a rejected Heather's outfit.

[Lauren Garone]

It's very Heather's.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It speaks to a carry that we will lose as the seasons go on. Which I call thrift store carrying. It's an outfit where you're like, I believe Carrie Bradshaw bought this at various charity shops on the Upper east side.

[Lauren Garone]

No, it's like, I believe that she bought the jacket at Aliyah, but the other stuff came from flea markets.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And then we have what I like to call Lilith Faire Miranda.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, but it's kind of like a sporty Lilith Faire Miranda, which, to be fair, was a look in the 90s, like a micro trend. She's wearing a long pink skirt with a windbreaker. That does remind me of a certain incarnation of dkny.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right.

[Lauren Garone]

And then Charlotte is the only one that looks normal.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Charlotte's just being Charlotte in a Burberry trench.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. I think this is a really great classic look for her.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This is a pretty fun conversation between the three of them, right. Where Miranda correctly clocks like, this is just a rebound. And Charlotte is like, not when the other person's dead. Which I don't know if I agree with. A rebound is a rebound. I don't care if the woman is six feet in the ground.

[Lauren Garone]

No, that's illogical.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She's basically justifying this relationship by saying, I'm doing a civil service. I'm helping this man get over his.

[Lauren Garone]

Wife, which is an act of service.

[Chelsea Fairless]

For sure, but not one that's going to lead to the end goal she would like, which is marriage, for sure.

[Lauren Garone]

I believe that they both have sinister intentions.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, not to be hyperbolic, but they needed to commit Charlotte. After she said the line, it was like Liz was looking over us, giving us her blessing while they fud.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I agree, it's wrong.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Charlotte, of course, always tries to see signs everywhere, and she's like, the hat blew right into her headstone. She was clearly sending a message. And Miranda has the great line. Yeah, don't fuck my husband, you hat loving bitch.

[Lauren Garone]

Very good.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Charlotte notes that she has been invited to a memorial service at her grave next week, which too soon.

[Lauren Garone]

And then this triggers the second. I couldn't help but wonder. The second part of the I couldn't.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Help but wonder, Right, which is this.

[Carrie Bradshaw]

That night I had my date with Big, I was feeling everything. Fear, happiness, dread. Was I ready to jump back into a life with Big in it? Was seeing him again a huge mistake? And if it was, why was I so excited? I had never felt so confused. Was Charlotte right? In a world where everyone's dying to make a connection, can a relationship bring you back to life?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Can a relationship bring you back to life?

[Lauren Garone]

Yes, is the answer. This isn't really a deep. I couldn't help but wonder.

[Chelsea Fairless]

There's a lot of questions in this I couldn't help but wonder, was I ready to jump back into a life with Big in it? The answer is yes, or else you wouldn't be calling him.

[Lauren Garone]

Was seeing him a huge mistake also? Yes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And if it was, why was I so excited? Because you're a love addict.

[Lauren Garone]

Was Charlotte right? No. Charlotte is rarely right about anything this non.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I couldn't help but wonder. I couldn't help but wonder is a real mixed bag, as you would say. Carrie and Big go to dinner, which makes me realize we don't see them on normie dates much. We did their first date at the Chinese restaurant. This when he sings at the Italian restaurant. But it was nice to see them. Also, their chemistry is bonkers.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, it makes you wonder.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's a testament to how charismatic these actors are in their chemistry because they are having a very heady conversation about death. So Carrie believes she'll be reincarnated when she passes, which interesting way for in Just like that Season four to go. That's all I'm saying. Stop.

[Lauren Garone]

Don't even talk about that. Only it's never occurred to me that Carrie Bradshaw could die. That's a horrible thing.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Hear me out, Joe. Big did not die, but Carrie dies in season one. She is reincarnated in Lizette.

[Lauren Garone]

Stop.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie loves to ask unanswerable questions to Big, like, do you believe in soulmates? Do you believe in true love? What happens when you die? Do you believe in heaven, Big? I mean, these are real boner killer conversations. I'm just gonna say.

[Lauren Garone]

Yet still he wants to fuck.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Even though she's asking heady questions he obviously doesn't want to answer, he's going to make his message clear. This is what Carrie doesn't understand, where she's like, I just don't understand Big No. His subtext is text. He's like, you know what heaven is? It's a bed. Yeah.

[Lauren Garone]

He was like, I would like to fuck you now. In so many words.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie is so dramatic in this episode, in her voiceovers. It's really giving livejournal. Right? Because she goes a half an hour later and I was back at Biggs. The sight of so many past little deaths. What?

[Lauren Garone]

I mean, she's talking about orgasms. No, how an orgasm is a little death. Isn't that the expression?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wow. Okay, so now I feel dumb.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, you learn something new every day.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I thought it was like the little deaths of their relationship.

[Lauren Garone]

Maybe it was. That was my interpretation.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think yours makes more sense. She says, it felt great and weird and wrong.

[Lauren Garone]

Then she's like, oh, God, I can't fuck Big. She's getting away from him for a second. I was like, ooh, is this going to go a bad way?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Chelsea, this is what happens when you fall asleep to svu. You see SVU everywhere.

[Lauren Garone]

I know. But she manages to escape from his apartment.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Done. Done. This is clearly a woman who wants a relationship with Big. Big would like to have sex with her on a regular basis. If he has to give her relationship to get that, he will.

[Lauren Garone]

If I was Big, I would just assume that she just wanted to fudge and that's why she's calling him.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Her call, whether she meant it or not, has all of the markers of a booty call.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So when she gets back on the street, she says, but suddenly getting back together with Big seemed like a very bad idea. No, Carrie, I was scared to death the first time we got involved. I got out just in time. Would I be as lucky the second spoiler alert. No.

[Lauren Garone]

So Samantha is a social pariah. She is being turned away from every club, every party, even what looks like the Javier men's presentation.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Samantha's not taking the hint. Season six. Samantha would look at season two and be like, stop being so desperate. I mean, she's essentially escorted out of even the entrance to the Javier men's fashion show.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie in voiceover Sundays by the third time she was turned away, it had all become clear she was deader in this town than Javier. Is an incredibly campy line. But again, this man had a very tragic, very realistic death. So it's hard to put in place the fact that Samantha's social death is akin to this man overdosing on heroin in his prime.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. So Samantha gets desperate and goes to the queen bee of society. This very, like, uptight bitch. I forget what her name is. Not the wife of the guy that she made out with.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, she is. This is a genius WASP blind Shippy Shipman, who is the queen of the ladies who lunge. It's funny that Samantha was even able to get a meeting with this woman. But I think the only reason that Shippy Shipman allowed this meeting with Samantha to happen was to remind Samantha that she does remember Samantha. Not from her work, from the Javier House Foundation. She remembers her because Samantha once groped her husband at a Whitney benefit. Is Samantha not aware these men are married or she just doesn't care?

[Lauren Garone]

I get the distinct vibe that she doesn't care.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It just seems so bizarre that Samantha would be so flagrant in this behavior since she is a publicist and the entire world of a publicist is built on relationships.

[Lauren Garone]

True, but she's also a horny bitch. And, like, she says she was drunk. So. So basically, Samantha has this great monologue, like, what do you want me to say? That I've, like, fudged every guy in Manhattan and some in Brooklyn, like, okay, I'm a big whore now. Will you help me regain my social standing? And this chick's just like, no.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which fair. It is interesting because I think of Samantha as such a downtown person, but I forget that she lived on the Upper east side and operated there in the early seasons. She really could be socially assassinated in this way. But of course, the scene ends with a very Samantha line that I only groped your husband's flat, preppy acid. The benefit because I was drunk. Does Samantha remember this man? Or she's like, if I did that, I probably was drunk. If this really happened to Samantha, or if Samantha existed in a real New York world, Samantha would go to rehab and say that all of her bad behavior was because of her drinking and have a little redemption arc as told through the New York Post.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, she could just go to Javier.

[Chelsea Fairless]

House, which she is forced to build herself. Since she wasn't able to raise any money for Javier House, she instead is doing hard labor.

[Lauren Garone]

She's doing manual labor. I love that for her. I thought I just hallucinated this part. Samantha's doing construction work, literally building this Javier house brick by brick. When she meets Leonardo DiCaprio.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Leonardo DiCaprio, which you don't see. Leonardo DiCaprio. The idea is that he's sort of blocked by the sun. But they didn't even find someone with a Leonardo DiCaprio silhouette. I have a hard time thinking was hard to find a young blondish man with the, you know, classical 90s haircut that every guy had to be a stand in for Leonard DiCaprio.

[Lauren Garone]

We can see his face. He just looks like any guy that Samantha would normally fuck.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Or he looks like the guy in the sandwich costume that Miranda's attracted to. So in Carrie's voiceover, she says it was Leonardo DiCaprio ex machina. Which I find this very funny because this plot point is literally deus machina, which is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Like the text is the subtext. It really feels like the writers were like, fuck it. We don't know how to get Samantha out of this. Leonardo DiCaprio shows up, and because they Become friends. And it's a post Titanic world. She's back on top, baby.

[Lauren Garone]

So crazy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

They kind of traverse this storyline with Samantha a couple of different ways and a couple of different times throughout the where she can't remember the men she's had sex with her. And Carrie's friendship almost ends because she blew the Worldwide Express guy and then Carrie had to see that. But this would have been a much more interesting storyline to have seen in the. In the later seasons for Samantha.

[Lauren Garone]

Totally.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Let's jump back into Miranda's storyline. Miranda runs into an elderly neighbor who tells her, like, oh, you're a single woman living here. You know, the woman who lived here before she was a woman who lived alone. And, you know, she died all alone, too. And no one found her for a week. And the rumor is that her cat ate half her face.

[Lauren Garone]

This is every single person's nightmare.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think the other single person's nightmare is what happens to Miranda next, which is while eating Chinese food, she begins choking.

[Lauren Garone]

Horrifying.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Very upsetting. Have you ever choked?

[Lauren Garone]

No, but this is like, my worst nightmare.

[Chelsea Fairless]

You can say home invasion, of course, but that could happen if you have a partner. But, like, choking alone. I mean, I frankly am impressed that Miranda had the ingenuity to, like, let me just Heimlich myself on a box. Thank God she didn't unpack.

[Lauren Garone]

I know. I should think about where in my house I should, like, Heimlich myself if this situation calls for it.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think your chair's from maybe the bar. Yeah, I'm trying to think, like, what is solar plex height?

[Lauren Garone]

See, I'm dead. I'm dead. This is why I need to figure it out in advance.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So Miranda calls Carrie, who does not want to take Big's call. Why? I'm not exactly sure, but Carrie is screening her calls in a 1940s playsuit that makes her look like Dominic Swain as Lolita. I love the detail that Miranda was watching Hard Copy. All she could think about was that if she had died, she would forever be known as the dead girl who watched bad tv.

[Lauren Garone]

Surely by the time that you've died, at least enough time has gone by so that Entertainment Tonight has come on.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She might be lucky enough that the news was on.

[Lauren Garone]

As someone that used to watch Hard Copy, I know how true this is. Like, that was a trash show. Like, I loved it. But when Entertainment Tonight seems like highbrow in comparison, like, you know that something's trashy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's the chasm between People magazine and National Enquirer.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie calls Miranda back, and Miranda voices out loud every single woman's fear, which is, I'm going to die alone. Could be single men's fear. I don't know. But I really related to Miranda when Carrie's like, do you want me to come over? And she immediately switches into like, I'm okay. I don't need anyone's help. Something very disturbing just happened. But I'll pull. I'll pull myself together. So I love that Miranda's answer to not getting her face eaten by her cat is to overfeed the cat. I have terrible news for you, Miranda. If you die, the cat is eventually going to run through that food and then eat you.

[Lauren Garone]

It buys you time, though.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So the following day, Miranda is getting to know her neighborhood and gets a crazy case of Vertigo.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, it's a panic attack, but it looks a lot like a Goo Goo Dolls music video of the era.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She almost gets hit by a cab, but thankfully a cab stops for her and she's able to be taken to a hospital, which Carrie says, that was a peculiar thing about New York. You never knew if a cab was gonna save you or kill you. True. So Carrie, I guess, is no longer screening her calls and shows up at the hospitals to support Miranda. And Miranda describes the feeling that she had as, I felt like I was drowning and dying at the same time. To which I say, those are the same thing. If you are drowning, you are dying.

[Lauren Garone]

And then she has a breakdown, basically where she says, I'm all alone. You know, the first people on my call in case of emergency list are my parents, and I hate them. And they live in Pennsylvania. It's a really good, really realistic bit of dramatic acting from Cynthia, who's just brilliant in this episode.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Generally, I don't know if we've ever been each other's emergency contacts, but I do remember I had a friend that passed away several years ago. And I was very close to her. But when she passed away, I had no way to contact, learn about the funeral. And it made me rethink my friendships. And I realized if something happened to you, like, I don't have your parents number, and I made you. And I put each other's parents numbers in our phones in case anything happened to us.

[Lauren Garone]

Very smart.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm just saying.

[Lauren Garone]

But, yeah, this is one of those scenes where I think Sex in the City really hits. And I think a lot of people can relate to where Miranda is at in this episode. And that feeling and truly the worst.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And I think it also gets to a thesis of the show that we sometimes bump up against, which is these women are each other's family. They are each other's soulmates. Carrie promises to be Miranda's emergency contact, and she promises she'll pick up the phone. I have my doubts, though. I think out of the group, I.

[Lauren Garone]

Mean, I think Charlotte would be the most dependable.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I was just thinking about that. Previous to being married, I always put my dad as my emergency contact. Just because I'm like, who is someone that is always by their phone? Like, if something happened to me, who is likely with my mom, it would be 50 50. But my dad is always by his phone, which makes me think Samantha might be the go to emergency contact because she's picking up that call. If anyone looks down at a number they don't recognize and is going to pick it up, it's going to be Samantha Jones.

[Lauren Garone]

True. To add insult to injury, something goes wrong with Miranda's mortgage application or something.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, her mortgage application. She's listed as separated instead of single. So she has to write a two to whom it may concern letter, which is framed, which speaks of the time period, but it's framed in the show. Like, this is really humiliating. It might trigger another panic attack in Miranda. And I'm sort of like, why? This is almost easier than being accosted in person by a real estate agent or your mortgage broker. Being like, just you.

[Lauren Garone]

Anyway, Miranda had a choice. She could panic or she could just type. And then it's just like, she never had panic attacks again.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Not until she married Steve, I guess.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She realized she probably wouldn't die alone, but she kept overfeeding her cat just in case. That cat, if you die and you're not found for weeks, that cat is going to run through that food and start eating you.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, it's going to have a bigger appetite because it's used to being fed so much.

[Chelsea Fairless]

To wrap up Charlotte's storyline, she shows up to Ned's wife's memorial, which you would imagine would be surrounded by Ned's wife's friends and. And their family, which is the reason I would not go to this memorial. But as Charlotte learns, a group of women show up all in their own chauffeured cars. Again, a very chauffeured car heavy episode. And Charlotte goes, please tell me those are your sisters. And Ned goes, I don't have sisters. And Charlotte does the only respectable thing, which is she gets back in her car and leaves. What is wrong with these other women?

[Lauren Garone]

I know, like, they're giving the vibes of women that, like, marry, like, serial killers that are in jail when you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Learn the depths of this man's sociopathic nature. Right. We were joking earlier of like, is there even a body in the ground? I'm more like, is that even his wife? Was this man ever even married? Did he just pick a random grave and he waits for other women to come to different funerals and run into him? Maybe that photo of his wife. You know how in frames they used to give stock images of people?

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Maybe that's what. Who his wife is.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, fully.

[Chelsea Fairless]

See, if I'm dating a man who claims to be a widower, I'm looking up that obituary for sure.

[Lauren Garone]

Even if I have to go to the library and, like, use those old timey machines like we used to have to do as a kid.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm getting on Nexus. Lexis.

[Lauren Garone]

Where was it? LexisNexis.

[Chelsea Fairless]

LexisNexis. Yeah, and I'm looking up that obituary. So to close things out with Carrie and Big. I'm sorry. This is the definition of toxic behavior. As we've mentioned several times before, Carrie broke up with Big. Then she asked him out to dinner out of the blue, we assume months later, then doesn't want to fuck him, then ignores his repeated calls. So he, of course, shows up at her apartment because he wants to make sure she's not dead. And I genuinely believe that. I don't think it's a line. Because as soon as she opens the door, he's like, good, you're alive. And he turns around.

[Lauren Garone]

What a good guy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Carrie, of course, apologizes. She says, I'm sorry. And then he goes, you should be.

[Lauren Garone]

Well, yes, it's really inappropriate to ghost if someone's like, are you dead or alive?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Presumably, he is leaving messages. By the fifth message, he's like, at this point, I just want to make sure you're not dead. Yeah, like, just call me back. You don't have to say anything. Just press the number one button if you're alive. I kind of don't buy that. One of the dates that Big was going to take. Carry on. Was a Yankee doubleheader, which she seems very bummed to have missed. I mean, I guess she did date the Yankee.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, but that's just because she went to a game once. But, like, everyone goes to Yankees games in New York. Like, I've been to, like, at least three, and I don't even care about baseball.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She asks, who'd you take? He has the great line. Someone who returned my calls. And then Carrie, with her Delulu voiceover, in this episode, it was deja vu all over again. Mr. Big, a doorway and mixed emotions. So they're about to fuck again because they have bonkers chemistry. And she's like, wait, no, I have to take this man to the most non sexual place I could think of. Which to her is a bowling alley. Which I'm like, is this the most non sexual place?

[Lauren Garone]

A bowling alley is a very non sexual place because you're forced to wear ugly shoes. And there's often like children and, you know, groups of seniors, like in matching shirts, you know, that's not sexy to you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

You love a uniform gel.

[Lauren Garone]

That's true. I might need to rethink that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, you are correct because Big says, you know what? My version of Hell is wearing rented two tone shoes. Which I think is your version of hell as well.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I hate that about bullying alleys.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Big wins. And then there is a metaphorical conversation about playing another game. And I think we should just play the whole dialogue. You want to play a second game? Huh?

[Carrie Bradshaw]

Maybe. Are you sure you're ready to get.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Killed all over again?

[Carrie Bradshaw]

I didn't know what we were talking about anymore, but either way, I knew the answer. Yep, let's do it. We never made it to the second game. I didn't know if it was suicide or not. All I knew was Big and I had been reincarnated and I'd never felt more alive.

[Lauren Garone]

And we're back on Girl is so dramatic.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I didn't know if it was suicide or not.

[Lauren Garone]

I know the fact that you think.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This is life or death, you should not be with this man. Although you seem to have very hot sex.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah. Good for you. So how many Manolos are we giving this episode?

[Chelsea Fairless]

See, it's interesting. Before we started recording, I was going to give it a pretty like, average, like a six. But in talking about it was very fun to talk about. Yeah, seven.

[Lauren Garone]

I'm gonna give it a 6.5.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay.

[Lauren Garone]

The Miranda plot line is like, very important to the show.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It is a main ethos of the show that the most ostracized person is a single woman.

[Lauren Garone]

And also, this is one of the few episodes that feels like it could be Zoolander. The other being Real Me.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And also, every character has a storyline which, as we've gone through these rewatches, is not always the case.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, okay. Exit survey.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, yeah.

[Lauren Garone]

Who's the mvp?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I feel like you're gonna say Miranda, so I'm gonna be contrarian and say Mr. Big.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, he's making sure our girl isn't dead. And for that we appreciate him.

[Chelsea Fairless]

He's doing nothing wrong. If a woman who broke up with you called you out of the blue a couple months later and randomly asked you to dinner, I would think it was to hook up.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I'm going with Miranda. This is a great episode for Cynthia Nixon. Who are you voting off of the island of Manhattan?

[Chelsea Fairless]

These ladies who lunch who tried to ostracize Samantha.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I think she's even worse than Charlotte's. Like, polyamorous, serial killer, widower.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, yeah, Ned's pretty bad. Best dressed Miranda.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I'm also going Miranda. I like her vibe in this episode.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, also, we really need to cling on to suit wearing Miranda because we know that it's not going to last forever.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, exactly. Who are you in the episode?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I used to love me an emotionally unavailable man. So I really resonate with Carrie in this episode.

[Lauren Garone]

Yeah, I'm also Carrie. I relate to her messiness. Best line. Mine is, rumor has it the cat ate half her face.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm going to go with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ex Machina.

[Lauren Garone]

Biggest trigger.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think my biggest trigger is single woman's box because that doesn't exist. The box is single and it happens to men, too.

[Lauren Garone]

I think my biggest trigger is the, like, unpainted bathroom and the unpaid visa bill. That gives me a lot of anxiety, too. Real hottest take.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Big's done nothing wrong. Carrie decided to get into this relationship without having an honest conversation about why the relationship ended previously. I'm fine with the fact that Big is so uncurious as to why the relationship ended the first time and why she wants it to begin again. Because for him, he gets to see her the amount he would like to see her. And Carrie has fallen right back into the trap.

[Lauren Garone]

My hottest take is that Charlotte was sexually excited by that guy in his dead wife's bed. And that is by far the most perverted thing she's ever done.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's pretty transgressive. And I think a point in your favor for this is the fact that Charlotte says after they had sex when she's describing it to her friends who are already weirded out. It was as if Liz was looking over us while we had sex.

[Lauren Garone]

Yikes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think even Ned would be a little too freaked out by that. Is Charlotte the Isabelle pair of the Sex and the City universe in this episode?

[Lauren Garone]

She is.

[Chelsea Fairless]

All right, guys, I think we've said it all.

[Lauren Garone]

We have and we will be back next week.

[Chelsea Fairless]

We will indeed. This is our last sex in the city. Rewatch of the year. Ciao.

[Lauren Garone]

Oh, wow.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What should be our first episode of 2025.

[Lauren Garone]

You let us know.

[Chelsea Fairless]

All right, guys, see you next week.

[Lauren Garone]

Bye.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Bye. M3.