I think she said something like, “My actions had set into motion a karmic chain of events that put Natasha back on the singles market. As if single women didn’t have it hard enough.” The line is confusing, but she’s referring to Natasha’s beauty and charm and how hard it will be for women (including herself) to compete with her for men. I think Carrie knew she’d just had her ass handed to her and how ridiculous it was to expect anything from Natasha.
Hee, did you channel Eddie Izzard while writing that? Because I heard his voice in my head as I read it.
I too watched the whole series and enjoyed a lot of it, while also thinking the main characters were pretty much jerks. I also agree that Samantha is the least jerky because she’s the most sensible and honest.
Here’s my big gripe - the idea is that these are powerful, liberated women, right? So how does the series wrap up a happy ending for them?
One gets back with a guy who was terrible for her and with whom she’s had the most messed up on-again off-again relationship.
One gives up most of her identity, her home, and all her free time to become not just Suzy Homemaker*, but also take care of her MIL with Alzheimers. (*sorry, she also had to keep earning the bulk of their money, she just added all the domestic chores as well.)
One changes her religion so she can marry her boyfriend.
And the one who was the most out there, independent, unapologetic free spirit also has to settle down with one man and acknowledge Twue Wuv.
So the message I took from the series in the end was that the way to true happiness and love is for women to sublimate themselves to men. (And I say this as an ex-lawyer who stays home with two kids now, and loves it. It would have been fine to have one or two of the girls wind up in love, settled down. Charlotte naturally. Even Miranda, if they hadn’t dumped quite so much shit on her. But Samantha?!)
And yeah, I was happy to see in the movie (friend made me go):Samantha saying, "I’m going to say the thing you’re not supposed to say. I love you, but I love me more.
Oh, and that reminds me, Carrie in the movie drove me nuts: first she became Bridezilla, and then yes, Big standing her up was really unforgiveable and it would fuck your mind right over. But her reaction was more like she’d just found out that her children had been tortured to death than something appropriate to the situation. As always, it was all about HER, and it was played to the hilt.
So,
Big stood her up?? Is that how it stayed?
By the end of the movie She forgives him, because (I am not making this up) he had been sending her e-mails with quotations of great love poems (not poems he wrote, just ones he looked up), for months and months after leaving her at the altar. Her heart melts, she cops to being a Bridezilla, and they get married in a small civil ceremony. The last time we see them, IIRC, is lying on the floor of the giant shoe closet he has had built for her. And they lived happily ever after . . .
After Big stands her up at the altar, Carrie refuses to talk to him or have anything to do with him. She instructs her assistant to delete any emails from him. Without her knowledge, the assistant begins saving Big’s emails in a separate folder where Carrie can’t see them. One day Carrie finds them and discovers he’s been writing her “love” letters for a year. That’s when she goes back to the apartment they used to share, finds him there, and they get back together. At the very end they marry in a small civil ceremony. Yes, it was stupid, and no, nobody should ever marry someone who stands them up at the altar. But I think I can confidently say they deserved each other.
I get annoyed not by the show itself, but at the throngs of young women who have in the past 10 years descended upon Manhattan, intent on living out their “Sex & the City” fantasy life. It’s to the point that you can’t walk anywhere in lower Manhattan without running into a pack of ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ wannabes who strut around with a snooty air of entitlement, expecting everyone in the city to cater to their frivolous, empty demands.
If I walk into one more gay bar in Chelsea and see some one more drunken brunette-with-a-bad-blond-dye-job with empty martinin glass in hand trying to make it all about her, then I’m going to throw a hissy fit!
Regarding the events of the movie, I see it as Carrie’s fault as well. Had she answered the phone and spoken to him calmly rather then flying into a hissy fit, things would have turned out different. The way I see it, Big got cold feet, but Carrie was the one who lost her shit and caused the wedding to be aborted.
That reminds me, another good one from the movie - the interview answer that clinches the job for Carrie’s assistant:
Carrie: Why did you come to New York?
Interviewee: To fall in love.
I cannot think of a more retarded answer. And of course, it wins Carrie over immediately.
Thank you SaharaTea and Unauthorized Cinnamon for the info.
Of course, I should have known that’s how it would end. 
I decided not to bother seeing the film as it sounded ker-rap. But then I didn’t even get around to watching the final series either.
The way they were all so helpless outside of Manhattan. No one could drive a car very well (baby shower in the burbs, L.A,) and they freaked out when confronted w/Nature (Carrie at Aidan’s cabin, Miranda on her honeymoon, Samantha with little Brady, Charlotte with Harry.)
Can’t explain it, but I like the show and have seen most episodes twice. It’ s total escapism for me. I’d love to have Carrie’s bod and wardrobe, Charlotte’s money, Miranda’s pragmatism and Samantha’s sex life. It’s a guilty please for me, like a Danielle Steel novel…
See, most of that stuff didn’t bother me at all. (Carrie getting back with Big was ridiculous, but she was the only character who didn’t grow or change as a person and I think she thrives on the drama.)
Miranda didn’t give up her identity, she adjusted her life to make room for her family. What kind of hideous bitch of a wife wouldn’t help her husband with his sick mother while he is starting his own business? She still worked too, of course, but Steve worked just as much as she did and he did all the repair work on their house, not to mention providing Miranda with the love and support she needed.
Charlotte changed her religion for a man. He gave her everything she could possibly want and took all of her pretentious crap with a smile because he loved her for who she was and was completely supportive and understanding about her reproductive challenges. Hell, I’d switch religions to marry Harry too!
Samantha fell in love with Smith because he was a demon in the sack and he stuck around despite her cheating on him, her emotional distance, and her major medical issues. They didn’t end up married or anything but they did emotionally commit to one another, which is just what she needed at the time.
The message I took away from the series is that when you find someone who is right for you there is a good amount of give and take but that the relationship accentuates your positive traits and helps reduce your negative ones. All of those men (save for Mr Big) gave up huge parts of themselves to be with these women. Why shouldn’t these women do the same?
I know you will all be thrilled to hear that they’re publishing YA books about Carrie’s teen years!
(Never seen it, would certainly hate it, you’ll find me in the Doctor Who threads)
They’re called Scary Sadshaws, which I love.
I’m with Hazle on the fantasy aspect. I mean, surely I can watch Entourage (which is occasionally called ‘SATC for guys’) for the same reasons. Whee, lots of money, casual sex, fun toys. Totally unrealistic, but there you go. Plus SATC’s writing was better, and occasionally covered real and interesting topics.
Now see, that may be annoying (although it wasn’t to me), but all of that stuff I found extremely realistic.
When I tell the Manhattanites who I work with that I grew up in Michigan, they react as if I just told them that I grew up in Siberia and hunted bears for my food. The SaTC gals were such prissy city girls that I totally buy that they had zero interest or ability to deal with the things that confronted them once they left Manhattan. And actually, Samantha’s reaction to being left alone with a baby is better than how I would have fared.
That’s another thing I like about Samantha, come to think of it. She was open and honest from day one about the fact that she dislikes babies, had zero interest in Miranda’s, and wished that Miranda didn’t have to cart the thing around with them everywhere.
Also, I have a friend who reacts to squirrels the exact same way that Carrie did.
And heck, I’ve only lived in New York for two years, but leaving the city is already sort of an odd experience.
“What? I have to drive everywhere? That’s stupid; I hope I remember how.”