Sex in the City Series Two, Eighteen Episodes, 3 Discs.
What I think:
This series is one of my favourites, it packed full of emotion good and bad, we really see Carrie take a journey with Big, they get back together and then they loose each other all over again but twice as badly as the first time around. I was able to relate to Carries feelings both emotionally and physically, any girl who's ever had her heart broken will want to shed a tear with Carrie throughout this series. Miranda on the over hand suddenly has a change of heart when she meets Steve The Bar Tender; he gives her the tools she requires to love again. I love that Miranda is happy for once as she is quite down most of the time. Charlotte starts to come out her shell and in my opinion she has got some of the best lines in the series, some very funny moments for Charlotte indeed. Samantha is still Samantha although slightly toned down from the rest of the series. Series two is the making of Carrie we really get to see inside her soul, and see how she works. The writers and directors have done a wonderful job of some very difficult subjects; they have stayed true to life and shown a good combination of humour and seriousness within relationships. I thought I was hooked on series one, now I am an addict; I need to see more and find out what happens next.
Disc One
Episode One: Take Me out to the Ball Game!
In this episode we watch Carrie try to cope with her break u from Big a difficult situation for any girl and one that I can relate to. Charlotte explains that according to the break up rules 'It takes half the time you went out with someone to get over them'. I'm not sure these rules are official but they are helpful to those in need of advice. I think that most girls have their own break up rules. Throughout the episode Carrie creates some of her own. Break Up Rule Number One: Destroy all pictures where he looks sexy and you look happy. Break Up Rule Number Two: Lie - it's a lot easier than telling the truth about how you are feeling to your friends. Break Up Rule Number Three: Until Emotionally Stabilised, Enter No Stores. Break Up Rule Number Four: Never Stop Thinking About him, Not Even For a Moment, because that's When he will Appear. (This was created the moment Carrie sees Big for the first time - Great scene) Break Up Rule Number Five: no Matter Who Broke Your Heart, You'll Never Get Through It Without Your Friends. This last rule is so true I would never get through life's little knocks without my friends.
Episode Two: The Awful Truth
Sometimes the truth can hurt so is it always better to be truthful? Carrie is put in an awkward situation when she visits a friend whose marriage is more than a little rocky, when she asks her opinion Carrie gives it freely without thinking about the consequences. Miranda on the other hand is having a very verbal relationship in the bedroom with her latest man and is finding it very hard to talk back. Charlotte decides she is fed up with trying to find the Perfect Man and so buys the Perfect Dog instead, trouble is he isn't as perfect as she would of liked. Carrie receives Roses from Big, What does it mean? I have been in a similar situation to that myself, I broke up with my boy friend and then I was really ill and ended up in hospital, he sent me a Get Well Card, but it got me thinking all sorts of things.
Episode Three: The Freak Show
Back in the dating game and the girl's find that the world is full of freaky men, in this episode we meet a few of them. Charlotte meets Mr Pussy - He is a freak but a good one in Charlotte's eyes. Carrie Meets: The Man With No Soul, The Man With Two Faces and The Man Who Steal Cheap Used Books For No Reason. Miranda has a great quote ' If a man is over 30 and single there is something wrong with them'. I think everyone is a little freaky in their own way, is it freakiness or is just our individual style and quirkiness that makes us a 'Freak'?
Episode Four: They Shoot Single People Don't They?
Single and Fabulous! Or Single and Fabulous? I never knew a question mark and exclamation mark could make so much difference but from watching this episode I now do. Carrie is late for a photo shoot and as a result ends up questioning her single fabulous self. Is it better to 'Fake It' than be alone? Should we just settle for what we can get? In a desperate plight not to be single the girls end up settling for their latest relationships. Samantha ends up with a 'We' Man as they name him, this is a man who uses the word 'We' all the time. We can do this We can do that, I have met a few of those in the past; the trouble is We never end up doing any of the stuff that he suggests.
Episode Five: Four Women and A Funeral
Carrie and the girls attend the funeral of a New York Fashion Designer, this sends them spinning into several directions. Charlotte picks up a widower at the funeral and starts to date him. Miranda decides to buy a bigger apartment, but the worries she will die alone. Samantha ends up getting herself blacklisted and in a 2 min phone call Carrie ends up arranging a date with Big. This episode had me shouting at the TV don't do it Carrie, he is gorgeous yes, he is rich Yes, he takes you nice places Yes, the sex is good Yes but do not do it! Of course you know if you were in her shoes you so would as well.
Episode Six: The Cheating Game
'Men cheat for the same reason Dogs lick their balls, because they can' Samantha Jones. I just love that quote! In this episode Carrie explores Cheating, What constitutes cheating? And can you cheat when there is no one to catch you? Sick of men Charlotte befriends some power lesbians but is cheating them by not telling them she is straight? Carrie starts seeing Big again but feels she is cheating on her friends because she hasn't told them. Cheating is always a difficult subject to cover because people have such different views on the subject. I have been cheated on before and it is horrible, for this reason I would never be the other woman, I know how much it hurts.
Disc Two
Episode Seven: The Chicken Dance
Miranda has a male houseguest from England, she employs charlottes friend to do decorate her house, in the hope of impressing him. When he arrives he falls in Love with the interior designer and in just one week they are engaged, four weeks later is the day of the wedding and all the girls are invited. Miranda is in charge of the Guest Book and spends the wedding day in a mood, Samantha has a shock when she sleeps with a man she has slept with before without realising it! Charlotte tries to find love at the wedding but ends up getting called a slut. And Carrie is asked to read a love poem at the wedding, Big comes along to watch and she thinks they are making progress with their relationship until he takes a call during her poem. Weddings are funny things and they bring such different emotions in people, they also get you questioning your own relationships. I went to my friends married this July and just tried to have a good time. My favourite moment in this episode is when all four girls let the bouquet fall to the floor.
Episode Eight: The Man, The Myth, The Viagra.
Big calls Carrie his girlfriend! Hurray! We all cheer at least he starting to get it! Samantha picks up a 72-year-old millionaire, but how far will she go for money? Miranda picks up Steve The Bar Tender, he really likes her but she is convinced that he will be a typical man and never call her etc Will anything change her mind? Yes it will, Carrie asks Big to meet her friends, at first we think he isn't coming and then when he turns up he restores the faith in Carrie and her friends but gives all us girls watching faith that it can work out sometimes. The best moment for me is Miranda and Steve kissing in the rain!
Episode Nine: Old Dogs, New Tricks
Can you really change a man? If you can then were do you stop? Carrie is paranoid when Big looks at other women, and gets even more paranoid when he pushes her out bed, this is one of my favourite moments, Big rolls over and knocks Carrie out of bed, she responds by whacking him in the face and giving him a shiner! Nice one Carrie! Samantha bumps into an old flame that defiantly has changed! He is now a drag queen modelled on her. I don't think you can change somebody and at the end of the day if you want to change them so badly then why are you with him or her in the first place?
Episode Ten: The Caste System
Miranda the Corporate Lawyer is dating Steve the Bar Tender she earns more money than him but he insists on paying for everything, at last she really likes someone, will it last? Charlotte ends up playing the part of groupie for a Movie Star and Samantha dates a man with a servant but her loyalties are to one person only. Carrie on the other hand tells Big that she loves him! This is a cringing moment, as he doesn't say it back. That must feel awful to say it and near hear it back. I have only been in love once and do not use this phrase lightly. These days the only people who here me say I Love you are my mum and dad.
Episode Eleven: Evolution
Miranda finds out that she has a lazy ovary and starts to think about the future a possibly freezing her eggs. Charlotte starts to date 'The Gay Straight Man' this is a man who acts gay but is in fact straight, they are very in touch with their feminine side. In my experience all 'Gay Straight Men' end up being Gay Men who were in denial. But hey maybe that's just me! Also in this episode Samantha tries to get revenge on an ex lover but it all goes wrong and Carrie takes a Big step with Mr Big! Episode Twelve: La Douleur Exquise! (The Exquisite Pain)
This episode looks at people with fetishes, and it starts at the opening of an S&M theme bar. Stanford (Carries Gay Friend) admits that he has been dating on the Internet. Miranda starts dating a guy who likes to Do It in places were he might get caught. Charlotte meets a man who has a foot fetish but she does get free shoes out of it! And Big tells Carrie he might be going to work in France for 6 months to a year. The best moments in this episode for me are Carrie's drunken phone call to Big in France, 'I am a woman, a woman'. I also love the scene were she turns up at Big's apartment in a French berry holding a bag of McDonalds and tells Big she can spend 6 months in France, his response to this is 'But you'd be doing that for yourself wouldn't you, not for me' just like Carrie I was gob smacked at this response and love it when she picks up the McDonald's and throws it at the wall. ' You said you loved me' he says 'I Do' and with a dramatic exit she asks 'the why does it hurt so f*cking Much?' And just like that Carrie and Mr Big are over once more, I felt her pain!
Disc Three
Episode Thirteen: Games People Play
After breaking up with Big for the second time Carrie is even more scarred, as a result all she does is talk about Big, her friends have had enough and advise that she goes to see a shrink. When told that she picks the wrong guys Carrie responds with 'I do not pick the wrong guys they pick me!' then promptly picks up a guy from her shrinks waiting room. The best moment in this episode for me is when she is lying in bed with the guy she picked up at her shrinks and she turns to he and asks ' so why are you in therapy?' he replies 'I am really f*cked up about women, once I sleep with them I completely loose interest, What about you?' voice over: I believe in therapy this moment is called the break through, then she replies 'I pick the wrong men'. Perhaps we do pick the wrong men, when I look back at the various men I've dated over the years I they have all had something not quite right about them, not that I am looking for perfection but in their own way they have been wrong for me.
Episode Fourteen: The F*ck Buddy
Do we all fall into relationship patterns? Are we in essence just dating the same man over and over again? With this in mind Charlotte decides it is time for a change and asks a guy out for the first time, her new found confidence leaves her double booking herself how will she get of it? Carrie on the other hand gets in touch with her 'F*ck Buddy' a male friend she dated once but it didn't really go anywhere but the sex was great, so from time to time they call each other up and just have no strings attached sex. What happens when you try and date your F*ck Buddy? I don't think I could do this, as I get to emotionally involved with people. I would always want a relationship over just sex.
Episode Fifteen: Short Comings
Miranda finds her self on a date with a divorced man with a son, Charlottes divorced brother Wesley comes to stay and he meets Samantha and Carrie starts dating a man with the perfect family. The best scene in the whole episode is when Charlotte finds Samantha in her kitchen wearing her brothers t-shirt, she yells as Samantha 'is your virgina in the New York City guidebook? Because it should be, it's the hottest spot in town and it is always open!' I was shocked by Charlotte's reaction to Samantha and her brother but I is one of the best lines Charlotte has ever had, she is normally so refined.
Episode Sixteen: Was it good for you?
This episode looks at sex and do we know if we are any good at it? Charlotte is distressed when her latest partner falls asleep on her in the middle of the act. Two gay men David and David want to partake in a three some so they approach Samantha. Miranda decides to change he bed covers in the hope of changing her bed karma. Carrie starts dating a recovering alcoholic (She really does pick the wrong men) who goes from being addicted to alcohol to being addicted to Carrie. Charlotte signs all of them up for a Tantric sex class and they all learn a few new tricks. Are we good in the bedroom? Is a question that all women think about but don't talk about this episode deals with the issue in a humorous way.
Episode Seventeen: Twenty Something Girls Vs Thirty Something Women.
Charlotte suggests that the girls partake in a house share at the Hampton's; all in agreement they head off for girly holiday together. When they arrive they realise that the place is swarming with twenty something guys and girls. Charlotte pretends that she is 27 and gets it on with a young guy, but she ends up with Crabs! Carrie ends up being a mentor to a your twenty something virgin. Samantha's old PA Nina hosts a party and the girls attend. Carrie bumps into Big at the party and he is with a young twenty something called Natasha, in a few minuets she learns that the France deal fell through, and he has met a new, younger girl while he was in Paris, all this information is too much for Carrie to take in and she runs onto the beach to throw up. Big means so much to Carrie that she has this physical reaction to the news that she might of lost him, I can completely relate to this feeling, when my boyfriend at uni finished things with me I was sick, I felt like my heart had been ripped out and I actually couldn't breathe.
Episode Eighteen: Ex and the City
This has to be one of my most favourite episodes out of all the series; this episode is full of raw emotion. Miranda sees Steve in the street and runs away from him, as she realises she still has feelings for him, but Steve won't let her get away. Carrie asks the question ' if you love someone and you break up - where does the love go?' to try and find out she decides she should try and be 'Friends' with Big so arranges a lunch date with him. After a few drinks she asks him about the girl, and changes her mind saying 'lets only talk about our relationships when things get series' 'Carrie it is serious, we're engaged' Not the response she was expecting, Carrie takes the news very badly and crashes out of the restaurant, this scene really pulls at the heart strings I really feel for Carrie and I even shed a couple of tears. A nicer moment from this episode is when the girls compare Carries life to the film 'The Way We Were' and they sit in the middle of the restaurant singing the song 'Memories'. This episode is truly amazing and I can understand why it was nominated for an Emmy award.
Special features
Cast & Film Makers:
Rather than repeat what I have written already in my review on Series One Sex and the City I will add information about new cast members. Sarah Jessica Parker - Plays Carrie Kim Catrall - Plays Samantha Cynthia Nixon - Plays Miranda Kirsten - Plays Charlotte Chris North - Mr Big Darren Starr - Executive Producer
Michael Patrick King - Executive Producer & Writer: In series one he wrote four out of twelve episodes in this series, series two he has written sex episodes including his Emmy nominated season finale 'Ex & The City' which he also directed.
Season Index: This lists all 18 Episodes; you can preview each episode before you watch them like a mini trailer for each one narrated by Carrie.
tackles that perennial female conundrum, how to maintain independence from men (intellectual, sexual, financial) while seeking the ideal life-partner for whom that m...
Citytackles that perennial female conundrum, how to maintain independence from men (intellectual, sexual, financial) while seeking the ideal life-partner for whom that muc...
