Break out the Cosmopolitans and Jimmy Choos, New York’s favorite glamour girls — HBO’s “Sex and the City” set — are back for a final fling. It’s about time, too: We miss them when they’re not around. For half a decade now, single women of the world have watched their most embarrassing encounters, their worst fears and their most secret sexual fantasies come to life on the small screen.
And since the series' final eight episodes are upon us, we’re all hoping for happy endings for the women who by now feel like our girlfriends.
As a single thirtysomething girl in New York City, I have often smiled in recognition or recoiled in mock horror at the goings-on of “Sex and the City’s” fabulous foursome. Yes, we drink Cosmopolitans. Yes, we spend more on shoes than should be legally allowed. And yes, we do go out on an awful lot of dates. No one, however, not even my most gorgeous gay best friend in Chelsea, has as much sex as these feisty gals. That only makes it all the better, because watching them is like fast forwarding through a lifetime of great sex — and embarrassing encounters that we’ve never had the nerve to talk about.
When it first began five years ago, there were “Sex and the City parties” all over town. Girls would congregate on Sunday nights to see what the fabulous four were up to. Men were optional, cocktails were not. After the show, guests would linger in order to discuss pressing questions like, “Have you ever had a guy ask you to do THAT?” or “Do you think my super would allow me to install one of those swings over my bed?” Little by little the show infiltrated our daily lives. No outfit was too outrageous — after all if Carrie could pull off a Swiss miss pinafore and braids on a Saturday in Central Park, or 70s running shorts with high-heel pumps to walk Aiden’s dog, we could certainly wear the odd combination now and again.
These women made us feel better about buying footwear that cost more than our monthly grocery bills, drinking cocktails more nights than not, leaving drunken incoherent messages on ex-boyfriend’s answering machines, dates from hell, and men who proved to be less than stellar behind bedroom doors, because after all — it was happening to them too.
Evolving together
As they’ve evolved so have we. We no longer believe that Carrie should give up everything for Big, and we get why Aiden was not “the one.” We watched Samantha fall in love with Richard, and held our breath as the fortysomething woman risked more vulnerability than she’d ever done before. It ended badly, but that wasn’t the point — she took a shot, kept her dignity, and enacted her typically fabulous revenge — and we loved her for it. We saw Charlotte marry the man of her dreams, the man of most of our dreams, rich handsome doctor Trey, and we were thrilled for her on her glorious wedding day. After that relationship imploded and she fell in love with the much less sexy Harry, we realized along with her, that men can surprise us, and the ones that look wrong for us may secretly be right. Miranda became a mother, much to her and our surprise, and we witnessed this most sarcastic, least sentimental member of the group be changed and softened by the motherhood she didn’t even know she wanted.
True, some said that last season was a tad too grim, with relationships going bust all over the place, too much of that damn baby, and a ridiculously toned down wardrobe to accommodate star Sarah Jessica Parker’s real life pregnancy. But, after sneaking a look at this year’s first two episodes, I am pleased to report that the girls are back in full force, with zingy one-liners and new hotties to take to their bedrooms. Carrie’s got a new man, Miranda finally faces head on her true feelings for Steve, Samantha’s hooked herself a gorgeous boy and Charlotte is getting more serious with the unsexy Harry. In addition, the producers of this final series have promised plenty of romantic surprises: new loves, lost loves (please bring back Big!) and a wedding involving one of the ladies (I’m betting on Charlotte). In the meantime, we have one more year to make fun of Carrie’s outrageous outfits (in episode one of the new season she is seen sporting a babydoll nightie over jeans with a cardigan for a stroll around town), marvel at Charlotte’s massive New York apartment, yearn for the sass of Samantha when we spot a man we’d like to meet, and laugh at the way Miranda can roll her eyes at almost everything. We will miss these girls when they are gone, more than we even care to think about right now. But for the moment, we can savor each of these last fleeting glimpses into four lives only slightly more fabulous than our own, right up until the part where they live happily ever.