“It’s amazing – we can feel totally good about ourselves and then it all goes out the window if a guy doesn’t mirror that right back to us” – Miranda
A recovering alcoholic boyfriend is a Sex and the City Chekhov’s gun: no prizes for guessing how that storyline’s going to pan out. Carrie’s insouciant attitude towards this aspect of Christian Bale lookalike Patrick is, of course, misplaced, as he swaps one addiction (booze) for another (sex).
And worst of all, Carrie can’t really trust his claims that she’s amazing in bed.
This is a sensitive subject for Charlotte, who’s suffered the indignity of her medic boyfriend falling asleep during one of their “love-making” sessions. Not be defeated, and ever the self-improver, she signs all four women up to a tantric sex class. The other three treat the whole thing like a hen party, so it’s hard to feel sorry for Miranda when she ends up with cum in her hair.
Meanwhile, Samantha’s ego gets a boost when a couple she’s friends with – two gay men – decide to try out sex with a woman and choose her as their ultimate girl-crush. It’s all going well until they remember about her vagina, and gently suggest everyone just put their clothes back on. Ouch.
Despite the disappointment of this encounter, it’s hard to disagree with Samantha’s amusingly dated declaration: “Wake up, it’s 2000! The new millennium won’t be about sexual labels, it’ll be about sexual expression.” From where I’m sitting in 2016 I’d say she wasn’t far wrong – and she was certainly right to point out that for a sex columnist, Carrie really is surprisingly narrow-minded. I mean, it took an invitation from Charlotte to get her to a tantric sex class, and even then she had to be strong-armed.
Carrie’s column: How do you know if you’re good in bed?
Fashion: I loved Carrie’s tropical-minidress-and-gold-belt combo (she references teaming dirt-cheap dresses with absurdly pricey shoes) but was less impressed with her date night top-and-trousers ensemble, though it looked a little less Primark in close-up. Perhaps the blah outfit was intended to signify her pulling back from Mr Super-Keen.
Puns: “Would the women who are laughing compose themselves,” requests the tantric sex lady, demonstrating the same remarkable restraint that presumably characterises her approach to everything. They really aren’t being funny, just childish and obnoxious.
Sex and the City Revisited 