I’ve started rewatching Sex and the City. Early in Season 2, the formula is already well-established: the characters meet people, date them, and then Carrie muses and interprets it all for her column (typed on her Apple PowerBook G3, in bed with Chinese food). In one episode, Miranda is complaining endlessly about her luck with men. Guy after guy (including the one she’s interested in) is looking right past her and jumping into long-term relationships with her friends and acquaintances. Just as Miranda’s self-pity is reaching a fever pitch, and Kelly and I were both heckling her through the TV, exhorting her to stop complaining, when something surprising happened.
Miranda is awaiting Carrie at a bar for a Girl Date date, but Carrie stands her up; Carrie has forgotten Miranda to have dinner with Mr. Big. Sitting among drunk NYU kids, Miranda decides to indulge her sorrows and orders another glass of wine. The camera pans to the bartender:
My viewing partner and I sat up straight and nearly shouted, “STEVE!” I couldn’t believe the reaction we both had to seeing this character for the first time in more than a decade. It was immediate and emotional. Dormant staying power like this indicates great writing, and even better casting. Starting with just a wry smile, actor David Eigenberg’s charisma and charm steal the scene instantly. And he continues to steal every scene he’s in.
My reaction was heightened by Miranda’s threnody-level lamentations, but I’m right where the writers want me to be when we meet this character. This makes me want to rewatch more great shows, especially because so many of today’s good prestige shows are actually bad (yes I said it!).
Just like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sex in the City is a fascinating time capsule, presenting a sharp vision of popular culture in the early 2000s. To rewatch Curb is to experience how much daily life has changed, because of the show’s reliance on technology and manners for plot devices. Though it’s also a show largely about manners, what you notice rewatching Sex and the City isn’t what has changed, but what has stayed the same. The characters alternate between horrible dates and “Is He The One?” affairs. Dating is often exciting, but usually a slog. Sometimes the men are horrible to the main characters, and sometimes they’re horrible to the men. Sure, an answering machine or pager occasionally shows up, but the episodes aren’t about that. Many of them feel like they could have been written today, excepting for the conspicuous absence of dating apps.
To rewatch Sex and the City is an experience in pathos, which feels less like a time capsule, more timeless.
sabbatiblog 