So, there is another revival. Sex and the City, the series that was once defining its time is having another come back. After six seasons and two movies (or varied qualities) and another off-screen fight and fall out between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall, I thought this thing is finally done.
But Hollywood always have new surprises that are not really surprises.
I did not follow the series when it first came out. I never understood the fuss. I tried it briefly to watch the first season during one of the holiday periods and still did not understand it. Then I accidentally watched an episode in season 4 and then suddenly felt, ‘Hey the characters have properly matured’. That’s when I went back to watch the whole thing.
The end assessment, I think the series matured halfway through season 2 but then Carrie Bradshaw is still for me one of the most annoying characters in history. It is not about Sarah Jessica Parker’s performance, but the character itself. She had done a lot of really bad stuff in the series and was a really self-centred character that had no regards for other people’s feelings. I still remember that in more than one episode her friends had to tell her to stop talking about herself once and think about the feelings of people around her. Yes, she had her friendship moments for others, but then on the whole she is really annoying as a character.
For me the success of the show was because of the three other contrasting characters – and surprising, all of these characters know what they want in their lives. They might have adjusted their expectations about life along the way but they all knew what they wanted and they were not afraid to go for it. For me watching Miranda moving from a pure career woman to a mother who managed relationship with career was refreshing. Watching Charlotte understanding the truth about ‘fairy tale marriage’ was also rewarding. Watching Samantha letting emotions and commitment into her life was also worth the ride. I might have wanted things to go a bit different for some of the characters but then their stories did not reward train wrecks.
After the two movies, I thought we are done. I mean for me, contrary to a lot of people I did not find the second movie that bad. It was very socially or cultural incorrect in certain ways, but then I think it was a good send off to the characters. I still don’t understand how Big could let go of things like that with Carrie, but then their relationship ping-pong seems to need that tension to go on, otherwise it became a boring game for both of them – hence the events in the second movie.
Then why trying to push forward a third movie or revival?
Seriously, when things are done, they should be done.
Each of them already has carved out a decent career post-show – Cynthia Nixon had great successes in the theatres and TV, and gradually moving towards politics; Kristin Davis is now focusing on charity work and activist cause for the environment and wildlife; Sarah Jessica Parker has a fashion empire, and seriously I enjoyed watching her a lot more in Divorce than most of her post-show romcom stuff. Kim Cattrall had great runs in the theatre and TV with the great show Sensitive Skin.
So, I really did not see a point of reviving the show, especially without Samantha, for a quick buck.
Sex and the City could have gone down as a revolutionary series with six seasons at its time, instead of a popular series with two forgettable movies. Maybe the success of Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development and Will and Grace had given them the confidence to revive the series. But then what more stories can it tell? The killing off of Big with a heart attack like the rumoured third movie script? If we have another series focusing on the pain of Carrie Bradshaw as a widow, what does it have to do with Sex and the City? We have already explored menopausal sex and life with Samantha in the second movie. If they renamed the series to some other titles then maybe we can look at these characters in a different light and expect something different. But why do we need to linger on these characters? Why can’t we create something new?
It always puzzled me with the obsession of continuing this whole Sex and the City thing. I have nothing against the show but I thought it had become a classic case of not letting go and living in nostalgia.
Maybe I am a minority. Maybe I could never understand its significance to its hardcore fans. But for me when a show had its run, it just had its run.
