Top 10 Episodes of "Sex and the City"

And we all know, by that I mean "My Favorite"!

• 10 - "My Motherboard, Myself" (S4): Due mainly to the extraordinary acting by Cynthia Nixon, this episode makes me cry every time. Miranda's mother dies unexpectedly and she deals with it heartbreakingly in character, especially when in her prickly, yet sweet, interactions with a bra saleswoman. Samantha loses her orgasm (hey, there had to be a comic sub-plot) but even that ends touchingly with her tearful "I'm sorry" mouthed to Miranda at the funeral. Carrie and Aidan work through relationship issues when her computer crashes (Carrie is kinda annoying, but Aidan is perfect, as usual) and the scene at the funeral where Miranda looks up to see Steve and Aidan have shown up, unasked, in support is just so great.

• 9 - "Ex and the City" (S2): The saga of Big and Carrie actually feels poignant in this Season 2 finale. After the stellar set-up of of Big moving on with new love, Natasha, in "Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women," this episode delivers on Carrie's conflicted feelings, has a great public fight between Big and Carrie when she awkwardly learns of their engagement, and ends with Carrie making the "maybe the problem was, Big couldn't break me" realization, which I have always found satisfying. It also has a great moment with Steve and Miranda (I love the "you're shitty!" "no, you're shitty" argument they have) as well as the girls waxing nostalgic about The Way We Were and singing the theme song over drinks.
• 8 - "The Man, the Myth, the Viagra" (S2): Big and Carrie's relationship is sweet and on track, then derailed when he bails on a night out with her friends, but there is real growth when he shows up after all. Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth have such great chemistry, it's hard not to smile when they're happy and in love. This episode marked the first appearance of Steve as he tries to make the leap from one-night-stand to boyfriend over Miranda's cynical objections. (But being Steve, of course he makes it in the end). And Samantha learns that even a man who's a "young 72" has a saggy ass. (Kim Catrall is so wonderful at physical comedy! Her facial expressions and exaggerated movements in this plot are amazing.)
  
• 7 - "One" (S6): It's the beginning of the Petrovsky/Carrie relationship and I love the way he is so blunt with her and she can't just make lame jokes with him ("you are comic?"). It's nice to see her unnerved. The Samantha storyline is crazy ("I'm Bozo the Bush!") and Carrie's reaction is appropriately horrified. But it's all about the Miranda and Charlotte plots for me. Char suffers a devastating miscarriage and Kristin Davis really acts the hell out of those scenes: first her joy at actually conceiving, later her utter depression, and ultimately picking herself up and marching out in style (after being inspired my Elizabeth Taylor's "E! True Hollywood Story." Love it!) Robert tells Miranda he loves her ("...on a cookie" - Cynthia Nixon's delivery is perfect) which prompts her to FINALLY blurt out "I love you!" to Steve. His reaction is so sweet, like he's known all along and was just waiting for her to acknowledge it. I love them together.
• 6 - "The Chicken Dance" (S2): I love the bitterness that pervades this entire episode, from Sam's horror at being confronted with a man she can't remember sleeping with, to Miranda's anger over the whirlwind romance and wedding that should have been hers, to Carrie's issues with Big. And the greatest moment is when the bride throws the bouquet and all four girls watch is land at their feet, then are all "Okay, bye!" That is so me! I think this again really showcases the chemistry between Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth - even when they're fighting about him walking out on her poem I believe their feelings for each other and buy that Carrie would forgive him that easily and know that she's supposed to go home with him. And I love that Miranda's present to the couple is the hideous dancing frog statue (originally given to her by the interior decorator bride), followed by Sam's cackle of drunken laughter. That's girlfriends!
  
• 5 - "The Post-it Always Sticks Twice" (S6): Carrie gets to be pissed off for an entire episode (and it's so rare for an episode of this show to all take place in one day) but her carrying the break-up post-it around with her all day is just awesome! I love her faux angry phone message to Berger ("Hi, it's me, you're a dick!"), the angry rant to his friends in the club, and her excitement over "smokin' a doobie"! Carrie is so funny this episode. And the way the post-it is worked into her possible arrest is clever as is her "Paper beats rock!" to Charlotte. I also love Sam's character growth in regards to her relationship with Smith (Jason Lewis is sooooo hot!), and that Miranda gets to be the sexy girl in her skinny jeans. It also makes me happy to see Charlotte so happy, and I LOVE Harry so the fact that she's happy over her engagement to him just makes it all the better!
  
• 4 - "The Ick Factor" (S6): Miranda is the least-bridey bride we've ever seen: proposing to Steve, her insistence that the girls not go gooey, having a small wedding in a park, and not wearing a typical wedding dress (her "I have a child, the jig is up!" speech is so in character). While Carrie grates a little with her inability to accept Petrovsky's romantic overtures, her reactions are funny, as well as her embarrassment as she tells the girls about the song "The Girl With the Eyes That Sparkle" and can't look them in the eyes. I love Charlotte's "Well why don't we just buy her a stapler and wrap it in brown paper and smear some dog poop on it! Do you think she'd be comfortable with that?" line - so perfect. Kim Cartrall actually gets to play dignified when she's diagnosed with breast cancer; the scenes where she tells Carrie, and then the girls, are well written and well acted.
  
• 3 - "Easy Come, Easy Go" (S3): Between Charlotte and Sam, this episode is hilarious to me. Sam's issue with the guy's "funky spunk" is just so out there and gross, but makes me laugh (especially Charlotte's reaction upon hearing the news: to walk straight out! That's a character reaction this show earned slowly over time and it really pays off.) Also love Charlotte proposing to herself. The scene where she tearfully confesses the story to Carrie is so pathetic and Kristin Davis knocks it out of the park. Finally, the tension and anger and lust between Carrie and Big comes to a head as, despite her best efforts, she begins an affair with him even as the perfect Aidan is chivalrously stripping her floors. But man, is their fight in the elevator hot!
• 2 - "An American Girl in Paris, Part Deux" (S6): It is this sublime finale that has us all so worried about the movie. Each girl finally reached that happy, content place in their lives. Was is soapy and sentimental? You bet. But is was immensely satisfying. Samantha finally loves and is loved by Smith in return; Charlotte and Harry find out they will be adopting a child from China in 6 months (her crying joy in that moment is so rewarding); Miranda lets down her guard for Steve and asks his sick mother to move in with them (that's a big step for Miranda, the boundary-freak!); and Big finally comes after Carrie, tells her she's the one, and brings her back to New York where she belongs. Please, please movie, don't destroy all this beautiful happiness.
  

• 1 - "The Good Fight" (S4): Although I do enjoy Sam's "just-sex" boundaries being broken by Richard in a romantic dance by the pool (also, this episode has a brief flash of male full-frontal, and it's about time after all the breasts!), this episode is all about the two big fights! The point of contention between Trey and Charlotte: he buys her a cardboard baby to make up for the fact the she can't get pregnant and he no longer wants to try. As he tries to explain this "joke" to the girls, their faces are priceless, and Charlotte's fighting words are amazing: "How would you like it if I gave you a cardboard cut-out of a big, flaccid penis? Oh, they know all about your penis problems and they are just SICK of hearing about it!!!" But the fight between Carrie and Aidan takes the cake: stuck living together in her cramped apartment, the fight is sparked when his dog eats a pair of Carrie's beloved shoes! Oh, no he didn't! This becomes a huge argument about who has more shit lying around, the fact that Aidan uses Rogain, why Carrie needs a second bathroom door, and the major insult is when Carrie tells Aidan to shut up. (His face is hilariously shocked!) The best fight I have ever seen - rings true for these characters and manages to be so funny.