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Pemba · 16/07/2025 12:43

Oh yes I guess I'd forgotten some of the stuff SATC Aiden had done. Yes that was controlling. She still treated him badly though.

Yes I suppose Big didn't want commitment, but he was still out of order for stringing her along all those years. And he was a middle aged man already then wasn't he? Not some young guy whose fear of commitment would be more understandable.

But since he was like that, I don't really buy this idyllic marriage they're supposed to have had for several years.

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 12:54

'but she was also an insufferable pick me who allowed him to do so'

Can't really argue with that. They were both awful

'But since he was like that, I don't really buy this idyllic marriage they're supposed to have had for several years.'

Absolutely right! Such bullshit. But it's also bullshit that he's now been erased from SATC history and Carrie acts like he never existed

Umbilicat · 16/07/2025 12:58

The whole point about Carrie and Big was they had chemistry. Big was a commitment phobe but he kept being drawn back to her and she fancied him so much she could never push him away, no matter what he did. In the end, Big grew up enough to realise what he was losing with his behaviour. She never had that zing with Aidan, he was just a convenient getaway car, as Taylor Swift would say. Aidan's a country boy (and a wetwipe), Carrie and Big are metropolitan. I am hating this deleting Big from history and rehab of Aidan as the love of C's life. She's delusional and so glad that the screenwriters are now recognising this and making it part of the storyline, with Miranda calling her out. But I'll still be pissed off if she gets together with the Brit. And as for her finding a biography of Thatcher enthralling - yeah, right.

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 13:13

Aiden and Carrie were never suited. Carrie wants Manhattan, fancy restaurants and It Girl lifestyle, not hill-billy country life, not even with a rich furniture maker. He wants a trad wife. The only man Carrie ever really cared about was Big. Every other guy she was with was in some way being compared with Big, but it always came down to what Big wasn't giving her and those men were, as opposed to a pure interest in those men.

Aiden: The rebound after Big's marriage. Devoted to her, and put her on a pedestal, unlike Big. She ignored all their fundamental incompatibilities because she couldn't be alone while Big had Natasha. She looked at Aiden through the frame of how he was different to Big, not who the man actually was. And she ended up cheating on him because she was more attracted to Big and what he had to offer, even more so when it was forbidden fruit.

Aiden part 2: After Big left for LA. Carrie alone again. Aiden not interested and acting rather Big like, with his Big cigar and Big money invested in Steve's bar and his Big aloofness. She wanted him when he was being like this. Not so much when he reverted to his old ways of eating KFC in his tighty whities.

Berger: She was at her most lonely (and arguable most vulnerable) when she got together with him. But she was still speaking to Big constantly and there was phone sex, which she had to put an end to, but not until she was already romantically involved with Berger. His main purpose was as a male reflection in the mirror - a writer, a trendy guy about town, a glittering male counterpart to her, just as she went from column writer to book author. Went to shit as soon as his career went to shit, because his ego was as fragile as hers.

Petrovsky: The older man who offered her all the things that Big didn't: romance, keys to his apartment and the grand life that she'd wanted from Big. But all entirely hollow, because she was running away from her feelings for Big again the whole time, not seeing Alex for who he was - a selfish, self important, snobbish prick who, once again, was wholly incompatible with her.

Aiden Part 3: Once again on the rebound (from Big). Once again it's all about comparing him to Big, and deciding she made a mistake with Big, rather than looking at the man in front of her and how their relationship might work now as mature people with different histories. That 20 years together line in the last episode shows you her mindset. She's not seeing Aiden now, she's rewriting the past. Shoehorning herself into his marriage and kids, including not caring he slept with Cathy because she's more or less in a polygamous relationship with all of them.

Big was a complete arse, but Carrie was always pushing him for more than he wanted to give and trying to break down his barriers, like a stalker. He was older and had been previously married, and made it clear he needed to do things in his own time and they were not in the same relationship place. It would not surprise me if his going to Paris and marrying Natasha was an escape from Carrie's intensity. He did come good for Carrie in the end, and I agree that the "jilting" was more to do with Carrie once again pushing him and not listening to him (his not wanting a third, 3 ring circus of a marriage). He gave her many years of faithfulness and made her massively wealthy. I find Carrie's erasure of him now beyond distasteful.

WinWhenTheyreSinging · 16/07/2025 13:18

The erasing of Big really is very bizarre. He was basically the whole point for decades. Do they not think people have the intelligence to separate the memory of the character from the disgraced actor?

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 13:20

Wow @PurplebeadedFendi , such a great post 👍

Icebreakhell · 16/07/2025 13:35

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 13:13

Aiden and Carrie were never suited. Carrie wants Manhattan, fancy restaurants and It Girl lifestyle, not hill-billy country life, not even with a rich furniture maker. He wants a trad wife. The only man Carrie ever really cared about was Big. Every other guy she was with was in some way being compared with Big, but it always came down to what Big wasn't giving her and those men were, as opposed to a pure interest in those men.

Aiden: The rebound after Big's marriage. Devoted to her, and put her on a pedestal, unlike Big. She ignored all their fundamental incompatibilities because she couldn't be alone while Big had Natasha. She looked at Aiden through the frame of how he was different to Big, not who the man actually was. And she ended up cheating on him because she was more attracted to Big and what he had to offer, even more so when it was forbidden fruit.

Aiden part 2: After Big left for LA. Carrie alone again. Aiden not interested and acting rather Big like, with his Big cigar and Big money invested in Steve's bar and his Big aloofness. She wanted him when he was being like this. Not so much when he reverted to his old ways of eating KFC in his tighty whities.

Berger: She was at her most lonely (and arguable most vulnerable) when she got together with him. But she was still speaking to Big constantly and there was phone sex, which she had to put an end to, but not until she was already romantically involved with Berger. His main purpose was as a male reflection in the mirror - a writer, a trendy guy about town, a glittering male counterpart to her, just as she went from column writer to book author. Went to shit as soon as his career went to shit, because his ego was as fragile as hers.

Petrovsky: The older man who offered her all the things that Big didn't: romance, keys to his apartment and the grand life that she'd wanted from Big. But all entirely hollow, because she was running away from her feelings for Big again the whole time, not seeing Alex for who he was - a selfish, self important, snobbish prick who, once again, was wholly incompatible with her.

Aiden Part 3: Once again on the rebound (from Big). Once again it's all about comparing him to Big, and deciding she made a mistake with Big, rather than looking at the man in front of her and how their relationship might work now as mature people with different histories. That 20 years together line in the last episode shows you her mindset. She's not seeing Aiden now, she's rewriting the past. Shoehorning herself into his marriage and kids, including not caring he slept with Cathy because she's more or less in a polygamous relationship with all of them.

Big was a complete arse, but Carrie was always pushing him for more than he wanted to give and trying to break down his barriers, like a stalker. He was older and had been previously married, and made it clear he needed to do things in his own time and they were not in the same relationship place. It would not surprise me if his going to Paris and marrying Natasha was an escape from Carrie's intensity. He did come good for Carrie in the end, and I agree that the "jilting" was more to do with Carrie once again pushing him and not listening to him (his not wanting a third, 3 ring circus of a marriage). He gave her many years of faithfulness and made her massively wealthy. I find Carrie's erasure of him now beyond distasteful.

Well, I think you should be a writer on AJLT. Your attention to detail and memory is what is missing from this current shitshow.

StillCreatingAName · 16/07/2025 13:53

Holluschickie · 16/07/2025 12:32

I liked early Aiden when he was sanding Carrie's floors and making his lovely furniture. Also loved Pete. But she had way more chemistry and more in common with Big. Carrie is not a country Mary Sue Betty Lou!

Carrie was horrible to Aiden. Especially letting Big call her at all hours and then inviting him up to Suffern! But now Aiden is getting his revenge by treating her like his puppet.

I also liked early on Aiden, he was relaxed and not into all the urban networking and socialising world, but that’s also why I found him and Steve a good match for, er, Match.
(Side note: whatever happened to the bar and their friendship?)

Carrie in her ‘I made crust’ phase was always a mismatch with him and the chemistry wasn’t there, but I always thought it was there with Big and how SJP and CN played off each other clearly created that buzz. I now feel about Aiden as I did back then about the Russian, who gave me the ick, long before there was a pop culture word for it.

Umbilicat · 16/07/2025 13:53

WinWhenTheyreSinging · 16/07/2025 13:18

The erasing of Big really is very bizarre. He was basically the whole point for decades. Do they not think people have the intelligence to separate the memory of the character from the disgraced actor?

It's astonishing, isn't it?

Delatron · 16/07/2025 14:05

Holluschickie · 16/07/2025 12:34

Rewatching SATC I sometimes wonder if Big was as horrible as I thought. He just didn't want commitment. Carrie did. That's all.

Agree. I much preferred Big to Aiden. You can’t deny chemistry…and it’s very typical that sometimes we go for the good guy we think we should but keep getting drawn back to the (kinda bad) guy that we have chemistry with. Sigh.

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 14:10

'SJP and CN played off each other clearly created that buzz'

Agree, they were great together

I had the ick with the Russian too. I remember on their first date she leaves her handbag in the cab like an idiot and he goes SPRINTING down the street after it! It was so contrived just to show us that he might have been (a lot) older than her but he wasn't ready for the nursing home just yet 😁 still ick

sweetpickle2 · 16/07/2025 14:16

Incredible @PurplebeadedFendi, can we be friends??

Doubleraspberry · 16/07/2025 14:29

Based on what I hear about the Writer's Room podcast conversations, I think a lot of the problems with this show are just that they think they are making a totally brilliant, well-though through piece of television, and have since day one. The audience's negative reactions are supposedly just ignorance, prejudice and a lack of understanding of the real messages. There seems to be very little capacity to reflect on the fact that, for example, the Che character was being criticised as much by young/LGBTQ commentators as anyone over 50, and dismissing it as homophobia/boomerism was wrong.

The lack of research and continuity is a real issue on a show that relies on people who are fans of the original for its viewership; that sort of contempt isn't classy. It's like they don't really understand what truly resonated the first time round. What still had authenticity and grit inside the undoubted glamour in the original is now a succession of very wealthy women in top to toe designer at all times leading lots of random bits of life that go nowhere, don't speak to many of us, and involving lots of new characters with poor characterisation. The best review in the world of SATC2 called it 'gay men playing with Barbie dolls'.

StillCreatingAName · 16/07/2025 14:31

@PurplebeadedFendi now this is a talk I would turn up for 👏🏼

Doubleraspberry · 16/07/2025 14:33

Oh, and @PurplebeadedFendi totally has it! Aidan has never been #endgame. Not that some awful caricature of an English writer feels much of an improvement!

PicturePuzzle · 16/07/2025 15:03

Is it me or is Carrie's character trying to become this really thoughtful, ladylike, wise, almost regal character. I get she's aging but this is too much. I'm really disliking her.

The Tums thing has to be a storyline. Or is it to imply she's secretly stressed/anxious in her stomach about her life?

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 15:34

Thank you all for the kind comments. It's great to be able to chat about SATC with so many other big fans! I actually don't know any women in real life who were that into it, so this is a great outlet for all my pent up theories!

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 15:42

@PicturePuzzle I don't know if you know Maureen Callaghan (writer and journalist), but her theory is that Carrie is no longer distinguishable from SJP, which is why AJLT Carrie is this very careful, humourless, grande dame, rather than the playful, messy Carrie of old. I also think that Carrie was always a chameleon, cos playing whatever the current boyfriend wanted her to be. 20 years with Big would have brought her into the world of 5th Avenue financier WAGS, and it's funny how she seems to have morphed into the sort of woman she rejected in the SATC episode with the swan purse.

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 15:47

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 14:10

'SJP and CN played off each other clearly created that buzz'

Agree, they were great together

I had the ick with the Russian too. I remember on their first date she leaves her handbag in the cab like an idiot and he goes SPRINTING down the street after it! It was so contrived just to show us that he might have been (a lot) older than her but he wasn't ready for the nursing home just yet 😁 still ick

You know, I never made that connection that they were showing the viewers he was still virile and sprightly, despite his age! I thought it was the actor wanting to show off his ballet skills, but your theory makes much better sense! He was one big pile of ick, though. Or "Eeek" as Miranda said.

Two of my favourite Carrie outfits in that episode, though. The one shoulder scarf dress and stunning hair and make-up at the beginning and the lovely fringed/flapper dress at the end. SJP looking beautiful.

PicturePuzzle · 16/07/2025 15:48

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 15:42

@PicturePuzzle I don't know if you know Maureen Callaghan (writer and journalist), but her theory is that Carrie is no longer distinguishable from SJP, which is why AJLT Carrie is this very careful, humourless, grande dame, rather than the playful, messy Carrie of old. I also think that Carrie was always a chameleon, cos playing whatever the current boyfriend wanted her to be. 20 years with Big would have brought her into the world of 5th Avenue financier WAGS, and it's funny how she seems to have morphed into the sort of woman she rejected in the SATC episode with the swan purse.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that lady.

Her character feels like she's trying to be someone she isn't.

Your insights are great. Carrie is actually quite a flawed character isn't she, as you say, a chameleon, even though she's being portrayed as this wise, self assured, comfortable in her own skin person. She's almost arrogant about it.

Doubleraspberry · 16/07/2025 15:55

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 15:42

@PicturePuzzle I don't know if you know Maureen Callaghan (writer and journalist), but her theory is that Carrie is no longer distinguishable from SJP, which is why AJLT Carrie is this very careful, humourless, grande dame, rather than the playful, messy Carrie of old. I also think that Carrie was always a chameleon, cos playing whatever the current boyfriend wanted her to be. 20 years with Big would have brought her into the world of 5th Avenue financier WAGS, and it's funny how she seems to have morphed into the sort of woman she rejected in the SATC episode with the swan purse.

Carrie as the central character is a big issue now they've made her just so silent, emotionless and withdrawn. Old Carrie would instantly have told her friends that Aidan had slept with Cathy. She would have said how annoyed by the whole (insane) five years situation she was. She'd have told them about Wyatt! What is interesting about watching someone absorb all this with a still face? I don't care if this is how some people do age - that's not entertaining viewing. We'd better be heading towards the most almighty explosion here as a pay off. If I thought that was guaranteed I could get on board slightly at watching it build but I'm afraid I just don't trust the writers to give us any sort of climax on this.

Scorchio84 · 16/07/2025 15:57

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 10:06

'Yes, the same episode - My Motherboard, My Self'

I love that episode. I always cry when Carrie joins Miranda walking out of the church at her mother's funeral

The crazy floral display 🤣 'theyre supposed to say we love you and we're here for you, not you're dead, let's disco!'

Oh my god I forgot about the flowers 😆I love that episode, I'll have to have a rewatch later when the boss goes to bed, thanks!

Lottapianos · 16/07/2025 15:58

'The one shoulder scarf dress and stunning hair and make-up at the beginning and the lovely fringed/flapper dress at the end. SJP looking beautiful.'

She always does 😍 yes, two gorgeous looks

Scorchio84 · 16/07/2025 16:01

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 10:15

I love it too, but more for the scene with the bra fitting lady comforting Miranda. A stranger being kind to a stranger. Women helping women. Goes hand in hand for me with Samantha making sure the nun waiting for chemo gets an appointment too. And Miranda taking care of a confused Mary. And Magda's love and support for Miranda from the outset (even if a bit nosey and judgmental).

A stranger being kind is more likely to reduce me to tears at times like that, I don't know if it's because you don't feel you have to front it out or hold it together for others? but yeah that was a powerful scene & the others you mentioned too

Samantha to the nun before she knew ".. & I blew him" about Jagger 😂😂

PurplebeadedFendi · 16/07/2025 16:02

Yes, that arrogance has been apparent since the movies too, especially the second one where she was unforgivably nasty and superior towards Charlotte one minute and demanding everyone's support the next because she kissed bloody Aiden. Not unlike how downright unpleasant she was towards Miranda in the last episode of AJLT. She'll be crying on their shoulders again before the end of the series.

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