I combined episodes 4 and 5 because they present a common theme that really makes a gal think about single life post thirty. And it ain’t pretty. Every side has its ups and down. Marriage can be rough. Kids can be tough.
But these episodes doesn’t highlight all that. It gives us the ugly side of single life. Charlotte feels a little desperate and rethinks dating a guy friend she really has nothing in common with. Samantha allows herself (so unlike the Samantha we see in later seasons) to get quickly caught up in a man who is the “we” guy. You know the type, who upon your first date ensnares you with future plans together (we should go to this movie or we should go on this trip). You think you automatically got him because if the guy is thinking in “we” terms he must really like you. I have come to realize (ok I learned in a psych class back in college) that men become immediately into it ( it being love, lust, like) but then can fizzle off just as quickly. Women are the opposite usually and will take a little time to get into it and take their time falling off. Samantha’s guy ends up ditching her much to her tearfull sadness.
However the most memorable scene is in episode 5 where Miranda gets freaked out, after buying a house as a single person that belonged to a previous single owner who died there. She chokes on her food in her new home and has no one to give her the Heimlich maneuver (she ends up ramming against the counter to spit the food out). She calls Carrie crying that she could have died and no one would know except her cat who would have ended up eating her (she ends up locking her cat out of her room for a while).
After seeing that episode I remember to eat my food very slowly and in small bites. I could literally be in that same situation. If there is nothing that a single person fears it’s the idea of dying alone. If I get sick, I’m pretty much on my own. Sometimes that just sucks. But it also forces you to be more independent and do-it-yourself.
Another memorable moment in episode 4 is when Carrie goes out for a night of partying before she has a photo shoot about being over 30, single and fabulous. Needless to say waking up with a hangover doesn’t look so pretty as it did in our twenties. You need your B12, under eye roller, moisturizer/hydration. Carrie had none of that and when she was at her shoot the camera was going while she was getting dolled up. That photo of pre done up/hangover Carrie would become the cover of the magazine entitled “Single and Fabulous?”. Ouch.
So we don’t bounce back in the morning as quickly as we used to which is reason number 498 why I don’t typically hang until the wee hours of the morning. Nothing makes a person feel less fabulous being single than aging. Not that married people go into their middle ages and twilight years skipping and hopping and swinging hands but its a lot easier pill to swallow when you have a partner to go with.
But not to end on a downer, single life has its positives: doing what you want when you want (“I’m going out for drinks be back at 12, don’t wait up for me” she tells no one), having your own peaceful space to do with as you please (face mask, hair in rollers and sometimes prickly legs needing a shave), more money to spend on things you want to do and on self that you don’t have to share (outside of charity- you gotta give to charity!).
The great thing about this show was that it highlighted the ups and downs. We envied their fun and sympathized with their fears. Just like in real life.
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