Samantha brought her crop; she is the PR maven lightly spanking people as she crosses them off the list at the entrance. Charlotte kinked her hair, and Carrie and Miranda are wearing delicious delicious leather. Stanford knows where he's taking mother next time she's in town.
The entire restaurant is fantastic. There are whips, chains, and crops. The waiters are all wearing sub outfits, the entire thing is amazing.
When Sam gets the wrong drink, for example, she gets to spank the waiter with her crop. He winks at Carrie, and Carrie can't stop laughing. Miranda asks "What do you tip for that?" Charlotte's head is about to explode at the thought that some people get off on all this. And Sam has to chide all of them for being closed minded.
"Don't be so judgemental... All these people have jobs and pay their bills. They're just having fun with fetishes,"
She then leans forward with her crop, bothering Charlotte with it, asking what her fetish is, and Charlotte waves her hands like it's a small cloud of feathers or something and claims she doesn't have one. Sam makes the wild claim that we all have a fetish, but for the people who work here, theirs is just out in the open. "I think it's healthy, and fabulous!"
I tend to agree!
Carrie stands up all at once, addresses the group and says that "whipping on a first date is considered forward"
"You sit right down, Mistress Carrie," Stanford interjects, "there are drinks present!"
Carrie says that she can't, because Big is flying out of town and she needs to watch him pack.
Sam passes over the crop and top hat, suggesting she give him a goodbye he'll remember, and Carrie decides that maybe Big does have a sense of humor.
He doesn't.
At the apartment, she is standing at his door, looking sexy and a little kinky, with the crop in her mouth. He opens the door and is just stunned.
"Well laugh, it's a joke!"
"oh"
He's such an asshole.
He shifts a -little- bit, playing with her, saying "oh baby" about three more times than is comfortable, but it looks like they're about to have some fun, so we'll leave them to it.
In a fetish across town, Stanford is in an internet chat room (OMG, remember those!?) for gay men obsessed with underwear. (under where?). That is such a normy sort of fetish, you know? Underwear, really? It's not like it's shoes or corsets or something truly odd.
It sort of makes me think of a straight man having a bra fetish.. like, doy. Who doesn't get turned on by sexy lingerie? That's what it's there for!
I do like the handles on this particular website. Stanford is "Rick9plus" and his favorite on-screen pal is "Bigtool4U." Classy.
Charlotte, on the other hand, is obsessed with shoes.
This is not a fetish. That word, I do not think it means what you think it does.
She is walking down the street and stops by a shoe store with beautiful leather shoes in the window. The guy at the store -does- have a shoe/foot fetish, which sounds like a really bad idea, to be honest.
His name is Buster, and he coaxes Charlotte to try on a pair even though she can't afford it and has way too many shoes. The sandals are slip on, with a small heel and no strap around the ankle, just a wide strip across the toes. The shoe like, really doesn't fit her at all. It is almost comical-- she has at least an inch and a half past the end of her big toe before the shoe ends. I'm pretty sure she would trip if she tried to walk in them.
But she loves them, and Buster says that the pair is gorgeous on her. She tentatively asks how much for the shoe, and he says 400. (geez! That is a LOT of money for shoes!) She pleads, "no. can't. please take it off before I start to cry." and he says "two hundred!" and she looks at him like that is a really good deal for shoes and says "why?" (and I'm thinking, is he even authorized to give such a deep discount?)
He says some nonsense about how shoes were meant to be loved, and she needs a gorgeous sandal like that for the Hamptons. These shoes are not appropriate for the beach. Maybe a beach wedding, as long as you didn't have to walk in sand.
Meanwhile, Miranda is at some outdoor book sale, picking out another historic novel to read. I can totally buy her reading these sorts of novels, but it never comes up again, and is only relevant for her to meet her date of the week-- Gob Bluth-- Who, in this show, also reads historic novels. I love how we have a guy named Buster in the last scene, and Will Arnett in this one. It's like a Bluth family reunion! I'll bring the frozen bananas!
Carrie has woken up next to Big, and is watching him pack for a business trip to Paris.
"Well, in a week I'll be back, and you can sit there and watch as I unpack" He micro-aggresses to her. She responds by zipping up his carry-on and saying, "there, I helped!"
What, exactly, does he expect her to do besides watch him pack? He doesn't want her in his life, he can take or leave her. Her helping him pack would be way too familiar for where he is in the relationship. He illustrates this in his very next line:
Carrie asks about getting in on Charlotte's share in the Hamptons and whether Big and her want to go in on that or if they had other plans.
"I don't think I can.. there's a possibility that I won't be here this summer. (long pause while Carrie looks on questioningly) I may have to move to Paris. For work, just for awhile."
Carrie is calm, but her eyes are so expressive here. "For, for how long awhile?"
"7 months, maybe a year. Nothing's definite."
Carrie is standing on the bed, leans over to him standing on the ground, and says "wait" about 10 times, and then "How long have you known about this?"
Like, he is seriously packing to go away for a week, and he springs this on her now.
But he's calm like it's her problem while he responds, "It's been in the works for awhile, I'll know more details after this trip."
She is physically standing over him, but he is holding all the power. She is unsteady on a mattress, and he is standing on solid ground.
"Well, when did you plan on telling me?" The girl desperately prying her way into his life asks him.
"When I knew more. Nothing's definite, I mean don't get carried away. (the intercom by the door buzzes) Well, there's the car, I have to go or I'm going to miss the plane. We'll figure this all out when I get back."
---
At coffee shop, she slams her glass down on the table: "I wanted to kill him!"
"..And he's standing there giving me the 'whats the big problem eyes' you know, like 'I don't understand you' like its my problem!"
Charlotte attempts to talk her down from the ledge: waxing optimistic about visiting him in Paris, but Carrie interrupts her:
"No, it's not about that. It's about the fact that I wasn't even a factor in his decision making process... I mean just tell me what's going on! Is that too much to ask?! Um. Carrie, I might be going to France for the rest of my life! Amiright?! One minute he's all over me and the next minute he's pushing me away! And I just cannot believe this is happening. Again." She slams her hands down on the table and Miranda holds her and reminds her not to break things.
"Why do I keep doing this to myself? I must be a masochist or something."
She leaves and Writer Carrie takes over. She talks about relationships and pain, and the fine line between pleasure and pain. She suggests that it is a common belief that a relationship without pain isn't worth having.
just. no.
then something about how pain implies growth.
nope.
How do we know when the growing-pains stop and the pain-pains take over?
What even is this?
"When it comes to relationships, how do you know when enough is enough?"
That is a good question Carrie. I think it's somewhere around 5 episodes ago.
---
Gob and Miranda are walking down the street joking about historical novels. Gob stops them outside of a little courtyard, says that he wanted to show her Mark Twain's old apartment. It's kinda cool actually, although, it becomes less cool when they sneak into the private courtyard and start making out heavily. She's like, "we could get caught" and he thinks that's totally hot.
Miranda has found out that he's a man whose fetish is that he's an exhibitionist. She doesn't immediately say no to this, although after the third or fourth public sex-capade, she wonders if their relationship will ever be normal.
In her final scene, they have actually manage to do it -in bed- to Miranda's surprise. She can finally let go and make noise and then they are interrupted by Gob's parents who are disturbed enough to walk in on him doing his girlfriend.
I always thought that it was Gob that was weird in this story-line, but who comes in on their son clearly making sex noises? There are some sounds you hear when you're visiting people that you just ignore.
---
Stanford needs advice from Carrie. They are in her living room, drinking home-made cosmopolitans. Stanford asks Carrie not to judge him, and he reveals that he has cyber sex on the internet (as opposed to where?). Also, his name is "Rick9Plus" and Carrie's like "Oh no you didn't". Stanford berates himself for how stupid it is, and Carrie suggests that he could have called himself "Rick11." Rick9Plus continues his story, saying that one of his favorite internet friends wants to meet in person and he doesn't know if he should. What if he gets snubbed?
I really have a weird negative vibe from this whole thing.. Even now people are weird about technology and the internet, but does anyone remember other pop culture from around this time? Buffy? You've Got Mail? Pretty much everything from then talks about internet dating and internet friends as a sad, sad thing for people, and paints the internet as a novelty. Technology in general is seen as evil, and people just didn't trust it. OK, people who wrote for shows and movies thought that, I'm not really sure how most people viewed it other than-- it's kind of a normal thing now. I have -so many- internet friends, that is people I've only known online and never in person. And that's OK. The internet is an important lifeline for a lot of people. Half the people I know in person, I met through the internet.
So, pop culture! Stop shitting on the internet, OK? It's here to stay!
Carrie's advice is sound: be safe, use protection, and have fun!
And he does! They plan to meet at an after-hours underwear club, and although he doesn't meet his friend "bigtool4U," he does meet another young guy who is enamored by Stanny's french underwear.
Why so much french in this episode? lol.
Carrie drunk calls Big. It is a huge huge mess. Nothing funny to see here. Just a woman falling apart.
Charlotte has a fun time with Buster in her next scene. She tries on a pair of shoes-- she's really just looking this time. Really. Buster ends up giving her the pair of shoes if she lets him rub her feet. All the rules just flew right out of the shop window.
Apparently.
In the street with her friends, they are admiring her new pair of sandals. They ask her how much they cost, and Charlotte admits that they cost her one foot-rub. Saying it out loud made her realize how outrageous and improper the whole thing was, and tries to return the shoes.
Unfortunately, Buster says that he can't take them back, since she clearly wore them. So, he'll have to throw them out. (?!) Charlotte begs him not to do that, that she wants to pay for them, but she can't afford them.
He proposes a trade.
Several new styles of shoes just came in, and Buster wants to see them on a foot. She closes her eyes, lays back, and thinks of England.
Really though, she lets him try them on her feet.
"Charlotte felt like Cinderella--"
As each shoe gets removed, smelled, and fondled by the man with the shoe/foot fetish, his breathing hitches, it sounds like he's really really quite literally getting off on the whole thing.
"--Cinderella in a dirty, kinky freaked out story book parallel universe."
ahem.
Big arrives home, and Carrie comes a short while later to greet him. She has McDonalds, is speaking in a french accent, and trying to make up for her outlandish reactive phone call.
She is telling him about how she was approaching this problem in the wrong way, that it's only 7 months, she can visit, or do 'le phone sex' or if things get bad, she'll move to Paris and write 'le sex and le city.'
"--That would be great," He begins, "But, you would be moving to Paris for yourself though. I mean don't move for me."
"Well, why would I move to Paris if it wasn't for you?"
"Well, I'm just saying I don't want you to uproot your life and expect anything."
There is a beat, and then Carrie Throws the sandwiches against the wall.
"I'm Such An Idiot!"
"What the fuck?!"
"I'm running around town in a beret" (she throws the beret at him) "buying your greasy food, and you don't even care if I'm in your life!"
"Would you calm down?!" He says forcefully.
"No, you know what? I am so tired of calming down!"
"LOOK. I have to be in a relationship where if I have to go to Paris, I have to go to Paris."
"Fine. Go to Paris. And then what happens to us next year when you decide you just have to go to Brasil--"
"--THIS ISN'T ABOUT US! THIS IS ABOUT WORK!"
"No. This isn't about work. This is about us getting closer and you getting so freaked out that you have to put an ocean between us." (Here in the scene, there is a kitchen island between them)
They are both looking down, holding themselves up by the island. And Big says softly: "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"Why is it so hard," Carrie pauses and begins to cry, "for you to factor me into your life in any real way?"
He excuses his behavior, "I guess old habits die hard."
"Well maybe I can't do this anymore."
Big responds, still looking down, "I understand"
Carrie looks up at him as she's walking by, "yeah, I bet you do."
Then "You said you loved me."
"I do."
"Then why does it hurt so fucking much?" She slams the door on her way out of his apartment.
Narrator Carrie talks while Carrie walks home. She's furious, not with him, but with herself: "I was the real sadist. He might be the one with the whip, but I was the one who tied myself up. Tied myself to a man who was terrified of being tied down."
She went to bed at 1, but is wide awake at 2:30, when Big lightly knocks on her door.
She unlocks it, let's him in. But there are no words. The door closes as Big embraces her from behind, nestling his face into her hair and neck.
Narrator Carrie Narrates: "After we made love, I knew it was over. Did I ever really love Big, or was I addicted to the pain. The exquisite pain (THAT'S THE NAME OF THE EPISODE!!!) of wanting someone so unattainable."
She's sitting in her black bra and panties by the open window. She looks over at Big, who's woken up and is asking what she's doing over there.
"Go to Paris." She shakes her head, "I'm not gonna come. Let's not pretend we're something we're not."
"Come to bed." He responds.
"I wanted to come to him," Narrator Carrie Narrates her silence, "But I felt like I was tied to the chair. Some part of me was holding me back, knowing I had gone too far. Reached my limit."
She watches him walk away from her apartment, then turns around and lights a cigarette. "And just like that, I'd untied myself from Mr. Big," Narrator Carrie continues, "I was free. But there was nothing exquisite about it."
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