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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Season 6 of 'Sex and the City' delivers

The final season of a television show usually goes one of two ways. More often than not, the final season reminds you why it's going off of the air in the first place with uninspired episodes and a feeling of obligation to wrap up all plot lines. The rarer end to a show is a season that makes you wish that the show would go on forever. "Sex and the City," Season 6 Part 1, while not the complete final season, manages to keep the show fresh while slowly and subtly wrapping up the loose ends in preparation for the final farewell. "Sex and the City" is a completely character-driven show as the entire premise is following the love lives of four single New York women. The four women are Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), the shoe-addicted sex-column writer; Charlotte (Kristen Davis), the WASP-y art gallery director; Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), the cynical lawyer; and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), the man-eating PR executive. Some episodes may be confusing to those who are jumping into the series cold, because they follow a story-arc built up over the past five seasons, but the series can still be enjoyed by just about anyone, even males. Season 6 opens with "Market to Market," a great episode comparing the volatility of the stock market with the instability and uncertainty of dating. Carrie begins her relationship with Jack Berger (Ron Livingston of "Office Space" fame), another writer. Their union seems blissful, until both of them release books at the same time. While Carrie finds major success with her book, Berger is dropped by his publisher and the whole thing ends with Berger dumping her on a Post-it note, prompting one of the funniest episodes on the disc, "The Post-it Always Sticks Twice."While Carrie's love life takes a turn for the worse, her friends have their own personal adventures. Miranda is torn between her love for the bartender Steve (David Eigenberg), the father of her baby, and the perfect New York Knicks doctor (Blair Underwood) she's dating. Charlotte finally finds true love with Harry (Evan Handler), but they face a dilemma when marriage becomes an issue because he's Jewish and she isn't. Samantha has a fling with a hot waiter/actor Smith Jarret (Jason Lewis), and it quickly becomes more serious than she ever wants a relationship to be. The DVD set, like all of the "Sex and the City" collections, does not have many extras. There are commentaries from producer Michael Patrick King for a few episodes, and this set also includes a discussion from the Museum of TV and Radio Seminar Series and previews for all of the episodes.The most unfortunate aspect of this set of DVDs was HBO's choice to divide the last season into two separate discs. There can be no good reason behind it except greed and a desire to extend the "Sex and the City" brand for as long as possible. It also leaves the set with something of an unfinished feeling, which I suppose is what they want viewers to feel so that they go out and buy the last half of the season; but it just doesn't seem like a fair thing to do to fans. "Sex and the City" Season 6 Part One is a great DVD set, marred only by the decision to divide the final season into two parts.