Sex and the City Review

It is easy to forget how much it broke. In 1998 no network show let women discuss their own appetites without punishment, and the early seasons treat sex as a subject for comedy, argument and disappointment rather than scandal. Kim Cattrall's Samantha is the engine of that, and her refusal to be shamed for anything is still the most modern thing in it. Cynthia Nixon does the best acting, and the writing about female friendship, particularly the sense that these four are each other's actual primary relationship, is why it endures.

The dialogue crackles. What has aged badly is everything around that. Carrie Bradshaw's finances make no sense, her self absorption becomes hard to sit with, and the column framing gets more strained each year. The New York depicted is astonishingly white and astonishingly rich, and the show's occasional forays into bisexuality and gender identity are handled with a flippancy that plays badly now. The Paris ending resolves six seasons of independence by delivering a man.