Sex and the City
The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy
TV Flash files “The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy” as the first listed hour of season 4 — Sex and the City (1998–2004) on HBO, season 4, episode 1, aired 2001-06-03, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 49 of 94 in the Sex and the City guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 2001-06-03 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Cock a Doodle Do!” (S03E18). Next is “The Real Me” (S04E02).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The girls get ready for a Saturday night out at an engagement party, but are dismayed when they see the invitation - it announces that the couple has "Two souls, one thought." After the party, Charlotte shows up at Trey's apartment wanting to talk. When she includes "sex life" under their list of problems, Trey tries to convince her otherwise. But instead of being convinced by Trey's passionate advances, Charlotte ends up with an unpleasant surprise on her leg. At the coffee shop, the girls discuss the concept of "soulmates." Afterwards, Samantha spies a hot priest outside a church. The next day, she spends her afternoon masturbating to "her priest." Over drinks, the girls discuss masturbation fantasies, and Charlotte admits that recently she masturbates to only one man - Trey. Samantha takes some canned peas to her priest, but is disappointed when he tells her that his life is about "other joys" than sex. Carrie wonders: "Are soulmates a reality, or a torture device?" Samantha decides to throw Carrie a "fabulous lite" 35th birthday get-together at Il Cantinori. When all her friends are late, Carrie is left at a table for ten all alone. At the coffee shop, Carrie admits that while she was sitting alone at the table, she felt sad that she was 35 and had no special man in her life. Charlotte suggests that the girls could be each other's soulmates - and men could just be in their lives for fun. Returning home, Carrie spots Big's car. He's brought her red balloons and champagne. They sit in his car and talk about "soulmates."
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy sit in the Sex and the City guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 49 of 94 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Sex and the City S04E01 air?
The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy aired 2001-06-03 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Season 1, episode 1. The voiceover and the four-silhouette contract are the whole machine.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as the original big-city look book: four women, a voiceover, and shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Manhattan is a lighting setup. The reboot noise is later; this run is the template every brunch-core series still copies.
The first thing you see is a woman on a street that is really a runway. Carrie Bradshaw’s voiceover is a fashion dispatch with dating as the alibi. HBO at the end of the 1990s did not accidentally invent the look book as comedy-drama. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon made Manhattan photograph as a weekly fitting: four silhouettes, four theories of sex, one city that never dressed casual unless the casual cost more. Style is the plot. The shoe is not a punchline. The shoe is a…
Filed against
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw typed Manhattan desire into a global lifestyle franchise — Sex and the City as fashion, friendship, brunch as appointment TV, and shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Reboots…
- Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones made brunch into a press strategy on Sex and the City — four women, a voiceover, shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Skin as branding, Manhattan as a campaign. On TV Flash she is the…
- Kristin Davis as Charlotte York
Kristin Davis’s Charlotte York is Sex and the City’s corporate sheath — architecture in a brunch quartet, shoes as character work, Manhattan sidewalk as campaign. Four women and a voiceover; her column is the manners. On TV Flash she is…
- Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes
Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes was Sex and the City’s sharpest counterweight — lawyer skepticism, Brooklyn realism, friendship as lifestyle franchise. A practical coat doing more character work than half the boyfriends. TV Flash still…
- Chris Noth as Mr. Big
Chris Noth’s Det. Mike Logan helped launch Law & Order’s dun-dun empire before Mr. Big made him Sex and the City’s emotional cliffhanger machine. Sparse Manhattan cool and endless will-they discourse built a dual-brand career. TV Flash…