All episodes Season 5 S05E08 2002-09-08 30 min 1990s HBO

Sex and the City

I Love a Charade

TV Flash files “I Love a Charade” as the last listed hour of season 5 — Sex and the City (1998–2004) on HBO, season 5, episode 8, aired 2002-09-08, 30 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S05E08: listed hour 74 of 94 in the Sex and the City guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 2002-09-08 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Big Journey” (S05E07). Next is “To Market, To Market” (S06E01).

Sex and the City — I Love a Charade (S05E08)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

The girls are invited to the unlikely wedding of Carrie's supposedly gay friend, flamboyant lounge singer Bobby Fine to society lady Bitsy Von Muffling. Stunned by the news, Carrie thinks about what it takes to make a relationship work. She asks: When it comes to saying 'I do,' is a relationship a relationship without the zsa zsa zsu (aka: that special something that gives you butterflies in the stomach)? Charlotte's new 'just sex' partner, Harry, invites her to be his date for the big Hamptons wedding. Charlotte worries about his crass behavior, but accepts provided that hairy Harry wax his back. In another not so clear relationship, Miranda inexplicably finds herself having sex with Steve. Meanwhile, Samantha calls upon the services of her ex, Richard, in another way: she arranges to throw a party at his house in the Hamptons. On the way out to the Hamptons, Carrie runs into Jack Berger, who tells her he broke up with his girlfriend. Carrie can't help but feel that zsa zsa zsu. At Samantha's fabulous pool party, Carrie and Berger have a heart to heart about relationships past, but it's too much for Berger to handle and he departs suddenly and swiftly. Carrie wonders if she should just throw in the towel and settle for a so-so relationship. Samantha struggles to enjoy herself because of the appearance of three of Richard's bikini-clad bimbo babes. She accuses the party-crashers of freeloading but realizes that she herself is still hurting over the end of her affair with Richard. At Bobby and Bitsy's wedding, the girls find themselves moved by the mutual love of the bride and groom. It appears Bobby and Bitsy do have the zsa zsa zsu. Obviously inspired, Charlotte tells Harry mid-dance that she may be falling in love with him. He says he shares her feelings but that he's Jewish and he has to marry a Jew. Also on the dance floor, Berger tells Carrie that he'd like to go on a date with her before they break up. Carrie is reminded why she refuses to settle for anything less than butterflies.

Viewer FAQ

Where does I Love a Charade sit in the Sex and the City guide?

S05E08 is listed hour 74 of 94 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 8.

When did Sex and the City S05E08 air?

I Love a Charade aired 2002-09-08 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…

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Also in season 5

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