“Luck Be an Old Lady”

Sex and the City season 5, episode 3
Original air date: August 04, 2002

Carrie gets stood up on her first blind date in a decade, and follows that up by being "stood up" by the rest of the girls while trying to plan Charlotte's 36th birthday celebration. Everyone's too busy to get together, but when Richard offers to fly them all to Atlantic City for the weekend, where he's watching a big fight and has set up some poker games with some friends, they all agree.

They agree in theory, anyway - Miranda and Carrie can't get out the door, because Steve panics at the last minute about taking care of Brady all by himself. Magda eventually steps in and says she'll help Steve for the weekend. By the time Carrie and Miranda are able to leave, though, Richard's private plane has taken off, which is unfortunate for both groups: Miranda and Carrie are stuck taking a bus to Atlantic City, and Charlotte's stuck on the plane with a very horny, very raunchy Richard and Samantha.

Once in Atlantic City, Charlotte can't get used to the idea of turning 36. She keeps dressing ultra-frumpily, and at dinner, Miranda gives her an Old Maid card game as a gag gift, which only further emphasizes her (perceived) fate. The last straw is when a craps player asks Carrie to blow on his dice - when Charlotte offers, the guy's friend says, "No, have the hot one do it!" - and Charlotte heads back to her room feeling very sorry for herself. The next morning, she gets vamped up, and heads back into the casino, feeling pretty lucky herself. Carrie has to drag her away from a couple of sleazeballs who want to buy them drinks (at 10:00 in the morning at a casino where the drinks are free...).

Meanwhile, Samantha is sure that Richard's intending to cheat while in Atlantic City, which is bolstered by the fact that every busty female staff member of the Taj Mahal is on a first-name basis with Richard, and they all keep throwing lusty glances Richard's way anytime they're in the same room with him. When Richard calls off going to the fight and tells Samantha to go with the girls instead, Samantha runs up 11 flights of stairs to catch him in the act. It turns out that Richard's not cheating with anyone, but Samantha huffs and puffs that she's too old for a relationship in which she can't trust her man. She returns the huge diamond and the pearl thong (don't ask) that Richard gave her on the plane, and as she leaves his hotel suite, she passes the cleaning woman who looks very smug as she enters Richard's room.

Carrie's in a pessimistic mood, terrified that she needs to cling to her friends more tightly than ever, as they seem to be drifting apart - Miranda with the baby, Charlotte obsessing over her "old maid" status. If they can't even get together for Charlotte's birthday, how will they be able to keep up their friendship? More to the point, though, if she doesn't have a man, and she's losing her friends, what will she be left with when she gets old? While walking on the boardwalk, she comes across an older couple enjoying the sunset together. She realizes that while she's been telling herself that love's not real and doesn't last, that that's not true for everyone. She's been hiding behind her friends as a way to shield herself from being hurt in love, but watching the older couple snuggle and enjoy their time together, she resolves not to continue.