“An American Girl in Paris (part une)”

Sex and the City season 6, episode 19
Original air date: February 15, 2004

Carrie's packing up to leave New York once and for all, and she checks her voicemail messages one last time: one from Alex saying that she doesn't need to pack so much, there are clothes in Paris; one from Miranda saying that she has made reservations for the girls to have dinner one last time before Carrie's flight that evening; and one from Big, asking her again to return his call. That last one she deletes before it's even finished playing.

As she steps out to go to dinner, though, there's a large, black car in front of her apartment, and of course, Big is in it. He persuades her to step inside for a minute, asking the driver to leave them alone, and then attempts to tell Carrie — several times — that he's sorry about the way he acted the last time he was in New York. Carrie cuts him off repeatedly, though, and eventually tells him that she's in a relationship and she's happy, so he really doesn't need to apologize for anything. He asks her to have dinner or even drinks with him, and she reveals that she's moving to Paris to be with her man. Big is stunned, and when Carrie jumps out of the car, he follows her.

Carrie has had enough, though. She tells Big off, there on the sidewalk, for jerking her around for six years. She says he must have some kind of sixth sense for when she's happy, so that he can always have perfect timing to swoop in and mess it up. He's flabbergasted, but she merely walks away from him to join the girls for dinner. When she relates all of this to them, Charlotte, ever the romantic, holds out hope that he was going to say "I love you" finally, but Carrie quickly squashes that notion.

The girls share a tearful dinner, and Carrie flies off to Paris to join Alex. She's hampered somewhat, upon her arrival, by the fact that she doesn't speak the language. She finds Alex snuggling with a girl in the salon of their hotel, but it turns out to be his daughter. Chloe is frankly nonplussed by Carrie's lack of knowledge of French, and when Alex invites Carrie to join him and Chloe for the afternoon, she declines. Alex says he'll catch up with her after an early dinner with some museum people that he can't get out of. Carrie waits and waits, but finally falls asleep waiting for Alex. When he turns up, he's very apologetic and engages in a tickle fight with Carrie, as she muses that it's dinner time in New York.

Back home, Samantha's helping organize a breast cancer awareness dinner, and she's upfront with the other organizers that the little pink ribbon cookies they hand out every year are less than inspirational. They ask her for her suggestion on what could make the evening better, but she has few ideas other than that it ought to be outrageous and inspirational. The lead volunteer decides that Samantha should speak, as a survivor of breast cancer herself. Samantha agrees but is distracted by the increasing hot flashes that the chemo seems to be causing. At the benefit, she gives a very conventional, boring talk about how "the face of breast cancer is all around you." She finally cracks at the end, though, and can't remain stiff anymore: she's sweating too much under the lights, and she admits publicly that the chemo is causing her face to be running into her couture. She gives a shout out to all those who are battling breast cancer and takes her wig off, prompting several women in the audience to stand up and do the same. Now that's inspirational.

Determined to love Paris, Carrie sets out to shop, but falls flat on her face in the middle of Dior, after slipping on some rainwater from her umbrella. Her purse and its contents all go flying in every direction, and to make up for her pratfall, she purchases much too much. Alex comments on it when she arrives back at the hotel, and she realizes that in her haste to recover, she didn't even check her purse to make sure everything was in it. In fact, everything was not in it: her Carrie necklace is gone.

Depressed and lonely, she calls Miranda for support. Miranda is thrilled to hear from her and understanding about the Carrie necklace. She urges Carrie again to just come home. Carrie admits that as she's walking around Paris, she keeps comparing her experience there with Alex to the way she'd always dreamed it would be if she went there with Big, but she makes Miranda promise not to use that against her when she's feeling better. Miranda promises, but tucks the information away.

Charlotte and Harry are in the midst of applying with several adoption agencies, and Charlotte says she'll have to pick up Carrie's recommendation form over at her apartment, when she goes to pick up Carrie's mail. When Charlotte goes over there, though, the phone rings, and she can't help but listen to the message: it's Big calling, to say that he really does love Carrie. Charlotte picks up the phone and invites him to meet the girls for lunch.

Over lunch, Big admits that he knows he's not been a favorite of theirs over the years. Charlotte's too polite to agree, but Samantha loudly concurs, while Miranda looks skeptical of this whole endeavor. He asks for their advice, since they know Carrie better than anyone. He says that if they think he has any chance to get Carrie back, he'll be on the next plane to Paris, but if they really think she's happy, he'll back off for good. Miranda leans in to say to him, "Go get our girl."

Meanwhile, Carrie begins to feel like she's adjusting to life in Paris. She and Aleksandr are snuggling in a cafe, and he's just given her a new Carrie-necklace, not spelling out Carrie like her old one, but merely a string of diamonds that he advises her "not to throw in [her] old purse." She seems triumphant, until Alex's best friend and his girlfriend arrive. They surround Carrie and Alex on the couch, hugging and talking, and while they're very pleased to meet Carrie, the language barrier once again shuts her out of the conversation.