“An American Girl in Paris (part deux)”

Sex and the City season 6, episode 20
Original air date: February 22, 2004

Carrie agrees to meet Alex's ex-wife with him for lunch, but when she and the ex-wife arrive, Alex calls to apologize; he's got another meeting at the museum and can't make it. The ex-wife sighs about how typical his behavior is, saying that the reason their marriage ended was over behavior such as this. More for Carrie to mull over, especially since Alex has to break their next date again to rush off to the museum. She chastises him for leaving her alone all the time, but he promises that "as soon as ..." everything's over, they'll have plenty of time together. "As soon as" is the phrase that drove his ex-wife away.

Smith confronts Samantha about the fact that they haven't had sex since she completed her chemotherapy. She lightly tries to brush it off as nothing and encourages Smith to sleep around on the set of the movie he's about to leave to begin. Samantha says she knows that it'll just be meaningless sex, and if there's anyone who understands sexual appetite, it's her. As soon as Smith arrives on set, though, he sends Samantha some dormant paperwhites, reminding her that just because something's dormant doesn't mean it'll never bloom again. Deeply touched, Samantha calls him and begs him not to sleep with anyone else (unless he already did, in which case she's fine with it!), and Smith reassures her that he had no intention. He flies home in the middle of the night, just to see Samantha, and her dormant appetite comes back to life.

Miranda and Steve begin to worry about his mother, who has started referring to Brady as "Little Stevie," unironically. Concerned, Steve decides to take her to the doctor, who diagnoses that she had a small stroke, probably a week ago. Miranda and Steve go to his mother's apartment to collect a few of her things so that she can stay with them for a few days, and they discover that she hasn't been washing dishes or taking out the trash or any usual clean-up-after-yourself tasks. Frustrated, Steve isn't sure what to do, but Miranda reassures him that his mother can simply move in with them. He's very grateful, but it turns out to be more than just charity. While Charlotte is visiting Miranda one afternoon, Steve's mother announces that she wants to take "Little Stevie" to the zoo. When Miranda firmly declares that they're not going to the zoo, his mother walks away. After a few minutes have passed, Miranda realizes that she left and is probably wandering around looking for the zoo.

After a frantic search of their entire neighborhood, Miranda finds Steve's mother eating pizza out of a garbage can. She brings her home and gives her a bath, prompting Magda to gently praise Miranda for her parenting skills. Miranda's so overwhelmed that she has to ask Magda never to talk about it again.

On one of her solitary rambles in Paris, Carrie passes a bookstore that has her book, translated, in the window. She's cheered by that and enters the store, where a couple of the clerks go nuts over the fact that Carrie Bradshaw is in their store. They insist on throwing a party for her with some of their friends, and Carrie asks Alex to join her for it. He can't, because of another museum commitment, but he encourages her to go alone and have a wonderful time. Unfortunately, when the night of the party rolls around, Alex experiences a panic attack and begs Carrie to attend the museum with him. She tries to worm out of it, citing the party, but Alex insists that he needs her to hold his hand all night, literally. She caves, but as soon as they get to the museum, the director of the exhibition begins lavishing praise on Alex and he drops Carrie's hand to run off and bask. Carrie's left to sit on a bench by herself for quite some time, until, digging through her bag, she feels something through a hole in the lining. Reaching in, she pulls out her Carrie necklace. Ecstatic (and with blatant symbolism, remembering her own identity), she finally decides that she shouldn't be missing out on her party for this. She goes to the restaurant, but all the guests have already left.

Meanwhle, Charlotte and Harry are facing some troubling circumstances of their own. They had arranged to adopt a baby from a couple in North Carolina, and they flew the couple up to New York to meet them. Upon sitting down to lunch, though, the couple informs Harry and Charlotte that they're not giving up the baby; they just wanted to see New York. Heartbroken, Charlotte doesn't know what to do, but once again Harry jumps in to save her. In the mail, he's received word from a Chinese adoption agency that there's a little girl baby they can adopt. As soon as Charlotte sees her picture, she bursts into tears, exclaiming, "That's the baby! I know it! That's really our baby!"

When Alex returns to the hotel after his museum meeting, Carrie confronts him about making her sit, alone, in the foyer while he ditched her to chat with the museum director. He brushes her aside, saying he's too tired to deal with her, but she persists in airing what she's been feeling for weeks. Alex begins again with "as soon as," but Carrie is having none of it. She continues verbally pushing him, and then reaches for his arm when he walks away from her. He shrugs her off, accidentally hitting her in the face. She's stunned, and in that moment, decides that their relationship is over. While assuring Alex that there are no hard feelings, she gathers her things to leave.

At the front desk, she tries to convey, in French, that she wants her own room, separate from Alex. While digging the remnants of her Alex diamond necklace out of her bust, she drops one, and as she's picking it up, who should be entering the lobby but Mr. Big. He approaches her, and upon learning of her fight with Alex and the accidental slap, he goes nuts and starts charging up the stairs to pick a fight with Alex. Carrie rushes alongside him, urging him to stop, and eventually has to stick out a foot to trip him. As they tumble to the carpet, they begin to laugh, and they end up walking around Paris together.

Big explains to Carrie that he's grown up, and he can finally tell her that she's the one and only. She falls for it completely, and upon their arrival back in New York, Big reminds her that he doesn't live in New York anymore and has nowhere to stay. She asks if he wants to come up, to which his response is "Abso-fucking-lutely." The next morning, she surprises the girls at their diner, and they unload on everything together. Carrie is thoroughly enjoying being back in New York, at ease with herself and her situation, especially now that she finally knows her boyfriend's name: John.