Episode 18: Cock A Doodle Do!
Oh boy. Okay. So. This episode did NOT age well and of course was still Not Good at the time but was consistent with the other Not Good happening, you know? Some very OLD language used to describe trans women in this episode!!! There’s a short piece in Them about the highs/lows of queer representation in this show that you can read and of course this episode is considered a low.
Carrie is awoken by roosters so in VO we learn that she wanted a rent controlled apartment and thus overlooked that it was animal hospital adjacent….and I have many questions about this. Over at Sam’s, she is being awoken by some Black trans sex workers—and yes, it is an offence portrayal and the language is offensive.
The next day, Sam is telling the girls about it and saying she pays a fortune to live in a neighbourhood that is “trendy by day, t*anny by night”. Woof. Charlotte is feel down since, you know, she left her husband of 3 months and so she starts saying that being 34 and single isn’t as bad as being 34 and divorced and Miranda says that being 34 and in a marriage that isn’t working would be bad! And so they try to cheer her up. Miranda pitches an unpacking party where they don’t talk about Trey. Cute!
Next, Carrie is at the animal hospital asking about the “chickens” and the doctor is like “they’re roosters, roosters crow”. And then she says that they were rescued from a cock fight in the bronx and carrie is like omg no don’t bring them inside! They’ll be so sad I’m sorry.
Over at Miranda’s, she’s ordering some takeout for dinner and the woman working automatically repeats what Miranda’s order is and she giggles a bit so Miranda hangs up and we cut to Miranda and Carrie walking and Miranda saying that the takeout lady thinks she’s pathetic, even tho……what????? Carrie says to order from somewhere else and Miranda says no she likes this place blah blah just then they spot Steve and Aidan sitting together on a restaurant patio. The gals hide in a little doorway while they figure out what to do and they’re like since when are they friends?? They obviously have to walk by. So they do. It’s interesting. Aidan has a weird goatee. Steve is like “this is what I love about New York - street traffic!” What a cutie. Aidan says “well look at you” to Carrie and then the gals realize that both dogs — Pete and the dog Steve had brought home when he lived with Miranda was there too — then they notice the extra beers on the table and Carrie makes a joke about whether they drove them to drink and Aidan says “oh they’re…not just for us…” and two cute ladies emerge.
Later, they’re helping Charlotte unpack and Carrie says “well, they’re over us!” And how they thought they were sitting there pining away but they have new girlfriends already. Miranda is like how do they already have new relationships and Charlotte says something about how women think about what went wrong and men just say ‘alrighty’. Carrie says she doesn’t obsess and they’re like uh hello…Big???? Charlotte says that she can guarantee Trey isn’t sitting around with HIS friends thinking about what went wrong. This is when Charlotte says she wishes there were no men and how she’s os over them and the drama and what I have to say is: Y’ALL PROMISE HER NO TREY TALK AND YET HERE YOU ARE………..
Carrie is back home doing her journalism and she posits something she calls “earth shattering” which is: “what if everything isn’t the man’s fault?”. LOL.
Sam is awake, yet again, and decides to confront the ladies keeping her awake. She says she has an early business meeting and that there are some dark circles even makeup can’t cover and the women are laughing and tell Sam her heels are fierce. In VO Carrie says, “Sam always knew how to get her way with men, even if they were half women”. I MEAN………what can I even say about this??? Obviously it is a very fucking stupid and transphobic way to refer to trans women. They also use the wording “pre-op transsexual” throughout the episode. This is 2000 and all I can say is: pre-9/11 world was also very fucking stupid!!!!! ALSO: if you recall, in episode 6 of this season “Are We Sluts?” there’s a scene with Sam walking past some other trans folks in her neighbourhood and it’s part of why she decided to live there!!! She’s part of gentrification and then complains about it later (more than once!!!!). Unfortunately, this is still accurate for the type of white women this show portrays.
Carrie is awoken by a phone call which is…Big. She says she had a hard time sleeping because of some chickens crowing and he’s like that’s roosters, because yeah, then he asks if red is an okay colour because he is painting his room and he said oh maybe it’s too red, it’s like sleeping in communist China. This fucking show, man!!! Then he asks Carrie for lunch at the Boathouse on Saturday at 2pm, which is gonna be THAT scene.
Later that day, however, Carrie is thrifting with Miranda. Miranda asks if Carrie wants to go see some art exhibit on Saturday and Carrie immediately says she has to work but then tells her the truth like 2 seconds later and Miranda flips out. Her delivery is a bit severe, but her intention is good. I get it. Then Carrie says something about how Miranda cut off Steve and she cuts people off at the first sign of weakness and that she’s judgemental. They’re both right. It’s a realistic friendship fight, honestly. Later, when Carrie gets home, she thinks she’ll have a message from Miranda apologizing and when she doesn’t, she contemplates calling her but doesn’t know what to say.
Over at Miranda’s, she decides to go right to the Chinese restaurant instead of ordering in—when she gets there, she sees that the woman who takes the orders on the phone (played by same woman who plays Jenny in Always Be My Maybe) giggles at everything and no, it wasn’t a personal affront to Miranda. As she’s about to leave, she spots Steve. In VO, Carrie says it wasn’t actually the noodles that kept Miranda coming back but that this was her and Steve’s place and it was filled with happy memories. Miranda goes over to Steve and he says “wow twice in one week, am I lucky or what!” UGH. A prince. He invites her to sit down. He asks how she is. She says not good becuase her and Carrie had a fight. Miranda asks “my judgemental stuff, how bad was it?” And Steve says “it wasn’t good” and then she asks if she threw him away and he says she didn’t, and that only her and him know what happened between them, and then goes “but she said that, huh? Ouch, you must’ve been pretty mad”. Miranda says she said some bad stuff to Carrie too — she just doesn’t want her to get hurt again and Steve goes “so…you yelled at her?” to which Miranda says “yeah” and Steve quips, “sounds about par” LOLLLLL I love him and he’s right. And it’s good that they can be honest with each other. Miranda asks how it’s going with his new gf, who doesn’t yell, and he says it’s going okay. The server comes and Miranda decides to try something new.
Over at Sam’s, she’s doing sex with some guy but all she can focus on is the noise outside. She called the cops on them which is fucking LOSER behaviour. Sam goes to the window to yell at them and one of the women says “suck my cock!” and Sam says she will come down there and cut it off herself and then sam goes back inside and the guy she was fucking says “you’re not gonna pull a Lorena Bobbitt are you?” Which is also a fucking HORRIBLE joke to make.1 Sam fills a pot with water and throws it on the ladies. One of their wigs flies off. Really awful things to do, tbh. Then the cops come, they just drive by telling the ladies to keep it moving. Which is probably the most unrealistic part of this episode.
Charlotte is reading some stupid book and there is a knock at her door and it’s Trey, and he says he hasn’t stopped thinking about her and they start kissing and then she’s like honey we’re separated and then they keep making out and Do Sex. Yes Carrie does make a cock/crowing joke in voice over. Woof. Later, Trey says he hadn’t felt like that since before they got engaged. Charlotte wonders if their whole problem had to do with the fact that he didn’t want to marry her, and he says no, I think it was that I didn’t want to get married to anybody. She asks why he did, and he says he thought it was time but also, that he knew he’d never find anyone as wonderful as her to marry.
Carrie can’t sleep because she is stressed about her fight with miranda and then the roosters—she finally called the animal shelter and is like, hey you gotta bring the roosters inside I’ve had enough (only she says chickens again). Back at Sam’s, the gals are getting their revenge on Sam by egging her window HAHAHA. She opens the window and one of the ladies gets her in the face and says “now who’s laughing bitch”. HAHAHAHAHAAHAH GET HER!!!! Carrie makes some more stupid comments in VO.
The next day, Carrie calls Miranda from a payphone near the restaurant. Miranda says she’s sorry and Carrie is too. Then Carrie asks for some last minute advice to which Miranda says “don’t let him kiss you, that seems to be where you get into trouble”. Carrie looks GORGEOUS and spots Big waiting by the dock. They greet each other. Then he leans in to kiss her cheek and she panics and they fall into the pond HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH. A classic scene!! Carrie laughs “my hair…was in the duck pond!” And then “my Christian Dior purse!”.
Cut to: they’re at Big’s and we hear a blow dryer and then Carrie emerges with perfect hair that wouldn’t make sense with just a hairdryer but I digress. They’re both robes sitting on the edge of the bed. She’s like “that is one red wall” and they laugh. Big asks if everything was his fault. She says it wasn’t. He says “man we really screwed that up, what were we thinking?” And she says “I have no idea”. Big also says “I hate to admit this, but I kinda like living alone again” and Carrie laughs “why doesn’t that surprise me!”. Carrie says she has to leave but Big asks her to stay and so she makes a comparison between them and the red wall—a good idea in theory but somehow doesn’t quite work.
Carrie arrives home in one of Big’s shirts which she belted with an Hermes belt that she also took from him which is hilarious.
The next Saturday, Sam throws a rooftop party to make amends with her neighbours. She’s BBQing and says “who wants a weiner!” to which one of them says “I’m trying to get rid of one” and then it’s a whole thing and Carrie does a blaccent and it’s….what it is. Still how a lot of white people talk to Black trans women and Black women in general btw…so………….something to think about THERE.
So there you have it, another season of a show that is both excellent and a deeply flawed product of its time! Onward to season four where we enter 2001. I wonder if anything big is gonna happen.