Continued excellence in this short little season

This review assumes you're familiar with the basic premise and characters of the show. If not, but you're interested, please start with Season 1.

I agree with everyone who is upset at HBO / AOL / Time Warner for charging so much for this season. It's a rip-off...no question. (Let's not even start on the dividing of Season 6 into 2 parts!) But it's interesting to me to see how much anger about the price/value has spilled into vitriolic evaluations of this season.

To me Season 5 was the first time in awhile that the characters moved in believable NEW directions, instead of doing new takes on the same old thing. Samantha opened herself up to commitment and heartbreak...and in a way only Samantha could do! Miranda dealt with motherhood and her VERY ambiguous feelings towards it. I liked very much the way she went from barely paying attention to her baby to finding satisfaction in loving her child and caring for him (too bad she named him "Brady"). I also like the constant evolution of her feelings toward Steve. Charlotte works on coming to terms with failure, not only of her marriage, but of her whole "game plan" for life...marrying a nice, well-off professional, having kids, etc.

Carrie is always the problematic character. Her treatment of the important men in her life, particularly Aidan, has made her a tough person to care about. She's witty...no doubt, and it's always fascinating to see what horrific or wonderful outfit she'll be wearing next. I was relieved to see so little of Big in this season. I guess I'm the only one who often found their relationship lacking...they brought out the worst in each other more than they brought out the best.

The season was made a little uncomfortable by Sarah Jessica Parker's pregnancy. It forced her to wear some awful things, and the directors of the show still insisted on lots of full body shots of her. I remember a shot in the season finale, during the wedding reception. She's standing there, looking pensive, and for some reason, instead of a close up (or even medium close-up), we got a full shot, and the poor thing looked awful. And she looks tired and overly made up throughout the season. It's not her fault...I'm thrilled she had a baby...but the shows producers (which include Parker, ironically) didn't do Parker or Carrie any favors.

But the season is packed with highlights. The vibrating chair stuff is very funny. The trip to Atlantic City was fun. The entire season finale was a treat, with everyone perplexed at Nathan Lane's character.

And the acting and writing was superb as always. All four leads did very well, and excellent support was offered all around (although I was disappointed that Molly Shannon and Amy Sedaris weren't given more to do as Carrie's publishers). Candice Bergen was amusing, and Frances Sternhagen makes a brief but memorable appearance as Bunny, Charlotte's ex-mother-in-law. I was glad to see Office Space's Ron Livingston, and looked forward to his character's arch in Season 6.

So, if you don't want to spend full price on this set (I don't blame you) spring for used copies on Amazon or at online auction sites. It's essential SEX... viewing!!