Let’s be real for a second. If you mention the Sex and the City finale at a brunch today, someone is going to get annoyed. It’s been over twenty years since "An American Girl in Paris" aired in February 2004, and the dust hasn't settled. Not even close. People are still picking sides between Team Big and Team Petrovsky, or more accurately, Team Big and Team "Carrie should have stayed single."
It was a massive cultural moment. 10.6 million people tuned in. That’s a wild number when you think about how fragmented TV is now. We watched Carrie Bradshaw trip over her own feet in a Dior couture gown, lose her "Carrie" necklace in the lining of a purse, and eventually, get "rescued" by the man she’d been chasing for six seasons. But was it actually a happy ending, or did the show kind of betray its own soul just to give us a fairy tale?
The ending of this show wasn't just about who got the girl. It was about whether a show built on the "unattached" woman could survive the pressure of a traditional TV wrap-up.
The Problem with the Sex and the City Finale and the Big Reveal
The finale, titled "An American Girl in Paris: Part Deux," did something the showrunners had avoided for years: it gave Big a name. John. Just "John." It popped up on Carrie's phone in the final seconds. For a lot of fans, that was the moment the myth died.
Big was always a concept. He was the unattainable New York titan. Giving him a name felt like humanizing a hurricane—it made him mundane. But the real controversy isn't his name. It's the fact that Carrie Bradshaw, the woman who once said "maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed," ended up being tamed by the most toxic guy in her Rolodex.
Wait. Is toxic too harsh?
Depends on who you ask. Darren Star, the show’s creator, famously felt that the finale betrayed what the show was supposed to be about. He’s gone on record saying that the show ultimately became a conventional romantic comedy, which wasn't the original mission. The original mission was to show that women don't need the marriage-and-a-mansion ending to be fulfilled.
Instead, we got Carrie alone in a cold, lonely Paris, being ignored by an artist (Aleksandr Petrovsky) who was too busy with his light installation to notice she was miserable. Then Big flies across the Atlantic, tells her she’s "the one," and they live happily ever after. Or they did, until the first movie, the second movie, and the reboot And Just Like That threw a wrench in everything.
Why Paris felt so wrong (and so right)
Paris was the perfect setting for a breakdown. Carrie without New York is like a fish without water, or more accurately, a writer without a laptop. Remember when Petrovsky’s daughter tells Carrie that Paris is the most romantic city in the world when you’re in love, but the most depressing when you’re not?
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She was right.
Watching Carrie eat alone at a cafe or wander through a museum while Petrovsky worked was brutal. It was the first time we saw her truly isolated from her "real" soulmates: Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. That's the heart of the Sex and the City finale. The show spent years telling us that the girls were the primary relationship. But the finale shifted the lens. It put the focus squarely back on the romantic partner as the ultimate savior.
Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha: The Real Winners?
While Carrie was having her Parisian meltdown, the other three actually had some pretty grounded character arcs. Honestly, their endings felt more earned.
- Miranda Hobbes: She moved to Brooklyn. For Miranda, that was a bigger sacrifice than moving to another country. Seeing her wash her mother-in-law’s hair in the finale was probably the most growth any character showed. She went from a cynical, "I don't need anyone" lawyer to a woman who understood the messy, unglamorous side of love.
- Charlotte York: She finally got her family, but not the way she planned. The scene where she and Harry get the photo of their daughter from China? Total tear-jerker. It subverted the "perfect" Charlotte narrative by showing that the path to happiness is usually crooked.
- Samantha Jones: She stayed Samantha. Even with the Smith Jerrod storyline—which was surprisingly touching—she didn't lose her edge. She found someone who could handle her, which is different from being "changed."
The "Rescue" Narrative
The biggest gripe people have with the Sex and the City finale is the slap. Not the Will Smith one. The "did he or didn't he?" slap from Petrovsky. He accidentally hits Carrie when she’s trying to leave. It’s the catalyst that sends her running into the lobby, where Big just happens to be waiting.
It feels a bit too "knight in shining armor."
Some critics argue that Carrie didn't choose Big; she just chose the guy who wasn't currently hitting her or ignoring her. It’s a cynical way to look at it, but it holds water. If Big hadn't shown up at that exact moment, where would Carrie have gone? She had no job, no apartment (she sold it/gave it up, remember?), and her friends were 3,000 miles away.
She was vulnerable. And Big capitalized on that vulnerability.
The Fashion as a Plot Point
We can’t talk about this episode without talking about the "Mille-Feuille" dress. That Versace gown was huge. Literally. It took up the whole hotel room. It was a metaphor for Carrie’s life in Paris: beautiful, expensive, but ultimately too much and completely out of place.
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She fell asleep in it. Alone.
It’s one of the most iconic images in TV history because it perfectly captures the disappointment of the "dream life." You can have the couture and the Parisian penthouse, but if you don't have your people, you're just a girl in a very expensive pile of fabric.
Debunking the "Happily Ever After"
For years, we were supposed to believe that the Sex and the City finale solved Carrie's problems. But if you look at the stats of their relationship, it’s a mess.
- Year 1: He can't commit, they break up.
- Year 2: He gets married to Natasha (the stick figure).
- Year 3: They have an affair, ruining his marriage and her relationship with Aidan.
- Year 6: He has heart surgery, she takes care of him, he pushes her away, then flies to Paris to "save" her.
That’s not a romance; that’s a cycle.
Michael Patrick King, the executive producer, has defended the ending by saying the audience needed to see them together. He argued that after six years of "will they or won't they," not having them end up together would have been a slap in the face to the viewers. He might be right. At the time, we were all suckers for a happy ending.
But looking back through a 2026 lens? It feels a little dated. We’re more into "female rage" and "de-centering men" now. The idea of a man flying across the world to fix a woman's life feels less like a grand gesture and more like a boundary issue.
Impact on Television History
Despite the critiques, the Sex and the City finale set the gold standard for how to end a "prestige" dramedy. It didn't try to be a cliffhanger. It tried to be a period at the end of a sentence. It gave every girl a resolution.
It also paved the way for shows like Girls, Insecure, and Broad City. Those shows took the "female friendship is the real romance" theme and ran with it, often avoiding the "Big" ending altogether. They learned from Carrie’s mistakes.
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What most people get wrong about the ending
A lot of people think the show ended with Big and Carrie getting married. It didn't. They don't get married until the first movie (after he leaves her at the altar, naturally). The series actually ends with Carrie walking down a street in New York, talking on her cell phone, looking perfectly content.
The final monologue is about the most important relationship of all: the one you have with yourself.
It’s a bit of a contradiction, isn't it? The show gives her the guy, but then tells the audience she didn't really need him. It’s trying to have its cake and eat it too.
Moving Forward: How to Watch it Now
If you’re rewatching the Sex and the City finale today, you have to view it as a period piece. It’s a snapshot of post-9/11 New York, a time when we were desperate for glamour and easy answers.
To get the most out of the experience:
- Watch for the subtext: Pay attention to the scenes where Carrie is alone in the museum. That’s where the real acting is.
- Analyze the "necklace" metaphor: The loss and recovery of the "Carrie" necklace is the real emotional arc of the finale. It represents her identity. When she finds it in the lining of her bag, she finds herself again. Big just happened to be in the room.
- Compare it to "And Just Like That": Knowing what happens to Big later (no spoilers, but... Peloton) changes the weight of their reunion in Paris. It makes it feel more precious and also more tragic.
The finale wasn't perfect. It was messy, slightly regressive, and incredibly stylish. Just like Carrie Bradshaw herself.
Whether you think she should have stayed in Paris, moved back to New York alone, or ended up with a French waiter, you can't deny that the show went out on its own terms. It remained obsessed with love, even when love was the problem.
Next Steps for the SATC Superfan:
- Revisit Season 4, Episode 18 ("I Heart NY"): Watch this before the finale to see how the Big/Carrie/New York dynamic was originally established. It makes the Paris reunion much more impactful.
- Audit the wardrobe: Look up Patricia Field’s notes on the Paris outfits. Every single piece Carrie wore in those last two episodes was chosen to show her diminishing power in that environment.
- Listen to the soundtrack: The use of "You Got the Love" in the final scene is a masterclass in TV scoring. It’s what makes that final walk feel so triumphant, even if you hate the plot.