HBO’s beloved series Gender and city features perfect spiritual dialogue and outrageous sexual and romantic storylines that have kept fans laughing for decades. Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte navigate Manhattan’s elite circles, often with hilarious effect, but the series is not short of equally shocking moments that can even be downright spooky.
From dates that turn into vastly different personalities to mysterious health issues and even sudden deaths, Gender and city keeps viewers on their toes with wild developments sometimes occurring out of nowhere. Even though it’s hailed as a clever comedy series, this variation in tone is responsible for some of the show’s most memorable moments.
ten Miranda’s panic attack
Shortly after a near-death experience in her apartment, Miranda suffers a very convincingly filmed episode of disorienting dizziness on the busy streets of Manhattan and rushes to the emergency room.
When she finds out the episode was a panic attack, she assesses the stress that buying a house as a single woman recently caused her. With Carrie by her side, Miranda admits she fears being alone without an emergency contact closer than her estranged parents in Pennsylvania. While Carrie offers what she can in condolence, it’s a time when the show’s usual wacky antics have been overtaken by the harsh realities of adulthood.
9 Charlotte is berated by love interest during sex
In the third season, Charlotte is desperate to get married and is dating a variety of eligible singles in search of “the one.” Sadly, her quest for happiness is momentarily derailed by a series of shocking bedroom encounters with her investment banker boyfriend.
In the heat of the moment and out of nowhere, he hurls terrible curses at Charlotte, not remembering having done so moments later. Although Charlotte finds him perfectly nice at all other times, nothing from the couple can correct the problem and he ends up breaking up with her by seeking therapy. It’s one of the strangest and most disturbing dating plots on the show.
8 The breakup of Carrie and Petrovsky
For the majority, Gender and cityThe series ‘two-part international finale marks one of the series’ most melancholy arcs, as Carrie’s decision to move to Paris with Petrovsky takes an unpleasant turn upon arrival. But, “An American Girl In Paris” reaches its lowest point in “Part Deux” when a decisive showdown between Carrie and Petrovsky goes horribly wrong.
While crushing Carrie, the recluse artist accidentally slaps his girlfriend across the face. While the incident was not intentional, it shows how much he doesn’t care or notice how much his actions hurt her. It’s a devastating moment for Carrie who marks the end of their relationship and leaves her feeling totally alone in a big foreign city.
7 Charlotte is almost run over by a taxi
One of Charlotte’s scariest experiences on Gender and city turns into one of her happiest in the third season episode “Drama Queens”. Charlotte begged her married friend to set her up with one of her many single buddies, but, when the date finally arrives, he himself is there begging her affection.
Disgusted and disappointed, Charlotte flees the bar where they had met but stumbles and falls in the street trying to hail a cab. Although a taxi barely hits her, the passenger turns out to be Trey MacDougal, who will become Charlotte’s first husband. In a show full of weird romantic encounters, this one is particularly striking.
6 Samantha is shunned
After the death of a prominent fashion designer, Samantha finds herself meeting with a high profile legal partner on behalf of the deceased visionary’s charitable foundation. But, when their inappropriate flirtation is discovered by the attorney’s wife, Samantha quickly finds herself utterly rejected by the wealthiest women in Manhattan.
For a woman whose business is public relations and whose life revolves around the most exclusive parties, there is nothing more terrifying for Samantha than facing the outcast. Thankfully, the controversial socialite is miraculously lifted from her outcast status due to an unlikely meeting with Leonardo DiCaprio at one of the foundation’s events.
5 Miranda thinks her apartment is haunted
In the aptly named fourth season episode “Ghost Town”, Miranda and Carrie feel haunted by their past relationship with Steve and Aidan. However, the two men aren’t the only ghosts found in the episode, as Miranda becomes convinced that an otherworldly spirit is lurking around her building.
Many viewers can relate to hearing suspicious crackles at night, and Miranda is utterly frightened when she finds that despite the nighttime sounds she hears from the apartment above hers, the unit is totally empty. Luckily for Miranda, all it takes to dispel the ghost is for Carrie to show up to a heartwarming sleepover with a bag of Oreos.
4 Miranda chokes on take away
Countless episodes of Gender and city shows Miranda ordering takeout at her favorite Chinese restaurant, but this common habit takes a turn for the macabre right after Miranda moves into a new apartment in season two “Four Women and a Funeral.”
Shortly after finding out that the previous tenant has died in the apartment and been partially eaten by her cat, Miranda has a terrifying episode of choking on her food. Although Miranda miraculously survived the near-death episode, the image of her running around her new place, breathless and with a red face is one of the most shocking in the series.
3 Carrie gets assaulted
In season three’s “What Goes Around Comes Around”, Carrie feels like her karma is totally out of control due to her affair with Mr. Big earlier in the season. While on the hunt for new fashions, Carrie gets lost and asks a stranger for directions, but he shoots a gun at her.
The man carries his bag – actually a wand, as Carrie hilariously points out – and Manolos Blahniks, while Carrie is left shocked and without shoes on the streets of Manhattan. To make matters worse, when she rushes to a nearby barbershop to claim she has been stolen, no one beats an eyelash.
2 Samantha’s cancer diagnosis
In the season six episode “The Ick Factor,” one of the Gender and cityThe happiest moments in life are juxtaposed with one of its most terrifying. During a consultation with a plastic surgeon for breast enhancement, Samantha is shocked to learn that she needs a lump checked.
Although the surgeon assures him that it is probably just a cyst, the tumor turns out to be cancerous. While this is undoubtedly one of Samantha’s scariest experiences that fans have witnessed, she luckily has her girlfriends rallying around her later in the episode of Miranda’s wedding.
1 A death at the feast of Enid
One of the show’s most shocking scenes occurs at an odd point in the series in the third and final episode of the final season. As Carrie prepares to fly to Paris with Petrovsky and leave her cherished life in New York City, the couple attend a reunion in Enid’s high-rise apartment.
Lexi Featherston, a well-known party girl who has been tearing New York City apart since the ’80s, makes a huge scene at the party before falling through the floor-to-ceiling window. Designed as the culmination of the life Carrie is afraid to live, this moment is one of the most absurd and tragicomic in the series.
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