* wallflower magazine *

As a rabid Sex and the City fan, I have long been seeking four fabulous ladies to fill the space in my TV life previously occupied by Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. Though I own seasons 4-6 of SATC on DVD (have watched each episode more times than I care to reveal), there is only so long that you can continue a love affair with something that aways remains the same. So, I was beyond thrilled at the news that SATC creator Darren Star was stepping up to the plate once again.

His latest project, Cashmere Mafia, follows four uber-chic B-school friends (L-R): hotel COO Juliet Draper (Miranda Otto), investment banker Zoe Burden (Frances O’Connor), marketing exec Caitlin Dowd (Bonnie Somerville, download Winding Road right now), and magazine publisher Mia Mason (Lucy Liu). As Star puts it, these high-powered women can actually afford the clothes worn by the ladies of SATC. And with style guru Patricia Field co-ordinating Cashmere’s closet, the show seemed sure to succeed.

Despite the hype, nothing in Cashmere was as groundbreaking as I had hoped. The show shone a light on the plight of the working business woman at every potential stage in her life, from carefree singleton to divorcee, but did nothing to stand out from the slew of shows hoping to pick up on the now Sex-less female audience. Still, though the story lines were predictable and the characters clichéd, the appeal of watching four female friends take on life together struck that familiar chord with me and I dutifully watched each week.

But then the show truly tested my loyalties with last week’s episode, Yours, Mine and Hers), which had what I am sure can be qualified as TV’s lamest, most ridiculous moment ever. Caitlin, who recently began dating her very first girlfriend, discovers that said girlfriend underwent several rounds of in vitro with her ex and is… surprise… pregnant! After some much needed support from her friends, Caitlin decides that she is wiling to commit to this and buys bags of baby gifts to celebrate. But when she arrives to drop them off…

“You can keep all of this stuff. All of this stuff is for you.
But this… This is for me!”

Seriously?! Did she actually just utter such ridiculousness? My Cashmere-loving buddies and I were dumbfounded and looked to each other to confirm that that had, in fact, just happened. Am I overreacting? Or is this really as absurd as I think it was?

Regardless, tonight I will tune in for the season finale and do my best to put that mortifying moment behind us, but Mafia will have to pull out the bug guns to ensure that, next season, they don’t end up sleeping with the fishes.