Twenty years after it went off the air, Sex and the City is still our Roman Empire. We've recreated the outfits, taken the personality quizzes (I'm a Carrie, duh), and dissected our favorite plot points to oblivion. But for every famous (hi, Seema!) and infamous (the boyfriends couldn't all be Harry) character, there's a lesser known player who deserves a second look. For me, that's Natasha Naginsky.
In Season 2 of the OG series, Mr. Big may get the opportunity to move to Paris. Carrie, in typical fashion, buys a beret and starts planning her new life abroad for the job that her boyfriend hasn't been offered yet. Arguments ensue, Carrie and Mr. Big break up, and he leaves for Paris — alone. At the end of the season, he returns to New York and reveals that he met Natasha in Paris, breaking Carrie's heart.
While I've always been devastated for Carrie in this moment, she (spoiler alert) does get the guy in the end. And she causes a lot of damage in the process. My love for fairytale endings has typically nullified the in-betweens, but that's totally unfair to the Natasha's of the world. And the Natasha of this world happens to be a pretty cool girl who deserved so much more.
Natasha Low-Key Had It All
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Natasha was only 26 years old and seemingly had it all: amazing looks, great style, a cool job at Ralph Lauren, and of course, the love of Carrie's life, Mr. Big. These things don't come easy, and Natasha clearly put a lot of work into building the life she wanted for herself, which is admirable.
Natasha Was Judged Unfairly
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Natasha is a classic example of how someone can be a perfectly fine (nice, even) person, but if they're dating your ex, you're going to see them in the worst possible light. This is especially true in Carrie's case, as Mr. Big is an ex she's still hopelessly in love with. We see this on full display at the benefit luncheon, when Natasha handwrites hundreds of thank-you notes but misspells one word, and Carrie calls all her friends to proclaim that Natasha is "a complete idiot." *cue eyeroll* In actuality, Natasha only had one fault, which was trusting her lying, cheating husband. Regardless of Natasha's character, Carrie (and the audience) were never going to judge her fairly.
Natasha is Emotionally Intelligent
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While Natasha was clearly mature for her age, Carrie — who was 7 years her senior — was still trying to figure out the concept of "adulting." Part of Carrie's relatable appeal is her ability to almost always say the wrong thing and frequently made a strange first impression, but when we meet Natasha, these differences are in stark contrast. Natasha smiles, reaches out to greet her, and tells Carrie, "I've heard so much about you!" which is a nice, normal and socially appropriate way to meet a new person. Whether Mr. Big actually spent time waxing poetic about his ex (or even mentioned her at all), we'll never know.
Natasha Has A Great Sense of Style
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Every time we see Natasha (except for her final scene, but more on that later), she's wearing white. One of Mr. Big's biggest complaints about her (to Carrie, so take it with a grain of salt) is that living with Natasha, everything is beige. In contrast to Carrie, this was meant to make Natasha seem dull, but realistically her style was very of the time. After all, Natasha worked at Ralph Lauren, so of course her style was in line with uptown 90s minimalism. She was the WASP princess that Charlotte York wanted to be.
Natasha Is Confident In Who She Is
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While Natasha may not have been a trendsetter, she wasn't trying to be. She had a strong sense of self and dressed in the clothes she felt best in, which happened to be white. While Carrie thrived on being the most stylish in her friend group, Natasha didn't feel the need to stand out.
Truthfully, it took a few watches to realize that this outlook extended beyond Natasha's sartorial choices; where Carrie is loud in her insecurity, Natasha exudes quiet confidence. I'm sure Carrie is aware of this as well, which is why it makes her feel significantly better to liken herself to Katie in The Way We Were, who she insists is too 'complicated' for Mr's Big's Hubbell to choose. Instead, she reasons, Big wants a 'simple' girl with straight hair, just like Hubbell chose in the movie, which is the only possible reason he could choose Natasha over her. Frankly, I couldn't imagine Natasha getting caught up in her delulu to this extent.
Natasha Knew When To Take The High Road - And When To Fight Back
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In Season 3, Mr. Big begins his extramarital affair with Carrie. It goes on for weeks and doesn't end until poor Natasha catches Carrie in her apartment. As it turns out, Natasha had known about the affair and chose to ignore it, with the intention of looking past her husband's mistake and working on their marriage. She wasn't planning to confront Carrie, until this utterly iconic restaurant takedown scene.
It's the most we've ever heard Natasha speak. She's soft-spoken, yet firm, and makes it clear that she never wants to hear from Carrie again. Most notably, she's wearing pink — a sharp departure from her previous wardrobe, meant to signify her decision to take a stand for herself and start her next chapter.
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