Charlotte York Is The Most Relatable Woman On SATC

Three of the original four women will be in the reboot including Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis). Kim Cattrall will not return to play Samantha Jones, and I'm not mad about it.

In recent years, fans have been quick to point out that Carrie is a toxic character and that Miranda was a much better character than fan favorites Carrie and Samantha. But fans often ignore that Charlotte York is arguably the most relatable and admirable character on SATC.

She Wanted What Was Best for Her Friends, Even When They Didn’t

Even the biggest Charlotte critics can’t deny that she’s a great friend to her fellow SATC ladies. Though she’s loyal and kind, she’s not the kind of friend to say "you do you" when a friend engages in toxic behavior. When a friend cheats on her partner (*cough* Carrie), she’s the first to mention that it’s a terrible idea. She doesn’t do this to be judgmental; she does this because she cares about her friends and doesn’t want them to make a life-altering mistake. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have a friend who would point out my toxic behavior than say “you do you” when I’m about to make a self-destructive mistake.

Charlotte is at her best (and most authentic) when she’s angry at Mr. Big for treating Carrie like garbage. When he left her at the altar at the beginning of the first movie, she avoided him at all costs to prevent herself from saying something she’d regret (let’s be real, we all have thoughts about friends’ exes that we probably shouldn’t say out loud). 

She eventually runs into him when she’s nine months pregnant and on a shopping trip, and she’s just as angry at Big as she was nearly a year before. This leads her to hilariously insult him by cursing the day he was born, which is one of the classiest yet most effective insults I could possibly think of.

She’s also a good friend to Miranda and Samantha. When Miranda’s mom dies unexpectedly, she’s quickly on her toes to organize a way to get all of her friends to the funeral and to give her flowers. Despite Miranda insisting that she’s okay, Charlotte knows she’s hurting and is there for her. 

Charlotte and Samantha are polar opposites, but this doesn’t stop Charlotte from being a good friend to her too. She’s there for her during her ups and downs, especially when she was diagnosed with cancer, and isn’t afraid to call out some of her self-destructive habits because she truly wants the best for her.

And how can we forget the moment where all four women were struggling and Charlotte suggested that they were each other’s soulmates? Can you ask for a better friend than Charlotte?

She Wasn’t Afraid To Fight for What She Wanted in Life

Many fans of the show disliked Charlotte because she was determined to find love, get married, and have children. She was the foil to Samantha, whose life mantra was to be selfish and “have sex like a man.” 

This article from The Mary Sue says it best: “Charlotte in the first few seasons is a collection of all the things women are supposed to be and supposed to be ashamed of being at the exact same time. Charlotte has been told that true love is possible and that if you offer yourself as the ideal woman an ideal man will see your value  and ‘pick you.’”

In short, some fans see Charlotte as the ultimate "pick-me girl," but they don’t realize the true strength that it takes to refuse to settle and to not give up on your dreams. Our culture likes to convince us that women like Charlotte are rare, but we all have a friend (or are that friend) who wants nothing more than to live happily ever after with a husband and kids. The best part about Charlotte is that she isn’t afraid to admit it.

We live in a culture that likes to convince women that wanting to be in a relationship makes you weak and that we shouldn’t strive for a relationship (Charlotte’s aversion to the single life is one of the funniest and most relatable things about her). Everyone, even sometimes even her friends, makes fun of Charlotte for wanting to be a wife and mother above everything else, but Charlotte refuses to let anyone get in the way of her dreams coming true. She wasn’t afraid to make mistakes along the way (and she made plenty *cough* marrying Trey) and learned from them. Her years of insisting on following her dreams and refusing to settle lead to her happy ending with a husband and children, and the journey to get there is worth it because of what she gained. 

Closing Thoughts

Charlotte York is often ignored in discussions over who’s the best character in SATC, and it’s a shame because she’s the most admirable and relatable, in my opinion. She’s the perfect example of a modern woman embracing her femininity, not settling for anything less than she deserves, and happily living a traditional lifestyle. I love Charlotte York, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll be like in the SATC reboot.

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