Sex and the City 2 took Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her best friends to Abu Dhabi, and while they went through a couple of adventures there, it gave Charlotte (Kristin Davis) a storyline that repeated one of Friends’ worst. After Sex and the City came to an end in 2004, viewers reunited with Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in the 2008 movie of the same name and two years later in the sequel simply titled Sex and the City 2.
Two years after Carrie and Mr. Big’s (Chris Noth) wedding, the four friends traveled to Abu Dhabi as Samantha worked on a PR campaign for an Arak sheikh’s business, and while Miranda was excited about it and (for once) had nothing to worry about, Carrie had some thinking to do about her marriage and Charlotte worried about leaving Harry (Evan Handler) with their two daughters and their new nanny, Erin (Alice Eve). Charlotte’s obsessive worries about Erin not only hurt Charlotte’s character but also repeated one of the worst storylines from Friends, and surprisingly, made it even worse.
Sex and the City 2 & Friends Had A “Hot Nanny” Storyline (& SatC Made It Worse)
At the beginning of Sex and the City 2, Charlotte was delighted with Erin as she helped her a lot with her daughters, especially with the youngest, who wouldn’t stop crying. Charlotte didn’t even think about the slim possibility of something happening between Harry and Erin until Samantha brought it up and the rest pointed out how attractive Erin is, focusing mostly on how she never wore a bra. During their time in Abu Dhabi, Charlotte constantly called Harry, and her obsession got worse when she found out she barely had phone signal, so she spent most of her time imagining the worst. In the end, Erin was revealed to be a lesbian and was seen with her girlfriend at Lily’s birthday party, similar to what Friends did with Molly (Melissa George).
In Friends season 9 episode “The One With Phoebe’s Rats”, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Ross (David Schwimmer) hired Molly, a new nanny for Emma – or as Joey (Matt LeBlanc) called her, a “hot nanny”. Joey tried to make a move on Molly, but at the end of the episode, Molly introduced him, Ross, and Chandler (Matthew Perry) to her girlfriend, which only made Joey even more excited. Molly appeared again in the following episode but there were no more references to her sexuality nor was she referred to as “hot nanny” again. Sex and the City 2 borrowed this storyline and made it worse by oversexualizing Erin (including a wet t-shirt scene at Charlotte’s bathroom while Erin and Harry gave Lily a bath) and having Charlotte obsess over another woman possibly taking her husband away from her, with the cherry on top being the “big reveal” of Erin being a lesbian.
Over the course of Sex and the City and both movies, Charlotte often judged every woman who went against her beliefs and views on marriage, relationships, sex, love, and social norms, which peaked with how she worried about Erin and Harry, even though Harry had never given her any reason to not trust him. In addition to that, Sex and the City 2 perpetuated the sexualization of lesbians and lesbian couples through Erin and her girlfriend, and this storyline was, ultimately, unnecessary.
Friends’ “Hot Nanny” Storyline Is Part Of A Bigger Problem
Sex and the City had its wins and its flaws, just like Friends did, but the latter was praised for its portrayal of lesbian couples through Carol and Susan, so the “hot nanny” storyline, although brief, was a setback for the series. However, there are deeper issues in Friends that are often overlooked, as are the show’s constant gay jokes, homophobic comments, and how it failed to use the right pronouns for Chandler’s transgender parent. Although Sex and the City 2 borrowed the “hot nanny” storyline and made it worse, it was just one of many problems in Friends that are finally being discussed more openly.