Season 1, Episode 10:
Showgirls
Rachel is sipping tea in her hotel suite when the building's manager arrives at her door and tells her that she is behind on her rent payments. Despite her attempts to argue otherwise, the manager informs her that she will have to vacate her suite.
Mark is writing his feature article for ''Communique'' at home when Stephanie comes in and asks how it's coming along. He tells her that he's been very motivated and decides to go out for a night on the town with her later that day. Stephanie unexpectedly pushes up the deadline for Mark's article to the end of the week, and despite Carrie's attempt to tell him otherwise, he's more concerned with his affair with her. He becomes flustered and angry after she repeatedly gives him the cold shoulder.
Gil invites Peter and Alex out to dinner that night. After Peter hangs up the phone, he's confronted by Alex, who asks him if he slept with Nikki the night before. Peter sheepishly admits to it, then brings up the fact that they both agreed to forgive each other for one transgression. She throws it back in his face and storms out of the office.
At dinner that night, Gil and Rachel are eating when Peter arrives and tell them that he's broken up with Alex again. Despite Gil laughing it off, Peter insists that it's permanent this time. Afterwards, Gil and Rachel go home and begin to kiss after she insists that she has no feelings anymore for Peter. She also insinuates that she'll be spending a lot more time at Gil's apartment from that point forward.
Ben, the new editor at the New York Globe, gives Alex an assignment to cover a charity fundraiser that is being hosted by Linda that night. Despite her attempt to cast it off on another reporter, Ben suggests using the gala as an opportunity to make Peter jealous.
Nikki is attempting to get back on track after her dalliance with Peter when Allan arrives and serves an eviction notice on her. With few options left, she goes to Peter and asks for help in the matter, and he offers to take her to the charity gala that night to throw Allan off.
Everyone shows up to the gala that night. Mark awkwardly attempts to have a conversation with Rachel, Linda threatens to take out Allan's mistress and Peter is flustered when he encounters the dolled-up Alex. Linda also encounters Nikki and realizes her connection with Allan, and splashes red wine on her dress while threatening her to stay away from her family. Alex watches the altercation and smiles to herself...
Carrie visits Nikki the next day and promises to team up with her to stop Allan's harrassment. Later, Carrie visits her mother and successfully convinces her to aid Nikki by suggesting the latter can help with her impending divorce. Linda drops off a check to pay for her rent, and they agree to aid each other and teach Allan a lesson.
Mark finishes the article despite Carrie's influence and finally drops it off at the Communique offices. When Stephanie and Carrie read it, they are shocked by the poor level of prose. Rachel secretly faxes the article to Allan's office for his attention. When Mark meets Stephanie later, she calls him out for his poor writing and refuses to run it. Mark storms out in anger and goes to vent his frustrations with Carrie, but she refuses to return his affections and tells him that their affair is over.
As Mark storms out of the apartment, Carrie smiles deviously...
Tropes:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Linda's interactions with Nikki have her putting on a sarcastic demeanor (and secretly hating her) when they team up to take down Allan.
- Cat Fight: Linda and Nikki get into a brief altercation after the former learns of the latter's affair with Allan.
- Continuity Nod: Peter justifies his one-night stand with Nikki by bringing up the fact that Alex once told him they could forgive each other for one mistake.
- Enemy Mine: Linda teams up with Nikki, despite hating her for what she did behind her back, to stop Allan and get more information for their divorce settlement.
- Humiliation Conga: Mark goes through the wringer, getting his article trashed by both Stephanie and Rachel, his marriage on the rocks and his affair with Carrie dissolved by the end of the episode.
- Informed Ability: Despite his past praise by other people, Mark's feature article is never glimpsed and never elaborated upon by himself or Stephanie beyond a reference to a sidebar about destinations to visit in New York. This turns into a case of Stylistic Suck when Rachel points out later on that Mark's only published journalistic work is an article on fly fishing and that he has no other qualifications.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Nikki's confession to Peter about his stepfather's relationship with her immediately comes back to bite her when Allan attempts to evict her from her gallery and drive her out of New York.
- Reset Button: As a result of an impending Retool, most of the developments that occurred in the previous episode, like Peter threatening Allan to stay away from Nikki and Rachel learning about Mark and Carrie's affair, are forgotten about or disregarded.
- Say My Name: Carrie's machinations result in Mark futilely pounding on the door of her apartment and yelling out her name while she listens from inside and smiles.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Linda counters Allan's affairs and dismissive attitude towards her threat of a divorce by throwing money Nikki's way and getting her to act as a witness due to her affair with him.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mark has shades of this, as he becomes overly creepy towards Carrie, which causes her to end their affair and tell him to leave her apartment.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Alex calls out Peter for sleeping with Nikki while they were still in a relationship.
