‘Sex and the City’: In Defense of Aleksandr Petrovsky
Aleksandr Petrovsky attempted to sweep Carrie Bradshaw off her feet in season 6 of Sex and the City. Despite Carrie’s initial reluctance, he was pretty successful in his attempt. Alek, however, wasn’t the right man for Carrie in the long run, and deep down, Carrie knew that, too. Fans of the famed series largely hated “the Russian” for pulling Carrie away from her friends, ignoring her in Paris, and seemingly assaulting her. We get why there is so much Petrovsky hate, but we don’t think he was all bad. Just hear us out.
Aleksandr Petrovsky pampered Carrie Bradshaw
When Carrie met Aleksandr Petrovsky, she was fresh off her most embarrassing breakup. After Carrie spent months attending to Jack Berger and his fragile ego, he left her with a Post-It note breakup. Aleksandr was markedly different from Berger. Instead of being intimidated by Carrie’s career, Petrovsky had an impressive one of his own.
He was rich, cultured, and interested in pampering Carrie. He was romantic and showered her with gifts. Petrovsky was so romantic, in fact, that it was a bit too much for the beleaguered 30-something Carrie. While Carrie didn’t know how to handle it, we love that Aleksandr was so willing to give Carrie the finer things in life.
The famed artist was honest and communicative
Some Sex and the City fans argue that Aleksandr Petrovsky was selfish and self-centered. He was. So was Mr. Big, but unlike Big, Petrovsky never tried to hide that fact. Alek made it clear that he was busy, important, and easily stressed out. He was looking for a woman who would follow his lead. When he swept Carrie off to Paris, she more or less agreed to do exactly that.
Petrovsky communicated his needs clearly, and Carrie seemed happy to go along with it. She only wanted to change the rules when she realized how lonely she was without her posse. While Aleksandr made his needs known, Carrie kept it quiet. She only revealed how angry she was with Aleksandr during their final argument. If you think about it, he had no reason to suspect something was amiss until the final moments of their romance.
We are pretty sure he didn’t mean to hit Carrie
The final strike against Aleksandr Petrovsky for many Sex and the City fans is the strike he laid across Carrie Bradshaw’s cheek in their last moments together. Some fans argue that Alek intended to hit Carrie, but we aren’t entirely certain about that. If he did purposefully strike Carrie, then he’s the worst of Carrie’s lovers by far. We don’t think it was that malicious, though.
The infamous “slap” is a little ambiguous. In the heat of an argument, Alek turned his back and walked away from Carrie, insisting he would talk to her when she calmed down. She followed behind and grabbed him by the arm, and when he swung back around, the back of his hand made contact with Carrie’s cheek. He looked as shocked and disappointed as she did, leading us to believe it was an accident like he insisted. We can’t hold it against him if it was truly an accident.
