Season 1, Episode 01:
Stephanie and the Wolves
Seattle-based editor Stephanie Wells and her husband, playwright Mark Merrill, move to New York City so that she can accept the job of running Communique, a trendy fashion magazine. As they move into their new penthouse on Central Park West, Stephanie and Mark both assure each other that the future looks very bright...
On her first day at the job, Stephanie immediately runs into some friction after meeting Carrie Fairchild, the snarky, pampered gossip columnist whose father, Allan Rush, owns Communique and his own media empire, Rush Media. Att a gala to raise money for breast cancer research, Stephanie meets the rest of the Fairchilds: Linda, the matriarch of the family, Peter, the academic son who works in the District Attorney's Office, and Allan himself. Carrie resents her mother for remarrying, Linda resents her for smoking at a party, and Allan orders Stephanie to drive Carrie out of ''Communique''.
Peter and his stock-market broker friend, Gil Chase, go out running the next day and talk about their respective love lives. Gil admits that he dumped a girl over e-mail and listens to Peter talk about how much he hates his family lineage before they meet a skater, Alex, who they invite to play softball with them later that day. Gil goes into work and is accosted by the woman he dumped, Leanne, who rails at him for losing her money on the stock market and promises to make his life a living hell.
Carrie sets up a party of her own to welcome Carrie to her new job, but secretly uses it as an excuse to talk privately with Mark, who has obtained a job teaching at a college with Allan's recommendation. At the party, Carrie steals Mark away and takes him on a helicopter ride through the city, while fawning over his work and an upcoming play he's writing. Stephanie and Mark discuss the party the next morning, and she figures out what Carrie's trying to do, but Mark tells her she's harmless...
Peter and Gil have their softball game and meet Alex again, who proves to be a capable batter. Peter and Alex agree to meet up for drinks and dinner the next night, and he tells her about his work in the D.A.'s office and his uncertainty about his family lineage, while she tells him about her career as a department store beauty technician. After getting a picture taken at dinner, they both go on a carriage ride through Central Park and kiss for the first time.
The next day, Peter attempts to drop off some flowers at her workplace, but discovers that nobody with her name works there. At the same time, it's revealed that Alex actually works as a reporter for the Globe newspaper and has written an expose on him. When her editor praises her work and promises it will be on that weekend's front page, she becomes hesitant and realizes she genuinely likes him, but keeps her mouth shut and allows the story to be printed...
Tropes:
- All Women Are Lustful: Shown repeatedly.
- As You Know: During the running scene between Peter and Gil in the park, the former reiterates his thoughts about his family lineage, relationships and plans for the future, for the benefit of the audience.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Fairchilds. Carrie is a Rich Bitch who has been given everything she wants by her mother, a widower who later married a rich media tycoon. Peter loathes his family name and feels unfairly judged because of his late father's influence.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Carrie, who immediately sets about trying to seduce Mark while acting friendly and helpful to Stephanie.
- Chekhov's News: Early in the episode, the Assistant D.A. mentions that someone has been running blind news items about Peter's dates in the New York Globe. As the audience comes to find out later, these were written by Alex, the woman who betrays Peter's trust to get a feature story on his work.
- Chick Magnet: Peter is this to all the women he walks past, who swoon in his presence. One woman at a department visibly freaks out and is at a loss for words when he comes in looking for Alex.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Mark is revealed to have had inappropriate relations with a student, which comes back to bite him when he applies for a job at a local school.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The Communique offices are markedly different from their appearance in later episodes. Stephanie's office and the conference room are much more expansive, and the latter has the name of the publication in gold letters on an awning above it. In future episodes, the size of the rooms would be greatly reduced.
- Gil also works in a very different cubicle (and workplace) that is shown later on. His office is expansive and brightly lit, whereas the workplace in later episodes is smaller, more cramped, and has a small conference room at the back of the room.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Stephanie is introduced by showing her throwing money at a problem to make it go away. As shown later in the series, this tends to get her into trouble frequently.
- Carrie is seen rolling around in bed with a fling and treating him as a disposable object, then insults authority when her brother calls her up.
- Gil is introduced by having him explain how he impulsively broke up with a client whose money he lost on the stock market, showing that he does things without thinking them through.
- Evil Feels Good: Carrie is a snarky columnist who treats people like disposable objects and laughs while doing it.
- Evil Plan:
- Deanne decides to make Gil's life a living hell.
- Carrie schemes to seduce Mark behind Stephanie's back.
- Fish out of Water: Carrie and Mark, who move from Seattle to New York and struggle to integrate.
- Foreshadowing: The District Attorney reveals to Peter early on that someone from the Globe newspaper has been leaking information about the latter's love life. As it turns out later, this item was published by Alex, who strikes up a relationship with him as part of her news story.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Discussed. Carrie smokes like a sailor, and is informed by Linda not to do so because her own husband (Carrie's father) died from lung cancer.
- Intrepid Reporter: Alex, who works for the New York Globe.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Peter isn't so much bothered by Alex's claims that he sometimes mistakes innocent people as guilty in court and argues against them, so much as she tells him he has a "lantern jaw".
- Modesty Bedsheet: Carrie wears this during her romp in bed at the beginning of the episode.
- Nepotism: Played With. Allan tells Stephanie that although Linda wants Carrie to work at Communique, he doesn't. He orders Stephanie to make Carrie's life a living hell and run her out.
- Parent with New Paramour: Linda married Allan after the death of her senator husband a decade prior, which caused resentment from her children.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Deanne.
- Really Gets Around: Gil is implied to be a "love them and leave them" type of person, and gets called out on it by Nikki at a party.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nikki gives one to Gil about his failed relationships and toxic personality.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
- The first scene showcases how the characters live in a world of luxury and riches, as Stephanie pays a doorman a handsome sum of money to stall the cops while the movers bring her furniture inside a hotel.
- Mark also discovers this firsthand when he learns, while applying at a college as a teacher, that Allan paid them money to hire him, even though they know that Mark had an inappropriate relationship in the past.
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Shoot the Money: More than any other episode of the series, the pilot features long panning shots of the city, as well as two groups of people going on short trips (in a helicopter and horse carriage, respectively) while they admire the skyline. - The Strategist: Carrie, who plans out a long-term charade to seduce Mark and anger Stephanie.
- Unwitting Pawn:
- Mark is used by Carrie as a tool to make Stephanie become unhinged at Communique.
- Peter becomes this, as Alex goes on a date with him to mine information for a feature article she's writing.
- Welcome Episode: For Stephanie, as she moves to New York and meets the major players at Communique.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong??: Gil has this attitude towards breaking up with Leanne over email, despite Peter's concerns.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Most of the supporting characters at Gil's workplace, including the girl at a nearby cubicle he tries to impress and his supervisor, disappear after this episode and are never seen again.
