Season 1, Episode 08:
With the Weapons of a Mrs.
The morning after Mark slept with Carrie, Rachel arrives at the latter's apartment to collect her belongings after being found out as the Communique leak. Carrie once again threatens her to get her job back or face serious consequences.
Mark is getting ready in his apartment when Stephanie appears and tries to make amends for deceiving him about his play. She tells him that he doesn't have to forgive her, but tells him she loves him. He brushes off her apology before leaving. At work, she rails at an employee, Tom, for trying to run an inflammatory story without corroborating the claims with sources. She tells him to take the story to another outlet before he leaves.
When Tom storms out of the office, Rachel follows him and asks what's wrong. He tells about the problem he's had at work and that he's decided to leave for good. Rachel makes a deal to get him a job at British Vogue, on the condition that he admit that he was the leak at the magazine. He goes back inside and tenders his resignation to Stephanie, and insults her work before heading out. Afterwards, Stephanie reluctantly decides to hire Carrie back after believing she was wrong about her suspicions.
That night, Mark visits Carrie at her apartment and tells her that he made a serious mistake when he slept with her. He reveals Stephanie's deception to her, then tells her that he can't make the same mistake again. Yet, when he tries to leave, he ends up kissing her again and they begin to make love. The next night, he catches himself and patches up his differences with Stephanie.
Rachel once again seduces Gil in order to get more information on Peter's activities, which include a surprise party for him the next night at the Zinc Bar. She intervenes and takes him on a surprise date at a restaurant by herself, and attempts to reveal her feelings to him. However, he tells her that he's already with someone and pledges to stay as friends with her. She hides her sadness before leaving.
Nikki discovers that an anonymous buyer is willing to purchase Linda's painting, and successfully completes the transaction with the buyer's lawyer. After she relates the good news to Linda (and Peter, who stops by), she is shocked to discover that Allan was the one who purchased the painting in secret.
Gil attempts to bring Peter to the surprise party, but doesn't hear back from him. He eventually goes to Rachel's hotel and finds her bidding goodnight to Peter before going to her suite. When Gil goes up to her room and confronts her, she slaps him before allowing him to have his way with her.
Allan confronts Linda at their home and reveals to her that he knows she was trying to sell the French painting. However, she smooths over the situation by seducing him, despite knowing that he has a mistress...
Tropes:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Rachel tells Peter about her feelings about him, but he rejects her and tells her that they have to stay as Just Friends.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Communique employee who is having a grievance with Stephanie about a story he wrote is eventually the one who helps Rachel get Carrie's job back at the end of the episode.
- Dress Hits Floor: Linda takes off her bathrobe when Allan kisses her at the end of the episode, although she has a negligee on underneath.
- Heel Realization: Carrie has a moment of self-realization when she admits to Mark that she's used a lot of people in her life.
- Hope Spot: Nikki is incredibly happy when Linda's painting is sold to the anonymous buyer, and makes plans to leave Allan for good and take her gallery to the next level. However, her hopes are quickly dashed when Allan reveals that he was the one who bought the painting in secret.
- Humiliation Conga: In the course of a single day, Stephanie is shunned by her husband, is railed at by an employee who quits in protest, and is forced to hire Carrie back after she believes she made a mistake firing her.
- Hypocrite: Gil and Carrie have a brief discussion about the former's habit of sleeping around at the beginning of the episode.Gil: So, who was it this time? One of the regulars from the stable, or did you break in a new pony?Carrie: Right... I'm going to discuss my love life with a man whose relationships don't last as long as a carton of milk.
- The Masochism Tango: Gil calls out Rachel for doing this to him, yet they continue their relationship anyway.
- Really Gets Around: Gil implies Carrie to be this, although she throws the remark back at him soon afterwards.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Stephanie gets a pair of these from staff employee Tom before he quits Communique.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Gil and Rachel do this after he figures out that she used to him for information so she could have dinner with Peter.
- Spotting the Thread: Peter figures out that something is wrong with Rachel's deal to sell the French painting when he spots a negative of the work, and realizes it was the same one owned by his mother.
