Nixon gives Miranda an admirable resiliency and ability to laugh at herself. She also has done a wonderful job of conveying Miranda's gradual overcoming of her fear of feeling things too deeply, of being perceived as "emotional." In the past, whenever she had to decide between her career or any other part of her life, Miranda always chose her career. She dumped Steve (David Eigenberg), her puppy dog of a boyfriend, because he was too childlike and unencumbered by career responsibilites. He wanted her to play with him, she buried herself in work. He wanted to get married and have a kid, she dumped him. Which is what made Miranda's behavior in the penultimate summer season episode so utterly unexpected.

In that episode, Miranda revealed (to her friends) that she was pregnant, the result of a "pity fuck" with Steve, who had lost a testicle to cancer and was feeling unattractive. Miranda's announcement that she was having an abortion led to a remarkable discussion, not on a political plane but a deeply personal one. We learned that Samantha had two abortions, Carrie one (after a drunken one-nighter with a disco waiter when she was 22). The tone of this coffee shop confessional was just right -- at once pragmatic and tinged with regret. (Charlotte dissents, of course, but not on moral grounds; she's so wrapped up in trying to have a baby, she can't imagine somebody not wanting one.)

Miranda sets up the doctor's appointment (there's a darkly funny scene where she bemoans the difficulty of finding a doctor willing to do an abortion anymore and mimics the way her regular gynecologist added a breezy "No judgment!" to her refusal). She also decides not to tell Steve. But at the last minute, in the waiting room, she starts wavering, asking Carrie if she's doing the right thing. She had always hoped to have a baby some distant someday, and it hits her that, at 38, this could be that day. "Is this my baby?" she asks Carrie, plaintively. But then the nurse calls her name and Miranda goes dutifully into the exam room.

In the next scene, Miranda is lying on her couch at home being fussed over by her friends and you think, Damn, Miranda did the Miranda thing again. But, no -- she has decided to have the baby. For the first time in the series, she didn't suppress her "dangerous" urge to nest. She recognized that life can't be planned down to the perfect moment. In the Aug. 12 summer finale, she told Steve she was pregnant and keeping the baby and he was delighted and puzzled -- he thought she wasn't ready to have a baby. "I'm still not ready -- but when will I ever be ready?" Miranda replied. It was one of the most surprising and honest moments in the show's run, saving Miranda from overscheduled career woman cartoonhood. This is what choice is all about.

As for Carrie's choice, it's setting up a fascinating mess in the making. But that's freedom for you -- it allows you to make bad decisions, too. If you've watched "Sex and the City" from the beginning, you know that Carrie has had a long, rocky, bittersweet, supercharged relationship with Big (Chris Noth), a sleekly handsome, wealthy big shot with commitment issues. Big and Carrie are soul mates, but they're both fighting it. Earlier in the series' run, having landed this Holy Grail of eligible New York males, Carrie pushed too hard for a commitment and Big, frightened of a woman as complicated, feisty and sharp as Carrie, fled and married a 24-year-old model. Carrie eventually took up with Aidan, a sensitive, laid-back craftsman and all-around Mr. Perfect.

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