As the most practical and shrewd of Sex and the City's leading ladies, Miranda Hobbes was often the voice of reason on the HBO hit series. With a successful career as a lawyer and an apartment in the Upper West Side, there was a little Miranda needed from a male companion, and often found her friends' obsession with dating to be trivial.
Though her honesty could be brutal, Miranda was always there to help her friends in need. Where she crossed the line was deciding her opinion was the right opinion, and that compromise at any juncture made her vulnerable. Here are 10 ways that Miranda got worse and worse as the series went on.
SHE WAS RUDE
Out of all the friends, Miranda was known for her candor. She never held back when delivering her opinion, and more often than not it was rude. In episode 1 of the very first season she was rude to Samantha for her sexually liberated behavior, and later episode 7 to Carrie for her maligned love-life with Mr. Big.
From the moment Miranda met her longest-running boyfriend on the series, Steve, in season 2 episode 8, she was condescending to him for being a bartender she intended to use for a one night stand. Even on their honeymoon in season 6, she berated him for wanting to enjoy peace and quiet (sans electronics) in a cabin.
SHE WAS JUDGMENTAL OF HER HOUSEKEEPER
Miranda's housekeeper Magda might have been curmudgeonly and extreme about her religious faith, but she kept a clean house and she stayed out of Miranda's affairs (for the most part). Miranda repaid her by acting judgmental to her friends when she found out Magda had replaced her vibrator with a statue of the Virgin Mary in season 2.
Magda did nothing but wait on Miranda, her boyfriend Steve, and eventually their son Brady, and deserved more recognition than what she got. When Miranda felt Magda being too judgmental of her having a baby without being married in season 5, she snapped at her.
SHE CONSTANTLY NEEDED TO BE RIGHT
Miranda's constant need for validation revealed itself in strange ways. She considered herself the most logical out of her group of friends and was rarely willing to compromise. When she dated Steve regularly in season 2 and he preferred to lounge in bed after they made love, she couldn't indulge him because her work came first.
That would have been fine if Miranda was single, or had no friends, but circumstances forced her to alter her views. Even in season 6, when Steve (who was her fiance by that point) wanted to move to Brooklyn, Miranda refused to believe she could ever be happy there.
SHE BROKE DR. LEEDS' HEART
Amidst Miranda's on-again/off-again relationship with Steve the bartender, she dated Dr. Robert Leeds in season 6, a charming and successful sports medicine doctor for the New York Knicks. He swept Miranda off her feet, gave her free tickets to sporting events, arrived on her doorstep with takeout, and gave her the best sex of her life.
However, Miranda dated him when she wasn't really over Steve, thus setting up their entire relationship to fail in episode 12 of the same season. Dr. Leeds was ready to help her celebrate Brady's first birthday, but she threw it all away to get back together with Steve before the cake.
SHE WAS AFRAID OF COMMITMENT
Miranda had a deep distrust of men, so much so that she even declared they were obsolete in the first episode of season 1. By season 5's "Critical Condition," she proclaimed as long as she had a vibrator, she didn't need men.
All the tough talk belied a fear of commitment, intimacy, and getting hurt. It took Steve from season 3 until season 6 to wear down Miranda's emotional walls, and she fought him the entire time.
SHE DISAPPROVED OF HER FRIENDS' BOYFRIENDS
Miranda was always quick with her pithy commentary whenever one of the girls announces they were dating someone she didn't approve of. One of the biggest offenders was Mr. Big, who Miranda felt didn't deserve Carrie after the emotional turbulence he put her through from the very first season.
While it's true that Carrie and Big dated while he was still married to his second wife Natasha, Miranda judged Carrie rather than offered constructive counsel, which made the pair have a blowout fight in season 6 over it.
SHE WAS OVERLY CRITICAL OF MEN
It's not a bad thing that Miranda had standards when it came to her partners, but her overly critical perspective on men made it almost impossible for her to date. In "What's Sex Got To Do With It," she decided she would go on a hiatus from all men entirely.
Was it because men like Doug (Jim Gaffigan as a New Yorker cartoonist) used the toilet with the door open? Apparently, that was enough to have Miranda swear off men and stuff chocolate cake into her mouth. Even after she threw it into the garbage to prevent herself from eating more, she ate it out of the trash.
SHE WAS INSENSITIVE TO HER FRIENDS
Miranda's no-nonsense frankness when it came to gabbing with her friends meant that they heard things about themselves they didn't want to. Charlotte had been on a quest for a baby since the end of season 1, when Miranda derided her attempt for motherhood at their mutual friend Laney's baby shower.
Miranda criticized Charlotte's visit to the gynecologist to see why she might be having a hard time conceiving in season 4's "The Real Me," and made jokes about her having a "depressed vagina" rather than offering her support and validation.
SHE NEVER LET ANYONE HELP HER
Miranda viewed herself as incredibly self-sufficient. She didn't like anyone taking care of her and was wary about asking for help. When she got LASIK eye surgery in season 3, Steve had to fight to take care of her, even though she had difficulties getting back to her daily routine.
This became especially difficult for Miranda when she needed help taking care of her new son Brady in season 5. She resisted Steve's and even her friends' help, even though deep down she knew that there's no way she could do everything by herself.
SHE DIDN'T ADAPT WELL TO CHANGE
As someone who found security in the routine, Miranda did not adapt to change well. Even when she was the one that wanted to break up with Steve in season 3, she didn't like that he started dating other women. She was so terrified of meeting his new girlfriend in episode 11 of season 6 that she hid under her bed.
When Carrie decided to move to Paris in episode 18, Miranda gave her a hard time about her choice to leave New York City. She doesn't want her to leave because she doesn't want to accept that her life (and the lives of her friends) is changing.