Sex and the City Essentials: Lust is one of a set of themed "best of" episodes from the acclaimed HBO series, Sex and the City. It's clearly not aimed at the existing, devoted fan base, who will already have bought the full-season sets. Instead, I see the Essentials DVDs as a way to reach out to viewers who haven't seen the series, or haven't seen enough of it to warrant springing for a full season set.

Lust contains three episodes, for a total of 90 minutes of content. Oddly, the episodes are out of sequence, and there's no indication of what season any of the episodes are from. That's information that I think is important, as I'd rather watch the episodes in the order that they were originally shown in, even if I'm only seeing a few from each season. I'll discuss them here in their real order:

The Turtle and the Hare: Season 1, Episode 9. This is a truly great episode, with a lot of energy. Miranda introduces the group to "the Rabbit," the ultimate vibrator, and Charlotte ends up getting addicted to it. Meanwhile, Carrie is dealing with Mr. Big's reluctance to marry again at the same time that her friend Stanford suggests they get married as a "cover." Yep, all that in one snappy episode!

The Fuck Buddy: Season 2, Episode 14. Yes, that's the real title, though the DVD cover chastely censors it to "F**k Buddy," as if we didn't know what the asterisks stand for. The friends all agree that it's a great thing to have a sexy ex-boyfriend on call for restless evenings, no strings attached. Carrie's feeling lonely after a Mr. Big rebound, though, and she decides to take on a project: turn her fuck buddy into a genuine boyfriend. Meanwhile, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha all decide to break out of their usual habits a little bit... with varying results. This is another energetic and highly entertaining episode.

Running with Scissors: Season 3, Episode 11. This episode is the weak link in an otherwise very lively collection. Here, Carrie agonizes over doing the wrong thing in her affair with a now-remarried Mr. Big, while preparations for Charlotte's wedding proceed. This episode is much slower paced, with a more soap-opera feel and a lack of the energy that characterizes the two other episodes on the disc.

The DVD

The packaging is straightforward: three episodes, one disc in a plastic keepcase, and a nicely simple menu. The episode selection screen provides a text summary of the episode that arguably contains spoilers, but it's easy to avoid looking at it. One thing that's annoying is that there's no way to skip the opening credits sequence; each episode is a single giant chapter.

Video

The three Sex and the City episodes included on the Lust DVD are presented in the show's original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The image quality is satisfactory; at times it's a little soft, but overall it has a bright, clean appearance that's free of flaws.

Audio

Two soundtrack options are provided: Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 2.0. There's not a lot of difference between the two, as this is a mainly dialogue-centered show. Overall, the sound quality is quite good, with dialogue always crisp and clean. A Spanish Dolby 2.0 track is also included, along with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Extras

There are no special features here.

Final thoughts

Taken as a whole, the Lust collection is a very effective invitation to viewers to enjoy the first two seasons of Sex and the City. Arguably, some fans who aren't interested in owning full season sets may also see Lust, and the other the Essentials DVDs, as a way to have some favorite episodes on hand. I don't think this would really satisfy those viewers, though, mainly because the number of episodes included is so small. Where Lust wins is as a low-cost way to sample the series. Recommended.