By: Kelly Kearney
Carrie White’s infamous prom night has officially gone from tragic to apocalyptic, and the series’ final chapter wastes no time turning the bloodbath into something even more terrifying. As Sue is forced to relive the night that destroyed an entire town, new questions emerge about the mysterious girls at prom, the shadow lurking behind Carrie and who may have been pulling the strings all along. With the school burning, the town collapsing and Carrie finally breaking free of everything that held her back, “A.P. Physics” leaves one very important question hanging in the air: What happens when Carrie White realizes just how powerful she really is?
There Were Others
The episode opens in an interrogation room, looping back to the series’ opening frame. Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) sits in front of a microphone, tasked with recounting the end of Chamberlain in her own words. “Nobody understands,” she mutters. “Not the press, the scientists or the state.” Two hundred dead and a town reduced to ash, but they were just kids trying to do their best. The unnamed and coldly manipulative interviewer (Kate Siegel) interrupts Sue and it’s clear she isn’t interested in the girl’s grief; she wants every bit of information she can dig up on Carrie White (Summer H. Howell).
The interviewer is controlling and a bit harsh, not entirely moved by Sue’s tears or the trauma she survived, especially when so many others didn’t. She’s intimidating as she begins badgering Sue about what she felt when she walked into the prom. Did she smell anything? Did she hear anything? Did the hairs on the back of her neck stand up? Did it smell like ozone? Each question takes Sue right back to the moment she walked through the doors and saw Carrie covered in blood.
We flashforward to the prom when the blood first fell. Carrie closes her eyes, and as Sue almost reaches the stage, she pauses like she knows something terrible is about to happen. When Carrie opens her eyes, she flicks her finger and all of the glass in people’s phones explodes. Some are stabbed in the eye, Tina’s (Josie Totah) face is slashed and people begin screaming.
That was only the beginning. Nine hundred and twenty-seven livestreams stopped instantly. The interviewer then tells Tina, who she’s also questioning. It wasn’t just the phones that exploded, all electronics, even the smart and manual watches did too. It was like time itself stopped and the local cell phone towers lost their pings. It was a total blackout.
We see Tina’s face is still bandaged, as a reminder that none of this happened that long ago. The interviewer keeps pressing her, asking if there was a change in pressure or if Carrie used her hands in any way. It’s obvious this woman is trying to determine exactly what kind of powers Carrie had, but Tina isn’t much help. She knows the facts, but she can’t remember everything as she was simply trying to survive the chaos. Her memories are fragmented, but she thinks that after her phone exploded, the catwalk fell and a fire followed. She also has faint memories of gunshots, which immediately catches the interviewer’s attention. Who was shooting a gun?
Carrie’s Rage
We see the destruction through Carrie’s eyes as she flicks her wrist and pulls down part of the scaffolding. Although Chris (Alison Thornton) and Billy (Arthur Conti) manage to escape the falling pieces, the dangling metal catwalk accidentally knocks Tommy out, cracking his head open on the stage, and blood surrounding him. As he starts to slip away, he talks about seeing the stars. It’s a tragic death of one of the only actual friends Carrie had, but that doesn’t quell her rage. Next is Principal Grayle (Matthew Lillard), who also takes a stage light to the head, and when the light cracks, it sets the stage curtains on fire.
Sue runs onto the stage to check on Tommy (Joel Oulette), but he’s dying. Carrie has a moment of clarity and can’t face what’s happened, so she lets Emaline (Thalia Dudek) take over. In the crowd, Amanda (Katee Sackhoff) reaches for her gun and tries to shoot Carrie, but two young girls (Cassandra Naud & Ruth Codd) who arrived at the end of prom use their powers to stop her. Amanda fights them, but they continue blocking her ability to pull the trigger. The interviewer’s voice cuts through Sue’s memories, telling her to pause the scene in her mind and look around for clues. Sue scans the room looking at everyone and even sees Chris staring directly at her as she runs away. That’s when she mentions a shadow behind Carrie. When the interviewer asks what the shadow does, we watch it explode, sending a ripple across the gymnasium that throws everyone backward. Rocks begin raining down inside the room, people catch fire and a live wire falls onto the stage, catching Principal Grayle–already bleeding and dazed, by the foot. It electrocutes him and the current attaches to the man and doesn’t let him go. It is a brutal death for the man who tried to keep the peace in an impossible war between parents, students, and the harmful effects of online bullying. He could’ve done more to help Carrie, but he didn’t deserve this torturous and lengthy end.
Chris and Billy manage to make it to the doors, but they’re locked. That’s when Carrie spots them. She literally floats toward them while Sue watches the whole thing unfold, still holding Tommy in her arms. To keep Chris from escaping, Carrie crushes the door handles, sealing the only exits and trapping everyone at the prom inside. Emaline has officially taken over, and anyone who crosses Carrie’s path is thrown into the air. Amanda takes her chance and runs at the teen with her gun, but Rita (Amber Midthunder) jumps in the way. Carrie doesn’t even give her a chance to be the hero, she throws the kind teacher clean across the gymnasium and through the fire curtains onto the stage. While Carrie is distracted, the exit doors open and Chris, Billy and the other students manage to escape. Carrie follows them, determined and stalking them like prey.
The students left behind in the gymnasium are quickly electrocuted, when the sprinkler system mixes with the live wires. The only kids who escape are the three girls with similar abilities, because they know what’s coming. Everyone else in the auditorium is zapped. Everyone except Sue, who survives to watch the apocalyptic scene unfold.
Vengeance for Pain
We follow along as Carrie stands motionless outside the auditorium before she turns and stalks after the students who escaped. Inside, Sue doesn’t move as she watches the two girls grab another student and carry her out of the room and pass by all the dead students. She reminds the interviewer that everyone asks about Carrie, but nobody asks about those three. Who were they, and why were they there? Everyone blames Carrie, but it wasn’t just her. She wasn’t the only one.
That’s when the interviewer’s demeanor changes. She tells Sue that she isn’t sure there was anyone else, but there were. Sue was there, she remembers, or does she? As she strains to think, the interviewer stares her down, controlling her thoughts, in an attempt to wipe her mind clean of those “others.” It raises an even bigger question: Who is she, and who is she protecting? What is her agenda and why is she solely focused on Carrie’s abilities and not the death and destruction she caused?
At home, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) hears something and steps outside, where she sees lights and a commotion in the distance. She gasps, knowing it must have something to do with Carrie and the prom. Meanwhile, Billy and Chris manage to get away in his car, freaking out as they try to make sense of what just happened. Chris immediately blames Carrie, saying it was all her fault, while also blaming the students and insisting they brought it on themselves. Way to blame the victims, Christine. She will never admit her guilt in all of this. That’s when Billy sees Carrie in the rearview mirror, coming straight for them. He hits the gas and spins the car around, ready to run that freak down, aiming straight for her, but at the last second, Chris yanks the steering wheel away. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway because Carrie launches their car into the air, flipping it over and over before it crashes into a field.
They’re alive, barely, but that doesn’t last long. Trapped and terribly injured, Billy starts screaming, and Carrie can’t listen to it one second longer. With her mind, she crushes the driver’s side of the car, killing Billy instantly. Chris is terrified and trapped, and when she looks over at Carrie, she starts to apologize, but it is too late. Carrie responds with a flick of her wrist, crushing her into nothing. The car is flattened like a pancake, and once Carrie sees what she’s done, the spell breaks. She drops to her knees and starts crying, but Emaline tells her to get up. Instead of allowing her to wallow in what she’s done, Emmeline invites her to dance. That spark in Carrie is ignited by Emaline, who praises and cheers for her revenge. She never allows Carrie to feel responsible, and blames everyone else for their deaths.
Meanwhile, the entire school is on fire, as are the neighboring buildings. Everyone inside, except for Sue, is dead. Carrie and Emaline dance and skip through the streets, smiling as every inch they touch burns behind them, creating a wall of flames in their wake. Everyone who manages to escape the school, as well as the townsfolk in their homes, are running and screaming while Carrie and Emaline dance through the destruction as though they’re the only two people left in the world. Then a gunshot rings out, and Emaline turns to dust. The chaos quiets for a moment as Carrie turns toward the burning town calling out for her friend. Then she takes off running, the ground opening up behind her and swallowing the earth with every step.
A Mother’s Love
Eventually, Stella (Naïka Toussaint) finds Carrie in the street and tells her that the whole town is evacuating and she needs to get out of there. Carrie keeps walking toward her house, crying, and simply tells Stella, “Thanks for the books” like a final goodbye for the girl facing her fate.
When she arrives home, her mother is sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. The sound of sirens overwhelms everything as Margaret embraces her blood-soaked daughter, who is shaking in her arms. We then see her bathing Carrie, singing her a lullaby and soothing her as the town outside their home burns. “They’re all dead.” Carrie cries out. “Everyone at the school, maybe even more.” Margaret shushes her daughter and tells her that she used to bathe her even when she was a baby, remembering her as innocent as she washes the blood of her daughter’s truth away with a broken smile.
The lights go out, and the whole town has descended into chaos and destruction. Margaret lights a match and escorts Carrie downstairs, telling her in the kindest voice possible that they can pray together. Carrie goes into the closet to light a candle while her mother puts the lantern down on the kitchen table beside all of her knitting supplies. She palms a knitting needle and approaches the closet, sneaking up behind Carrie as she reminisces about what a pure little girl she was. “You were as bright as new snow,” she says. When Carrie asks if she can be forgiven for what she’s done, her mother promises that God can forgive her. If God can’t, she forgives her for all of it. Then she asks Carrie if she can forgive her for all of it, too. Of course, Mama,” Carrie says, and Margaret motions for her to start praying.
While Carrie is facing the makeshift altar set up in that closet, Margaret is standing behind her, gaining the courage to do what she must. She pulls the knitting needle from behind her back and drives it into her daughter’s head, but it doesn’t get very far. As soon as it penetrates, Carrie throws her mother across the kitchen, and magically picks up a pair of scissors stabbing Margaret in the back. Her mother pulls the scissors out, grabs a knife and tries to stab Carrie, but Carrie makes one final hand motion and brings the roof down, in an attempt to kill them both. She manages to survive, crawling out of the rubble, and then hears what sounds like creaking. When she looks over, part of the roof is floating above Margaret, who is desperately holding it up. It seems her mother has abilities too, but they don’t match the power of Carrie’s. She can’t hold the roof for long, and she looks at her daughter desperately before it falls on top of her.
Inheritance
Carrie lies on the wreckage, looking up at the stars as smoke fills the sky. Then she looks to the right and sees her father (Tahmoh Penikett) and herself lying in a field, both of them smiling. She looks up again and sees Emaline above her, motioning her to get up. Carrie begs Emaline to let her die, but she reaches down, grabs her and when their hands touch, Carrie looks shocked. “I told you I was real” and Carrie barely has a second to process this when the young woman pulls her out of the wreckage. But from beneath that section of roof, we see that Margaret isn’t actually dead. She’s alive, trapped underneath the rubble, and watching the entire interaction between her daughter and this mystery girl unfold. She can see Emaline–unlike the kids in school, and it speaks to those powers she just discovered she possesses. As for Emaline, she helps Carrie but is struggling a little because she was actually shot, which is what made her shadow disappear. It’s the shadow that Sue saw and a clue that the destruction wasn’t entirely Carrie’s fault.
We cut to the present and an injured Margaret is sitting in front of the interviewer, staring at a picture of Emaline. The woman asks if she’s ever seen her before, but Margaret hasn’t. She demands that the interviewer tell her who this girl is, but Margaret is not in control here and the woman refuses. She won’t even tell her if Carrie is safe. That’s how Margaret knows this woman is not a mother. Anyone who was a mother would understand to never allow another mother to believe their child was unsafe. The interviewer also makes it clear that the second she figures out who this girl is, she’ll make her part of a special project. What that project is, is unclear as this chapter of the series has no source material. The book ends with the destruction, and never explores Carrie’s powers or introduces others who might share them. This is a new world for Stephen King fans, and it expands in a way that could encompass the entire King universe. If there are more people like Carrie, does that include his little “Firestarter”?” What about the town of Derry? The Overlook Hotel? The options are endless.
Back to the interview and she finally tells Margaret the girl’s name in the photo is Emily West. Not only is she dangerous, but she’s an AP. When Margaret asks what that is, the interviewer explains that she’s an astral projector. Margaret probably read about them before she met with Amanda at the diner. Realizing this woman is not going to help her find her daughter, Margaret tries to leave, but the woman’s voice echoes through the room, telling her to sit down. She questions Margaret’s own abilities and the floating roof is mentioned. The interviewer asks if Margaret had ever done anything like that before, and she finally admits that Carrie might have inherited her powers.
We flashback to a young Margaret (Theo Flanagan) kneeling beside her bed for her nighttime prayers. With her mind, the young child was able to move the crucifix on her bedroom wall, assuming it was a miracle or God making itself known to the most faithful.
The interviewer calls it T.K., telekinesis. Typically, it skips a generation as the gene is extremely recessive. Margaret could have gone her entire life without ever knowing she had these abilities, but in moments of incredible stress, they tend to present themselves, like the woman who lifted the car to save her son. Once you find that inner strength– that special ability, you can find it again.
The interviewer asks Margaret if she thinks she could find it again and tells her to tell the truth. Margaret pauses before saying no. The interviewer chalks it up to everyone having a little bit of “shine.” Margaret only wanted to do right by her daughter, but the interviewer tells her to let that guilt go because she could never have given Carrie what she needed. But the interviewer can give Margaret what she needs. As her voice lowers to a slow whisper, she starts slowing Margaret’s heart and asks her to listen to the beats. “Slower,” she keeps muttering, “I always wanted the darkness.” As Margaret prays, the woman stops her heart.
A New Beginning
The other girls from the prom walk in, and Caitlyn (Delainey Hayles)–the one who alerted them all to Carrie’s powers, is surprised that she killed Carrie’s mother. She tells the other two to take Mrs. White to a hotel and leave her in bed. Considering her injuries, no one would suspect that she didn’t die from them.
Finally, we catch up with Carrie in the front seat of the car with Emily driving. Nobody knows where they are, but they’re searching for them. Carrie demands that Emily tell her where they’re going, and at first, she hesitates because the people tracking them will find her. Carrie won’t drop it so Emaline finally comes clean. She says they are heading to a place where they can be safe. Carrie is a god and she’s honored to be her chauffeur. The world is now hers, and she can go wherever she wants. She shouldn’t feel guilty about what she left behind because she broke those shackles. She is now a fully actualized being, and nothing can stop her.
Carrie smiles as the road grows long ahead, stretching toward whatever comes next. Nothing but a future in the distance, and freedom from the captivity of Ralph, Margaret, and normalcy, is left burning in the rearview window.