By: Kelly Kearney
Carrie’s powers are getting stronger, Margaret is officially at war with Chris Hargensen and the battle between them is about to drag the entire school into the crossfire. As Carrie starts embracing the anger she’s been taught to suppress, her newfound confidence comes with a dangerous side effect: she’s beginning to enjoy what she can do. Meanwhile, Sue is forced to decide where her loyalty really lies, and Margaret’s revenge campaign takes a very public turn. But just when Carrie thinks she may have finally found someone who understands her, the episode delivers a revelation that could change everything she thought she knew about herself.
Every Gift Comes With a Price
We begin with the song, “I Know Anger and Anger Knows Me,” as the narration told by the interviewer tells the story of women throughout history who were born with special gifts that were categorized as either miracles or witchcraft. Joan of Arc had visions of greatness that she believed came from God. Those visions made her famous, and with them she eventually led an army into war. But like most women with power, the same people who believed in her and her connection to God eventually turned on her and watched her burn at the stake.
Miracles and witchcraft. Joan was accused of both. Men praised her when they found her skills convenient, and then condemned her when they didn’t. Fear, betrayal, and finally, oblivion, her story is the same for many, and it might even be a prophecy Carrie (Summer H. Howell) can count on. How many women have suffered the same fate as Joan? How many have experienced the same blessings and horrors as Carrie? As photos of women from different cultures and time periods flash across the screen, the narrator puts it simply: “Every gift comes with a price, and sometimes that’s all you ever have.”
The next morning, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) shows up at the school to talk to Principal Grayle (Matthew Lillard) with one piece of information: Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton) is Carrie Redd. Now she is demanding Chris be expelled, not just for terrorizing Carrie but for terrorizing the entire school. Unfortunately, it’s Margaret’s word against Chris’s, and there are plenty of other accusations flying around, making it difficult to determine who is actually behind the account. Grayle can’t simply expel Chris based on their word they need proof or an admission, and so far, they have neither.
Margaret mentions Sue (Siena Agudong) and Tina (Josie Totah), but if neither is willing to come forward and turn on Chris, there’s nothing the principal can do. His hands are tied. That’s when Margaret promises that she has a plan, and make no mistake, she is ready to go to war. When she leaves Grayle’s office, we see Carrie sitting outside waiting for her. She tells her daughter that lies travel fast, but the truth grows roots, and to keep her head held high. The principal was useless but now they’ll move on to phase two of their plan to deal with Chris Hargensen.
As Margaret walks out of the office, she starts telling everyone in the hallway that Chris Hargensen is Carrie Redd. She, even unbeknownst to her, tells Chris. Of course, Chris acts like she has no idea what she’s talking about, while Tina can’t believe she just got doxxed by someone’s mom.
Margaret Backs The Hargensens Into a Corner
In class, Chris tries to defend herself as everyone stares at her. She says she only tried to be friends with Carrie, and this is how she’s repaid. That doesn’t stop the other students from questioning whether she’s actually the person behind all the offensive memes. She still denies it, pointing out that there are memes of her on the account, too. Why would she do that to herself? Sue rolls her eyes and throws some heavy shade at Chris with “Yeah, she would have to be a psychopath.” That’s when Tina loudly tells Chris she should get her lawyer father involved, clearly thinking that will scare off anyone pointing fingers at them.
It does. John Hargensen (Michael Trucco) arrives at the principal’s office ready to throw around his legal weight. He calls the attacks on his daughter a witch hunt and says she will not be questioned by anyone or else the school can expect a trial. He’s a lawyer, a respected one in town, and he’s going to make sure his daughter isn’t blamed for any of this. He keeps throwing legal precedent at Principal Grayle, who just wants to see Chris’s phone to prove whether she is or isn’t Carrie Redd. John refuses, and says the entire case is hearsay. If anyone violates his daughter’s rights, he will sue, and considering his background and status in the town, he’ll probably win.
Grayle gives them both an out, offering a way for Chris to fix this before the consequences become inevitable and completely beyond his control. John interrupts and says if the school administration has any more questions, they can talk to him. And with that ultimatum, the meeting is over.
When Chris and her father walk into the hallway, she’s ecstatic that he took her side and immediately starts rambling about who they’re going to sue next. Maybe Margaret? Her father quickly turns on her and all the protectiveness in the office is gone. He doesn’t appreciate being called down to the school when he has so many other things going on in his life. He orders her to delete whatever is on her phone if she had anything to do with this and tells her to grow up. And, once again, Chris feels dejected. Much like Carrie, whenever she gets in her feelings, somebody pays the price, and it’s never her.
Later that day during soccer practice, Sue struggles to keep up, and Miss Desjardin (Amber Midthunder) notices. She has a lot on her mind, and it is affecting her game on the field.
Meanwhile, outside Carrie’s house, Emaline (Thalia Dudek) visits, but Carrie tells her she can’t come inside because Margaret’s rule is that nobody is allowed past their front door. She believes that somehow, her mother will know, because even when she’s at work, she always seems to know what’s happening inside that house. So far, Carrie has yet to discover why.
Emaline wonders if that’s Margaret’s power, too. Maybe they both have powers. Carrie reminds her that they promised not to talk about that, but Emaline wants Carrie to be the best she can be and celebrate what makes her unique. The conversation segues into how they’re going to make Chris pay for what she did at the construction site, and the creation of the meme account. That’s when Carrie admits that she and her mother are working on something, and Emaline leans in to hear more. Carrie doesn’t elaborate but Emaline does. She says whatever God or higher power she believes in, must know why Carrie has this power. Now that Carrie is at war, she should use her best weapon against those trying to destroy her. Emaline offers to help, but that’s when Margaret arrives, forcing Carrie to send her secret friend away. The rebellious teen is not exactly good with parents.Before she leaves, though, Emaline gives Carrie one final piece of advice: “Remember. You are your own greatest weapon.”
Once inside the kitchen, Margaret reveals her plan to give Chris and Tina a taste of their own medicine. There is equipment spread across the table that looks suspiciously like recording devices, but the setup also prompts them to talk about Ralph. Margaret admits that he was right about a lot of things, and because Carrie is his daughter, she probably inherited that righteousness. That’s why Margaret says she and Carrie are going to pick up her father’s remains. She grabs Ralph’s jacket from the chair and folds it as the two hug. It’s probably the only moment in the series so far where there’s true warmth between mother and daughter. It also offers some insight into just how much control Ralph had over Margaret. She makes a comment about how attractive her husband was before Carrie was born. OUCH! He was a different person then too, something changed and caused him to fear the world. And in that fear, Margaret fell in line behind him while Carrie was locked in a prayer closet, and only found freedom after his death.
Carrie Finds Her Power
The next day at school, Carrie sits at the lunch table with Emaline while staring at Chris and Tina. Emaline can pick up on her anger and says she has no idea how Carrie controls herself. If she were in her shoes, she’d be floating grapes into the air and feeding herself like some kind of magical empress. She’d certainly use her powers against the two people who have wreaked havoc on her and pretty much everyone else in the school. It’s obvious she’s trying to influence Carrie into using her powers, but why? Who is Emaline, and what is her agenda? Why does she always seem to appear when Carrie is choosing between letting her anger go and embracing it?
Carrie brings up everything she’s read in her research and how women with powers like hers throughout history would have wound up burned at the stake or drowned in a river with a rock tied to their backs. Laying low will keep her alive. But Emaline points out the obvious, that was then, and this is now, in Chamberlain, Maine, dodging threats from bullies who seek to destroy her. Emaline compares Carrie to a Jedi surrounded by Stormtroopers, and the naive girl probably doesn’t even understand the reference, but honestly, it’s pretty accurate.
After Emaline continues to push her, Carrie decides to pull a little payback prank. She watches Tina putting on her eye makeup in the lunchroom, and then makes the eyeliner pencil slip and draw a giant black streak across her face.
Emaline laughs encouragingly, and then she points out Sue, who’s talking with Tommy (Joel Oulette). Feeling like her only real friend is also against her, Carrie dumps a drink into Sue’s lap. With every little mind prank, Carrie smiles a little wider and so does Emaline. But when her new friend tries to get her to do something to Tommy, Carrie pauses. He wasn’t even there that night at the construction site, and besides, he has always been kind to her.
Sue looks over at Chris and spots her taking a photo of her wiping the drink off her pants. She realizes what she is doing and runs at her, calling her Carrie Redd. She can’t believe the page is still up, and Chris is still making content that apparently could now include her. Chris plays dumb, saying she can’t take down something she’s not responsible for, but Sue knows she’s lying. She tries to reason with her, pointing out how Chris can still take the site down before anyone else gets hurt. That’s when Chris walks over to apologize to Carrie, except she doesn’t, and instead, leans down and insults Margaret, saying that if she were married to a woman like her mother, she’d throw herself into a trench and kill herself, too.
Chris walks away, proud of herself, until Carrie, fueled by rage, breaks her nose with her mind. Blood goes everywhere, and as Carrie walks out of the cafeteria, she turns back toward a bleeding Chris and tells her to, “Toughen up.” Emaline runs to leave with her, impressed and maybe a little nervous about what this gift can actually do. She follows directly into her house and tells her she doesn’t know why she’s so upset. Carrie didn’t lose control, she took control. Then she forces Carrie to admit that it felt great breaking Chris’s nose. “Do not feel guilty for finding your power. You are amazing.”
With Margaret gone for a while, the two take off to an abandoned gas station lot where Carrie practices her telekinesis by breaking bottles with her mind. Each bottle represents another kid who bullied her. One by one, the glass pops and explodes. After Carrie masters breaking bottles with her mind, Emaline decides it’s time to up the ante. She has her lifting objects into the sky, juggling them with her mind. Large rusted tanks and heavy equipment circle above them, as Carrie’s eyes are brighter and more focused than we’ve seen them yet. With her new friend’s help, she is quickly learning how to harness her powers.
Chris Gets Her Own Taste of Chaos
Back at Chris’s house, she’s catching stray insults from Brooklyn (Rowan Danielle) about her smashed face while listening to Tina talk about how her nose broke. It is a mystery, but something in Chris says it is all Carrie’s fault–even if the school nurse said it was caused by holding her bloody nose too tightly. Tina can tell Chris is in a mood, so she grabs her phone and pulls up Carrie White, ready to add some new content to put a smile on her face. Chris thinks it’s a bad idea, the account is too hot right now and people are watching and waiting for someone to blame. Then Tina shows her the secret photo she took of Sue at the gas station buying a pregnancy test.The photo could be devastating for the class president and her best friend. Chris thinks about it, then changes the plan. Brooklyn is next to land on the meme account. She starts a rumor that Brooklyn is having sex with Mr. Peist (Rahul Kohli) for good grades.
At the same time, Rita and Peter Morton (Tim Bagley) are at the local bar, talking about Carrie Redd. He laughs off the offensive digs about his sexuality, like he’s been there before and he isn’t going to let it get to him, but Rita is becoming more upset by the day. Shel wonders when and how this is going to stop. He agrees, he gets thirty kids in his office a day, and he’s sending half of them to the suicide hotline. They can’t count on their principal, who seems to be buckling under pressure from the parents, especially the power and perceived wealth of John Hargensen. Rita questions if there’s some kind of grassroots movement they can form among the teachers that could put a stop to all of this. As Peter downs his cocktail for inspiration, the two start brainstorming. That’s when Seth–who is at the bar talking to the bartender is heard losing his temper. He and the bartender almost get into a fight, as Rita and Peter rush over to find out what’s going on. The bartender says he’s not going to serve a pedophile. Seth turns on him and asks why he’s even on a high school kids’ page in the first place and Rita starts to realize he is talking about Carrie Redd. The two go back and forth until Peter breaks it up and drags Seth out of the bar before the police get called.
Margaret Goes Public
It’s dark now, and back at the abandoned gas station, Carrie is bending metal pipes into knots when Emaline says she wants to really see something, Carrie uses every bit of her energy to set a car on fire and both of them are pretty amazed. Then they take off running because someone’s definitely going to see those flames.
When Margaret comes home, her daughter is back from her magic games and has made dinner. She’s all smiles and tells her mother she has had the first good day in a long time. Then, after dinner, Margaret begins phase two of her plan. She plugs in a cell phone, creates an Instagram account called Margaret Redd and posts her first video accusing Chris Hargensen of being Carrie Redd. She includes legal precedent that gives the Whites power over the Hargensens, while also accusing the administration and the students of knowing who’s behind the account. Then she tags everyone in the school, and almost instantly the follower numbers climb. Everyone sees it and Chris is mortified.
Meanwhile, Tommy waits outside Sue’s house to pick her up for school, but she never shows up. She’s been noticeably distant and he isn’t sure why. When he goes to school to find her, she says she’s been running and completely forgot he was supposed to pick her up. He tells her she’s been different for weeks, ever since their night together. Tommy has no idea that she’s been worried she was pregnant or what’s happening with Chris and Carrie, but he certainly knows now. He saw Margaret’s video, just like everyone else in the school. She isn’t the only one that has things going on in her life, his dad is injured and he is working two jobs to make ends meet. He is struggling just like she is but Sue never bothers to ask if he is okay. Then he tells her that Margaret outed Chris as Carrie Redd, and she is instantly upset. She has time to care about that, just not him, he guesses, and storms off leaving her confused.
As Carrie walks through the cafeteria with Emaline, she hears her mother’s voice echoing from every cellphone in the room. Everyone in the whole school is watching Margaret’s video. They now know who’s behind the meme account that’s been harassing and bullying so many of them, and their anger now has a target.
Meanwhile, Billy’s (Arthur Conti) car is parked outside Carrie’s house waiting for a text from Tina to tell them Carrie made it to school and the coast is clear. They pick the lock on the front door and tell themselves they’re not going to take anything, they’re just going to move things around and freak the family out. Chris opens the refrigerator and spits into the food, and says she is planning on putting bodily fluids on a few things around the house like toothbrushes and pillows. Anything that might make Carrie and Margaret feel like they’re not safe in their own home.
While turning around a few pictures on the mantle, Billy spots the camera Margaret set up to spy on Carrie. He pulls out the SD card and tells Chris the device isn’t very modern. Chris jokes that she isn’t surprised, they’re basically Mennonites. If there is one camera, there are more and Billy doubts they are storing any content on the cloud. As long as they don’t leave any cameras behind, their little break-in is probably safe. As for the rest of the house, though, who knows how many cameras Margaret has set up, so he sweeps the first floor for any others while Chris knocks over a picture of Ralph White and breaks it on the floor.
Back at his apartment, Billy goes through weeks of video footage and starts clearing the SD card. As he watches, he picks up on one moment when Carrie walks into the room and appears to be talking to someone. We can’t see anyone else in the video but the scene sounds familiar. Chris takes one look and gets excited and calls Carrie a freak. This video could ruin her, and she is ecstatic over it. She tells Billy to make a copy and send it to her so she can post it to Carrie Redd.
While they’re plotting their next move against the Whites, Carrie and her mother are picking up Ralph’s remains from the funeral home. When they get home, they find the broken picture and know someone has been inside the house. Carrie says they should call the police, but Margaret says they’re not inviting any more police into their home after what happened last time. Margaret knows whoever did this is trying to scare them into silence and Carrie has a good idea who it is–they both do.
That’s when Margaret spots the missing security camera on the mantle. The camera that Carrie still doesn’t know about, but she will.
A War of Their Own
At school, Principal Grayle holds a school board meeting with faculty, students and parents about the prom and whether or not it should still go on as planned. With all the fighting and chaos in the hallways, he is leaving the choice up to a vote. When he asks if anyone has any questions, nobody raises a hand until Margaret stands up wanting to say her piece.
She walks to the front of the gymnasium and lets everyone know she’s recording, which she’s within her rights to do according to the Board of Education. Then she turns the camera on the principal and staff before focusing it on herself, and the livestream begins.
Margaret apologizes for making the meeting run long, but she has something very important to tell everyone.She brings up the social media account that isn’t just tormenting their children and staff, but soliciting photos of minors without their consent. Some of those photos could stay on the internet forever. She admits to her followers she has already gone to the administration, and they’ve offered her no help.So now she’s asking the parents of the students on the account to help her find justice. She makes sure to give them the exact handle for the account, and parents in the audience immediately start looking it up. She explains that the account was initially created to torment her daughter, but it has spread to all of their children and it is doing real harm. She asks parents to raise their hands if their children have told them about the account, and many raise their hands admitting Carrie Redd followed their kids home too. Principal Grayle starts getting nervous because she has the anger and the means to cause a parental revolt. He is trapped between these kids and their parents, with very little power to do much without proof of who’s behind the account. Not that the truth will stop Maragret. He tries to take control of the meeting, but Margaret continues telling everyone that the account was created by Chris Hargensen. The principal hangs his head in shame, and the room gasps. Putting the wealthiest man in town on blast is surely going to blow back on the administration and the school, with lawsuits and everything else John Hargensen can throw at them. But it’s the parents of the traumatized kids that Principal Grayle should worry about.There are a lot of them, and Margaret is tapping into their rage, manipulating it for vengeance in the name of her daughter. Grayle interrupts to try to get her to make a private appointment with him in his office, saying this isn’t the time to discuss the situation in front of everyone and on camera. That’s when Mr. Peist steps up, moody and looking disheveled and admits they should talk about it now. It’s not just the kids being dragged through the mud by this meme account, faculty members like himself are being targeted, too. It’s causing ripples throughout the community, and the fights between the students are becoming more common. School violence is at an all-time high. He can’t keep pretending this is some stupid issue that’s going to blow over, it needs to be dealt with.
Finally, Margaret feels validated and thanks Seth and turns back to the parents.The administration won’t help them, but there’s strength in numbers.If all of them are willing to fight to protect their children, they can make sure something gets done. Her speech is empowering, and the parents seem to support Maragret as the applause grows. Sue looks torn between what Margaret just said and her loyalty to her best friend, Chris. She knows this is getting out of hand and she can do something to stop it
So, she goes to Chris’s house, where Brooklyn answers the door crying and talking to someone on the phone, declaring her love for them. Sue heads upstairs to Chris’ room where she fills her in on the meeting and everything that happened. She is still trying to find the good in Chris, someone she thought she knew for most of her life. But this version of Chris– this broken, angry and lashing-out version, is tough for her to reconcile with the girl she thought she knew. She begs Chris to put an end to the account once and for all. She tells her that Margaret had the support of all the parents when she called for Chris’s expulsion.This is their senior year, they don’t get to do it again and they promised to make lasting memories together, but not like this. She really wants Chris to make this right, but Chris calls her out claiming she doesn’t really care. While she has been spending all her time with her boyfriend and Carrie, Chris’s life has been imploding. If she cared, she would have been around.
Chris has no idea that Sue’s life has also been slightly imploding too. She got into her dream school, but she spent the last few weeks thinking she was pregnant. Now she’s fighting with Tommy, so nothing is perfect in her life either. But when Chris is having a hard time, she seems to believe she’s all that matters, and she certainly makes her hard time everybody else’s hard time, too. Chris finally unleashes the truth on Sue and admits Carrie Redd is her outlet for getting back at everyone at that school she thinks are losers. The ones who stole scholarships and opportunities she will never have now that her parents are divorcing and her father is broke. Her dreams are out of reach now, but this account? People love it.They send her all sorts of things, true things, things nobody can face amd in her mind she thinks it’s helping more than it is hurting. She tells Sue she’s never going to take it down because she has freedom of speech. Sue listens with a horrified look on her face. It’s almost like she never knew her best friend, and whoever this version of Chris is, Sue does not like her.
The next day, Sue sits in class, staring at Carrie in the corner while Chris holds court with Tina and their friends. She makes a decision right then to do the right thing. We find out she secretly recorded everything Chris said at her house, including her admission that she was behind Carrie Redd, why she did it, and how she refuses to take it down. She takes the recording to Mr. Morton, who advises her to take it to the principal, and says they can do it together.
He asks if she’s sure she’s ready to do this, but Sue has grown up a lot in the last few weeks, and she’s ready to face the truth..
The Truth About Emaline
As Sue heads to his office, we see Carrie talking to Emaline.She walks past Tina and hears her talking about Carrie, calling her crazy. Tina is watching a video, the one Billy and Chris took from inside Carrie’s house. When Tina shows it to Carrie, the walls start to close in around her. The video is from when Emaline came inside the house, except there’s nobody else in the room with her! It’s just Carrie talking to herself. It can’t be, she was just talking to…and she looks beside her, where Emaline had been walking and the girl is nowhere to be found. It’s like she’s vanished or a figment of Carrie’s imagination.
Everyone in the hallway is watching her and laughing. Tina calls her crazy, so, of course, no one can believe Carrie’s accusations against Chris. What Carrie doesn’t know is that Sue has already handed over the evidence proving Chris admitted everything, but the damage with that video is done. All the kids at school now have new content to make fun of her over, and on top of that, she is left questioning her own sanity. Did she create Emaline in her head? Is she losing her mind? As Carrie flashes through all of the encounters she’s had with the girl, each one seemed designed to encourage her to embrace her special gifts. Perhaps she really did create Emaline as a source of comfort. Perhaps she never existed at all.