By: Kelly Kearney
Carrie is finally getting the normal high school experience she’s been dreaming about, but in Chamberlain, happiness never comes without a price. As prom approaches, Carrie finds an unexpected friend in Tommy, while Chris Hargensen plots a bloody revenge and Margaret discovers there may be an entire world of girls with abilities like her daughter’s.
The Others
The narrator opens with a lesson about history and how women have always been born with certain powers, and where they found support, usually started at home. We meet Amanda (Katee Sackhoff), a woman who gave birth to a daughter who was born with special powers. As those abilities grew stronger, so did Amanda’s fear of her child. When Amanda is woken in the middle of the night by her little girl saying she can’t wake up, her mother gets out of bed to check on her, but the little girl disappears. Then Amanda sees her outside saying the same thing, but when she goes to embrace her, she disappears again. Freaked out, Amanda looks back at the house and sees the little girl standing in her bedroom. She runs upstairs and hugs her tightly, desperate to make sure she’s okay, but then she hears the voice again and the girl is standing in the corner of the room. The girl she’s holding is her daughter and so is the one standing across the room. When the real girl finally wakes up, the fear is written all over her mother’s face.
Like many other women who have given birth to children, daughters in particular, with special powers, Amanda has had to reconcile with how she could love something so much and be so terrified of it at the same time. How do you protect yourself from your child, and better yet, how do you protect your child from herself? It’s a complicated puzzle and Amanda searches for answers.
Back to Chamberlain where the media is still covering the riots as well as updates on the two families fighting for justice. It is reported that John was arrested for embezzlement, and Margaret White, who gained a nationwide following, has gone silent. The school is facing multiple lawsuits, and Mr. Morton, who oversaw the mediation, has resigned.
A Mother’s Fear
Things have also changed inside Carrie’s house. When the social worker (Crystal Balint) comes to pay them a visit, Carrie (Summer H. Howell) seems quite happy and adjusting to life after Carrie Redd. Her mother sits silently in the room and allows Carrie to speak for herself, but when her daughter hands her a cup of tea, it’s noticeable that Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) is nervous.The woman who spent years controlling her daughter has now lost all control of Carrie and of herself. Outside of treating her mother like a prisoner, life is back to normal. She is doing well in school and Margaret is even back on the register at work. Her mother smiles and says all the right things, but there’s a fear and desperation in her eyes that makes it seem like she almost hopes the social worker can see through her. As soon as the social worker gets what she needs, Carrie closes the door and gets ready for school. Right in front of her mother, she uses her mind to fill her book bag and get her coat. She has fully embraced her abilities and she’s not allowing her mother to stop her.
At school, the rumor mill is still going thanks to Tina (Josie Totah), who has taken over as the popular girl now that Chris (Alison Thornton) is gone. She tells everyone that Chris is living in a trailer with her deadbeat boyfriend.
We catch up with the outcast visiting her father in jail. Their lives have taken a major turn downward and she asks him if he’s guilty. He shrugs her off calling it all a misunderstanding, and then asks her for a few hundred dollars for his commissary account. He has some excuse for why he’s short on funds, but everything he says is proof to what Margaret mentioned before: Chris is just like her father–full of excuses and lies and now she’s seeing that firsthand.
Prom Problems and Plots of Murder
Meanwhile, at school, Tina is holding court with all of Chris’s old friends. Tommy (Joel Oulette) sits down to talk to Carrie, who has now become good friends with Sue (Siena Agudong). He wants to know if she’s okay, and Carrie says she is.The first day back is tough, but she is managing it with a newfound confidence Tina clocks from across the room. She interrupts the friends for a promposal accompanied by a little dance for Tommy. If he agrees to go with her, they could be the king and queen, and she desperately wants that crown. Sue looks over with uncomfortable interest as Tommy turns Tina down; he isn’t going to prom even if they have one, which is still up for debate. Principal Grayle (Matthew Lillard) hasn’t decided if he is willing to risk such a large gathering of students who are still recovering from the walkout. There will be an assembly about it before anything is official.
Next, we catch up with Margaret, who must be on a break from work when she meets up with Amanda, the mother of the girl from the opening moments. She found the woman online and now she needs her help. She explains everything, including how Carrie has been flaunting her powers. She swears, sometimes she can feel her daughter’s imaginary hand around her throat and Amanda totally understands this, she’s felt the same thing with her own daughter. “A mother knows,” she says, and Margaret agrees. She admits she might have always known, and tricked herself into thinking something else. Amanda asks if she knows about telekinesis and Margaret can hardly say the word, but admits she read about it online. That’s how she found Amanda, who seems to counsel women in these situations. In fact, the woman admits she’s seen about 200 desperate mothers looking for ways to cope. Margaret can hardly believe it, assuming everyone would hear about these incidents on the news. Amanda explains how in the past, these incidents were isolated around the world and easily passed off as hoaxes, witchcraft or some divine miraculous ability. Now with the internet building communities of people searching for answers, people have come together to try to make sense of what this is. When Amanda starts talking about how they don’t want you to know, Margaret assumes she’s talking about some deep state government experiment, but she couldn’t be further from the truth. Amanda is talking about the others–the many girls who were born with the same abilities as Carrie. They stay hidden for much of the same reasons why Margaret tried to ignore it– they’re hard to explain and once attention is drawn, chaos follows. These others will seek each other out–like Emaline (Thalia Dudek). Amanda says that they build groups of terror cells and covens, and Margaret should assume they are already circling her daughter. They need to stick together and take control of the situation before those terror cells inflict the unimaginable on Carrie. Margaret doesn’t know how to do that, she’s a prisoner in her own home. Carrie does what she wants, takes what she wants and her mother, who controlled everything about their lives before, has no control now. Margaret is desperate to return to their life from before and she practically begs Amanda to give her a blueprint of how to take this fully actualized, magical child and stifle them back into the closet. That’s when Amanda shows her true colors and what her organization is all about. She tells Margaret the only way she can control Carrie is by killing her, and since most mothers won’t do that Amanda’s group steps in and handles it for them. Margaret is horrified and gets up from the table, shaking and leaves. “It doesn’t have to be you,” Amanda calls out to her, “but it does have to be done.”
Back at school, Tommy catches up with Carrie on her walk home and asks if she wants a ride. The two have become good friends and share Sue in common. At the mention of their friend, Carrie asks if the couple is really over and it seems like they are. Tommy mentions that he has to sell his prom tickets because he certainly isn’t going now. Carrie doesn’t know much about prom and asks what it’s like, and Tommy notices her interest. He tries convincing her to go. In fact, he asks her to go with him as friends, and says he will even get her a little corsage and make it official.
She’s not sure she wants to go because she doesn’t know if anybody wants to see her at prom, but Tommy likes the idea of them going as friends and works hard to convince her. Carrie doesn’t say anything at first probably considering Sue’s feelings and her silence has Tommy apologizing for putting her on the spot. After thinking about it, Carrie says she’ll consider it.
Later that night, she tells her mother that Tommy asked her to prom. Margaret struggles to hold back her rage assuming this boy only wants one thing from Carrie. She’s right that he wants something from her, but it’s friendship, and not what Margaret thinks. Carrie tries to temper her mother’s rage in the same way she’s been trying to temper her own emotions. It’s a pot ready to boil over, and neither of them are willing to get off the stove and cool off. They argue as Margaret attempts to get Carrie to see what a bad idea it is, but her daughter just wants her mother to support her and be happy for her. If prom happens, it has nothing to do with the riots, it’s just a dance with a friend.
Of course Margaret lives for fear and blows everything out of proportion–terrified of boys and now even more terrified of the mysterious groups of gifted people who could be trying to tempt her daughter to join them. That’s when Margaret turns up the cruelty telling Carrie the most famous line from the film version, “they’re all gonna laugh at you.” That spikes Carrie’s anger and she closes her hand and motions to shut her mother’s mouth from speaking anymore. Margaret’s lips are magically sealed shut. Carrie tells her she hasn’t decided yet if she’s going and when Margaret is eventually able to speak again, she asks what happens if she says no. The look on Carrie’s face says she will do what she wants and her mother won’t be able to stop her. Especially when the prayer closet door slowly creaked open like a threat. It’s a warning that if Margaret tries to stop her from being happy, Carrie has the power to put her mother back in the closet for a little repentance for as long as she sees fit.
Meet Amanda
The following day, Chris knocks on her mother’s door and Madison (Heather Graham) meets her outside. She doesn’t invite her in because Brooklyn (Rowan Danielle) is still upset and she is trying to keep the peace. She asks how Chris is doing, but her daughter refuses to let her mother get close. Madison tries to approach her with warmth, but Chris stands there with her arms crossed and a coldness radiating off of her. Her mother wants to work things out with her daughter and admits it will take some time, and therapy, and apologies and of course, an understanding from Brooklyn and Kent (Gil Bellows) about why Chris did what she did. After that, maybe Chris can move back home. Chris focuses on the “maybe.” But her mother points out she has done a lot of damage, and the anger isn’t going to disappear overnight. It might not seem like it to her, but her mother is in her corner. If Madison is brave enough to admit her mistakes to Margaret, then Chris should be brave enough to admit she has caused a lot of pain. She doesn’t, and instead, she asks for her clothes from her room. Madison looks utterly defeated. The little girl on the lock screen of her phone has been replaced by a miniature version of John (Michael Trucco).
Meanwhile, from Billy’s (Arthur Conti) trailer, Chris watches the livestream of the assembly meeting to decide whether the school is going to hold prom. Tina, the new influencer and it girl, is posting it for her followers so everyone can stay informed. Principal Grayle (Matthew Lillard) lays out the rules of this tribunal, reminding everyone to be kind and respectful as they take turns addressing their concerns.
At this point, he’s barely holding it together and cautiously opens the floor for parents to offer up their opinions. Most of the parents want prom canceled because the children are still healing emotionally and physically. One man even goes as far as to blame the principal for his daughter’s fractured arm. After the last assembly, everyone is worried that emotions will cause another riot and more people will get hurt. Then Tina stands up and quotes Maya Angelou, hoping it inspires her path to prom queen. Sue and anyone else who has read a book, gives the town influencer a side eye, but Tina is right on one thing, most people want a sense of normalcy. They just don’t know how to get there when emotions are running this high and everyone is so divided.
That’s when Margaret stands up across the room from her daughter, who had no idea she was there. She gives an impassioned speech about keeping the kids at home. Every student in the school played a role in the tragedies that happened–her daughter included. IN the fall out of the riots, she learned things about her daughter that she never knew she was capable of, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s a parent and her job is to guide her. When her child does something wrong, she has to pay the consequences and learn from them. Margaret turns to the audience and asks the parents in the room to back her. Cancel prom as a consequence for what they all did to each other. She also makes a comment about how her daughter, even though she’s a sophomore, was invited to prom by a boy whose intentions she isn’t sure about. Outraged, Tommy stands up in front of the whole school and says he asked Carrie to go to a dance.That’s it. He has no ulterior motives. Everyone is surprised, especially because Tommy is a decent guy and that comes across in his defense of Carrie.
When the principal seems like he’s going to agree with Margaret, Carrie stands up and says her piece. There has been a lot of pain at school this year but this is their one chance to look past all of it and make a good memory together. They aren’t going to forget the pain they caused each other or what happened during the riot, but this could be their path forward. Even if it’s only for one night. If they can put it aside maybe they can be the best versions of themselves. She implores the crowd to ask themselves if that’s something they would want, and everyone seems moved by her speech.
The principal holds a vote and the majority votes to hold the prom. Chris watches everything unfold and she is angry because she had hoped it would be canceled. Everyone may be hurting as much as she is, but Carrie was the one who swayed their opinion, and that has her fuming..
Chris Wants Blood
Back at the trailer, Chris rants to Billy about how Carrie Redd stole her life. Prom was supposed to be her big night. She was supposed to walk in with her king and her best friend, holding court, but instead, she’s stuck in a dirty trailer full of vermin.
She insults Billy, a constant reminder of the privilege she once had, and her rant stings a little. So he turns that venom on the students at school. Billy asks what she is going to do about it, and then smiles when she says she wants blood.
That night we see Carrie sketching out her prom look and sewing it onto a maidenform. Sue is also training harder than ever for soccer while the prom court voting begins.Tina is doing her best to campaign for herself, while Billy uses a VPN to continuously vote for Carrie, rigging the election. It’s part one of Chris’ payback plot, and Billy is all smiles to get it started. While everyone is trying to move forward and prepare for the dance, Chris is preparing for something else.
She and Billy arrive at a hog farm and sneak into a pen to slaughter a pig and drain its blood into a bucket.The pig’s squeals are horrifying, but they don’t turn Chris away. Instead, she looks deeper, almost mesmerized by torture.
Prom Night
It’s finally prom night and Stella (Naïka Toussaint) is standing outside her house when she sees Tommy coming to pick Carrie up. He gives her the promised corsage, and we see that their outfits match in powder blue suits and a perfectly made silk dress in matching blue.
Once inside the dance, Tina walks up to Carrie and compliments her dress, then takes a dig at Tommy for already ditching her. Carrie puts her in her place with a smile as Tommy is just getting her fruit punch, he hasn’t ditched her yet. She then inadvertently insults Tina by asking who she wound up coming to the dance with. Tina stutters out that she’s just with her friends and starts to walk away just as Carrie admits she voted for her for prom queen. She wanted it so badly that Carrie thought she was the obvious choice. The confession stuns Tina, who is suddenly at a loss for words. She thanks Carrie, and maybe, for the first time in the series, she genuinely gives the girl a compliment. She tells her she really does look nice, and this time she means it.
Meanwhile, at the farm, Chris and Billy load the back of his car with gallons of pig blood and head towards the school dance, where everyone is having a good time. Carrie and Tommy are dancing ridiculously, and everyone is smiling, even Rita, who decided to show up and chaperone.
Then Tina gets a text from Chris, and everything changes. She goes to open the back door, having no idea what the two are up to. She makes it clear that she doesn’t want them to ruin the night because she thinks she’s going to be crowned prom queen. Chris and Billy carry the buckets inside and start climbing into the rafters, promising Tina the content she’ll get from the night will be memorable and go viral. Besides, she wasn’t going to win prom queen anyway, and she definitely isn’t now.Chris doesn’t tell Tina how she knows this, she simply climbs higher into the rafters, leaving the helpful influencer confused.
At home, Sue, who didn’t go to prom, is scrolling through photos on Instagram when she spots Billy Nolan’s car in the background of a selfie. That bright yellow car with the painted flames is hard to miss, but what is he doing there? Even more concerning is the fact that if he’s there, Chris must be too. Sue is curious, so she swipes over to Carrie Redd and see the latest post in big red letters:
CARRIE FOR PROM QUEEN.
Sue panics and takes off for the prom on foot, while inside, Chris and Billy set up their big event. Principal Grayle looks around, smiling and happy with how things are going but gets distracted when he spots a strange woman dressed in flannel by the doors. It’s Amanda.She’s scanning the crowd, looking for Carrie who is too busy dancing with Tommy to notice something is off with this woman staring her down.
The only dance she practiced was the waltz, and when the song comes on, the two are grooving around awkwardly but still having fun. “You’re a cool kid, Carrie White,” Tommy says, and she laughs out, “You’re a cool kid too.” Then she thanks him for taking her to prom, but Tommy didn’t ask her out of some charity case. He asked her because he wanted her to experience it. She deserved it, and besides, they’ve become good friends and he had an extra ticket.
Across the room, Mr. Grayle tells Rita he’s glad she decided to chaperone and hopes this means he’ll see her next year. Being a teacher is in her blood, even if her confidence is in doubt
Then the prom doors open and three unfamiliar girls walk in, almost as if they’re looking for someone. They spot Amanda, and do everything they can to hide amongst the dancing kids and avoid her.
The Prom Queen
From a distance, the strange girls begin making their way through the crowd, never taking their eyes off Amanda who must have known they would show up at the prom. That’s why she’s there.
Principal Grayle notices Amanda and asks Rita who she is, but neither of them recognizes her. She’s not a parent and she’s definitely not a chaperone because she isn’t dressed like one. Before he gets the chance to approach her, he gets called up onstage to announce the prom king and queen. Directly above him on the catwalk sits a bucket of pig blood and a plotting Chris and Billy.
The principal says that when he was printing out the results, he felt like the class finally got something right, and then announces the King and Queen is Tommy Ross and Carrie White. Carrie is shocked, and so is Tina, who starts to realize what Chris is up to. She rigged the election and now she is going to ruin everyone’s night. As the crowned couple makes their way toward the stage, Chris and Billy get ready with the bucket.
Meanwhile, Sue, who has been training all season, runs the entire way to the school and finally makes it to the dance just as a teary-eyed Carrie makes her way to the stage. Everyone is cheering and maybe she would have won without Chris’ scheming. We will never know, because kids are fickle and one minute they cheer and the next, they point and laugh.Tina starts to develop a conscience and texts Chris begging her not to do whatever she’s planning. At the same time, Sue bursts through the doors as Carrie has the crown placed on her head. She fights her way toward the front of the stage when she notices Chris above them.That’s when Chris gives Billy the signal, and he dumps the bucket directly into Carrie. The blood comes crashing down and covers her as everyone in the audience already has their phones out, recording the king and queen onstage. For a moment, the room is stunned into silence, and then the laughter starts. Carrie stands there drenched in blood, horrified and publicly humiliated all over again. The laughter grows and the cameras record, but the look on Carrie’s face is deadly. So is the one Amanda is wearing as she moves closer to the stage. Rita spots her and attempts to intercept, but all eyes are on Carrie and what she is going to do next. Her mother was right, they all did laugh at her, but she is about to have the last and final laugh. Her eyes are wide, her dress is ruined, and her face is dripping with blood. The finale is going to be earth-shattering. If they wanted a scene, they are about to get one that Chamberlain will never recover from.