By: Kelly Kearney
Carrie White is finally getting a taste of the teenage experience, and naturally, everything goes horribly wrong. After sneaking out for her first high school party, Carrie gets drunk, makes unexpected connections and discovers that maybe the strange things happening around her aren’t all in her head. But while she’s busy living her best teenage life, someone is busy recording it all. With Carrie’s secret powers getting harder to ignore and the Carrie Redd account going public, her brief taste of freedom is about to come crashing down in spectacular fashion.
Natural Born Talents or Witchcraft?
We open on a black-and-white reel used for medical research into telekinesis and other forms of mind manipulation. From pyrokinesis and levitation to telepathy, it seems girls in particular are born with undefinable traits that a patriarchal society doesn’t know what to do with. As the interviewer narrates a series of clips on some of the brain’s most controversial and unproven abilities, she recounts stories of people throughout history who claimed to possess these skills. Each case, decades or even centuries apart, tells a similar story: a woman claims to have telekinetic abilities and is investigated by scientists, doctors and paranormal experts, only to be labeled a fraud, thief or criminal. These women were reportedly able to do things like move furniture with their minds or stop a living frog’s heart while their own heart rate increased during the seven minutes it took to kill it. Even when their abilities were filmed as proof, scientists, academics and even world leaders couldn’t explain what they were witnessing or how these abilities could be used. Instead, the women were feared, denied and accused. Was it evil? A curse? Or simply an unexplored portion of the female brain that revealed just how much humans are capable of?
There’s a pattern in these stories. The extraordinary is followed by an accusation of fraud, even when there’s evidence to prove otherwise. Not one of these women was able to break through the stigma of being labeled a con artist. Once the accusation stuck, they were ostracized from society or worse, tortured and killed. Many of these reactions and superstitions can be traced back to the witch trials of the 1670s and even further to the Spanish Inquisition.
The camera eventually lands on Carrie (Summer H. Howell), who is digging through all of this research in an attempt to understand who she is and what happened in her bedroom the night before. Her emotional mind slammed the door in her mother’s face during their argument, and none of these books are making her feel any better about what she did. If anything, they’re freaking her out.
Given her religious upbringing, Carrie keeps coming back to the word witchcraft as the only explanation anyone seems willing to give these women. Photos of women being tortured, killed and burned at the stake send Carrie spiraling into a series of increasingly terrifying what-ifs.
The girl from the bathroom, Emaline (Thalia Dudek), catches Carrie in the library and asks what she’s reading. Carrie quickly slams the book shut, but Emaline spots the title, which includes telekinesis and witchcraft, and immediately takes an interest. Carrie brushes it off as research for a school project, but when Emaline questions why she doesn’t just use Google, Carrie jokes that she doesn’t know what that is before admitting she does now and uses it for every class. Obviously, before school, she had no idea.
Emaline watches her like she’s waiting for a reaction before asking if Carrie thinks any of this stuff is real. Carrie is clearly fixated on the consequences these women faced, but Emaline means all of it–the telekinesis, the special abilities, and the possibility of developing magical powers. Does Carrie believe any of it is real? She doesn’t, but it’s unclear whether Emaline believes her.
Outside in the hallway, Carrie sees the fake account Chris (Alison Thornton) created featuring videos from the locker room. The bullying incident has gone viral, and everyone’s phones light up with an alert featuring the worst moment of her life. She’s terrified, wet and bleeding on the shower floor while the girls scream, “plug it up!” Chris carefully edited the footage so Carrie’s terrified expression is superimposed over the video with dramatic music. She memeified her worst and most embarrassing moment, and for what? Laughs? Every kid in the school is invited to follow the account, making it impossible for Carrie to escape what happened.
Open House
At school, Chris and Sue (Siena Agudong) catch up and make plans for the night. The kids call it an “open house” when they take over an empty house on the market for a party, and the timing couldn’t be better. Chris is already in a mood thanks to everything happening with her parents and wants her bestie Sue to come along and join her in blowing off some steam. Sue, however, has plans to ride shotgun while Tommy (Joel Oulette) as he delivers food to make some extra money. Not everyone is as privileged as the Hargensens, but that doesn’t stop Chris from making a dig about Tommy’s financial problems. She is unapologetically rude about it, which brings Sue right back to the issue at hand.
When Carrie walks into their homeroom, Sue reminds Chris that she promised they would apologize to her. So they do, sort of, admitting what they did wasn’t cool. To prove that they’re sorry, they invite Carrie to the party at the open house. They even convince her to sneak out while her mother is working the night shift. As long as Carrie gets home before her mother’s shift ends, she’s in the clear. It’s normal teenage rebellion, but it’s definitely not something Carrie is used to. Not that she’s opposed to it. She desperately wants to fit in and put what happened in the locker room with Chris and the other girls behind her. Of course, Carrie has no idea the entire school is watching that video, or that Chris is behind it. Still, she agrees to go to the party and is genuinely excited about it. Since she doesn’t have a phone, Chris writes the address of the empty McMansion on her hand. Now Carrie only has to worry about what she’s going to wear and how she’s going to get there. For the first time, she feels pretty secure that Sue and Chris are going to support her through her first high school party.
A Big Fish in Chamberlain’s Small Pond
At home, Carrie’s mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) is sitting at the kitchen table talking to her husband’s jacket and debating whether putting secret cameras in the house is going too far. She thinks her husband would probably consider it excessive, but convinces herself that spying on their daughter is the right thing to do. When the doorbell pulls her out of her thoughts, she finds a delivery person with a letter from the funeral parlor requesting that she pick up her husband’s remains. She’s been quietly ignoring their phone calls throughout the season, and this is no different. Margaret takes the letter, closes the door and tosses it into the trash. She has no interest in following through.
Back at school, Carrie sits in math class staring out the window as rain collects on the glass. She concentrates on the drops sliding downward, and then one of them moves back up. It’s as if she’s controlling the flow with her mind. The sight of that single raindrop moving upward excites Carrie. It’s a little secret that only she knows about.
Meanwhile, Chris is in Mr. Morton’s (Tim Bagley) office discussing her options now that her father can’t afford to send her to Duke. She’s insistent that she’s still going, and, of course, she’s pretty rude about it. That forces the kind Mr. Morton to drop his friendly demeanor and tell her it’s time to grow up and face reality. He apologizes that she didn’t sign up for financial aid when she applied, but now it’s too late. She still has options; plenty of students get their pre-requisites out of the way at community college, and then transfer their credits to a four-year school. Chris is barely listening. She doesn’t seem to know how to take no for an answer because she’s never really had to struggle through disappointment. Now that her parents are getting divorced and their finances are suddenly up in the air, she’s getting her first taste of the real world, and she doesn’t like it.
Mr. Morton again gets real with her and tells her that who she and her family are in this town doesn’t mean much outside of it. She’s a big fish in a small suburban pond but that doesn’t extend beyond Chamberlain. As her advisor, his job is to help her, but he can’t go back in time and fix her financial aid mistake. He can only guide her toward other options. It’s up to her whether she’s willing to take them. He also advises her to think beyond where she’s going to school and consider who she actually wants to be because the person she is right now, the one terrorizing Carrie White and demanding that a kind guidance counselor use his personal relationships to get her into a school, isn’t going to fly in adulthood. He’s sorry she’s disappointed, but she’s making it everybody else’s problem.
Party of One
When Carrie gets home, she learns her mother won’t be off of the night shift until 3 a.m., which gives her plenty of time to get ready for the party, have a good time and get home before Margaret finds out. She has no idea there might be a hidden camera in the house, and Margaret certainly isn’t telling her. Instead, Margaret asks if she’ll be all right home alone because she worries about her. Carrie plays it off and says she’ll be fine. She’s just going to do some schoolwork and go to bed early. Then she heads upstairs, waiting to hear the door close and her mother leave for work.
While Carrie is thinking about the party, we catch up with Sue, who is riding shotgun on Tommy’s food deliveries. They sneak a couple of fries from a customer’s order, because apparently even food delivery has its perks, when the topic of the party comes up. Tommy doesn’t seem interested until Sue hints that tonight could be the night she loses her virginity. That definitely gets his attention. He practically gallops to the front steps to deliver the food, thrilled by the possibility that they’re finally taking their relationship to the next level.
At home, Carrie is laying out a couple of outfits and trying to decide which one is cool enough for the party. She settles on a T-shirt and starts sewing to liven up her boring options. She adds some frills and lace and pairs it with a knee-length skirt. She checks herself in the mirror; she has the look, now she just needs a way to get to the party.
When she knocks on her neighbor Estelle AKA Stella’s (Naïka Toussaint) door and asks for a ride, the young woman is surprised to see her. After years of seeing how Carrie was treated behind those closed doors, Stella is more than happy to give this teenager a taste of what it’s like to actually be a kid. She happily drives Carrie to the party and reminds her before she gets out that she can call if she needs anything, including a ride home.
Welcome to the Party, Carrie
Inside the party, we see that Chris doesn’t just save her bullying for Carrie. She treats her friends like subordinates, too. We learn she told Tina (Josie Totah) she doesn’t hang out with people who have fewer than 100 likes. Since then, Tina has been doing everything she can to build her influencer following, constantly checking in with Chris with updates on how many likes she’s bringing in. Even that doesn’t prompt Chris to be kind to her. Instead, she awkwardly glares at her while Tina swallows her pride.
Sue seems to be the only real friend Chris has, but right now Sue is highly focused on her boyfriend, Tommy, and the promise she made him if he came to the party. Then Brooklyn (Rowan Danielle) arrives, immediately putting Chris in a foul mood and no best friend to complain to. It’s bad enough that Chris has to deal with her when she visits her mother, but now she has to deal with her at a party, too?
Next, Carrie arrives, and Tommy is the first person to welcome her and offer her a beer. Sue and Chris quickly step in, telling her she doesn’t want a beer, she wants something stronger.
They’re all smiles as they pull Carrie into the party and make her feel like part of the group. Chris takes her by the hand and gives her a tour, comparing it to something straight out of the movies, assuming Carrie has actually seen one. The party has everything: dancing, beer pong, couples hooking up, pot, vaping, and everyone’s phones set to record. It’s a typical teen night out and everything that defines the high school experience Carrie always dreamed about.
They wind up taking selfies together, and Chris makes Carrie a drink. Then Tina spots Carrie talking to Chris and walks over to question her about the shirt she customized. Tina claims it’s hers because she lost it before the start of the semester, and she swears it is. Chris sends her away, but Tina is convinced the weird girl stole it, and glares at her from across the room.
After a few drinks, Carrie is dominating at beer pong when Chris spots Billy Nolan (Arthur Conti) walking into the party. She is immediately enamored with the kid criminal. Sue reminds her he’s bad news and is only there to sell drugs, but Chris seems to have a thing for bad boys.
Initially, Billy blows her off because she’s too young, but once he learns she’s 18, he’s suddenly more interested. He jokes that he would have to see some ID first, and when she hands it over, he notices her last name. He pokes at whether her daddy knows where his princess is slumming it these days, flirting with a criminal like himself. The encounter is indeed flirtatious, but there’s also a clear veil of mockery and class warfare happening. Chris’s father is well-known in town, and with that comes the stigma of privilege that normally works in her favor, but not with Billy. He doesn’t seem particularly impressed, although the two eventually wind up making out.
Meanwhile, Carrie is dancing and drinking the night away, having the time of her life, while in the corner of the room, Tina is still suspicious of her and keeps recording. Sue and Chris were supposed to look out for Carrie, but they’re both doing their own thing and letting the newcomer have fun by herself. Sue heads upstairs with Tommy to find a bedroom, and she was the last pair of eyes making sure Carrie was okay. That is, until Emaline shows up, strangely the only person drinking from a blue cup in a sea of red solo cups and motioning for Carrie to meet her outside. Carrie is all smiles, finally living out the dreams she’s read about in books. Parties. Friends. Laughter. Freedom. And plenty of booze to loosen her up. Emaline tries to warn her that if she drinks any more, she’s going to get sick. Unlike Carrie, she isn’t enamored with the scene and calls it “small-town stuff.” She tempts Carrie with visions of an entire world out there she has yet to experience. That idea overwhelms Carrie because even this small-town party is almost too much for her to process. Still, she’s having a good time and, for once, giving herself permission to try. She realizes she was really lonely before and never met anyone like herself. Emaline agrees, she’s never met anyone like herself either, at least not until she found her people. She doesn’t explain much beyond that, chalking it up to finding her fellow weirdos, but there’s something unsettling about her interest in Carrie, especially considering she never reacted when she witnessed her emotionally driven powers in the bathroom. Did she see her break that mirror, and if so, why hasn’t she mentioned it?
Mean Girls and Replacement Sisters
Upstairs, on a balcony overlooking the party, Chris is talking with Billy about the people down below, and they focus on how weird the new girl is. Billy assumes Chris and Carrie are friends, but Chris considers Carrie homework Sue assigned her. She only invited her to the party because she thought it would be funny. While Chris and Billy make out, Sue and Tommy move forward with their own plans and fall into bed. Tina, meanwhile, feels increasingly left out of Chris’s clique. She notices Chris coming down the bedroom stairs with Billy and starts spying on everyone, recording everything. Given that Tina has multiple social media accounts she uses to boost her like count and get in good with the in crowd, she is recording everything for content. Those videos, if released, could land everyone at the party in trouble.
After the way Chris has treated her, Tina gives her a taste of her own medicine. She corners Chris while making a drink and points out how popular Brooklyn is and how much that must be driving Chris crazy. After all, aren’t they sisters now? The question rattles Chris, and Tina knows it. She cracks a joke that they’re not sisters so much as she’s “Chris 2.0, the replacement.” Tina even comments on Chris’s mother’s replacement husband and how cute he is, pointing out that it’s almost like everyone is getting replaced. Tina knows exactly which buttons to push, and her plan works. The whole point is to rattle Chris, and push her to embarrass herself. Tina even goes as far as to praise her for not losing it on Brooklyn, and ripping her eyes out just for showing up at the party. Tina is an instigator and she is stirring the pot in hopes the content goes viral. Naturally, this pushes Chris to approach the girl and try to kick her out. Brooklyn doesn’t understand why Chris is being so mean and accidentally lets it slip that her parents are getting divorced, not a threat to divorce, but the real deal. Chris laughs it off, saying her mother has done this before and always comes back, but Brooklyn fires back with the question Chris clearly wasn’t prepared for: Did she always file for divorce before, because she did this time. The look on her face says Chris had no idea.
That’s when Tina swoops in like the hero, hands Chris a drink and kicks Brooklyn out of the party. She orchestrated the entire thing just so she could play hero, which must rank higher than 100 likes. Angry over what her soon-to-be stepsister has revealed, Chris turns her attention to Carrie, who is standing innocently behind Brooklyn, very drunk and directly in the line of fire.
Margaret’s World
That’s when we catch up with Margaret at work, where she’s in charge of cleaning some truly disgusting bathrooms. She’s elbow-deep in urinals and picking up used condoms off the floor, and every inch of the room seems to remind her of what she’s tried to protect Carrie from in the outside world. She finds outrage in everything. Margaret is comfortable feeling victimized and threatened by the world beyond her front door. She’s paranoid and panicked, using prayer, control, conspiracies and propaganda not only to keep herself in line but to trap her daughter within the confines of her own religious psychosis. She’s bad news–not the same as the mom from the movie version–there are times when a gentleness and a caring for her daughter peek through. She has her beliefs, and not even all of those are off the mark, it’s just her extremism and her need to control that makes her dangerous.
Meanwhile, at the party, Sue is upstairs getting dressed after an awkward first time with Tommy. The room is silent, and neither of them can seem to look at the other. They both insist everything was great, but neither is behaving like it was.
Downstairs, Chris is getting drunk while Tina takes over best-friend duties. She records everything Chris does while hanging on her every move. When Sue comes downstairs, she finds Chris staggering drunk and falling into Tina while Carrie is passed out on the couch. She moves in to help Chris before her behavior goes viral. Tommy promises to make sure her new bestie Carrie gets home safely. They kiss goodbye, but there’s no real passion behind it. Whatever happened behind those closed doors wasn’t exactly an amazing first-time experience for either of them, but especially Tommy. He can barely look at Sue even though she’s all smiles and trying to make him feel better about what they did.
Under the Stars
Tommy wakes Carrie and offers to drive her home since she can’t remember Stella’s phone number in the state she’s in. Before they even make it to the car, Carrie lies down on the ground and looks up at the stars. Everything seems brighter when they get to the outskirts of Chamberlain. Tommy lies down beside her as she drunkenly rambles about how her father told her that if she ever got lost, she could find her way home by the stars. That was before the sky was filled with satellites, GPS and “all the bad stuff,” she admits. “Earth men have a talent for ruining big and beautiful things,” Tommy says, quoting from his readings of The Martian Chronicles. The two talk about Mars and the unbelievable idea that humans might one day live there. For a brief moment, they connect on an almost astral level.
Then Tommy drives Carrie home with her sitting in the front seat, letting the wind whip through her hair. She’s smiling, drifting between sleep and living her dreams. She hangs her head out the window, finding joy in the simplest things, and Tommy can’t help but smile as he watches her naive wonder.
The scene cuts between them and Sue, who looks like she has a million things on her mind. She drives Chris home, whose drunken face is smashed against the glass as she processes the disastrous night and the news of her parents’ divorce. Chris opens the window, afraid she’s going to throw up. While across town, Carrie reaches out of Tommy’s window to feel the wind against her hand. As the air dances around her fingers, her mind lifts the car off the ground. She gently puts it back down, as Tommy never realizes his wheels were floating.
“Hey, Daddy,” Carrie says when she gets home and sees her father (Tahmoh Penikett) sitting in the kitchen. She tells him she had a good night, then hears her mother pull into the driveway and runs upstairs to pretend she’s asleep. Margaret checks on her, but Carrie seems to be in the clear.
Carrie Red Goes Viral
At the Hargensen house, Sue drags Chris up to her room and tucks her in like the surrogate mom she is. Before Chris falls asleep, she asks Sue if she’s going to replace her, too. “Of course not,” Sue says, but Sue has no idea she’s talking to the person behind the fake accounts spreading videos of Carrie and other girls. Before going to sleep, Sue tries to convince Chris to delete that video and she agrees to but instead, sets the meme account to public.
The next morning, Carrie comes downstairs for breakfast, a little hungover and complaining that she might be getting a cold. Her mother asks how her night was, and she lies about getting her work done and having a good night’s sleep. That’s when Margaret tells Carrie that during her night at work, she learned a lot about the outside world, including all of its disgusting debauchery. Carrie chokes down her eggs while staring at her mother, wondering if everything Margaret is learning about the world might eventually lead her to discover that Carrie was part of it.
At school, hungover and horrified, Carrie realizes the video and the account has been made public. There are 343 followers and climbing on the Carrie Red page, and the whole school is following it.
Now the account is filled with videos from the party: Carrie drinking, dancing and even passed out on the couch. A boy shows her the video and calls her famous. When Carrie sees what he’s talking about, her anger and shame rattle every locker in the hallway. Across the hall, Emaline watches it all with intense interest and a smile.