Who doesn’t love Halloween in February? On The Carrie Diaries it means the search for a good time.
Since their breakup, Carrie is seeing Sebastian every where she goes and is doing her best to avoid him. Walt can commiserate since he is dealing with the same issue after breaking up with Maggie. When Carrie finally does face Sebastian she confronts him about inviting someone to a party Carrie didn’t even know he was having. Was he even going to invite her? Poor Carrie, that first run-in with an ex after a breakup is always so awkward which is what Sebastian’s excuse is for not inviting her. He’s not wrong.
Carrie isn’t terribly happy that Sebastian won’t even have a discussion with her. She knows she was wrong but it still hurt that he wouldn’t even talk to her about it before running off. Walt is feeling bad for Sebastian because it can’t be easy knowing that Carrie and her friends all know his secret. I never really saw it from that point of view either and now I’m feeling bad for him as well.
Thankfully Carrie has no excuse to sit around and mope over not being invited to Sebastian’s party. Larissa has invited her to a party of a different kind in an NYC zip code and she is taking Walt along for the ride. When they arrive Larissa offers them a party favor surely neither of them have been given at any party they’ve been to before: Ecstasy. What could go wrong? Though, after careful consideration, Carrie tosses hers to the floor. Apparently Walt is feeling a bit more adventurous and decides to take his; making Carrie think for a minute that she’d like to pick hers up off the ground.
Walt and Carrie are absolutely darling in their Prince Charles and Princess Diana costumes and it’s funny that Larissa believes them to be ironic. There’s no irony in it for Carrie, though. She’s a true romantic. And it’s easy to be when she meets Interview Magazine columnist and super hot guy Bennett Wilcox. Carrie can’t help but bat her eyelashes and eat up every word of New York wisdom he speaks, at least until they notice that Larissa is taking her bird costume to new and very strange levels. Carrie takes it upon herself to check on her friend but only if Bennett will keep an eye Walt who has become very entranced by a wall.
Turns out Larissa has had not only the Ecstasy she offered Carrie (times two) but some acid and champagne as well. Party time snack of champions? Carrie is forced to keep Larissa from jumping off the roof and “flying” and then builds her a nest out of coats in a back room. I’m stuck between feeling like this scenario should have come across a little darker (it is serious) and being glad that it didn’t. We’ve all seen the “Don’t Do Drugs” episodes of every teen drama, right? As Carrie does her best to lull Larissa to sleep in her “nest” (a hospital might be better but what do I know) so that she can get back to Bennett, she laments her constant responsibility of having to take care of those around her. And she worries that all of the parts about Larissa that she loves, are the parts that Larissa hates about herself.
Meanwhile, Walt and Bennett are having an interesting conversation about the beauty of being yourself in New York and never having to hide things. Walt is afraid of the honesty and inhibition that seem to come with life in the city and asks Bennett to feel how fast his heart is beating. Bennett interprets this action a certain way and leans in for a kiss. Poor Walt is horrified and insists that he’s “not gay or anything,” and despite Bennett’s apologetic and assuring words, Walt runs off alone into the New York night. He encounters a couple of bullies harassing a gay couple and again insists that he isn’t one of them. When he asks them why they care, they answer, “Because they’re freaks.” I feel like this show has done a really great job so far dealing with Walt’s struggles with his sexuality. His confusion and self loathing is believable and relatable.
When Carrie locates Bennett she finds out about Walt taking off. He keeps the kiss to himself and agrees that letting him run out alone was not great. Carrie goes into the backroom to get her things so that she can go after him and finds a passed out Larissa being molested by a party guest in a cat costume. She chases him off and realizes that she was partly to blame after leaving Larissa to go find herself a prince. Another situation that could have (should have) been played a bit darker than it was. She finds Walt and assures him that, “it will wear off. You know that right? The pill. Whatever your feeling right now, you’re not yourself.” But we all know that what Walt is worried about won’t wear off like that blue pill. Though he is going to do everything in his power to make it go away, including hooking up with Maggie.
Back in Connecticut, Mouse and Maggie hit up Sebastian’s party. Maggie thinks it’s a good idea to keep an eye on him on Carrie’s behalf and Mouse just thinks he’s a jerk. When she and Sebastian bond over Pac Man, pot and parental issues, she starts to see him in a different light. And when Sebastian takes a high Mouse over to Carrie’s instead of making her deal with her parents in her condition, Carrie sees him differently as well.
While everyone is out partying, Dorrit is stuck at home. Thanks to Carrie’s head’s up, Tom is able to squash her plans to sneak out and attack the principal’s house with tp, shaving cream and eggs. She instead watches Poltergeist and mouths off to her dad. It was sweet at the end, though when she asks him if they can hang out after the movie has scared her to death. It’s nice when Dorrit shows moments of being the little girl she still is.
Other Notes and Quotes:
– “This is what we do. We get our hearts broken and then we demonize the guys who broke up with us.”
– I love that Tom is Chewie every year because the costume was really expensive. I also love that it frightens the children
– Does anyone else ever want to attack Dorrit with some conditioner and a hair brush? Though I am sort of jealous of her crimping iron.
– “Situation” by Yaz is such an awesome jam. Perfect for a NYC Halloween party.
– Larissa’s commentary on Charles and Diana’s marriage of convenience is very cheeky but is the joke too easy?
– How funny was stonned Mouse? Hopefully Carrie had some chips for her.
– LOVED both totally different covers of Michael Jackson’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.”
Next week on The Carrie Diaries, Carrie attends a fancy party with a fancy new guy and must face Sebastian moving on. Watch a preview below.
http://youtu.be/VfIiSOOy8xM
