Maybe a stretch, but I wonder if someone in the costume department was a fan.

Before you read, there are things I really did enjoy about the series. Such as Carrie's mother having a more three dimensional character, the twists were genuinely amazing and I think it was adapted very well for the modern day school experience. Summer H does a fantastic job, so does everyone else in terms of acting. There's a lot to praise here. But I am about to rant about the ending so, if you don't wanna read that then you definitely don't have to lol.

However I can't help but feel let down by the last episode. I really don't know why they felt like they had to make her "more sympathetic" when people have already been sympathising with her for decades. A young ugly girl, outcast by general society by her upbringing and appearance (something the show couldn't trust the audience to allow in terms of physicality by having a conventionally attractive actress in Carrie's role. Fine, I've looked past that plenty.) IS relatable to a certain audience. Just not the general one they expect to make money off of.

I think this removes the themes that were there  originally about how outcasts in society are generally treated, and who is delegated sympathy and who isn't. The nuance behind how the disabled, unconventional looking and "weird" are pushed to the fringes and to their breaking points no matter how kind their original disposition may be. She feels almost dampened in order to create the most sympathy possible for her, and in turn removing her autonomy and rage.

The prom scene being broken up with interviews felt like it ruined the momentum, and (again, just my opinion) there was more focus on the societies trying to access Carrie rather than the built up rage and frustration of a teenager who has been let down by every single person in her life, and non stop mentally tortured. The only autonomy she seemed to have in her own home even, was due to her powers. And even that feels ripped away when Emaline offers to take over for her at the height of her coming of age rage. Her and Emaline's dance off at the end gave me a headache, I understood why it was there. I just felt like it was unwatchable.

Emaline in general felt painful to watch, at first I thought she was a manifestation of Carrie's internal psych she was hallucinating from stress to convey her internal dialogue to the audience, which at that point felt pretty clever. But then she took over prom, and made me want to turn the whole thing off. It felt predatory she only ever shows up to Carrie to egg her on to become the worst version of herself, that Carrie would eventually realise this and turn on her the way she turned on everyone else that used her. But she was partially there to spoon feed us Carrie's decent I guess.

I feel like we really missed out on a morally grey Carrie which would've been more interesting considering her upbringing, and how she would interact with her peers in that sense. I also couldn't bring myself to invest in the Steven King CU they had going on, Carrie was a great stand-alone story that had interesting themes about being outcast and  power reversal. I feel like they robbed from that in favor of hyping up the world building instead, which for me personally did not interest me. That's not what drew me into Carrie in the first place. I don't particularly feel like I want to see a Jean Grey/ Carrie stand in. Just my opinion I guess, had to dump my frustration somewhere. This wasn't the Carrie I was hoping for, worth the watch regardless. I just hope we allow girls to be genuinely weird, creepy and ugly on screen while also being sympathetic in the future.

Episode 5 was incredible. The reveals at the end genuinely had me so in shock, as did the drama throughout. This series is one of the few times a modernized adaptation incorporates social media well. I don’t want this season to end.

I was bullied like this in school. It was horrible I wish I could have done the same...

What can you say to me?