Carrie Season 1, Episode 4 Review: Dramatic Arts

Carrie Season 1, Episode 4 “Dramatic Arts” was a jam-packed hour. The CarrieRed_ Instagram account has gone public and Carrie now knows there is a video of the locker room incident floating around. And life at Ewen High School changes drastically. Not just for Carrie, but for the other students and faculty. She also finds a friend in Sue. But the biggest moment was the unmasking of CarrieRed_.  

“People love to watch a woman fall.”

With the CarrieRed_ virtual burn book (yes, that’s what I’m calling it) going live, nobody is left unscathed. Girls and boys are all affected by Chris Hargensen’s smear campaign. Even faculty are being dragged into it. While all the kids are freaking out over the anonymous account, Chris is reveling in it. Every like, every follower count gives her a high that she doesn’t want to come down from. To her, it’s all a game. The faculty is aware the account exists, but they aren’t doing anything to stop it.

According to Principal Grayle, because the CarrieRed_ account is “outside of school,” they can’t do anything. Nor can they “police the internet.” To me, this is wild because most of the postings on the account are done at school. So how can they not stop it? Do they have an IT team that can analyze the images or do a deep dive of the account to find out who owns it? I feel like the faculty could be doing so much more and they’re just making excuses. His solution to all of this? To have the teachers act as hall monitors.

When Carrie learned about the CarrieRed_ account, she was stunned. Especially because she is literally the face of the account. A few of the students think she’s responsible, which, hello? Use your brain! If she was responsible, why on earth would she post that video of herself in the shower? Also, Carrie is a new student. She doesn’t know anyone on campus. What would she have to gain from creating that?

And where is Chris in all of this? Well, Chris does what Chris does: act like the fake bestie who tells Carrie she knows it’s not her who is behind the account. She lays it on thick and says she will handle whoever is responsible. Yeah, episodes later and I still can’t stand Chris Hargensen.

Carrie once again hides what’s going on at school from her mom. She goes to school every day as if everything is normal. But it’s eating away at her. She’s not sleeping at night, and she’s barely eating anything. Margaret picks up on her behavior, but Carrie tries to play it off. And even though I understand it’s high school, tt’s crazy to me that Carrie is willing to sacrifice her own happiness because she desperately wants to go to school.

But Carrie isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

Build enough pressure, and it will find a way to escape

Margaret has been watching Carrie on a hidden camera since she slammed the door in her face in Carrie Season 1, Episode 2, “Foreign Language.” She’s also been hiding the fact that the mortuary has been attempting to get her to pick up Ralph’s remains. When Carrie finds the letter, she is furious. Rightfully so. I don’t know why Margaret would keep that hidden from Carrie. She needs help to deal with her grief. And it feels like Margaret thinks she’s not allowed to show emotion, as if allowing herself and Carrie the space to grieve is a sign of weakness. That leads to Carrie having nowhere to turn to express any of her feelings.

Then Sue enters the picture.

Sue offers Carrie the space to be angry. She knows Carrie doesn’t want to be angry with her mom. But she tells her it’s okay for her to be angry. And she’s right. Carrie needs to express her emotions. Not just the happy ones. It’s not normal to bottle everything up inside. Sooner or later those emotions spill out. And with Carrie’s powers continuing to grow with each episode, we’re reaching a tipping point.  

Carrie eventually takes Sue’s advice, and she confronts her mother. Margaret once again refuses to listen to Carrie. And I know that Margaret loves her daughter, but she isn’t there for her the way she needs her to be. Carrie lost a parent. One half of the person who made her who she is. Margaret really isn’t getting that. She doesn’t really see Carrie. At least not in the way that she should. If she can see that something is bothering her, why can’t she see the grief over losing her dad?

“People love to watch a woman fall.”

Life at home for Chris hasn’t gotten any better. Everyday brings another problem including the repossession of her car. And her bestie Sue is always busy. What Chris doesn’t know is that Sue is dealing with own set of problems.

That’s the thing about Chris, she can’t see beyond herself. She’s more concerned about her problems and is self-centered. And she hates rejection. When she doesn’t get her way, she makes a lot of bad choices. And those bad choices often involve her doing something to Carrie.

When Chris learns that Carrie’s dad was killed at her father’s construction site and it’s at risk of being shut down, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to pull yet another prank on her. After school, she, Billy Nolan, Tina, and Sue head over to the site. Mind you, this was after Carrie unknowingly consumed four edibles, which Chris and Tina let her believe were just candy. As you can guess, things do not go well.

CarrieRed_ is unmasked

When Carrie realized Chris had purposely taken her to the place where her father died, she was stunned. That level of cruelty was something she never expected. It only got worse when Sue caught Tina trying to record Carrie. Tina gets called out and stupidly blurts out that Chris is responsible for the CarrieRed_ account.

Watching this, I felt horrible for what Carrie was going through, but I was thrilled that Chris finally got busted. She was posting some of the vilest things onto the CarrieRed_ account. It was about time someone found out it was her all along. And of course, Chris doesn’t take responsibility yet again. She keeps saying that it was a joke. To Carrie, it was not.

Chris is cruel. The fact that she can’t see how hurt Carrie is in that moment shows how selfish and heartless she is. Carrie is standing right in front of Chris’s face crying, yet Chris feels nothing for her. In fact, she was angry. She’s angry over Sue befriending Carrie because she thinks she’s a hypocrite. Sue did come up with the name Carrie Red. That’s true. But she never co-signed on Chris creating a virtual burn book with that name.

In that moment, Sue realized she never really knew her friend. She never expected Chris to do something so awful. I sort of feel like saying “Really Sue, you didn’t know your friend could ever do something like that?” I think the locker room incident should’ve been the moment she learned that. But I guess better late than never because that friendship is over now.

What Chris did to Carrie at the construction site is unforgivable. And it was an eye-opener for Carrie. She’s spent so much time trying to ignore everything, but what Chris did to her is far more worse than the shower incident. Carrie is done with playing nice, and so is her mother. And with just four episodes down, it’s been interesting to watch Carrie go from a sweet girl to one who has no choice but to fight back against those who torment her. As for Margaret, she’s ready to make everyone pay because you do not mess with her daughter.

Carrie Season 1 is now available on Prime Video.

What did you think of Carrie “Dramatic Arts”? Let us know in the comments below!