‘Carrie Diaries’ Recap: Fright Night

The Carrie Diaries celebrated Halloween in this week’s episode, “Fright Night”. It was an episode that was full of tricks, treats and lots of recreational drugs. Carrie is still avoiding Sebastian after their ‘break-up’ last episode, and turned from an angel to a demon in her eyes. To make matters worse, Sebastian is throwing a spooky celebration at his house, without inviting Carrie. Instead, Carrie and Walt decide to attend Larissa’s Halloween party in SoHo.

Carrie’s dressed as Princess Di, while Walt dresses as Prince Charles. We all know he’s secretly jealous he isn’t Diana. The two friends run into Bennett Wilcox, a writer that Walt absolutely loves. Carrie immediately forgets the name Sebastian Kydd and decides this is her new prince. She doesn’t know it yet, but Walt’s thinking the same thing. The treats at this Halloween party include ecstasy, which Larissa has taken plenty of. Walt ends up taking the pill as well, while Carrie spits hers out. Because of her excess drug use, Larissa is acting like a zombie from The Walking Dead, forcing Carrie to take care of her and stopping her from jumping off the roof in an attempt to fly. After talking Larissa down from the ledge, Carrie discusses her love of New York with her rebellious friend and we finally see a more vulnerable side to Larissa. Turns out, Larissa feels pressure to be ‘fabulous’ in New York, which crushes Carrie’s fairytale dream of the Big Apple. I like that the writers are giving the character more depth, because it makes her much more relatable.

Back at the SoHo party, Walt and Bennett discuss their shared love of New York, where Bennett encourages Walt to take a risk and move to the city. In a moment we’ve waited for since the pilot, Walt and Bennett lock lips. I may or may not have squealed. However, this kiss doesn’t have a happy ending – Walt freaks out and runs off. It may not be the beginning of Walt’s realization that he’s gay, but I appreciate the writers for telling a story of coming out in the 80s, something that is very different than in the 2000s.

When Carrie returns from taking care of Larissa, Bennett reveals that Walt has run off – he’s high and journeying through the streets of New York alone. While walking, Walt watches as two bullies pick on a gay couple. Eventually he steps in and stops them, but they question his own sexuality. Of course he denies being gay, right back to square one. Carrie and Bennett return to Larissa, who is busy being molested by a lion. This is why Halloween parties are always the weirdest. Carrie finally realizes her prince charming isn’t exactly looking for a princess, but he doesn’t mention his previous interaction with Walt.

Dorrit and Mr. Bradshaw stay in because Dorrit feels she’s too old to trick ‘r trick. This is rather sad since her outfits would make the perfect Samara from The Grudge costume. I think she’s raided Taylor Momsen’s makeup collection at this point. That night, Dorrit still being an insufferable teenager, shutting down her dad with every word and watching Poltergeist. Turns out Dorrit isn’t so tough though – she freaks out over the movie and asks her dad if she can sleep with him. As much as I want to like this, every storyline Dorrit has had in the past four episodes has been exactly the same: She’s angry. She’s still angry. She’s very angry. Something happens to make her less angry. She’s back to being angry the very next episode. It’s too repetitive and it’s the one aspect of the show that I just can’t seem to fully enjoy.

Maggie and Mouse decide to attend Sebastian’s party to keep an eye on him – they think they owe it to Carrie to go. Mouse finds her fun in a game of Pac Man, where she and Sebastian began to connect. Mouse rants about her strict parents, whereas Sebastian wishes he had parents that cared half as much. Maybe the grass really isn’t always greener? What is green is the pot Sebastian pulls out, which Mouse smokes with him. Unfortunately for the partygoers, Officer Simon shows up, trying to put an end to the fun. However, Maggie stops him from breaking it up by threatening to reveal their previous trysts.

As All Hallow’s Eve comes to a close, Carrie realizes it’s time to stop demonizing Sebastian, after she realizes he’s taken care of a high-as-a-kite Mouse all night. Walt decides he isn’t ready to be in New York. What he does decide is that he needs to reunite with Maggie and, in the scariest scene of this fright night, the two make up and have sex. Echoing what I said before, I hate watching Walt making such a stupid decision, but I can appreciate that this is a realistic storyline about a gay teen in the 80s. I guess someone forgot to tell Walt that masks are only on Halloween.

[textblock style=”7″]SOURCE STATS

Favorite Moment: Walt and Bennett’s kiss! Hot. Hot. Hot. It’s the perfect kickoff to Walt’s storyline.

Hottest Character: Walt. I’m a sucker for a guy who can pull off a grandpa sweater and a duke costume in one episode.

Character We Loved This Week: Larissa. We’re finally starting to see a deeper, more vulnerable side to the character which makes her far more relatable and, dare I say it, far more interesting.

Character We Wanted to Slap This Week: Dorrit. We’re only four episodes in and her entire storyline is already so repetitive. It takes everything in me not to hit fast forward when she’s onscreen.

What We’re Looking Forward to Next Week: Carrie faces off with a new enemy over – you guessed it – a guy. Some things never change, I suppose.

Rating (1-5): 4. A little slower than the previous three episodes, but Walt’s storyline revving up made this a standout.[/textblock]