The Carrie Diaries, in case you didn’t know, is a “prequel” to Sex
and the City. Young Carrie (played by the
kewpie-eyed AnnaSophia Robb, sporting an unfortunate perm) is a teenager from
Connecticut in the 80s. Her mother has recently died of cancer and she lives
with her doting, if sometimes bumbling father (Matt Letscher) and her
proto-goth kid sister Dorrit (adorable Stefania Owen.)
And since this is a teen drama, we
think we know what to expect: Carrie
won’t be popular, she’ll be tormented by a “mean girl” and suffer numerous
indignities in the school cafeteria; she’ll pine for a popular boy who doesn’t
love her back (or at least can’t risk losing social standing by being seen with
her). She’ll feel misunderstood, awkward, and sometimes ignored.
Or, well, not.
Because teenage Carrie Bradshaw
has to be the most well-adjusted kid on TV. She has a group of great friends,
who are really smart and cool and supportive. She is dating the best looking boy in school, Sebastian
(played by the best-looking boy on TV, Austin Butler.)
She has fallen in love with New
York City—as young Carrie Bradshaw would—and even got a job at the über-cool
Interview magazine.
Many scenes of The Carrie Diaries
are basically Carrie sitting at a booth at her favorite diner making out with
Sebastian or bashing about New York City, marveling over her good fortune.
Yes, there is a “mean girl”, Donna
(Chloe Bridges)—who briefly wins Sebastian away from Carrie (meanwhile, Carrie
has her own hot new prepster boyfriend). But the mean girl isn’t even all that
mean (she helps Carrie’s friend Walt deal with his closeted homosexuality) and
Sebastian clearly loves Carrie, not her.
I started watching The Carrie
Diaries because I’m totally infatuated with
that period in New York. And while the show doesn’t get everything right—a lot
of the fashion choices in particular seem like they come from the Urban
Outfitters “Totally 80z” section—a lot is right: The Limelight! Bret Easton Ellis book release parties! The
Smiths! Basquiat!
In a way, the show tracks
consistently with Sex and the City, its own glossy, sugar-coated celebration of
New York, girl power, and friendship. Yes, there were flare-ups of drama on Sex
and the City—just as there are on The
Carrie Diaries—but for the most part, that
show was sunny and chipper. (That was why it briefly struggled to find its
footing after 9/11.) But there was also all that great sex
and all that great fashion—not to mention, the snarky, world-wise commentary by
Samantha, Miranda, et al. It was fabulous, in a way that a show about teenagers
simply can’t be.
I must confess that, charming as
it can be, I sometimes find Carrie’s sunniness a little insipid. If the girl’s
got the best friends, the hottest guy, and the coolest internship on the
planet, what exactly is the source of the drama? (They show her grieving for
her mother, but in a spunky, “I’m going to keep mom’s sprit alive!” kinda way.)
There is, however, one thing I
absolutely adore about this show. There are hot guys on The Carrie Diaries, of course, but Carrie and her friends are not defined by them.
In fact, in the penultimate
episode, Carrie breaks up with Sebastian—methinks not for long—because he
doesn’t understand or support her ambition at Interview magazine.
Likewise, brainy Mouse (Ellen Wong)
dumps her boyfriend because sex with him is taking away from her grade point
average. (Another bonus! The Asian girl here might be a brain—cliché alert—but
she also has lots of hot guys to choose from. Hooray!)
Next week is the season finale of
the show (and possibly the series finale—ratings are middling at best.)
I’ll be watching—and expecting a
totally warm and fuzzy ending. After all, cliffhangers are so. . . upsetting.
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