“You dropped a bomb on me, baby. You dropped a bomb on me” These are just a few lyrics to The Gap Band’s mega-hit “You Dropped A Bomb On Me”. The song was used in the 8th episode of The Carrie Diaries titled “Hush Hush.” The lyrics have such an appropriate meaning for this episode because throughout the entire episode truth bombs were being dropped all over the place. There were multiple times during the episode where I found myself yelling at the TV to warn the characters of their impending troubles. The past seven episodes have been leading up to this moment. Carrie’s secret double-life was exposed in the most hilarious and cringe-worthy way ever, and Maggie’s secret affair was revealed to Walt leading to a tear-jerking moment between the two.
Okay, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. First off, let me start by saying that I knew this episode was going to be a good one when I saw that Amy Heckerling was directing this episode. For those of you who have no clue as to who Ms. Heckerling is, allow me to direct you to a little film called Clueless. Yes, she is that Amy Heckerling. Who better to direct an episode of The Carrie Diaries than the woman who created a movie for a generation of “Bettys” and “Baldwins”? Even though this episode lacked my beloved Dorrit, it still delivered on the addicting teenage drama that has kept the CW afloat for the past 5 years.
The episode starts out with the students of Castlebury High preparing for a lock-in at school. At the same time Larissa has invited newly minted Interview magazine-intern Carrie to a big party at one of Manhattan’s coolest clubs. With what had happened the last time Larissa invited Carrie to party, one would think that she would have been more hesitant to go to another Loughlin production. Thankfully, not planning things out is one of Carrie’s best features, so she decides to bypass the lock-in and head to Manhattan to dance the night away with a couple of cosmopolitans- which may or may not have been a reference to another show.
While Carrie daydreams about Manhattan, Sebastian Kydd has come to the realization that he actually does like Carrie, even though he freaked out on her a couple episodes ago. With this newfound knowledge, Sebastian breaks it off with Donna LaDonna. Any normal person would have accepted the break-up and moved on with their life, but Donna has never been a normal person. Instead, she decides to spill the beans on Maggie’s affair with the older cop to poor Walt. The whole episode Maggie had been trying to build up the courage to tell Walt about the affair. Unfortunately, Walt had to hear it from Donna, and it made for a very heartbreaking scene between Walt and Maggie. Maggie left the lock-in to lick her wounds over at Carrie’s house, and Walt decided to engage in a lip-lock with Donna. In an effort to keep his true sexuality on the down low, Walt ended up entering into a relationship with Donna – which can only end badly for him. Their hookup has officially won the award for weirdest pairing of the season.
While all this is drama is going on, Mouse has been demoted to the neurotic side-kick role. This poor girl needs to have her own episode, because she’s one of my favorites in the series and her character doesn’t deserve to play second-fiddle to anyone. Kydd comes up with some grand gesture in order to prove to Carrie that he cares about her so Mouse tags along because the writers don’t know what else to do with her. The attempt failed as the two never found Carrie in all the hustle and bustle of the Manhattan nightclub, but Carrie later appreciated the sentiment anyway. The one person who did find Carrie was probably the last person Carrie ever expected.
Tom’s sleazy lawyer friend- who’s other nickname is “lecherous pig”- persuaded Tom to come out into the city to be a wingman for him. After dinner, the group decided to go for some dancing. By some beautiful twist of fate they arrived at the same club where Carrie was shaking her groove thing on a stage. Larissa was also at the party and while Carrie tries to maneuver her dad out of the club before the two meet, Larissa pops up and the group starts bickering amongst each other. The truth about Carrie’s age comes out and instead of being angry, Larissa acts like it was the greatest piece of news she’d ever heard of.
I also get the answer to the question I’ve been asking since the beginning. “Why does Larissa think Carrie is an adult?” Apparently, Larissa thinks Carrie is just a very fresh-faced adult. While I don’t buy the excuse, I have to account in the fact that Larissa has taken a lot of illegal drugs throughout the course of the series, her judgment is most likely very impaired and I can’t really fault her for that –it is the 80s.
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Tom Bradshaw makes it clear to Carrie that her time at Interview magazine, and Manhattan, are over. Kudos to AnnaSophia Robb and Matt Letscher for delivering the second most heartbreaking scene of the night, I sure that it’s never easy for dads to see their little girls acting like a grown-up especially when they still see them as children. I really believed Tom’s distraught over Carrie betraying his trust and going behind his back. Luckily, these two Bradshaws sort-of make-up by the end of the episode, just in time I’m sure for Dorrit to return and wreak havoc on the household (at least that’s my dream).
Rating: 7/10 because the CW and I both share a love of teenage drama
Here’s a promo for next week’s episode 1×09 “The Great Unknown”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O4Qu1a6pjY
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