Carrie, Episode Two: “Social Studies, Part 1” and the Price of Being Seen

The original Carrie is a 1970s story. This new version shows how far a story can travel when you rebuild it for the 2020s. Add social media, influencers, and modern conversations about identity and money, and you get a different world with the same tragic center. Here is what stood out to me in episode two.

Remaking an Old Story

The show treats the old movie as raw material. It keeps the outline and swaps in modern details. In the original, Carrie was a bookworm. Here, a schoolmate teaches her to use Google. Kris, the popular girl in the original, cruised around with the most popular guy and his best car. Now she’s popular on social media. Popularity used to be about who you were seen with, and now it’s measured in followers and likes.

My takeaway is that stories don’t have to stay frozen. A creator can take something old, update it, and even weave in their own perspective. Some of the ideas in modern retellings were around in the 1970s, just less visible, and retellings give them room to grow. That’s a view held by those who see identity and culture as shaped by society and open to change. Not everyone agrees with it, and some viewers would say a classic should stay as it was. Either way, it explains why this version exists.

Witches, Then and Now

A comedic film about telekinesis appears in this episode, and it carries a hidden message. Throughout history, women were often accused of witchcraft and killed for it. In the European witch trials, most of the accused were women, and most of the accusers and judges were men. A girl with strange powers who gets mocked, feared, and punished is an old pattern, and the episode nods at it.

The Bible and the Occult

This episode also touches on spirits and the occult, and it reminded me of the biblical account of King Saul. Saul went to a medium to call up the spirit of the prophet Samuel, even though the Bible forbids that practice. In the story, Saul got a message of judgment, and the next day he died in battle. From a biblical perspective, the lesson is that dabbling in the occult leads somewhere dark, and the scripture’s strong warnings against it exist for a reason. The show doesn’t preach that, but for viewers of faith, the contrast is hard to miss.

Trolling, Snooping, and Pegasus

Much of this episode is about people watching each other online. There are private accounts that only approved people can view. And at the far end of the spectrum, there’s Pegasus, spyware that can get into an iPhone and give someone access to the camera, messages, and more. It’s a real and notorious piece of surveillance software, and it’s mostly aimed at high-value targets, since it requires technical access and resources. The point for ordinary people is that privacy is fragile, and what you think is private may not be.

Then there’s Carrie, who doesn’t have a phone. Depending on where you live, that might seem strange or not strange at all. In her world it’s both a blessing and a curse. She’s protected from some of the cruelty, but she’s cut off from how everyone else communicates.

Kris, Duke, and the Money Problem

Kris got into Duke, but her dad can’t afford it, and she has no scholarships or funding. Kris looks like a “rich” kid, but she’s stuck. The episode doesn’t stop there, and it puts three students side by side:

• Kris, who got in but can’t pay.
• Her friend, who is brown and gets in on a full ride.
• A brown male student who can’t catch a break and works to support his family.

This is where the tension around DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) comes out. The show doesn’t resolve it, and I don’t think it’s meant to. It shows three different situations and lets viewers react. Some will see a system that helps the wrong people. Others will point out that financial aid depends on many factors, and that the third student shows how many people fall through the cracks no matter who gets help. The real issue underneath is how expensive college is and how little room there is for families in the middle.

One small moment that I appreciated: Carrie’s African American neighbor gives her a ride to a party. It was kind and simple, and you don’t see much of that anymore.

Carrie’s Mom and the Fear of Being Targeted

Carrie’s mom is afraid of being targeted, especially at work, where she can’t catch a break. “Targeted individuals” is a newer phrase, but the feeling is old, and it has been spreading on social media lately. The show treads carefully here. Some workplace mistreatment is real, and some fear grows beyond what the facts support. The episode leaves the line blurry, which is probably the honest way to handle it.

The Influencer Economy

This episode takes a hard look at influencers. Some will like a post over and over to push it to 150 likes, just to keep the payments coming. Others create fake accounts to like their own posts. It’s a performance of popularity, and it’s built on fakery.

And that’s how Carrie becomes content. The influencers post her social blunders on a secret webpage so people can laugh at them, rate them, and comment. It’s cruelty turned into entertainment.

The Shirt

When Carrie goes to the party, she makes a shirt from the lost and found look cool. I had a sinking feeling about it: what if the owner recognizes it? Sure enough, one of the girls did and called her out.

My reaction was that I would have shrugged and said, “You mad?” Nobody remembers anything for long, and if that girl posted about Carrie, Carrie probably made her famous for once. But that’s the response of someone with confidence, and Carrie doesn’t have it. For her, being called out in front of everyone is crushing, and the episode wants us to feel that gap.

The Party and the Predators

Older men crash the high school party. They pick up minors, and they’re there to sell drugs. That’s predatory behavior, and it’s dangerous for the girls, who could be drugged or worse. I couldn’t help asking why the women at the party aren’t more outraged.

Kris goes off with the drug dealer, and she’s not naive about it. She knows he goes after underage girls and sells drugs to kids. But Kris is a manipulator, and she has plans for him. She’s using him, which says a lot about her character.

Representation on Screen

This episode features Josie Totah, a transgender actress, as Tina Blake, a transgender social media content creator. It’s good to see transgender people getting roles, especially in parts that fit the world of the story. Representation matters because it shows audiences people they may not see in their own lives.

Final Thoughts

“Social Studies, Part 1” is aptly named. It’s a lesson in how people relate in a world of screens, money, and status. Everyone is performing for someone, and the one person who can’t perform is the one who ends up as the show.