Carrie, Episode Two: “Physical Education, Part 1” and the Fight Over Who Gets Power

Part 2 ended with Carrie deciding the world is evil. Part 1 of “Physical Education” shows what she does next: she stops being the target and starts pushing back. Here is what stood out to me.

A Skit About the Bible and Women

The episode includes a film skit suggesting that the Bible treats women as a lower class. I don’t think that holds up. Deborah, for one, was a judge and prophetess who led God’s people to victory. The Bible has other women in prominent roles too, so the picture is more mixed than the skit lets on.

It is true that many religions and institutions, across history, have treated women as lesser. Joan of Arc is a good example: she led an army, and the authorities of her day condemned her and burned her at the stake. But not every religion treats women that way, and it’s unfair to judge all faiths by the most mainstream or most restrictive examples. The skit makes a sweeping claim, and sweeping claims tend to leave out the exceptions.

The Politics of Carrie

Carrie has always been political. The original came out during the women’s movement, when the fight for equal rights, going back to the suffrage era, was still very much alive. A story about a girl whose body, power, and independence frighten everyone around her fit that moment. This version carries the theme forward, which suggests the questions it raises are not settled.

Anonymous Accounts and Why They Matter

The episode talks about anonymous social media accounts, like the one Kris runs as “Carrie Red.” Some of these sites are protected by an LLC, which makes the owners hard to identify.

Anonymity has a bad side here, but it also has a serious history. Think of the NAACP in the 1950s. When Alabama officials, in a state where the Klan had real influence, demanded the group’s membership list, the NAACP fought it, and the Supreme Court sided with them. Handing over those names would have exposed members to harassment, firing, and violence, and it would have scared others out of joining. Courts recognize that forced disclosure can chill free speech. So the same protection that shields a civil rights group can also shield a bully, and that’s the uncomfortable part.

Doxxing and Whether It Can Be Stopped

Doxxing, meaning exposing an anonymous person’s identity or personal information online, comes up too. I’d say the idea of stopping it feels like a ship that sailed long ago, especially since tools like Pegasus and open-source software can break into phones. I’d add a note of caution: ordinary doxxing usually works through public records, leaked data, and careless posting. Privacy is much weaker than most of us assume.

Kris Is Cornered

Kris’s friends call her a real psychopath for trying to hide that she’s Carrie Red. It looks like she’ll learn the hard way, once evidence connects her to the account. People who hide behind anonymity often forget that it only works as long as no one links it back to them.

The Principal’s Office

The scene in the principal’s office is a good one. Kris’s dad is a lawyer, and he fights hard for his daughter against the accusations from Carrie’s mother. His argument has several parts:

• He says his daughter is the victim of a witch hunt.
• He says there’s no proof she is Carrie Red.
• He raises Kris’s safety and asks why the principal hasn’t protected her from someone like Carrie’s mom.
• He points to illegal searches of Kris’s phone, citing the Fourth Amendment, and says she’s being harassed with hearsay from other students.

Carrie Plays

In this episode Carrie has a new friend who knows about her powers, and for the first time she uses them for fun. She makes Tina smear makeup across her face at lunch. It’s a petty, harmless prank by comparison, and it’s almost sweet to see her enjoy something. But it’s also the first step on a slope. Once she learns she can do this, the question is where she’ll stop.

Don’t Mess With People Who Have Power

The lesson here is that you shouldn’t mess around with people who have powers like this. You might get off with a bloody nose, as Kris does. But Carrie’s anger can also lead to worse: being beaten by a crowd of cops the next day out of nowhere, or having your bones crushed like a metal lock turned to paper in a child’s hand. It’s strange how great anger, just by wishing something into happening, can produce such force.

Demonizing Women’s Power

At its heart, this episode is about demonizing women’s power. It happened to Joan of Arc, it happened to the women accused of witchcraft, and it happens to Carrie White. The difference is that this time Carrie takes her power back. She stops accepting the story others tell about her. I think that’s the show’s most hopeful and most dangerous idea, since reclaiming power and abusing it can look very similar.

Every Power Has a Price

Having a gift like this carries a cost. It might mean never having children, or it might come back on you ten times worse. Whether in a story or in life, there’s always a price, and the show seems to know it. Carrie gains strength but loses safety, trust, and perhaps a normal future.

Devil or Superhero?

The original Carrie attributed her powers to the devil. Her mother even tried to kill her, believing she was an agent of Satan according to the Bible. This generation treats powers as normal, the way the Marvel movies do. But if the Bible is right about spiritual forces, then today may be worse than it was before, because what was once seen as dangerous is now accepted and celebrated. But it’s worth asking what we’ve stopped being cautious about because it looks entertaining.

Final Thoughts

“Physical Education, Part 1” is about a girl who stops running and starts fighting back, and about a world that will do almost anything to keep her from doing