The Carrie Diaries - Season 1 Episode 4 - Recap and Review - Fright Night

The Carrie Diaries brought us back to the Halloween of 1984, but “Fright Night” ended up being a sad sight, as Carrie (Annasophia Robb) and her friends wound up lost in a sea of charades and facades. (I know; that doesn’t actually rhyme.) A few hits of ecstasy didn’t help. With their insecurities heightened, Walt (Brendan Dooling) and Larissa (Freema Agyeman) faced their fears of fabulosity, while Mouse (Ellen Wong) wizened up and stuck to weed.

The episode opened with a freshly dumped Bradshaw attempting to avoid Sebastian (Austin Butler) as best she could, but as we all know, high school is like co-ed jail at times. Walt had some comforting words, but if we know one thing about Carrie Bradshaw, young or old, it’s that she can’t keep her mouth shut when she has something to say. Writers, psht. Still, Sebastian didn’t help matters by not inviting her to his Halloween diner blowout bash. Things would have been awkward, so the guest list was sort of “open house except for Carries.”

Bent out of shape, Carrie turned to her triad of wise ones for advice. Mouse and Maggie (Katie Findlay) backed their girl up, while Walt decided to tread thin ice and try sympathizing with Sebastian; because, you know, Carrie broke the law and snooped through his legal files before exposing him to everyone she knows. Nice try Walt, but if you’re looking for a bromance of any kind, this is the wrong crew, obviously.

Walt had Carrie all booked up for the night, and the duo decided to attend one of Larissa’s acclaimed sh*t shows in Manhattan. Larissa’s events always seem like some sort of sideshow act, but this was Halloween night, so we knew things would end up being a circus. Carrie and Walt dressed as Princess Di and Prince Charles, only to find themselves seriously overdressed amidst a sea of people who seem to think “costume” constitutes “wacky clothing that kind of matches but shouldn’t ever be worn.”

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Larissa arrived via throne carried caravan, dressed as a peacock and ready to ruin everything. We were also introduced to another Interview writer, Bennett, whom Walt had been a fan of. Carrie was smitten nearly immediately, especially having suffered the burn from Sebastian prior. Larissa handed the two “party favors” before flapping away herself. Carrie ditched her pill on the floor, without consulting Walt. Walt took the E, and I figured the good times would start to roll, judging by the preview for the episode. Instead, things got kind of heavy and sad by the end of the night.

Meanwhile, Maggie had managed to convince Mouse to attend Sebastian’s rager. Sebastian had rented out the diner, and Mags was bored out of her mind. The undying loyalty of Mouse wouldn’t take a back seat to the sheer nothingness that had doused their depressing Halloween, so Maggie had to drag Mouse as her date. Right off the bat, Mouse found herself fuming over Sebastian’s courtesy and genuine excitement to see that the girls had made it. How dare he be nice! Mouse made herself a second home at the Pacman machine, while Maggie scoured for booze.

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Back in Manhattan, Walt found himself entranced by a graffiti artist, while Bennet explained the art. Carrie, on the other hand, couldn’t separate the art from the crime. Still, she found both parts of the graffiti world enticing. Walt stood glaring ahead as though it’d been the first time he’d experienced color, when Larissa barged through looking a wreck. Sweating profusely, Carrie realized that Larissa had taken a lot more than Walt, even going as far as to drop acid. This woman always acts a little cuckoo, but tonight she was an actual bird. At least, in her head. Larissa starting acting a fool, and Carrie found herself in a tough position. Walt wasn’t a disaster, per se, but he was high. Larissa, on the other hand, looked like she was about to die of happiness, so Carrie enlisted Bennett’s help in babysitting Walt, while she tended to Larissa’s dehydration and desolation in a back bedroom. Of course, she would have to save her from “flying” off of the roof, first. How had this woman survived so long without a high school girl to take care of her?

This is where things got kind of tragic. High beyond belief, Larissa opened up about her fears of being and island, cursing John Donne’s “No Man is an Island” as a lie. For a while, Carrie argued back; claiming that the beauty of New York was the lack of attachments and tethers to others. Larissa, exhausted from keeping up with the socialites and the elite of New York City, wished she could just fly away like a bird. Everything that had entranced Carrie, now seemed like a huge burden.

Outside, Walt and Bennett hit it off just fine. Waspy Walt found himself a little put off by the brash nature of New York City at night, but Bennett attempted to open his eyes to the beauty of it all. As Walt’s heartbeat started pounding, Bennett decided it was the perfect opportunity to make his move. Walt’s first gay kiss, unfortunately, was a disaster. Paranoid and insecure, a self-loathing Walt lashed out at Bennett, even going as far as to use the word “fag.” Bennett, understanding and apologetic, had no choice but to watch Walt run away into the funhouse that is Manhattan on Halloween night.

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On some nearby street, Walt bared witness to the assault of a gay couple by some thugs. Deciding to man up, he stepped in to intervene, allowing the couple to escape. Still, the losers' accusations proved too much, and Walt refused to admit to being “one of them” for fear of being considered a “freak.”

Having left Larissa passed out to track down her prince (Bennett, not Walt), Carrie returned to find a reject from the cast of Cats attempting to sexually abuse Larissa.

Carrie: “Hello, Lion, out of bed!”

Realizing that the people of New York can at times be incredibly selfish, Carrie ended up disappointed in herself for joining the ranks. Having left Larissa to chase after some guy she’d just met, she ended up putting her friend in danger. She left an openly gay Bennett in charge of guarding her friend, while she hit the ground running in an attempt to track down Walt. She didn’t have to work too hard, though. She found him just outside the party in the same spot he’d experienced his first guy-on-guy kiss. Still unrelenting, Walt questioned his ability to cut it in New York. His best friend Carrie did her best to encourage him to allow himself time to grow up and come to terms with who he is.

Back at the diner, Mouse found herself in a head-to-head game of Pacman with Sebastian, who was interested in Mouse’s quirky brand of honesty. Afterwards, the two opened up about their very different home lives; Mouse comes from parents who judge her every waking decision, while Sebastian’s parents might as well not exist. The two shared a joint, Mouse’s first, before a police officer arrived to bust Sebastian’s crowd for underage drinking. Mouse had just taken her first puff of pot. Thankfully, Maggie has had a secret affair with this cop, and she managed to pull him aside in an attempt to both save the night and get lucky. The only issue was that this douchey cop no longer wanted to pursue an underage Maggie now that she is legitimately single. He was too afraid of getting into legal trouble with her father. His excuse was a misstep, though, as he could no longer bust Sebastian’s guests for fear of waking the dragon in drama queen Maggie.

As all of this chaos was going down, Dorritt (Stefania Owen) found herself left home alone with her father, Tom (Matt Letscher), who was clad in the best Chewbacca costume I’ve ever seen. Basically, Dorritt attempted to once again act too cool for school, only to find herself terrified from having watched Poltergeist alone. Good thing her dad was there to funny things up in that pajama set!

Back at home, Carrie found a totally baked Mouse on her front porch. Sebastian had been waiting for Bradshaw to arrive, having heard the stories of Mouse’s strict parents. As it turned out, Sebastian does care about people, and he and Carrie weren't as different as she'd originally thought. Mouse needed crunchy food!

Walt, in an act of utter desperation, found himself at Maggie's house. "Needing his girlfriend," the two apparently slept together. Poor Walt. Poor Maggie! I'm glad the show is handling Walt's sexuality like this, though. I feel like the biggest criticism I would have of the series up until this point is that things have been a little too sugary for a Sex and the City prequel. Now that the show has been established and found its footing, things are starting to get more complicated in a very good way. I mean, we know Carrie Bradshaw still hasn't gotten everything figured out by the time Sex and the City starts, so how could things possibly go smoothly here?

Back in the halls of high school, a newly confident Carrie found herself able to stare down Sebastian long enough for a head nod hello. Not being an island wasn't so bad after all, especially when no one was wearing a costume.

What did you all think of The Carrie Diaries Season 1 Episode 4 "Fright Night"? How do you like the way the show is handling the issue of homosexuality in the 80s? Will Larissa end up friend or foe? Can you believe they wasted the opportunity to dress Donna LaDonna up for Halloween, considering how they normally dress her? What will come of Sebastian and Carrie?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of The Carrie Diaries Season 1 Episode 4 "Fright Night"!