The Carrie Diaries - Recap: Worst Valentine's Day, Best Episode

Episode 10 of Season 2 of The Carrie Diaries, “Date Expectations,” found Carrie Bradshaw (Annasophia Robb) and her friends attempting to celebrate the most romantic day on the calendar, but Valentine’s Day proved to be utterly disastrous for anyone willing to partake. If Maggie (Katie Findlay) accidentally enlisting in the army was the comedic relief this week, then you know some of these characters had to deal with problems much bigger than receiving one too many bunches of flowers. Well, if you’re Larissa (Freema Agyeman), then that’s utterly atrocious. While Carrie expected Sebastian (Austin Butler) to pull out all the stops after their rocky year as a couple, Walt (Brendan Dooling) was caught off-guard by Bennet’s (Jake Robinson) decision to spend their first special V-Day together at a roaring gay club. Expect the absolute worst, Carriers. Meanwhile, Tom (Matt Letscher) attempted to snoop on his youngest daughter, Dorrit (Stefania Owen), as she spent the night devouring any movie erupting with violence and blood alongside her new “friend,” Scott. Here is the Recap and Review of The Carrie Diaries, Season 2 Episode 10, “Date Expectations”!

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Episode 10 brought Cupid’s day of debauchery to Castlebury and Manhattan. Most people are worried about the usual trials and tribulations of the holiday, like one too many chocolates, a lack of a romantic dinner reservation, or no sex (or worse, bad sex), but Carrie and her friends don’t usually get to deal with normal problems. Shenanigans are one thing, but by the end of this week’s hour, a potential rift with a boyfriend over work or accidentally joining the army were nothing compared to the way Walt’s world was turned upside down.

To start the recap, here’s some general background. Carrie and Walt were both looking forward to their respective dates with their beaus. Remember, both have had sort of a tough time finding their way into good and healthy relationships, so they simply assumed Valentine’s Day would prove to be the perfect way to celebrate finding the light at the end of a tunnel full of cheating, self-loathing, homophobia, and plain old stressful singledom. Candlelit dinners were inevitably trumped by Samantha’s (Lindsey Gort) invitation to join her as special guests at Boy, the hottest gay club in the city. What began as harmless fun and an outrageous time inevitably unraveled into what was probably the most dramatic arc The Carrie Diaries has ever presented to us. With all of this in mind, here’s how things were broken down by plot this week.

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Tom and Dorrit: Over a heart-shaped pizza shared with his new housemate, Walt, Tom shared his stress regarding Dorrit’s potential new love interest. What was Scott about? Having adequately played into the destruction of Dorrit’s relationship with Miller by sharing one too many jam sessions, Tom seemed to have figured out the perfect way to prevent his youngest daughter from ever dating again. It’s simple. If Tom actually likes Dorrit’s boyfriend, the flame is snuffed out. Dorrit's mind can't compute the concept of anyone with a sense of coolness enjoying the company of *eye roll* her father.

Tom subsequently attempted to do some digging while Dorrit and Scott ate their way through a collection of some of the most depressing and violent films of all time in their anti-Valentine’s Day celebration. Once Dorrit was forced to step away in order to console a bawling Audrey over the phone, Tom had the perfect opportunity for a one-on-one moment with Scott. Was this guy really just a new friend? After finding out that Scott is kind in nature and even shares some of his same endearing anal tendencies, like perfectly aligning tennis racquet strings or perfectly spacing clothes hangers, Tom actually grew to approve of another one of Dorrit’s choices.

Of course, Dorrit still remained adamant that the two were nothing more than chums, yet Tom was so impressed by Scott’s politeness and demeanor that he attempted the reverse of his original plan to diffuse the romance before it even got started. By wrongfully painting Scott as some sort of awful and wild bad boy, Tom used a bit of reverse psychology to push Dorrit right to him. By the end of Episode 10, the two were heading out on their first date, and Dorrit’s dad was secretly patting himself on the back and silently shouting with excitement.

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Larissa and Samantha: It’s not everyday that Larissa is made jealous by another diva on the scene, but Samantha Jones has proven to be a formidable opponent. Another catfight of the titans was upon us! Samantha, costumed as Lady Godiva upon an actual horse, was the center of attention at Boy. As the drag queens fawned over Samantha in all her glory, Larissa seethed with jealousy. Charming a straight dude into bed is easy. Capturing the adoration of a crowd of gay men was another. Larissa, refusing to let Samantha lap up the applause, inevitably ripped off Samantha’s wig, exposing her boobs for the entire club to see. Reveling in her nakedness (duh!), Samantha only further infuriated Larissa, who was ejected from Boy by a bouncer who refused to deal with her drama.

Samantha isn’t really like that, though, and the two closed out their storyline for Episode 10 by riding back into Boy together on another night but on the same horse.

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Maggie, Mouse, and Donna: I’m glad that The Carrie Diaries is giving Mags a break now. The first half of Season 2 for Maggie contained both a town-wide excommunication and a near-fatal emergency abortion. I’d say she’s done! Done with the drama, that is. Army recruitment week hit the halls of Castlebury High, as declared by Donna (Chloe Bridges) while donning an army suit. Before we knew it, Mags went from wracking her brain in an attempt to make any rhyme or reason out of Mouse’s (Ellen Wong) new friendship with Donna to accidentally getting charmed into enlisting in the army.

Mouse, I joined the army!

That was possibly my favorite light moment during Episode 10. Mouse, in an attempt to help prevent Maggie from actually rolling out with the armed forces, enlisted Donna’s help. Maggie can’t even do a real pushup, so this debacle seriously required all hands on deck. Donna, willing to use all the boobage in the world to, well, to charm hot army guys, didn’t mind killing two birds with one rack if it meant having something sexy to do on Valentine’s Day. Before we knew it, the trio was rolling up to the army base in an effort to convince the private who’d convinced Maggie to enlist to destroy her application. It wasn’t too hard to get the girl to sign the papers in the first place. The promise of a potential free trip to Hawaii, as well as a paid college education, didn’t hurt, especially considering the fact that Maggie had actually been accepted into one of her choice schools but with no financial aid.

Donna’s means of convincing the guard at the front gate to let the girls through to the recruitment office needed to be seen to be believed, but let’s just say playing into a soldier’s sexual fantasies in conjunction with the added boost from a recently dead grandma did the trick. Before long, Mouse was sifting through the confidential files in search of Maggie’s mistake. When Pete, the soldier in charge, caught the trio in a seriously compromising situation, it ended up being Maggie herself who got them out the mess. Admitting to the truth behind the situation, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that all she needed to do was to admit that she’d mistakenly enlisted to escape an unhappy army life, a life that required rising each day at five in the morning, ugh. All of this didn’t play out for nothing, though, and Maggie handed over her name and number before leaving at the request of the soldier. She closed out her arc during Episode 10 in the halls of Castlebury High, phoning Pete again, and again, and again. Good for her, right?

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Carrie and Sebastian: In the oddest pop culture reference this show has tossed at us yet, Sebastian is friends with a young Tony Hawk. I know, right? We know Tony Hawk as a grown man and a professional skateboarder, but I guess there had to be a time where he was drumming up the concept of skater clothes with Carrie’s boyfriend. Eighteen-year-old Tony never appeared on screen, but Sebastian wasted absolutely no time ripping apart Larissa's apartment in favor of decorating it like the inside of a Pac Sun. I think Carrie had to stop herself from gagging when she walked into the bachelor pad, but it was a cool new set change nonetheless. By the way, Sebastian is obsessed with skateboard stuff? Well, apparently so! In any case, the Kydd was fixated on the idea of launching the first ever skate brand that would link designs of boards with those on shirts, shoes, etc. Carrie didn’t get it. Carrie did, however, understand that she was ditched on Valentine’s Day in order for Sebastian to take a work meeting. “Work,” as Bradshaw came to label her boyfriend’s latest fad. It was “work,” not work.

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In all honesty, I was on Carrie’s side for the most part this week. I don’t recall Sebastian ever really mentioning skateboarding or an interest in the world of fashion. He’s a high school boy with no training in anything but with a lot of cash to burn. By the time the sun had gone down, the two were at odds for the first time in a while over Sebastian’s decision to hand Carrie’s seat at their romantic dinner for two over to another dude, Tony Hawk. While she could barely stomach that on its own, the thought of Sebastian happily moving back to Cali to carry out these plans was way too troubling. Anyway, Carrie danced the night away with a bunch of hot guys who wanted nothing more than to not sleep with her, and Sebastian’s meeting apparently went well. Would he be moving back to Laguna if it meant securing his position working alongside Tony Hawk? (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence). Nope! By the close of the episode, a massive bombshell would rock their world and put this silly bump in the road of the Kyddshaw relationship into crystal clear perspective.

Walt and Bennet: Boy, the club, was not Walt’s cup of tea by any means. Again, like with Carrie, I was initially on Walt’s side during Episode 10. It’s always a good idea to get acquainted with your people, even if wearing nothing but a single feather over your crotch out to a nightclub isn't exactly your thing, but this was their first Valentine’s Day. Why did it have to be another big party at a club? Can’t they go to Boy on some other day in order for Walt to get increasingly more comfortable with the gay scene?

After chugging a drink, Walt agreed to dance the night away with Bennet in order to make the best out of his uncomfortable situation. By the time the couple got through with the first song, Walt was sold on the good time and gave up his preconceived idea of what their Valentine’s Day together would be like. Unfortunately, the bomb to end all bombs was about to drop.

Bennet ran into an old mutual friend of an ex, but the look on the man’s face was the first clue to the turmoil to come. At first, I’m assuming most people simply guessed that Walt would have to deal with some threatening ex weaseling his way back into Bennet’s life, but the actual problem was much graver. Bennet’s former boyfriend had been diagnosed… with AIDS. The man suggested that Bennet get tested and prepare to say his last goodbyes.

Of course, Walt was not at all ready for this. He’s been slowly tiptoeing his way onto the gay scene and into the community, but the concept that both he and Bennet could be infected with HIV as well was too much to bear. Outside, Walt snapped into a complete panic, denying the community to be his people at all and refusing to believe that his life as a gay man would require such things as seriously contemplating death at age eighteen. By the end of Episode 10, Walt and Bennet were both cleared as negative, but the scare was too much for Walt to overcome. In the 80s, the concept of a gay couple having a life together that was equal to that of straight folks was non-existent. There was no hope for a white picket fence, marriage, or children, and Walt simply couldn’t come to terms with the harsh reality that life out and proud might not be enough for him. In the end, Walt left Bennet and phoned his mother in a plea to return home. Episode 10 was an excellent showcase of the talent that Brendan Dooling and Jake Robinson bring to this show.

The CW "The Carrie Diaries"

The CW "The Carrie Diaries"

I’m so glad The Carrie Diaries did this. It was a moment where all of these characters, specifically Sebastian and Carrie, had their trivial problems put into perspective. I’m not happy to see Walt in this place, but I think addressing the AIDS epidemic was such an important thing to do. Just before Season 2 began, I wrote a small article on where I’d like to see these characters taken over the course of the set of the next thirteen episodes. This was my biggest hope. Honestly, all of the other plot arcs I wished for have been panning out as well. The Carrie Diaries took its very solid start with Season 1 and began to push the envelope. We’ve spent more time in Manhattan, the supporting cast is getting more and more developed, and the gay subject matter has been handled very well. Plus, we have Samantha.

If you're interested in learning more about the AIDS crisis and have a Netflix account, check out We Were Here. It's an amazing documentary.

What did you think of The Carrie Diaries, Season 2 Episode 10, “Date Expectations”? Did you like the way they handled the situation with the HIV scare? Will Sebastian continue with this skate company dream? Do you like that Donna has officially infiltrated this group of ours? (Yes!) Are you happy with Scott or do you miss Miller? How do you want this season to end? Are you pulling for a Season 3?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of The Carrie Diaries, Season 2 Episode 10, “Date Expectations”!