The Carrie Diaries, Episode 1: "Pilot"
Monday night, the CW premiered its Sex and the City prequel, The Carrie Diaries. Relative newcomer, AnnaSophia Robb is taking on the role of Carrie Bradshaw, made famous on the original by Sarah Jessica Parker. TCD has made some changes that die hard SATC fans may recognize. In this series, Carrie's mother passed away on the Memorial Day before her junior year of high school. Her dad is doing his best to raise her and her Goth sister Dorrit.
This is a pretty hefty task. SATC is beloved around the world, even after the second movie, so crafting a prequel that will satisfy longtime fans, while also cultivating younger, new fans is a daunting task. I think for the most part, the series succeeds. A lot of that success is because of Robb's portrayal of young Carrie. She does a great job of finding Carrie's voice and conveying it, but she doesn't just do a straight up imitation of SJP.
The series looks to tell the story of how Carrie met the loves of her life. You see the beginnings of a couple of these tonight. Carrie's dad gets her an internship at a law firm in the city. This begins her love affair with the city. Watching Carrie marveling at the skyline, her interior monologue going full blast and then getting knocked to the street was classic Carrie. It was also great when Carrie goes to Century 21 Department store to get some new pantyhose and recognizes that this is her new church. While in Century 21, she is accosted by Larissa, an Interview magazine fashion editor. Larissa is played by Freeya Agyeman, who some may recognize from Doctor Who. This is her North American television debut. Larissa loves Carrie's purse. It was her mom's old purse, and after a nail polish accident, Carrie decided to revamp it. Larissa and Carrie hit it off, immediately. Carrie leaves out the bit about her being in high school. Turns out Larissa is a bit of klepto and uses Carrie to steal a dress. She also invites her to a party at Indochine and sends her a party dress to wear. Carrie decides to skip out on the winter formal to attend the party. Her eyes are opened to the ways of the city, she meets the original hipsters and her very first gays.
Just like the original, Carrie has some gal pals. There is Mouse who recently lost her virginity to a college freshman while she was interning in DC. Maggie is sort of the teenage Samantha, but without the revolving door of men. She is dating Walt, who seems to care a lot more about Rob Lowe than most teenage boys. She tells Carrie that she lost her virginity, but after a conversation with Walt, Carrie finds out that it wasn't with him. It turns out that Maggie is having an affair with a local police officer. That should end well.
Finally, there is Sebastian Kidd (great name), a boy who Carrie met at the swimming pool over the summer, and a transfer student to Carrie's school. Carrie likes Sebastian, who gave her first kiss, and invites him to the dance, which she misses by going to the club with Larissa. When she returns she finds him in a car with Donna LaDonna (another awesome name), her nemesis. Carrie handles it classily and she hooks up with Sebastian at the pool. You can expect the pool to factor in heavily, since it gives Sebastian ample time to be shirtless, a prerequisite for attractive male stars on the CW.
All in all, the pilot was a great start for the series. It is honoring what came before but also striking out on its own path. It's also very different from most CW teen soaps. It is earnest and heart felt. It isn't trying to be brazen or overtly sexual. It is about a young girl finding her voice. I'm excited to watch Carrie discover the things that she loved on SATC and meeting the other ladies that become her family. I'm really hoping that the show finds an audience and I especially hope that SATC fans who are skeptical about this series give it a chance. I think they'll be glad they did. I was.
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