After the bloody start of Prime Video’s Carrie, we move onto the next part of this adaptation, episode 2, “Foreign Language.” We open up with a voice-over—who we can presume is the woman making the documentary about the disaster in Carrie’s (Summer H. Howell) hometown—saying that back in 1982, a woman was able to miraculously lift a car when her son’s life was threatened. The news called it sensational, saying she was hysterical, but it was the beginning of her discovering her powers.
We move to Carrie, sitting in the principal's office after her shower scene, speaking with both Mr. Grayle (Matthew Lillard) and the gym teacher, Rita (Amber Midthunder). Soon after, she takes Carrie to the nurse’s office and explains what a period is. She tells Carrie she plans to call her mother, but Carrie pleads with her not to, afraid of her mother’s reaction. Seeing how hysterical Carrie is, Rita agrees to keep quiet.
At the same time, Chris (Alison Thornton) shows the video to everyone in her next class and makes fun of Carrie. Sue (Siena Agudong) plays along and jokes, calling her “Carrie Red,” but we also see she doesn’t really mean it. She’s just trying to go along with Chris to prevent more drama.
Speaking of Carrie’s mother, we see Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) next at work, scanning groceries, and it becomes evident she’s not the most pleasant woman to be around. She tells one woman that what she is buying will kill her children, and another (who is buying condoms and a pleasure device) that she refuses to ring them up because it’s pushing forward the narrative of degrading women.
Margaret’s boss essentially says that her complaints have piled up, and instead of firing her because she knows she’s in a tight spot, she puts her on the maintenance crew.
That same afternoon, Carrie walks home from school, angry about not being told about her body, and causes several mailboxes to open on their own as she walks on. Sue and Tommy (Joel Oulette) talk in her car, and Tommy reassures Sue that she just made a joke about Carrie and that she’s not a bad person. We then see Chris once again at home, where we are further shown that her father is having money problems, so much so that her card is declined when ordering dinner.
How Margaret reacts to Carrie’s first period
That night, Carrie and her mother have dinner. Keep in mind that Margaret was already in a state because the funeral home has kept calling her and attempting to reach out regarding her husband’s remains. She hasn’t responded to them once.
Carrie asks if she is trying to keep things from her because she’s afraid Carrie will find out about things she doesn’t like, and it turns into a whole ordeal. However, Margaret discovers pamphlets that Rita gave her earlier about menstruation and yells at Carrie for not telling her and then, of course, forces her to pray. As Carrie kneels in their prayer closet, she looks behind her and suddenly sees the ghost of her father over her mother’s shoulder, but the door closes after that.
That same night, Rita is out with several other teachers, who encourage her to do her own “educating” for the gym class, because they can’t suspend the whole class that bullied Carrie. She takes that to heart.
The next day, Margaret looks like she wants to confront the principal over the pamphlets she was given, but Carrie begs her not to because she wants to fit in. But Margaret, being Margaret, walks in after Carrie has left and yells at the principal for giving the pamphlets to her daughter. It’s then that Mr. Grayle tells her about what happened in gym class, something that Carrie has kept hidden from her.
Carrie goes to gym, but Rita excuses her, saying she had to go to the guidance counselor. When Carrie leaves, Rita makes the entire class run laps back and forth as her way of punishing the girls. Carrie meets with the guidance counselor, Peter Morton (Tim Bagley), who is really kind to her, answers all her questions, and is one of the first people she really connects with. He offers to take her to the school library, where she's never been before, and she's fascinated by all the books.
As she picks out books she’s never gotten to read, Carrie spots her mother leaving the school, and her books suddenly vibrate. She storms into the bathroom and tries to get her cool back, but then spots a sudden vision of herself covered in blood in the mirror, which causes the mirror to crack. However, she’s not alone.
Emaline, the other students, and the whole messy situation
We meet Emaline (Thalia Dudek), a military brat who was once the new kid but has since moved on. She isn’t shocked by Carrie’s powers; instead, she has an honest conversation with her—especially after Carrie initially yells at her because she’s worried someone else will berate her.
Emaline gives her advice, saying that their classmates can only hurt her if she lets them. After that, she leaves the bathroom, letting Carrie think on what she’s said. If you’re wondering who Emaline is from the books, she’s a completely new character written for the series.
We then cut back to Sue and the girls running laps, where Sue pleads with Rita that she made her point and that they wouldn’t bully Carrie again, all of them swearing (except Chris). Rita pulls Sue aside and asks her to look out for Carrie because she “sets the tone,” and she doesn’t want Carrie to get hurt again. Sue says she will.
That night, we also see Rita at the local bar, where she spots Mr. Peist (Rahul Kohli), and he admits that he was stood up. They hit it off as they talk about their jobs and what she did with the girls, and then have sex in his car.
Chris has dinner with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, who has a daughter, and it’s awkward. But when they are alone, her mother tells her that Brooklyn (Rowan Danielle), her mother’s boyfriend’s daughter, is off-limits because of bullying and that Chris can’t touch her. Chris is visibly upset, but agrees.
After dinner, Chris is on the phone with Sue, who pleads with her to delete the video, and Chris says she will. But she goes back on her word and uploads the video anyway because she's angry about the whole Brooklyn situation. She creates a private Instagram account called “Carrie Red,” using Sue’s nickname for her, and posts it online, using a screenshot from the video she took of Carrie as the profile picture.
The last scene we see is Carrie confronting her mother about going to her school, even though she explicitly told her not to. This leads to a big fight before Carrie runs upstairs. As she does, Margaret chases after her, but Carrie uses her powers to slam the door shut and lock it. Margaret looks visibly shocked, but we see Carrie’s lips spread into a slow smile.
All episodes of Carrie are streaming on Prime Video. Keep reading our episodic recaps here at Show Snob.
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