I love a good Reddit AMA, especially when people ask solid questions. And this was my favorite one by far […]
I love a good Reddit AMA, especially when people ask solid questions. And this was my favorite one by far from Mike Flanagan, who chatted with fans this morning to celebrate his new adaptation of Stephen King’sCarrie, now streaming in full on Prime Video.
A viewer asked about one of the finale’s most uncomfortable moments, and Flanagan’s answer makes it even harder to shake.
Major spoilers for the entire season ofCarriebelow.
Throughout its eight episodes, keeps giving us reasons to reconsider Chris (), the girl who makes Carrie’s () life a living hell. Beneath her cruelty is a nature-versus-nurture question, with Flanagan asking us to feel sympathy and empathy for someone who keeps doing horrible things.
Her father is a horrible piece of shit. He’s a lawyer, a crook, and a bully, and you can see how his behavior has shaped hers. He gets chances to do the right thing, and so does Chris. Sometimes something pushes her in the wrong direction. Other times, she makes that choice on her own.
Still, she makes decisions. And decisions have consequences, whether you like it or not.
What makes this relationship so uncomfortable is that Chris even befriends Carrie for a stretch, only to mock her. At times, you think these two might actually get somewhere. Flanagan lets us see that possibility before pulling it away.
Pictured L-R: Alison Thornton, Summer H. Howell, Siena Agudong
As I wrote on Twitter, I thought the sixth episode was terrible. It spends most of its time in a classroom, trying to mediate between the two, repair their relationship, and resolve the protests. But even in an episode that didn’t work for me, there’s a moment when reconciliation seems possible.
Then Carrie’s mother antagonizes Chris, and it all falls apart. They leave angry, setting the stage for the terror at prom.
And we all know where that goes.
Chris dumps blood on Carrie’s head. Carrie tears the auditorium apart, killing people and setting it ablaze. As the destruction spills into the streets, Chris and her boyfriend try to escape, encounter Carrie in the road, and attempt to run her over.
Carrie flips their car into a field.
Carrie walks over and crushes the boyfriend in the driver’s seat. Then she and Chris have their final moment, eye to eye.
Chris begins to apologize.
Carrie kills her anyway.
It’s a really fucking tense moment because of everything these two have been through up until that point. Is Chris apologizing to save her own life? Is she actually sorry now? Does she finally understand what she’s done, or is this just one more attempt to get out of the consequences?
As a viewer, you’re almost sitting there thinking, Fuck her. She deserves it.
“Karma.”
But does anyone really deserve to die? I don’t know. That’s what makes the scene so uncomfortable. You’ve watched Chris torment this girl for an entire season, and now you’re watching Carrie decide whether she gets to live.
A reader put that question directly to Flanagan during his Reddit AMA, asking whether Chris’s apology was sincere or a desperate attempt to get Carrie to spare her.
“I think she’s sincere at the end. But it’s way too late,” Flanagan replied.
That answer makes the moment even more devastating to me. After all the chances Chris had to do the right thing, this might finally be the moment when she means it. There’s nothing left to repair, no classroom conversation that’s going to fix this. She’s sorry, and Carrie kills her anyway.
I don’t think feeling sorry for Chris in that moment erases what she did. But it does make me question that immediate, almost instinctive reaction of wanting to see her get what’s coming to her. Flanagan spends all that time showing us how she became this person, gives her opportunities to change, and then leaves us with an apology that comes too late.
What do you think? Did you believe Chris was actually sorry? And does Flanagan’s answer change how you feel about that final scene?
