Tired of watching Gossip Girl reruns and boring episodes of Pretty Little Liars? This winter the CW introduced The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to the successful Sex and the City tv series.
Sex and the City targets middle aged women who could live vicariously through Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte, as the four girls took on Manhattan in the 21st century. The Carrie Diaries backtracks to Carrie’s life in Connecticut during the 1980s, before she moved to the city and transformed into the Carrie that’s portrayed in Sex and the City.
The series starts off somberly with her mother recently deceased, and Carrie left alone with her sister Dorrit and Tom. While the family struggles to find their way and move on, Carrie begins her Junior year of high school with best friends Walt, Mouse and Maggie. I liked the side of Carrie I saw just from the first episodes. She took on a motherly role for her sister and a brave face in front of her friends which I admired for someone her age. I got the idea that the next couple seasons would follow her life through high school and after, but with a cool 80’s vibe along with it, and a perspective I’d never seen in any other teen tv show.
The show gives quite a bit of background on each character: Maggie who’s dating Walt, Mouse who’s dating a college boy, and Dorrit who’s a rebellious 14-year-old, that are all told within the episodes. Just like any good teen show, a love interest comes along and the resident bad boy Sebastian sweeps Carrie off her feet and the two share an on again-off again relationship for much of the season.
The season really takes off when Carrie’s dad gets her an internship at a law firm in Manhattan. Somewhere along commuting and working in the city, Carrie meets Larissa. Larissa is everything Carrie aspires to be: well educated, a city girl and in the prime of her life, along with a job working for a fabulous magazine. Larissa employs Carrie with no inkling that she’s still in high school, dragging her along to parties and putting loads of work on her plate.
Without giving too much away, The Carrie Diaries is a season you should watch. The entire season is filled with plot twists that you’ll never see coming, including the season finale, which is why I love it. Embedded into the series is loads of life lessons that deal with everyday high school problems from peer pressure and boys to parents. In any case, The Carrie Diaries is currently my favorite show and I’m hoping for a second season, as soon as possible.