The second episode of Mike Flanagan's new Carrie TV series for Prime Video, titled “Foreign Language,” is written by Elizabeth Padden and directed by Flanagan himself. After a strong debut that established the tone, pace, and overall trajectory of the series in pretty remarkable ways, this second at-bat is a bit more of mixed bag. The sophomore episode simultaneously pushes further with some of the best elements of the first episode and serves as a much more liberal demonstration of the growing pains that adapting one of Stephen King’s shortest novels into an eight-episode season television has invariably wrought.
The first episode, “First Period,” made a distinct effort to ground the events of this series in the here-and-now of 2026. Given that both the novel and the iconic film adaptation directed by Brian De Palma from 1976 did this same thing in their own respective era (the ‘70s), this was a smart choice, but also one that required a far greater degree of work to get right. De Palma was adapting King’s novel in essentially the exact same time period as it was written; the film literally came out less than two years after the novel was published. Subsequent adaptations have been much reticent to do any kind of visceral updating to the story, but Flanagan’s series well-and-truly bucks this trend by actively resculpting Carrie to not only exist within the modern high school setting, but also to speak much more directly to themes and ideas relevant to that experience.
In a lot of ways, this is great not only for the accessibility of the show (it will inevitably appeal to younger viewers in a much more potent way as a result) but also for the artistry of it. Updating the beats of King’s novel to adhere to this specific generation’s experiences foregrounds the idea of the story’s enduring legacy and how much it has practically become modern myth. It pitches Carrie as a campfire story whose details can be changed but whose message remains just as affecting, and I’m a big fan of that approach. However, there are also moments where this approach can feel a bit too generically Amazon Prime-suited.
Carrie episode 2 review: "Foreign Language"
I kind of wrote it off as just being my own personal biases in the first episode, but “Foreign Language” steers so hard into some of these choices that I’ve come to realize this is a valid criticism: there are elements at play in Carrie that verge on feeling a bit too stock-standard ‘Amazon Prime streaming TV show starring teens’ for its own good. The instinct to want to interrogate the modern teen experience is a great one, but even down to some of the needle drops and editing choices, there are stretches where Carrie feels a bit too akin to things like Off Campus for its own good. These are moments where that balance between accessibility and artistry tilts in favor of the former a smidge too much.
Beyond this, where the first episode felt like it effectively expanded the scope of Carrie while still keeping Carrie White as a character at the center of it all, “Foreign Language” eschews this approach in favor of digging into some of the nitty-gritty of other characters’ lives and underlying motivations. I will remain open minded moving forward, because I think there is the opportunity for this to all ultimately coalesce into something deeply affecting by the finale, but I will admit I grew skeptical when the episode started featuring scenes about Carrie’s teachers all grabbing a drink at the local pub. I adore Amber Midthunder (who plays the gym teacher, Rita Desjardin) and Rahul Kohli (who plays Carrie’s homeroom teacher) so I’m hesitant to complain about extra screentime spent with them, but I’m not sure how all of this is going to wind up being in service of Carrie the character’s central tragedy.
Which brings up another element that gave me pause; the resulting integration of the first episode’s cliffhanger, in which a seeming organization of telepaths is monitoring Carrie and her abilities. This is an entirely new addition to the story, though admittedly not one without some grounding in King’s literature. Other King stories (The Shining, Firestarter, The Dark Tower, etc.) have involved people with telekinetic abilities of one kind or another, so the idea of introducing what appears to be a whole little X-Men school of them here isn’t completely unfounded. But I do worry that such a choice has the potential to further pull focus from Carrie’s story in the weeks to come and even dilute the strength of the finale.
But amidst those concerns, there’s also a ton that “Foreign Language” does a great job of further developing and exploring. Padden’s script excels when it homes in on Carrie as a character or her relationship to her mother Margaret. All of these scenes are further accentuated by the genuinely incredible performances being delivered by Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan as Carrie and Margaret, respectively. The ways in which Flanagan is elongating the trajectory of their relationship to something far more emotionally complex and full of nuance than what was allowed for in prior iterations of this story is genuinely fascinating, and seems to be already paying off in big ways. The fact that this episode is able to culminate with a beat of Carrie outright disobeying her mother for the first time and using her powers to metaphorically sever this link between them with a literal door-slam is such articulate storytelling, and brought so vividly to life by some great writing, stellar performances, and excellent direction.
Simultaneously, Padden has a real gift for sculpting the interactions between Carrie’s classmates, Sue Snell (as played by Siena Agudong) and Chris Hargensen (as played by Alison Thornton). There is a pressing sense of modernity to their interactions and the ways in which ideas, curt remarks, and conflicts can move like an infection through the high school population, going viral in more ways than one.
Verdict
Altogether, “Foreign Language” is a solid second episode for Carrie that still feels dynamic and fresh in its approach, but it also feels like you can see some of the shortcomings of the adaptation in much more blatant ways. I am deeply invested in the series, and hope that these elements that feel as if they are detracting from the beating heart of the story wind up paying off in satisfying ways. I suppose we’ll just have to carry on and find out together.
GRADE: C+
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